Juilliard or Else (51 page)

"Fascinating how much life can change in twenty-four hours…how circumstances can draw two people together in the strangest ways. We're often so wrapped up in our own little minds, we fail to see the very thing happening around us, literally."

-Distractions by JL Brooks

Those words hit my heart with crushing force, turning my body inside out to help me see the bigger picture in my life. My tears leaked out and hit the cream pages. I looked back up at the moving planes. Was I wrapped up in my own little mind so much that I failed to see the Tucker I wanted to see? I was failing to see what was happening around me. With Alex and Carol, she was trying everything she could to get me to marry Alex. He didn't even want me and I was having another man's baby.

I couldn't do this. Decisions had to be made.

It felt like forever, waiting for Carol to finally join us at the gate, my brain racking so hard in my head with decisions that had to be made right this minute. When she finally showed up, she looked flushed and out of breath. She was up to something. Alex barely talked to me as we waited. I didn't want to give the impression that I wanted us to become an item, because I didn't. I paced back and forth, waiting for our plane to start loading passengers; the longer I waited, the more nervous I got, and more thoughts entered my mind that I was making a huge mistake. I gripped the book as tight as I could; my knuckles were starting to turn white.

You leave the country, I can't come after you. I hope you understand the decision you're making.

Tucker wouldn't be able to come after me and that scared me. What girl didn't want a boy chasing after her? It was the true kind of love story when any boy would come screaming through the airport, looking for the love of his life as she was getting ready to board a plane. I wanted it. I wasn't going to get it, though.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. We would like to start boarding for flight 4432 to Paris, France. We will start by boarding all first class passengers."

The lady over the intercom announced for our group to start boarding. I didn't move from my chair as Carol, Alex and my dad stood. Alex held a hand out to me and I stared at it. My time with Tucker flashed before my hands as I stared hard at Alex's hand. If I took it, this was it. I couldn't take it back. I put the book back in my purse and clutched the straps so tightly. I glanced at Carol who was glaring at me.

"Abigail, don't be rude." I started to shake from the anger starting to boil in my veins. I wasn't being rude. I was debating on a decision that didn't affect only me but my child too…Tucker's baby.

Carol walked over and shook my shoulders as if she was trying to shake me awake from whatever world I was in. "Abigail, I went to Tucker before I came here. I told him that you were leaving him. Marrying Alex, it's done. He doesn't want you. Now, get on that plane right now."

I sobbed. I really hoped none of her words were true. I didn't want it to be. I couldn't. I had to change it. Carol let me go with a little shove, but I didn't fall. I didn't belong here, not with Carol or Alex. This was no longer my world.

But he wasn't coming.

My heart was breaking for him to come to me, take me away from this world I no longer belonged in; I only belonged with Tucker.

"Abigail, come," Alex ordered to me, but I closed my eyes and tried to picture Tucker running through the airport.

"This is the last call for all first class passengers to board the plane," the lady announced over the speaker again.

"Abigail. Come, right now." Opening my eyes, I glared at him, the perfect Alex who everyone loved and adored. Alex, the perfect lawyer who didn't want anything to do with me, but wanted me to become a living object at his side. I wasn't going to do that. I pulled my phone out of my purse and slammed it down on the seat, making all my things scatter around everyone's feet.

No! I wasn't going to be a Carol!
I screamed at myself and took off through the airport.

"Abigail McCall!" Carol yelled after me, but I couldn't stop; I wouldn't. I belonged with Tucker, even if he didn't want me. I needed him.

I left Alex, Carol and my dad at the gate to the plane and ran like hell through the New York Airport. I was passing people so fast, they blurred by. I jumped over some luggage that was lying right in the way of my path, but I kept on running and I wasn't going to stop. My feet hit the carpet of the mini security pathway for the first class passengers as a security guard turned around in my path and I collided into his strong chest.

"Miss, be careful," he growled as I passed his body. I dialed Tucker's number again as I stopped and waited in line for a cab, holding my phone up to my ear as my other hand rubbed my barely showing belly. The phone still rang – no voicemail was picking up, nothing.

Grumbled angrily, I hit the red button to disconnect the call.

"Abigail!"

Looking over my shoulder at the call of my name. Alex's face was red from anger as he ran towards me.

Crap!

I finally got a guy to chase after me in the airport, but it wasn't the guy I wanted. I pushed and raced through the sea of people waiting in line in front of me.

"Excuse me, emergency!" I yelled to get people to move. "Come on, people, move!" Some people pushed me back, called me a line cutter, but I didn't care, I just needed to get as far away as I possibly could from Alex. The look on his face wasn't pleasant looking.

The first taxi I saw had an elderly lady trying to get in it. I couldn't push her and take her cab, so I stopped and waited. People still gave me small pushes on my back while hissing at me. When I finally came to the top of the line, I looked back, seeing Alex pushing through the same crowd I just passed.

Crap!

Very quickly, another cab came up to the curb and I made my way to the guy holding the door, who tried to shut the door at my approach.

"No, no, no. Girlie, get in the back of the line." He pointed to the crowd behind me, some of them yelling, "Yeah!"

Breathlessly I said, "You don't understand, I'm being chased. I
need
to get out of here," I pleaded with the guy. Looking behind me again, I saw Alex gaining on me the longer I stood here. "Please!" I saw the guy's eyes move in the distance over my shoulder, then someone grabbed my arm, hard.

