Chapter 66: That's What Friends are For

By the time Melissa gets to Markus and Mel’s house, she is surprisingly calm. Well, to be honest, she is numb. Markus opens the door, and she collapses in his arms, as if she does not have the energy to move. She is shocked when he scoops her up and takes her into the living room. He simply holds her until she has the energy to sit up and look around her.

Mel is sitting by the side of her and she suddenly realizes how strange this must be, her sitting in Markus’s lap. She scrambles off Markus and starts to apologize, but they simply stick her on the couch between the two of them, Markus with his arm around her shoulders and Mel with her hand held tight.

Markus breaks the awkward silence. “Melissa, you’re our friend and friends comfort each other when they need it. Now, tell us what is wrong and so we know what we can do to make things better.”

Melissa starts at how they were discussing purchasing the house when Jeremy’s mother and Vanessa showed up. She tells them everything she overheard and saw. By the time she finishes, she is exhausted again. Mel is just listening and squeezing her hand while Markus is acting like an overprotective brother.

“I’m gonna kill him.” Markus promises and takes out his phone.

“No, Markus.” Melissa reaches out and squeezes his hand. “It is what it is. He was with her longer before he met me.”

“But I know he is crazy in love with you. I don’t think he has been back in New York since he came here. And if he had been, I can’t see him having anything to do with her. Not after she slept with his best friend.” Mel gasps at that. I guess she didn’t know that part. Markus is thinking hard about all this.

“I guess she was pregnant when he left,” Mel suggests.

Markus starts to speak, but Melissa puts up her hand. “Just let it go, Markus. I know you are only trying to look out for me but I just can’t deal with any more “what ifs.” I’m just done. If you want to do something for me, leave Jeremy alone.”

As if she summoned him up, Markus’s phone goes off and the display shows Jeremy’s name. He looks up at Melissa, questioningly. “Please, don’t tell him I’m here. I need to figure out what I’m going to do next. Just let me stay the night but please don’t tell him I’m here.”

Markus nods and puts the phone in his pocket, letting it go to voicemail.

“Thank you so much, Markus. And you too Mel. I’m sorry to crash in on you like this but I really needed some friendly faces.” Melissa smiles up at them with watery eyes.

Mel rises. “Come on, let's get you set up in my old room.” She blushes as she realizes what she said. Markus stands and gives Melissa a hug, but doesn’t say a word. Melissa can tell that he is trying hard to hold back his thoughts.

Then minutes later, Mel comes back to the living room to see Markus staring at his cell. She puts her hand over his. “I know you are in a hard spot here. You promised her you wouldn’t tell him where she was.”

Markus looks up at her with conflicting emotions. “I know, but I just listened to his voicemail. He is not taking this well. He is really worried. I can’t help but think about what he must be going through.” Markus gets up and paces, just as his phone rings again. He glances down at it and curses.

Running his hands through his hair, he thinks aloud, like he always does when trying to figure things out. “It just makes no sense. Why, after all this time, would she just show up pregnant? I know he was getting so many calls from her and the guy she slept with that Jeremy had to change his cell number. Why would she not tell him the first chance she got if she was so desperate to get him back? And I know they had no plans of having children. He told me that. She was adamant that she didn’t want children, and he went along with it.”

“Maybe that’s why she didn’t tell him.” Mel suggests. “She thought he wouldn’t want the child. Or maybe she was deciding for herself what she was going to do?”

His phone shows he has another voicemail and then it shows a text message. He looks at Mel pleadingly. “I gotta at least let him know she is safe.”

“Okay. But make it clear to him he is not to come over here. He needs to give her some space and get this other shit figured out.” Mel instructs.

With that, Markus shoots him off a message and waits for a reply. After several minutes of nothing, he continues. “Or maybe the baby is not his? I mean if she slept with his best friend, there were probably other’s right?”

Mel shrugs, “or maybe you just want to think the best of your friend and you can’t see him for what he really is?” She suggests.

Markus sighs and sits back down on the couch. He takes out his phone and looks at it. Still no response from Jeremy. He pulls Mel close to him and inhales her scent. It instantly calms him. God, he doesn’t want to lose her again or Lucas. He thinks back to when Jeremy found out about Melissa being pregnant, even before that when he didn’t even know her last name. He remembers the look on Jeremy’s face that day when she walked in to argue her dissertation. He knew then his friend was in deep. He really hoped he hadn’t misjudged Jeremy.

Suddenly, they hear loud groaning and sobbing. Both look up at the same time and see Melissa bent over, tears streaming down her face and her arms wrapped around her stomach. She is deathly pale. They jump up and run to her. Markus puts his arm around under her arms for support.

“Melissa, what’s wrong?” Mel asks.

“The baby.” She sobs. “Something wrong, blood.”

She is wearing one of Markus’s old dress shirts, and it goes down to mid-thigh. They can see blood making its way down her inner thighs.

“Phone. Pocket. Call an ambulance.” Markus says as he leads her to a chair and Mel calls for help. While she is on the phone with dispatch, she goes to retrieve her own phone and hands it to Markus. She doesn’t need to say a thing. He knows she is telling him to call Jeremy.

Markus calls, but Jeremy doesn’t answer. He leaves a message telling him to call him right back, it’s an emergency. This is not something he wants to leave a message regarding. By the time the ambulance leaves with Melissa, Mel following close behind, he still hasn’t heard from Jeremy. Markus calls his parents. After explaining the situation, they are on their way to come stay with Lucas so that Markus can go to the hospital and hopefully track down Jeremy on his way.