Spencer's Face (Buckeye Hawks) (38 page)

I had to fix
this. I hoped I wasn’t too late. I jumped out of the car as fast as I could,
and walked quickly toward her Hummer, beating her there. When she spotted me,
she quickly put her hands over her stomach and ducked behind the Mexican guy.

“I’ve already
seen you, Taylor.” I called out to her.

I thought for a
second that she was going to run. That would be stupid. She turned around to
face me. She had a scared look on her face. She walked around to the side of
her Hummer, and handed her keys to the Mexican guy. He got into the car using
the keys. She spoke Spanish to him again. Apparently she told him that we
needed to talk. Boy did we need to talk. I was so mad at her that I could yell
right now.

I walked up to
her. I was close to her, but I couldn’t reach out and touch her. “I’m
pregnant.” She said weakly.

“You don’t say.”
I said snidely to her. “You were going to have our baby and not even tell me?”

“Yes. I didn’t
want to ruin your life. And, this is entirely my fault.”

“Why would you
say that? I was there too.” I argued with her. What was going on?

“I think it
happened that first night, under the cottonwood tree, when I jumped on top of
you. So it was entirely my fault. It’s not fair that you have to pay for this
too.”

“There’s no way
for you to know that. It could have been one of the many other times. It
doesn’t matter whose fault it is. It’s
our
baby.”

“I’m giving you
an out. You don’t have to even acknowledge this baby. I will take care of her
by myself, completely. I’ll turn eighteen and get my money, then I’ll move to
California to raise her.”

“I don’t want an
out. I want in. I want you, and I want her. I don’t want my daughter raised
without me.” I told her firmly, then I grabbed her face and pulled it to me. I
kissed her. I had to kiss her. I needed her so badly. Not sexually. I just
needed her, needed to feel her, feel her lips. I felt her melt into me and kiss
me back. Just like that, all my pain was gone. “Now you need to get rid of your
boyfriend so we can get back together.”

She looked
confused for a quick second. “Oh. That’s my cousin.”

I was elated to
hear that news. I laughed at her. I pulled away from her and rubbed her arms
all the way down. When I went to grab her hands, I felt her bracelet. She was
wearing the bracelet that I’d given her months ago. “You’re wearing it. Why?”

“I love it.” she
said flatly. “And, I love you. Just because I couldn’t be with you, didn’t mean
I wasn’t still your girl.”

I hugged her
close again. “I love you.”

“Can I give you a
ride home? Or can we stay in a hotel tonight?” she asked me.

I nodded. “Let me
go tell Janel and Todd. I’ll be right back.” I walked over and stepped into the
backseat of Janel’s car. “I’m going to stay the night with her somewhere
tonight, and we’re going to talk.”

“So, you’re
getting back together?” Janel asked.

“Definitely.” I
told her.

She smiled at me.

“You’re sure it’s
yours?” Todd asked me.

“Absolutely
sure.” I told him firmly.

“I had to ask.”
He apologized.

“I’ll call you
tomorrow.” I told Janel and Todd, then stepped out of their car.

When I came back
to the Hummer, her cousin was in the back seat. I stepped into the passenger
seat. “Hi, I’m Spencer.” I turned around to shake his hand.

“Gordon.” He
said. “So you’re Taylor’s baby’s daddy?”

I laughed at him.
“Yes I am. It might take me a while to get used to hearing that though.”

He seemed like a
nice enough guy. He was Taylor’s family, and she lived with him and his family
at the moment. I was hoping to remedy that soon. We pulled into a house outside
of Avondale. It was small. We went inside. Her aunt was there. Taylor introduced
me. She hugged me immediately.

Taylor showed me
the video of her ultrasound which was kind of scary. It made it seem more real
to me. I was going to be a father, to a little baby girl.

“Are you having
second thoughts?” she asked. “You can still take that out.”

“I want in.” I
told her. “She’s my daughter too, not just yours.”

We left shortly
after that. We rented a hotel room in Buckeye to stay the night. I was ecstatic
to be making love to her again. I’d missed her so much.

“So, tell me the
truth. Did I smother you too much?” I asked her as we sat on the bed.

“No. I smothered
you!” She said as she put her arms around my neck. “Can I smother you some
more?”

I pushed her down
backwards on the bed. “Any time you want. Let me see your stomach.” I raised
her top to see her stomach.

Oh man, it was
huge. Well, not huge, but way bigger than it used to be. I rubbed it. It was
really hard to believe that there was a baby in there. Then the baby kicked me,
actually moved my hand. I laughed. “That’s the coolest thing.” I told her.

She laughed. “Are
you going to be embarrassed if I go to school with you tomorrow?”

“No. Not at all.”
I assured her. I’d be proud to be by her side. It was my baby too.

“I love you.” She
said, kissing me. “Have you dated since I left?”

“No way.” I
looked at her shocked, then wondered why she asked. “Did you?”

“No.” she
laughed. “Your daughter is not a big guy magnet.”

She pointed at
her big stomach.

I kissed it. “I’m
glad to hear that.”

