Wake Up Call

A Chapter by Toni-Lynn Benoit

Katie wakes up and realizes that her situation has become more serious than she anticipated. Can she deal with all the pressure?

Katie woke up and could not remember how she had gotten there. She looked around her surroundings and realized that she was in the guest room at Ray’s house. All she remembered from that night was that she ran away from home after getting in a fight with her dad. She finally had said that enough was enough and she wasn't going to stand for it anymore. So she went to the one place she knew she was welcome, Ray’s house. His mom answered the door and all she could do was to fall into her arms and cry.

She got up and walked toward the mirror. Her hair was a mess and her makeup had run down her face. Katie looked at the clock and saw that it was eight thirty in the morning. She figured Ray's parents would be gone and that Ray would have gone to school already. As she was walking down the stairs, she could smell the faint smell of burning food. She ran down the stairs to see Ray at the stove with smoke starting to come up from the skillet. Katie grabbed the small fire extinguisher underneath the sink and put out the fire.

Ray looked back and forth from Katie to the now extinguished fire. "Breakfast is served." Katie started to laugh at Ray. She couldn't believe that Ray had set a fire in the kitchen. Ray had apparently not gotten the culinary gene from his parents.

Katie looked inside the skillet and tried to figure out what he was trying to cooking. She picked up the skillet and dumped it in the sink and saw four pieces of bacon fall out. "What was on the menu? Charbroiled bacon?" They both started laughing and continued cleaning the kitchen.

"Well, I was trying to surprise you with breakfast. But I guess that didn't go according to plan," said Ray. Katie threw the skillet in some warm, soapy water so she could wash it later.

"Don't worry about it Ray. How about I go and change my clothes and we'll go out and get breakfast?" said Katie.

"Alright, sounds good." She kissed his cheek and made her way for the stairs. Ray sat down on the couch and waited for Katie to come back down. Ten minutes later, Katie came down wearing jeans and a purple t-shirt. Ray swore that the moment he laid his eyes on her, he had fallen in love all over again. Katie had this sort of glow to her and all Ray could do was just watch her come down the stairs. He was so in awe of her that he didn't even realize that Katie was talking to him.

"Umm, hello? Is anyone home?" Katie snapped her fingers in front of Ray's eyes as to wake him up from this trance.

"Sorry about that. So, you ready to go?" Ray gave his hand out to Katie and they walked out to his car. He opened the car door for her like he always did and then they started to head to the diner in town. It was silent for the first few minutes. Neither of them was sure on what to say. Should they talk about what happened last night? Or should they just leave it alone? Ray couldn't stand the silence anymore. "Katie, what happened last night?" He briefly looked Over at Katie in the passenger seat and just waited for an answer.

Katie looked down at her hands and breathed in a deep breath before finally speaking. "I told my parents that I'm pregnant and they freaked out." Katie couldn't look up at Ray. She felt so much shame about her current situation.

"Well, we expected that, didn't we?" Ray placed his hand on her knee in an effort to comfort her.

"Yeah, I know that. But what I didn't expect was for my dad to start talking so much crap about you. And I certainly didn't expect my mom to just stand there and let it happen. She didn't even try to make him stop. She just let him scream at me and I finally just had had enough. I couldn't stand to be in that place anymore…so I left." Katie had now started to cry again. It was nothing close to the caliber of crying from last night. But it was enough for Ray to pull the car over so that he could focus on Katie.

"Katie, it will be okay. You know that my parents will let you stay with us for as long as you need." Ray had a way of calming Katie down when no one else could. She had never been able to understand it. Maybe it was the way that he would look deep into her eyes and make her feel like he was really there for her and that he would always be there for her. Or maybe it was the way that he would give his full and undivided attention to her when she was in tears. But for whatever reason, it wasn't working. She could not be consoled.

"Ray, don't you get it? I am a disgrace to my family. Every hope and dream my parents had for me is now gone because I got pregnant. And I am grateful that your mom was there for me last night. I really am. But I just…I need my mom…but my mom doesn't want me." Katie unbuckled her seat belt and opened her car door.

"Where are you going?" said Ray. He grabbed her hand in an effort to pull her back in the car, but Katie just shook his hand away and stood on the sidewalk looking back at Ray.

"I need some time to think. I'm sorry, but I just need to be alone right now." And with that Katie closed the door and walked away.

Ray was tempted to follow her. He didn't know what she would do and he didn't know where she would go. But he knew that when she normally said she needed space, that was the best thing to do for her. He got out of his car and stood on the road. "Katie!" Ray called after her. Katie turned around and looked back at Ray. He could see more tears forming in her eyes. "Just call me when you are ready to talk, okay?" Katie nodded her head and then continued walking down the street.

Ray now sat alone in his car and wondered what he should do next. He pulled his phone out and called his friend Adam. "Hey, Adam it's Ray. Is there any chance that we could meet up and talk?"

"Yeah, of course dude. I'll meet you at your house in about 15 minutes." Ray hung up the phone and started to head for home.

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© 2013 Toni-Lynn Benoit

Author's Note

Hey everyone! Here is the next chapter! Sorry it took so long. with school starting and everything piling up, I have been having a bit of a spell of writer's block. Hope this chapter is good and that you all enjoy it.