Felipe's point of view
"What the hell are you and your dumbass doing here?" I hear Clara answer the door.
"Clara!" I scold, Claudia must be here.
I walk to the door and I'm proven right. Claudia stands at on the front steps, confused on why she deserves a greeting like this, "sorry about that," I apologize and Clara shoots me a glare.
"It's fine," she says, "I got all my stuff, including my cat," she laughs and puts Milkshake down.
I smile and then get a notification on my phone. From Angelo, interesting. I unlock my phone and read the message. *dude, I thought I should let you know that Claudia was just over here and she didn't tell me she was having your spawn until after she had half of a margarita. Is there something wrong with the both of you! You're an asshole for doing this to her when she just wanted to feel better! I'll buy you condoms if you need me to, 'cause clearly you never heard of it! Drinking alcohol while pregnant is something I would expect of Claudia, but where's your excuse? You're a child and you better find something to do with my sister or I swear to Christ that my fist in your face will be your medical confirmed cause of death. Wait I answered my own question, you are retarded! If I'm not drunk by tonight, I'm driving to your house and making sure that my sister didn't hang herself because she "feels bad for placing this burden onto you". I'm not lying y'know, shit ain't business, strictly personal. I will kill you myself and go to jail for the rest of my life and being happy knowing that the idiot I killed can't do any more damage!*
"Inside, now," I yell at Claudia.
"You okay?" She asks.
"What the fuck is wrong with you? Going to your brother and making this shit up!" I yell.
"I didn't say a thing, he asked how you were doing and put two and two together and slapped a perfectly good margarita out of my hand." She yells back.
"Why are you drinking when you have a child in you?" I yell.
"Because I need it!" She screams and I shut up, "you don't understand, Felipe, I can't get my shit together to save my life and some things just cheer me up and I can't help it if alcohol is that thing. I don't want this to be happening but it is. I'm furious at myself and everyone else because I don't know what to do. Even when my life was at its worst I figured it out by myself and I can't do it anymore." She begins to fight my the tears in her eyes, "I don't need you telling me it's okay when you don't even know that. I don't know how to handle this and I thought I could because I've been doing that all my life. I thank god every single second of every single day for having you in my life but right now, I hate you with all my guts! Every fiber in my being wants to kill me because of this," she looks to her stomach and the tears are released, "and the worst part about it is because I love you too much to have to make you deal with my problems."
Angelo!
"Claudia, you don't need to feel that way because you're trying to look out for me," I say and dare to step closer to her, "You shouldn't be trying to drink your problems away either, and even if I don't know if it's gonna be okay, I still try to think that it could."
"You don't know that, Felipe!" She says, "I don't need optimism now, I need it to actually be better."
"You think I control that?" I accidentally yell.
Her expression turns into one of anger, "No, but I know you can control the two seconds it takes to put a condom on!"
"Are you going to ever let that go?" I yell.
"Well you were the one who knocked me up in the first place!"
"I call bullshit! You-"
"If you say that I got into that bed I'm going to kill you!" She yells.
"You got into that bed and enjoyed it!" I finish my sentence.
"I hate you!" She crosses her arms.
"I love you too," I smile.
"I'm serious," she scolds.
"I'm being serious too," I smile.
"Your little tricks aren't going to work this time, I'm seriously so pissed at you because you did this to me," she says.
"I'm sorry," I apologize, "so you want to come inside?"
"I'm going my to my dorm," she takes a breath and picks up her cat.
"Claudia wait," I grab her arm.
"Let the fuck go of me!" She yells. Claudia never swears, only when she's mad.
"Okay," I say.
"You don't know who to do anything, huh?" She yells, "Get away from me!"
"Claudia," I start.
"Shut the fuck up!" She almost cries.
"Claudia, stop," I say.
"Stop it!" She yells and the tears break free, "why can't you just... listen to me?"
"Claudia, I'm sorry-"
"I'm leaving," she huffs and gets into her car.
I just watch as she drives away and up the hill, "are you gonna really stand there?" Clara yells at me through her bedroom window.
"You're right," I nod and ponder. I need to follow her! "If I'm not back by twilight, make yourself something to eat!"
"You're gonna follow her?" She says.
"Yeah!" I yell back up and run inside to get my car keys.
I get my keys, run back outside and turn on the car. I back out of the driveway and start the drive to find Claudia.
