Chapter 8 - Breaking Hearts for a Living

Homework is hard. But Rhiannon has to work all hours of the night, and thus Glynnis is left home alone to take care of it all herself.

She is a very quiet child. Socializing is one of those things that she rarely seems to need, and it makes Rhi more uncomfortable than anything. Did she raise Glynnis incorrectly? Should she have been around a little more?

Glynnis tries to sit up and wait for Rhiannon to get home, but she's far too tired. Inevitably she pads into their shared bedroom and collapses into bed.

Rhi arrives home absolutely exhausted, but she's scarcely made it out of the elevator before she is sprinting into her apartment.

"Shit," she whispers as she sits back against the cool wall and wipes a few drops of sweat away from her forehead. "Shitshitshit." She knows this feeling know, and she knows it well. Plumbob, will she ever learn?!

She slides into bed a slim, beautiful woman...

...and emerges with life growing inside of her.

As she rubs at her head, sighing restlessly, she tries to figure out the best course of events. This apartment is barely big enough to hold HER. How the hell it's supposed to hold her, Glynnis, and some other kid, is far beyond her realm of understanding. And her career! What is she supposed to do with her career? She's missed so many days already, thanks to Glynnis. What now?

Abortion seems the best plan. But then she strolls into the living room.

Glynnis seems to have a faint sense of agoraphobia. She highly resists leaving the house, unless she is going straight onto the schoolbus, due to her strict dislike of the outdoors. Thus, most of her socializing takes place on the Internet.

Rhiannon stares at her daughter, busy clicking away at the keys, and sighs softly. She could've done so much better, couldn't she?

Maybe this is her chance to do so.

"Kid," she calls, and Glynnis looks over her shoulder. "C'mon. We're going out."

Glynnis's eyes grow huge. "Why?"

"Because I need some books at the library and they have sweet toys there."

Toys are a strong temptation, that's for sure. But Glynnis still looks away nervously.

"You can wait inside while I call a taxi and then run out to the car. Don't worry."

Under any other circumstance, Glynnis would resist and resist again...but this is some quality time with her mom, and she's been starved of that for her entire life. She types a quick goodbye to her friend Diego on their IM before hurrying over to her mother.

As they enter the elevator, Glynnis notes Rhiannon's new attire and takes in the bump of her stomach as well. "Mom?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you suddenly look fat?"

Rhiannon touches her stomach. "Because you're...you're gonna have a brother or a sister, that's why."

"Oh." Glynnis's eyes grow huge with this announcement as the elevator doors close.

They arrive at the library with little to-do.

Glynnis happily builds towers.

Rhiannon reads books that she has already read once before.

Her cell phone rings abruptly while she is there, however, and the familiar voice of Barry Tenderlove on the phone makes her cheeks flush. "What's up?" she asks quietly, flipping the book shut.

"Hey. I'm having a party tonight, and I...wondered if you wanted to come."

"Well, I don't know." She slides the book across the desk and absently rubs at her baby bump. "After what happened last time at that party..."

"Not this time." She hears him smiling into the phone, and she tilts her head back and closes her eyes in dismay. "It's a special party, you see. Just you and me."

Acidic panic begins prickling at the back of her throat. "Oh, really? What are we celebrating?"

"Let's just say that Suzy heard something from a little bird. And that maybe she let a certain someone go."

He knows. She doesn't know how he knows, but he does. "...let me get Glynnis home, okay? I'll be there in an hour and a half."

Glynnis doesn't really understand why her mom's leaving, but after strict commands that she go to bed and go to sleep and stay there until exactly 7am the next morning, she knows there's a distinct reason for it. Rhiannon slides on a silky dress, comfortable heels, and a string of pearls, and locks the door behind her.

When she arrives at Barry's house, he looks decidedly less surprised than he should be. If anything, he looks pleased. "Rhiannon." He holds out his arms to embrace her, but she stays at a prickly distance. "I see Suzy was right."

"How did she find out?" Rhiannon asks softly, rubbing at her arms.

"You'd be surprised how many people read gossip magazines around here." Barry approaches her by a few steps, but Rhiannon remains unmoved. "She read an article the other day about you and Matthew Hamming. You've been big news with her ever since."

Rhiannon vaguely remembers people staring at her a little more, but the fact that people actually know who she is is more than a little startling.

"And then one of her friends told her that you were pregnant today. She saw you at the library. And then Suzy just started bitching about you." He laughs then, shaking his head. "She knows we're friends, you see, and she called you so many things. She called you a whore."

She can't really generate the ability to get angry at this, given how she's lived since adolescence.

Barry finally stops advancing, just a few feet between them. "And so...we fought."

"Why?" she asks, her voice barely over a whisper at this point.

"Because I knew who that baby really belonged to."

Rhiannon begins shaking her head, but she holds her tongue when a woman suddenly draws a camera and begins taking pictures of them. It seems to be happening more and more often these days, and for the life of her she can't figure out why.

"Rhi, I really care about you," Barry continues, seemingly oblivious to the camera's presence. "Please, just let me."

"Go home to Suzy, Barry."

"I don't want to. I want to go home with you."

She lifts her chin higher, resolute, jaw tight. "But I don't want you to. Go home."

"You can't deny me the right to see my kid, Rhia-"

"It's not even your kid," she snaps, pushing him away before he can touch her stomach.

Barry stares at her, looking a little stricken.

"It's not yours. It's someone else's. Someone you don't even know. Someone I like a hell of a lot better."

She's eternally thankful when hurt crosses Barry's face instead. "I...thought-"

"You thought wrong." She turns and waddles away, one arm protectively circling her stomach. "Goodbye, Barry."

-----

Short chapter, unfortunately. They'll start getting longer soon.

I keep forgetting to post Glynnis's traits...mostly because I can never remember them myself. Hates the Outdoors and Good Sense of Humor are two of them, but the third I'm at a loss for. I'll have to start writing them down.