"No," she said. "But I did reach out to someone..."
I looked at her.
"Dav… the guy his twin had sex with."
I processed her words and then confronted her.
"What?"
"He'd already reached out to me anyway, and-"
"Wait, what?"
"What?" she asked.
"He reached out to you?"
"Yeah," she said. "Didn't Lucas tell you?”
“So, he reached out to you, and-"
"You're getting pregnancy brain," she said, and I sighed.
"Go on."
"Anyway, I told him he'd be coming for this wedding, and it would be nice if he showed up so he could meet Lucas. But he told me it was a misunderstanding and that he found out after he reached out to me that the guy he'd hooked up with had passed away. So, it wasn't Lucas that he thought you were with at Fashion Week. At that, he was extremely shocked.”
I stared at her and then I nodded.
"You still don't believe me, do you? Or Lucas or any of us?"
I didn't immediately respond.
"Sure," I said. "I believe you."
"If you believe me, then why aren't you jumping for joy and going over to meet him right now to profess your love and tell him about the baby?"
There were people around, and so the moment the words came out, I almost covered her mouth with my hand.
"What the fuck is your problem?" I asked, but she was unmoved.
"What the fuck is your problem?"
We glared at each other, and then I turned away.
"Is it that you don't want to admit that you were wrong all those years ago and that you actually broke his heart and yours into pieces for no reason? Simply because you refused to believe in him. Is this too much for your pride to accept? So, you're clinging on to-"
"Stop!" I snapped at her, tears burning in my eyes. "Just… fucking stop."
Her gaze instantly softened as she saw my reaction, and immediately she reached out to me, but I wanted nothing to do with her at the moment or with anyone for that matter. I turned around and began to head over to the restroom.
On my way, a few people recognizing me from high school, from teachers to acquaintances, stopped me, but I was moving so fast that I was able to give quick excuses of needing to head to the bathroom. On my way, however, I ran into my mom, who was speaking to my chemistry teacher, and I had to stop.
"Look who I ran into, Callie," she said excitedly, and I noted the high pitch of excitement in her tone. I gave the graying man a once-over and nodded respectfully. I couldn't remember him being particularly friendly, but suddenly he was, and it brought a smile to my face. He was handsome and fit, and his eyes seemed kind, so my heart was open to accept whatever this was. I looked toward my mom then and at the smile on her face. I couldn't stop the tears that suddenly appeared. She immediately noticed it, and her eyes widened in alarm.
"Excuse me," she told the man, and without a word, she escorted me to the bathroom. We walked in, and she gave me a few minutes to get myself together. And then I spoke.
"I messed up... bad. I've been messing up for a long time."