whirlwind

Two - Confusion

"Where the hell have you been?"

Cara snapped her head around, Benjamin jogging to her side. She scoffed as he wrapped his arm around her, the girl's head resting on his shoulder.

"I was sick," Cara huffed.

After her nausea incident, her mother insisted she stay home, so she missed classes for a whole half of a week. Naturally, she assumed it was a stomach bug,

"Sick?"

"Yes, Ben, sick," She told him as they walked towards their second class of the day, English. Fortunately for them, college had favored them and they had managed to secure spots in almost all the same classes.

"Are you kidding me? Cara, You haven't been sick in like ten years!"

"You haven't known me for ten years," she gently reminded him, ignoring his scowl.

"Yes, but I know you're never sick."

Cara shook her head, laughing as they walked into the class, taking their seats.

English droned on as usual - boring and useless. English was always a strong subject for the girl, and she didn't find the class at all important.

Ben leaned over after a moment, offering Cara a half of his sesame bagel. However, to his surprise, she nearly gagged at the sight. Sesame bagels were Cara's favorite, and she had never turned one down.

After a little longer, half way through the lecture, a large shriek echoed as soon as Benjamin had figured something out.

Cara turned to the left to see the cause of the noise, being shocked when she saw that Benjamin had shoved his seat out, the desk toppling to the floor.

"Mr. Lassiter!" The Professor scolded, looking down her nose at him.

Benjamin, instead, payed no mind, grabbing his stuff and hastily exiting the classroom, paying no mind as Cara's hand encircled his wrist in an attempt to stop him.

She quickly made up her mind as soon as he left the room.

He was her best friend, after all. So she reached for her things and followed him after, ignoring the bizarre looks given.

"Ben!" She yelled as soon as she caught sight of him stalking down the hallway. "Benjamin, wait!"

When she caught up with him, he spun around.

"Who did you sleep with?"

The sentence caught her very much off-guard, but she answered nonetheless.

"No one."

"No one?" He asked again, searching her eyes.

"Yes, Ben. You know the truth about that," she said, referring to her short fling which they never discussed aloud.

His eyes glazed over in an expression she couldn't comprehend.

"Ben, what're-"

"We need to go," he hissed, grabbing her wrist and dragging her out of the class and toward his jeep.

"Where are we going?"

He ignored Cara's qestions for the rest of the drive, which was a lot, considering they were on the road for a good half hour. When he finally stopped the car Cara looked up at the destination.

"The hospital," she tsked. "Why the hell are we at a hospital?"

Once again, Ben ignored her and continued to grab her hand and drag her in through the double doors.

"Benjamin, answer me, damn it!"

But he didn't. He walked them right up to the front desk, and spoke to a Hispanic looking man. Before Cara knew it, they were speaking Spanish in front of her. Foreign language was never her strong suit, so she stood, bewildered.

The man's eyes kept darting to her, and she could only assume Ben was talking about her due to the glances and the fact that he kept gesturing to her.

The nurse then took her arm and led her away, ignoring her questions thrown to Ben, asking what the hell was going on.

An hour later, after they had took blood, saliva, and urine samples, Ben walked in the room, herself still sitting in the hospital bed in her street clothes.

She immediately jumped up, slapping him across the face, an action that he didn't even react to. Cara was too angry to care.

"What was that for, Ben? What the hell is going on?"

"Nothing," Benjamin answered quickly. "I sure as hell hope nothing is, but I had to be sure."

She was about to ask him what in the world he was talking about, when the doctor came in.

"Hello, Miss."

"Hi," Cara spoke monotonely, in no mood for games.

He cleared his throat awkwardly, his eyes looking between Ben and Cara.

"The results came back from your tests, and it's positive. You're pregnant."

Cara was not sure what she would have done next, because she passed out.

She awoke in the back of Ben's Jeep, gasping for breath as she shook her head, jumping out of the car only to find Benjamin leaning against his car in an empty parking lot, smoking a cigarette. Cara hated the smell, and the habit of his, but he only did it when he was stressed.

He flicked the still lit stick to the side as he saw her figure, coming over to her as she struggled to breathe, her hands clawing at her shirt and her stomach in a panicking motion.

"Get it out of me! It's not real! It's not..."

Benjamin grabbed her hands, stopping her from doing harm.

"All of the tests came back positive, Cara. It's real."

"It's... it's his, isn't it?" She asked, her eyes turning up to him in shock, fear, and disgust.

She knew the answer. She had only slept with one person in her entire life, it couldn't be anyone else.

Benjamin nodded, his arms wrapping around her as she collapsed against his chest in tears.

Ben had dropped her off at her house after she had her fit, telling her that they would talk about it tomorrow.

Cara stayed in her room, in no mood to eat, or drink, or do anything.

She wasn't going to wait until tomorrow, she knew what she had to do.

Thirty minutes later, she sat on an abandoned bridge that nothing ever passed over anymore, her feet swinging.

She had just written a note to Nicolas, and left it on the dining table in his home. It had been straightforward.

A mistake was made, and there was a consequence, but she was going to take care of it.

That's what she was doing now.

She slowly stood, looking down.

The bridge wasn't very high up, only about two stories. It certainly wasn't enough to to kill her.

But it was enough to....

So she closed my eyes, knowing exactly what must be done.

Cara lifted one foot, ready to step off the edge, when a voice called out from behind me.

"Stop!"