Claudia's point of view
When I get to my dorm I just collapse onto the bed. I let my body sink into the mattress. I wanna cry right now but I'm too tired to cry. I was up all night for the past however many days and survived off coffee. I've lied to my friends and loved ones and overeat when a simple misunderstanding happens. Maybe I'm the child. I need help. Badly. But when Felipe tries to help me, I shut him out. I'm genuinely not ready for whatever's to come. If this is how the small things are gonna go, I don't want to see myself in big situations.
I hear a knock on the door. How could Felipe get her so fast? I know the way he takes and it's at least 15 minutes longer than mine! I get up and look into the keyhole. I don't see Felipe though, Colleen! I unlock the door and wrap my arms around my best friend in the whole world, other than Felipe, of course.
"I missed you too," she laughs sarcastically
"I needed this," I confess.
"Your brother told me what happened," she says, "Claudia, what's wrong?"
"What's wrong is that I'm having a child and acting like one too!" I complain.
"What did you do?" She asks.
"I went off on Felipe because Angelo told him what I did when I got there and he got pissed because I had a margarita and then I started yelling and saying that I need a drink and how my life sucks and he was like 'well that's no excuse' and I went off on him about how bad my life is," I explain.
"Claudia, listen," she starts, "number one, if you wanna have a drink and don't want anyone to know, I'm your gal. And two, you just found out you're pregnant, you're experiencing a whole load of emotions right now and you don't know what you're doing, but that's okay because no one does."
"But that's not an excuse," I say.
"You don't need an excuse," she scoffs, "you need help and I'm here to give it two ya'" she smiles.
"Okay, let's start with the 'I'm pregnant!' Problem," I say.
"Well, you have two options, you could have it, which I know you are and try to find someone who could take you in," she explains.
"Could that be you?" I beg.
"Claudia, you know I would but my apartment is only big enough for one and I'm leaving for the states when school is over," she explains.
"What?" I ask.
"Yeah," she rubs the back for her neck, "I'm visiting my family in California and then we're going to Paris to see my grandmother and grandfather."
"Spoiled brat," I laugh.
"Well being the youngest of 10 has its downsides too," she rolls her eyes.
"When are you coming back here?" I ask.
"I don't know," she shrugs, "my schooling here is over."
She's right. Her family sent her here to study abroad when she was fifteen. She couldn't speak Portuguese and I couldn't speak English so trying to communicate was difficult, but after a year here she was able to speak fluently and we've been best friends since.
"Where are you gonna go?" I ask.
"I don't know," she shrugs, "my father wants me to get a job that pays well, and I don't even know where I'm gonna go for college yet."
"I don't even think I'm going to college," I laugh.
"What do you mean?" She asks.
"I don't know," I say, "Colleen, it's even a lucky thing to make it into secondary school here, college is for the best and if I want to go into culinary, the won't take me."
"Don't say that," she scoffs.
"I'm not saying it, I know it. If I hadn't found the people I care about now I would have been dead." I nod.
"Someone get this girl a drink!" She calls a fake bartender.
"I can't, remember, I'm gonna be a mother," I fake smile.
"It's a wonderful thing, Claudia," she says.
"No it's not," I say, "and I'm using formula when that thing comes. Cause I'm not gonna get drained taking care of that thing."
"Of course you are," she rolls her eyes.
"I could go for a drink though," I think.
"No Claudia," she shakes her head.
"What?" I hold my hands up in defense, "just because I say it doesn't mean I'm gonna get one."
"You're too much some times, you know?" She asks.
"Yup, just the worst," I smile.
"So where are you gonna stay?" She asks.
"Here until I can find what to do with myself," I sigh, "my life's going so downhill."
"You'll be okay," she says.
"Ha!" I laugh, "Colleen, sweetie, my life isn't just going downhill, it's going through hell too."
"You don't even think 'hell, it could be my fault'?" She asks.
"The pregnancy one was only a little bit, but other than that, no," I reply.
"Eres imposible," she says in Spanish.
"¿Y tú no eres?" I reply.
"You have a point," she goes back to Portuguese, "well I have a final to study for, but I wish you the best and I hope and pray to the lord that you can figure your shit out."
"Thank's Colleen." I smile and she leaves.
That felt nice. I got a lot off my chest and I feel better than I did before. Maybe things will look up somehow.
———
Olá! Sorry the chapter is a little late, I was catching up with an old friend who's visiting from São Miguel (My Home island!) but we had fun catching up and I showed him the best drink in the world, Calypso! I hope you all have a great weekend or whenever you're reading this.
God bless, my friends
Ate-logo!
Vinny