So Suddenly (Can a franchise last four stories?)

[Seyary_Minamoto]

good update

[xSexybackx]

I fucking LOVE your story!!!!>..I read like the whole story in 4 or 5 days.. I fucking love it!!

[White Night Fantasy]

sooo you gonna update??

[waitingxforxyou]

Oh my goodness.

Chapter Three

“Now, what do the directions say again?” Avril turns the box upside-down.

“You don’t need the directions,” Riley reminds her. “You pee on a stick, wait ten minutes, and voila.”

“I never used a pregnancy test before. I just knew and went to the doctor for confirmation.”

“I used one for Lilly, but before that, I--” Riley immediately stops, horror battling with sadness at her near confession. She knows what the rest of the sentence would have been: with the baby I lost, I went to the doctor.

But the only people who know about it are me, Evan, my sister, and my band mates, she thinks. She and Evan had agreed that the experience was painful enough, and didn’t need to be shared with anyone else. So Avril definitely couldn’t know.

To her surprise, however, when she looks up, Avril is nodding. “Before…with the baby you lost?”

Riley simply stares at her. For the second time that day, she is unsure of what to feel. So many emotions are bubbling to the surface. Anger is at the forefront.

“How the hell do you know about that?” she practically spits.

“I…I mean, I shouldn’t have—“ Avril is clearly embarrassed at the slip of the tongue.

“Shouldn’t have what? Known about it? Or told me you know about it?”

“Both! Oh, Riley, I’m sorry! Please let—“ Avril reaches for her hand.

“Let you what?” Riley steps out of her reach and grits her teeth. Deep down, she knows it’s not that bad, that Avril is not at fault, but she can’t push down the scathing words. “That’s the real reason you invited me here, isn’t it? You want help, yeah, but of a different kind. You already know you’re pregnant, don’t you? And you want me help to cover it up and hide it from Deryck! Because you know I already tried to do the same thing! And Evan shouldn’t have told you! You—“

“Riley, calm down!” Avril grabs her shoulders her voice is pleading. “Please calm down! That’s not it at all!”

Riley clenches her firsts by her sides, silently waiting.

“I shouldn’t have brought it up. I’m sorry,” Avril says. “But no, I didn’t invite you here for that. And Evan didn’t volunteer the information, it just popped out…like what you almost did now. So please don’t be mad at him, because he didn’t mean to say it, and I didn’t mean to hear it. Okay?”

Riley nods.

“And I would never lie just to get you to help me, and certainly not lie to anyone else.”

“I guess that would be a bit silly, wouldn’t it?” riley fiddles with the edges of the box, turning it over and over in her hands. “I didn’t mean to jump down your throat either. It’s a sensitive subject, is all.”

“I’d be shocked if it wasn’t. You’re…you’re not over it, are you?”

“I don’t know if it’s a question of being over it or not,” Riley says carefully. “It’s more a question of acceptance. It’s one of the hardest things in the world when you can’t find something or someone to blame for a terrible accident. And it’s harder when you have to point the finger at yourself.”

Avril rushes to her defense. “But it wasn’t your fault! Things happen.”

“Yeah. Things can change or happen so suddenly.” Riley sets aside the box. “I know it’s not my fault. I’ve finally accepted that. But I can’t accepted that it happened. Sometimes…I think about what my life would be like now. Would I still have Lilly and Josh? Would Evan and I have become as close as we are? But it’s like…would I have done anything different? If I could go back in time, would I have acted another way? And no, I wouldn’t have. I would’ve kept it hidden from Evan all over again.”

“I would’ve done the same thing. Anyone in our position would have. The guys, they just don’t get it. They’re not the ones who have to give so much up. They don’t understand. It’s like they don’t want to.”

“If they did…they wouldn’t…they just wouldn’t…”

“Yeah…”

There’s silence between the two. An unspoken bond has somehow begun to form, an almost friendship, and it’s nice. It’s even nicer to realize that you never knew you were alone before in something, and you don’t have to alone in it again.

* * * * *

“You’d think with today’s technology they’d have better at home pregnancy tests. But no, it’s still pee on a stick and wait.”

“Seriously.” Avril glares at the stick. “Hurry up, plastic piece of shit. The kids will be up soon!”

Riley readjust her position on the edge of the marble Jacuzzi tub. “I don’t see why I had to take one. I’m not pregnant. I haven’t seen Evan for over two months.”

“I didn’t want to wait alone, biting my nails. Dammit, has it been ten minutes yet?”

Riley looks at the clock. “Oh, yeah.”

“Good.” Avril snatches up the stick and the directions. “One line…that means…thank God, I’m not pregnant.”

“I’m glad Deryck can’t hear you say that. He’d get the wrong idea.”

“Men are wrong ideas,” Avril quips.

“Some of them are, at least. Come on.” Riley jumps up. “Let’s go check on the kids.”

“Okay.” Avril goes to throw away the pregnancy kit box. She pauses by Riley’s test. “…Are you sure you don’t want to check yours?”

“Why should I? I already know what it says.” Riley leans against the bathroom doorframe, one hand in the pocket of her jeans.

“Well, okay, if you’re sure,” Avril says uncertainly. She turns to the trashcan.

Something in her face stabs at Riley’s security. It can’t be positive, she thinks, it just can’t be. “Uh…maybe I will take a look…”

She walks over to the counter and stares at the test. It’s not, it can’t be…”Two lines means…what?” she croaks.

