Fe froze. Every single muscle in her little body stopped. Fe hoped so badly that Joel hadn't heard what she said but she knew that it was impossible that he hadn't. Plus, the way he had frozen inside of her let her know that her prayer for this whole mess to fade away would never happen. After a few tense seconds, Fe expected Joel to back out and away from her. Instead, he pushed himself in even further, trapping her between him and the bed.
"What did you just say?"
She didn't want to look up. Every fiber of her being wanted to continue staring at his chest because she didn't want to look into his eyes and see the emotions his lips just spoke. But her head betrayed her heart and it turned upwards anyway. His green eyes were burning brightly with the fire of 1,000 burning suns. He was not just angry, he was furious. Fe wanted to speak, but her lips felt dry and her heart had stopped. Everything was so surreal.
"I said, 'What did you just say?'"
"I-I-I-"
"Who...is...Clint?"
When she continued to fail to answer the question, he pushed in even further, his cock going to a point that he had never touched before. It seemed his cock was reacting to his fury because it stayed hard as a rock, helping him in his quest to get the truth out of Fe. Fe winced at the pain and intense invasion, putting her hand on his stomach to try to convince him to pull out. His pressure was causing her back, stomach, and neck to all cramp up.
"Please Joel, you're hurting me."
He didn't move a muscle. Fe tried another tactic instead.
"You're hurting the baby."
The glow in his eyes seemed to dim a little at the word "baby" and he finally pulled out. Fe felt a little relief that he wasn't impaling her anymore but she still wasn't out of the woods. He kneeled at the side of her bed, his eyes fixed on her.
"I asked you a question. Who is he?"
Fe stuttered but couldn't get the courage to say anything. Instead, she chose to look down at where their parts were previously joined, hoping the moment would go away. Finally, after a couple of minutes, Joel knew he wasn't going to pry an answer out of her, at least right now. He quickly dressed and left without another word. Although he wanted so badly to just storm out, slamming the door behind him he also knew how the door shutting reverberated up and down the halls. Fe's dorm was one of the few on campus that had a curfew and where visitors weren't allowed after midnight. He just closed the door behind him and after taking a couple of shallow, shaky breaths outside her door, he started the walk home.
All Fe could do was bury her face in her pillow and sob. How could she be so stupid?
_________________________________________________
Fe wandered around the almost empty Wal-Mart a little less then aimlessly, her cart only holding two out of the 30 items on her list. It was nearly midnight and the cries and whines of children and moans and groans of frustrated parents had faded into the night. The only other people that seemed to share her enthusiasm for trolling the Superstore were couples who couldn't keep their hands off of each other and frazzled moms and dads rushing into the dairy section to get the milk and specific types of juice that they had forgotten on their list on their earlier shopping trips but couldn't wait until the next morning to get. Their stained and worn clothing betrayed their lines of profession and what they were willing to put up with to keep their household running. Fe's heart went out to them.
She looked at her list again for the 1,000th time and sighed. This was one of the last places on Earth where she wanted to be. She had wandered in almost an hour previously and had managed to accomplish very little. It's not that she didn't know where everything she needed was. She had been in at least 40 different Wal-Marts in different counties and states. Even if the configurations were a little different they were all basically the same. She could've been in, out and gotten on with her life in 30 minutes. But she couldn't bear the thought of going back to her room by herself, with only her thoughts to keep her company.
Every time she closed her eyes, she could see the sad and lost look on Joel's face. She had broken more than his heart, she had broken him. It was never something she had encountered before and she didn't know what to do or how to make it better. All of her previous "relationships", except one, had ended pretty amicably with no hurt feelings to worry about. This wasn't the case. This wasn't even so much of a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. It was a friendship that the both of them had let go too far and now there was no way they could pull away and start all over. She was having his baby, whether or not they raised it together, and the first for either of them at that. Even if they could come to an agreement about how to take care of their child, where would that leave them? She just wanted Joel back, her best friend in the whole world. The lies, the arguing, the lack of communication and the semblance of infidelity had just about killed any chance of that happening. How could they let one night ruin everything they had?
She tried to push the dark thoughts out of her mind. Not just because it made her feel guilty, but the whole situation clutched her heart so tightly that at times she felt like she couldn't breathe. She slowly made her way down one aisle and then another, her mind finally quieting down. She was relieved that she had come so late because even if she didn't want to be alone in her small room, the quietness in the busy store actually gave her comfort. Her comfort was about to be shattered.
It was Halloween night and the mad dash for beer, wine, and other "adult beverages" had pretty much died down. Wal-Mart, like many stores in Georgia, stopped selling alcohol at 11:45, but most people had gotten their supplies by 10, just to make sure. Everyone, that is, except for ill-prepared college students who came barreling down the beer aisle at 11:30 in a last-minute rush.
"Figures," Fe thought bitterly and continued her aimless saunter down the aisle, looking at the 30 different types of popcorn that she didn't even know existed. Even under the shredded pieces of linen, "cleverly designed" costumes and 10 lbs of makeup that adorned the partiers' faces and bodies (including one incredibly buff man dressed as a Hooter's Girl), she still recognized them as members of the Cherries and Bears. Six idiots in all stood around giggling and talking as they quickly decided on their poison of chose but two stood out in particular.
Only a few feet away stood Joel and Maggie, with Joel standing there looking bored as Maggie was talking his ear off. He nodded and smiled in all the right places but Fe could tell that he was more interested in the lack of beer selection than the wealth of useless information Maggie was feeding him. She took in the sight of him, all of him and could see that he didn't look well. He was going to the party as a doctor and Maggie was a slutty referee. His eyes were red and she could tell that he hadn't shaved. He looked as tired and worn as Fe felt. Fe could feel her heart tightening in her chest. It had only been a day since the incident and she wasn't ready to see or speak to him, especially not with her around. Fe wanted to hurriedly turn and walk away but in her flurry of movements, she accidentally slammed the cart into the shelf, causing everyone to stop talking and look at her. She caught Joel's eyes and acknowledgment filled his eyes that she knew that he was going to the party with Maggie. He immediately pushed Maggie to the side and began to approach Fe.
Fe abandoned the cart and immediately and turned a walked away, leaving a smug Maggie and confused party goers in her wake. The veins in Fe's head started pumping and her heart started pounding in her chest. She began feeling light-headed and finally let go of the breath that she didn't even know that she had been holding. Every part of her felt weak and worn but her legs wouldn't stop. For a short pregnant girl, she could move. And all she wanted to do was make it to her car and go home.
She felt the tears flowing freely down her face and she moved even quicker, determined not to have a full breakdown in front of strangers. As quickly as she wiped them away, they came down in multiples. It got so bad that she could hardly see. She finally made it to the parking lot and through the sea of tears, tried to find her car. She pressed the "open" button and saw the blurry flashing of lights and walked as quickly as she could towards it. She breathed a sigh of relief and was just about to open the car door and drive away from this miserable night when a tan hand came from behind her and closed it again. Fe paused for a moment. She knew who it was but didn't have the courage or strength to face him, so she decided to speak with her back to him, her voice choked with sobs.
"What do you want? Please, just let me go home."
