When Angels Fall (Fallen Angels) (49 page)

“Baby, I couldn’t let you go through that alone. He was my friend, too, and I had to say good-bye to him. Are you going up to see Gabbie later?”

“Yeah, I was thinking about it. I did talk to her mom and they were keeping her pretty sedated today. It may be better to wait until tomorrow. If it were me, would you be able to go on?” She wondered if he felt the same way she did.

“I don’t want to even think about that. Somehow, hopefully, Gabbie will be able to move on. I know she’s going to need you to be there for her for a while. Just don’t let it get to you too much. Although, I know how you think.” He reached for her hand.

Chloe went and sat on the floor next to him. She could tell the painkillers were starting to work. “Nick, don’t fight it, rest. I’ll be here.” She stroked his face lightly.

“Hmm, I think I will. So many things went through my mind that night. All I could think of was you,” he said softly, stroking her hair. When she kissed his hand, he smiled. He was in a fog. “You’re so beautiful. I don’t ever what to know what it would be like if I lost you. I want to marry you, my beautiful Chloe.”

“Nicholas, maybe someday we will. For now, just rest. Let the meds do their job and sleep.” She lightly kissed his cheek. She stroked his cheek with the back of her hand until his breath evened out and he was asleep.

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The following week, Chloe had rescheduled her appointment and sat in the cold room, waiting for the doctor to come in. She was nervous but had no clue why. When the doctor came in, Chloe was relived it was a woman. She felt funny having a guy for this sort of thing.

“Chloe Gardner?” the doctor said and smiled warmly. She was a tall woman, with short, light-brown hair. She was dressed in blue hospital scrubs and a lab coat. She looked over Chloe’s chart quickly and sat down.

“Yes, that would be me.” Chloe felt so vulnerable in the paper gown she wore and nothing was going to take away the nervousness of what she came here for.

“I’m Dr. King. Is this your first visit to a gyn?”

Chloe wondered if the doctor could see how nervous she was. She faked a smile and asked, “How could you tell?”

“Your knuckles are white. Here’s what we are going to do. I’m going to examine you and then we can talk. Sound like a plan?” she asked, putting down the chart and then washing her hands.

Chloe nodded, and then lay back on the table.

After about fifteen minutes, the doctor took off her gloves and wrote some notes. “Okay, let’s talk. I can see you’re not sexually active. Everything looks good. Period normal?” she questioned.

“Ahh, yep, no complaints.” Chloe faked a smile. This was one of the most embarrassing things she‘d gone through and she still hadn’t gotten to talking about going on the pill.

“So, why are you here? Normally, a girl your age doesn’t come to me unless there is a problem,” she asked.

“I wanted to talk about going on the pill,” Chloe said shyly. She could feel her cheeks get red; she felt hot suddenly, like this was too much to ask.

The doctor nodded her head. “Boyfriend?”

“Yeah. But he isn’t pressuring me, if that’s what you think. We just talked about it and I thought this would be the best answer when it came to protection,” Chloe explained, trying not to sound like a child or like she was being forced to do this.

Dr. King looked at her for a long time. “Not that it is any of my business, but has he been active?”

She felt stupid suddenly. “No, we’re both virgins.”

“Okay, I’m getting the picture. You’re in love, or at least you think you are. You’ve been talking about going further. So, here is what I’m going to do. As much as I want to tell you that it would be so much better to wait, I know kids these days, and I have dealt with a lot of teen pregnancies. You seem like a really smart kid and it’s obvious that you have thought this all through. I’m going to give you a sample pack and a prescription. You need to wait at least two months before you can have unprotected sex, and I’m hoping in that two months you two decide to wait a little longer.” She wrote out the prescription and handed it to her, along with the sample. “And, Chloe, I don’t want to see you in here for a pregnancy test.” Dr. King left her alone with that thought.

Chloe changed into her clothes and went back out to the waiting room. She looked at the bus schedule to see when the next bus to take was. Putting on her coat, she heard a familiar voice and dropped everything she was holding.

“Chloe, what are you doing here?” Gina looked really surprised that she was not at school.

“I was just getting a checkup. I’m off to school now.” Chloe got suddenly nervous.

“Well, if you give me a minute, I’ll give you a ride. I just have to pick something up.” Gina smiled as the nurse called her back.

“Ah, okay.” Chlo felt sick. Gina was going to find out what she was doing there. She would be furious with them for even thinking this. Now more than ever, she wished she’d gone to the clinic.

The car ride with Gina had been painful. They talked about school and college. She seemed to be skirting around why Chloe had been to the doctor. Gina left her off at the school entrance and waved as she drove away.

Chloe went in and was shutting her locker while she took a deep breath.

“So how did it go?” Nick hobbled up to her locker.

She looked at him and rolled her eyes. “Nicholas, why aren’t you using the crutches? Your leg isn’t going to get any better if you don’t start listening to what the doctor said.”

He squinted his eye at her and gave her a suspicious look. “I can’t carry my books and use the crutches. Is something wrong? You don’t usually snap at me like that.”