“Why didn’t you
date? Sandy said you and Grace were kind of seeing each other. And, I know
there were several girls interested in you before I left.” she asked.

“Grace and I
never went out. I wasn’t interested in anyone except you. You are a very hard
girl to get over. Plus, I didn’t want to date anyone that wasn’t interested in
me before my face was fixed.”

She rubbed my face.
“I’ve missed you so much. I want you.”

“I guess we don’t
need condoms this time.” I joked with her.

We made love. It
was incredible. I’d been waiting so long to have sex with her again. I thought
I’d never get my chance again. She felt so fantastic. It was a little tricky
working around her stomach, but we managed just fine. We’d definitely have to
get creative when her stomach grew.

The next day, I
drove a big yellow Hummer to school with my pregnant girlfriend in tow. I
opened the door when we arrived to let her out. All eyes were on us. I knew it.
She knew it. I was so happy to be with Taylor again that I didn’t mind. Taylor
was extremely embarrassed to be pregnant and returning to school.

“I need to go to
the office to check back in.” she told me.

I went to Senior
Pole to hang out while she checked herself in. I talked to Sally, Grace, Ryan, and
Shelly. We’d been chatting a lot lately for some reason. Zane came up while we
were talking. “I found her.” I told him.

“Taylor?” he
asked, excitedly. “You found Taylor?”

“You found
Taylor?” Ryan asked, suddenly more interested than he was a minute ago. Hell,
he turned around and gave me his full attention.

“Where? When?” Zane
asked anxiously.

“I did. She’s
checking back into school right now. She’s going to finish the year here.”

“No shit!” Zane
exclaimed excitedly. He was really happy to hear the news that she was back.
“I’m going to kick her ass when I see her.”

“You can’t do
that.” I warned him.

“Oh yes I can.
She blocked my calls. She deserves it.”

“You still can’t
do that.” I told him.

He gave me a
look.

“You’ll see why
in a minute.” I told him.

Grace and Shelly
gave me a look, too. Sandy and Dwayne came up while we were talking.

“Spencer said he
found Taylor.” Zane said to Sandy. “Is that true?”

Sandy gave a
confused look to us all. “She hasn’t said anything to me about that.”

“She’s checking
in now.” I told her.

“What? No way.
She wouldn’t do that. She’s too…” she stopped suddenly. She looked up to see
Taylor walking our way. “Okay, maybe she would.”

Sandy walked up
to her and put her arm around her. She was showing support for her best friend.
She knew Taylor would be embarrassed about returning to school. Zane’s mouth fell
open wide. He looked at me, but didn’t close his mouth.

“Holy shit!” He
exclaimed. “Congratulations?” he said unsure of what he should say exactly.

I laughed at him.
“Thanks.”

Taylor made it to
us finally, after Sandy finished rubbing her belly thoroughly. She hugged Zane
first. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t want you to tell anyone.” She said.

Zane didn’t say
anything. His mouth was still hanging open. Taylor reached up and shut it for
him. Sally was in shock, but she hugged her, too. Grace and Shelly rubbed her
stomach.

“No way!” Grace
said. “You did not get knocked up.”

Several other
kids joined in, saying hi to Taylor. All of the cheerleaders made their way to
talk to her. I stood by close, but not too closely. Jose walked up. I stepped
closer to her. We’d started letting him walk close to Senior Pole after Taylor
left, but we didn’t let him stay to talk. He stopped when he saw Taylor’s
stomach. He gave her a look.

“Whoa!” he said
to her.

I put my arms
around her and placed my hands on her stomach. I was marking my territory so to
speak. He shook his head, as if in pity. Screw him. He turned and walked away
after that.

“It’s so good to
have you back.” Several of the girls said.

Dwayne even
hugged her. Jim made his way through the crowd to her. He’d come back to school
a few weeks ago. We were almost friends nowadays. I still held my hands on her
stomach.

“No frickin’
way!” he exclaimed when he saw her stomach. “So glad it’s you and not me,
dude.”

“Me too!” I told
him.

He gave Taylor a
little hug after that. Almost everyone was nice to her, to her face anyway. I
heard some comments after they’d stepped away and thought no one could hear
them any longer. “Why would she do that?”, “I didn’t think she was that kind of
a girl.”, “There went that body.”, “Ooops!”, “Another statistic in Buckeye.”,
“Guess she trapped him.”

Some of the
comments were even worse, but I didn’t care. We’d get through it together.
Nothing mattered except Taylor, our daughter, and me. They could keep their
comments. I’d keep my new family. Taylor was family now. It dawned on me.
Should I make her family? I was eighteen. I was old enough to get married. She
was pregnant with my baby. She was emancipated. Damn, I really should be asking
her to marry me right now. I really wanted her to marry me.

I planned to stay
with Taylor in the hotel until we could find a place to rent in Buckeye
somewhere. Karen’s dad said he had a trailer, but I really wanted an apartment,
or a little house. We searched the internet, and called a realtor. Nothing was
available yet. After school, we went to my house to talk to Janel and Todd. We
took pizza to soften the blows.