Avril double-checks the directions. “Positive.”

“What?” Riley snatches the directions from Avril’s hands. “There’s no way! It’s impossible! Unless I’m having the next Christ child or something, it--”

“Riley, calm down. Let me read over the directions again. Maybe it’s a false positive?”

“I can’t be calm, I don’t understand how this happened! I—“ She stops and stares at the test. “Why is it one line now?”

“It changed? Just like that? Oh!” Avril slaps a hand to her forehead. “I know! You took yours after me! Your ten minutes wasn’t up!”

“Oh.”

“It’s negative.”

Riley sinks onto the edge of the tub again. “That’s…good.”

“Yeah, it is. You don’t look very happy about it though.”

“I’m fine. It’s fine.” Riley perks up. “Let’s go see if the kids are awake yet.”

They are, and a few hours later, Riley, Lilly, and Josh are prepared to leave.

“We should do this again sometime,” Avril says while seeing them out the door. “With or without the kids.”

“Yes, that would be nice. Thanks for having us over today.” Riley leads the kids to the car.

“Thanks! Bye!” Lilly gives Avril one of her slow, princess waves and Josh stares forlornly over Riley’s shoulder, sad at leaving.

“That was so much fun, Mommy,” Lilly says. She stares serenely out of the window.

“I’m glad you had a good time, sweetheart.” Riley peers at Josh in the rearview mirror. “Josh, did you have a good time too?”

“I tired,” he says in place of an answer.

At home, Lilly decides that they should have pancakes for dinner, so Riley gets out the ingredients and starts mixing the batter. Lilly helps by throwing in chocolate chips; Josh is content on the floor with one of his toys.

“Mommy, I’m a good cook!” Lilly declares, biting into her syrup-covered pancakes.

“Yes, you did a great job.” Riley smiles at her and cuts up Josh’s food.

“I want Daddy to call.”

“Me want Daddy!” Josh bangs his fork on his highchair tray.

“Daddy will call soon. We just have to be patient. He’s working very hard for us, and for the fans.”

“What are the fans?”

“Well.” Riley clears her throat, wondering how best to explain the concept. “The fans are people like me and you who really like something. Daddy’s fans like his music, and Daddy too.”

“They can’t like Daddy!” Lilly protests. “He’s my Daddy!”

“Of course he’s your daddy. But other people can like him too.”

“Oh.” Lilly appears to be thinking this over. “Do you have fans, Mommy?”

“I…” Riley stares at the few pieces of pancake left on her plate. “I hope so, sweetheart. I hope so.”

* * * * * *

Riley closes the door to Josh’s bedroom with a soft click. She tiptoes to her own bedroom and shuts the door.

She sighs as she climbs into bed. The sheets are cool against her skin and it’s relaxing. However, her thoughts won’t allow her to stay relaxed.

I acted terribly at Avril’s house today, she thinks. Freaking out over a possible baby. It’s not like I don’t want to have more kids.

But no more for right now. I want to get my career back in shape.

It is ironic to her that the one fear she has about her “comeback” was voiced by her daughter at dinner. Will I have any fans? Will anyone still care?

I won’t think about that right now. I’ll think about it later.

The phone rings abruptly, and she’s grateful for the interruption. She doesn’t like where her mind was leading her. She’s so caught up in her own thoughts that she forgets who the person on the other line will be.

“Hello?”

“Hey pumpkin.”

“Evan!” Riley sits up, instantly awake. “Hi!”

“Sounds like you’re happy to hear from me,” Evan says. She can hear the laughter in his voice, and she knows he’s smiling.

“You know I am. Of course, the kids and I are very upset with you.”

“What? Why?” The smile is fading.

“We haven’t had a call from you in a few days.”

“Oh, that,” Evan says casually, “is because the other nights I was calling my other family. Duh.”

“Mm-hmm.” Riley picks a piece of lint off of the comforter. “Can I get names, addresses, social security numbers?”

“You planning to take ‘em out?”

“I have to, don’t I? You’re mine, no one else can have you.”

“I love when you get so possessive over me. Hold on a sec.” There’s a lot of static, and then Evan says, “Riley? You still there?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. The real reason I haven’t called lately is that we’ve been so busy I haven’t had time. I end up falling into bed at night. I’m sorry, I’ll do better.”

“I was teasing you. Nobody is mad. We just miss you.”

“I miss you all too, so much. Are the kids there?”

“They’re asleep.”

“Oh. Don’t wake them up. I’ll catch them another day.” Evan can’t hide the disappointment in his voice, and Riley frowns.

I should’ve let the kids stay up longer, but how was I to know he’d call?

“Mommy, I can’t sleep.” Lilly suddenly walks into the room, rubbing on eye. Her face brightens. “Is that Daddy?”

Oh crap, the rest is in my notebook at school.

[elastics.]

"Yes, it is Daddy, but I left the rest of him in a notebook at school..."

"Esss--xxxuse me?" Lily wrinkles her nose, not understanding how you could leave a person in a notebook.

"Lily, dear, it's grown-up euphemisms," Riley sighs as she pats Lily's head lovingly.

AHHH. I LOVE YOU, NICOLE!! Escriba, escriba.

[xSexybackx]

Great Update..too bad the rest is in your notebook at school now

[Phili]

Cute.

Av seems very confused in this story.