“I’m sorry, just stressing. We have a problem.” She laid her head on his shoulder, needing to feel his embrace.

He pushed her away and looked at her face, down to her stomach. “What kind of problem? I mean, we were really careful that day and didn’t do anything that could happen—I don’t think—”

“Oh, my God, no! That would be a nightmare!” she said quickly after seeing his reaction. “Your mother was there when I got done. She knows my doctor.”

“Please tell me you didn’t see Dr. King. Donna King?” He ran his hands over his face and through his hair.

“Yeah, that’s her.” Chloe sighed and started to class.

“She can’t say anything, right? Doctors are not supposed to if you sign that paper about keeping quiet,” he said as he put his hand on her arm.

“I signed the paper. I just know she knows. She was acting strange when she brought me to school. Nick, I’m sorry. I didn’t know she knew your mom,” Chloe continued as they entered the classroom.

“Great, just great. It’s not your fault. Don’t worry about it. I’ll handle her,” Nick replied, taking his seat.

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When he got home after dropping Chloe off at work, he went into the kitchen and found his mother. He wanted to act normal and, hopefully, she wouldn’t ask any questions. “Hey, Mom, how was your day?” Nick said, trying to feel her mood.

“Good. How was yours?” she asked him as she was washing up lettuce for a salad.

“Good. I got a lot of homework to do, so I’m just going to run and get that done.” He started to back out of the kitchen, but because of the braces on his leg, he wasn’t quick enough.

“I saw Chloe today.”

Nick stopped dead in his tracks. “Really? Where?”

“At my friend’s office. You remember Donna?”

“Yeah. Mark had the hots for her,” Nick joked and again, tried to leave.

“I gave Chloe a ride to school and there’s something I want to talk to you about.” She put the lettuce in the bowl and started drying her hands on a towel.

He knew it was coming. She was going to ask him and he didn’t know what to say.

“Nick, why was she at the doctor today? Is there something going on that I don’t know about? See, if you come clean, I will make sure that when I kill you, it will be painless,” she said and crossed her arms over her chest.

“For you or me?” He faked a laugh.

“Nicholas, start talking.”

“I don’t know. Girl problems, I guess. I really don’t want to know what goes on there. She just said she had a doctor’s appointment today and that she would be late for school,” he lied, hoping she would drop it there.

She came around the counter and sat at the table. “Sit!” she insisted and then waited for him to do as she asked. “Two weeks ago, I thought I’d lost you in the accident. Now, I’m sitting here wondering what to do about the things that could be going on with you and Chloe.” She took his hand and touched his ring. “Do you remember the day I gave this to you? Do you remember what we talked about beforehand?”

“Yeah. You said that someday, I’m going to meet this incredible girl who I would fall madly in love with. That no matter how much we are in love, by saving ourselves until we got married, it would make it all the more special and meaningful. That there are girls who are going to tempt me, but as long as I stayed true to myself and my beliefs, that this special girl would love me all the more for it.” He remembered almost word for word, because she had drummed it into his head enough.

“I know how you feel about Chloe. Believe it or not, I feel that way about your dad. Maybe, he should be the one who really needs to talk to you about this, but as your mom, I want to. I don’t know what you two are thinking, but I hope that you both will really, I mean really, Nicholas, think about this before you do something you both may regret. Do you understand what I’m trying to say to you?” she asked him as she squeezed his hand.

“Yeah, Mom, I do. Don’t worry. We haven’t done anything like that, and it’s like the furthest thing from our minds.” The lying was coming too quickly now. He hated himself for lying to her face, but she didn’t understand how they felt about each other. She could never understand the connection they had. It wasn’t like them or when they grew up. Mark had said the same thing, but the more Nick saw him with Claire, he knew Mark was full of it.

Gina touched his face. “Nicholas, no matter what you do in your life, you’re always going to be my little boy. The one who would rather help me make cookies than play in the dirt with your brothers. Just be smart.”

 
Later, Chloe got into his car and she looked like she was going to collapse. “How was your night?” she asked him as she leaned over and kissed his cheek.

“I got cornered by my mom,” he stated and put the car in drive.

“Oh, no! What did she say?”

“The stuff a mother is supposed to say. I felt like such a dick lying to her,” he said softly.

“What did you lie to her about?” She was confused as to what happened.

He shook his head and took her hand. “That we haven’t even thought of doing anything.”

Chloe was quiet for a minute. “Are you having second thoughts?”

“I don’t know. You said we have to wait two months?” he questioned, trying to remember what she’d told him.

“Yeah, that’s what the doctor said. Nick, we don’t have to take this step. I know we both said we’re ready, but we don’t have to.”

“So, are you having second thoughts?” he questioned her.

She looked down at her hands and started playing with her ring. “I’m just confused now as to what to do. I hate that it’d come down to you having to lie lying now about us, and as long as we’re together, it really shouldn’t matter. It just feels so wrong suddenly to even want to go that far. I mean, when we’re together, alone, everything just feels right between us and it only feels natural to go further. Maybe we should think about this some more.”