He spun me around. His blue eyes were deep with fury and dark. "Abigail, what are you doing?" Alex yelled in my face.

"Let go, Alex!" I tried wrenching my arm away from him, but he gripped harder on me and squeezed so hard I cried out in pain.

"Alex, stop! You're hurting me!" I cried and he ignored my cries, turning us around to start dragging me back to the front entrance of the airport. We bumped into people as I fought against his hold. People were gasping at the scene we were making, but no one was helping me. I twisted my arm, but he gripped harder. His looks were starting to scare me so badly; I knew he was going to hurt me. I yelped one more time as he bent my arm behind my back to hold me still. My shoulder aching, I ended up on my toes to help the burning pain in my shoulder.

"Alex, stop!"

"HEY!" someone called out. Alex and I both turned around to see the guy who was stopping me from getting the cab, standing off to the side of us. His fist cocked back and came swinging, hitting Alex right in the jaw. Alex went down, not letting go of my arm and I fell on top of him. Pain shot through from my elbow up to my shoulder, and I cried out. I looked up to see the man who hit Alex reach at me and I cringed back, afraid he would hit me, too.

"Come on, girlie." He suddenly scooped me up and jogged towards the line of cabs waiting. Another guy was holding the door open as the other slid me in the back seat and buckled me up.

"I'm sorry, girlie, that I didn't help you. Here," He held out some money for me to take.

I shook my head, "No, I can't take your money." Tears streaked down my face from the pain in my arm. The guy didn't listen and tossed the bills over the seat to the driver, "Take her anywhere. GO!" He slammed the door and the cab screeched away from the curb. I didn't dare to look back and see Alex standing at the curb.

"Where to, girlie?"

I looked up and met the cabbie's eyes in the rearview mirror. "Bushwick, Brooklyn please." I sat back and winced at the pain radiating up my arm. My cell rang and I fished it out of my pocket; I groaned when I saw Carol's name across the screen, deciding if I should actually take the call, or just toss my phone out the window all together.

"Hello?"

"Abigail, don't you dare go to him," Carol yelled. I had to pull the phone away from my ear at her screeching voice on the receiving end. "What are you thinking? You get back here right now!"

"I'm going, Carol, I love him."

"He can't take care of you or that baby of his. You know he can't! He deals drugs, Abigail. He's a loser."

I rolled my eyes. "Yes he can, and money doesn't mean everything, Carol. I want to be with him, it's him I choose," I snapped back at her. I heard Carol protest and some ruffles like someone was trying to take the phone away from her.

"Carol, enough!" I heard my dad yell, and then he came on the line, "Abigail?"

I got nervous, afraid he was going to tell me to come back as well, "Yes, Daddy?" I gripped the phone and waited for his response.

"Tell Kyle hello, and be careful."

"Daddy, I need his address. I don't know where he lives."

More tears shed from my eyes as I hung up the phone and stuffed it back into my pocket.

The ride to Brooklyn was very uncomfortable. I rested my head on the back and watched the passing buildings of Tucker's rundown neighborhood. If I had one word to describe Brushwick, it would be "scary". This was the scariest place; no wonder when I asked Tucker to take me to his home, he refused. He flat out told me, "You can't go there, ever." Now I understood what he meant; I was afraid of the group of people we passed on the sidewalk. I was afraid of the broken glass windows in the graffiti covered buildings.

When we came to a stop at his building, I was afraid to get out of the cab, but I couldn't stop myself now. I stepped on the sidewalk, placing my hand on my little baby bump as I made my way to the front door. I tried to open it, but it was locked. I saw the little numbers of the apartment number and read Tori Tucker 416. I pushed the little button and the deep buzz sounded in my ears.

"Yea." A very descrambled female voice came over the speaker.

"Is Tucker home?"

"Who is this?"

"It's Abigail McCall. Is Tucker here?" I rested my hand on the brick wall, trying not to groan because of the pain in my elbow and shoulder. My hair curtained around my face as I waited. The door suddenly opened and a group of guys almost ran me over. One bumped into me and I hissed in pain. They turned.

"Oh, who you here to see?" one asked.

I had wedged myself between the door and a corner of the building. I shut my eyes and that's when I heard his voice.

"Hey!"

I opened my eyes to see Tucker standing there at the end of the pathway, wearing his gray hoodie with his hood pulled up. The guys parted around me as Tucker approached us.

"Oh hey, Tucker. This one yours?" The same guy that talked to me asked Tucker.

"Yeah, back off. She's mine."

My Tucker I fell in love with over six months ago was back, the father of our child growing inside me. A sob escaped my lips as I rushed over to him and crashed into his chest, crying on his shoulder as he held me tight against him. The other guys walked around us, leaving me be.

"Where have you been?" I mumbled into the fabric of his hoodie. "I have been trying to call you," I said as more sobs came out.

"I threw my phone at the wall and I just went to the bank. I thought you were at the airport; you were going to leave me. I thought I lost you for good. Gabs, let me explain what you saw. I'm not gonna lie. Yes, I was dealing, but I was getting rid of it all. I told them not to contact me – to go straight to Ethan."

I pulled back. "I know. I panicked. I'm sorry. I could never leave you, Tucker. I love you and I want to be with you. We are going to be a family." I took his hand to lay it on my little round stomach. "We want you, only you. I don't want anything else besides you," His hand rubbed my belly in little circles and his eyes filled up with tears. He looked relieved, almost as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He let out a breath and looked at me in the eyes.