Authors: Megan McKenney
“Keiffer!” I exclaimed. “Did I ever tell you how amazing you are?” I kissed him again. “Wait, no…I can’t take this,” I said as I walked up to the car. I slid my hand over the hood of the car.
“You can and you will take this. My soon-to-be wife needs a car to drive.” He kissed me again, this time more passionately. “Anything for my family.”
“You’re the best man in the world,” I whispered into his ear.
“Then let’s go get married,” he whispered back.
Chapter 19
It wasn’t much of a surprise to not have my mom arrive for the wedding. I called her several times before we arrived to the court house, but she never returned any of my calls. Indigo and my dad were the only two that decided to come with us. In a way, I wouldn’t have even minded if Jack came with us, if that meant my mom could witness her daughter get married. But, it was her choice to not be involved.
We met with the “pastor” at the courthouse after signing a million papers. I could tell that Keiffer was nervous as we sat there waiting our turn. But, as soon as our names were called, he took my hand confidently and we walked in together. Nothing, not even a stubborn parent could stop this from happening.
Before starting the ceremony, Keiffer brought me closer to him so that our foreheads were touching. I could feel his warm breath upon my lips, though he didn’t kiss me. Instead, we just took a couple moments to ourselves. He kept his eyes shut, even though I knew he wasn’t praying. He touched my stomach with the tips of his fingers.
“Are you ready?” He asked me. I nodded my head and we both turned to face the pastor.
The ceremony didn’t last more than ten minutes. It was short and sweet, exactly how we had wanted it. It wasn’t like any friends were coming or that we had planned anything, so we knew that this was going to be fast. In a few years, when money wasn’t so tight, we were going to have a real wedding with real friends. Until then, we had everyone that we needed there with us.
“I now pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Keiffer Lee Lawrence. You may now kiss the bride,” the pastor said happily. Keiffer took my face into his hands and pressed his lips against mine. We shared our first kiss as husband and wife, and I could hardly hold my tears back. I was so full of love at that moment that I could have almost screamed.
“We’re married,” I laughed happily as we laid under the stars later that night. We decided to go back to the sand dune that we were at just a couple nights ago. That was the place where we had gotten engaged, so it meant a lot to us. He ran his fingers down my back as I laid my head on his chest. The beating of his heart was slow and steady.
“We’re married,” he repeated. “Wow…”
“Who would’ve thought that I would get married to you,” I laughed again. I was in such good spirits. I couldn’t help the fact that I felt like giggling. “Keiffer, we were so off and on for months, and now look at us.”
“You’re my wife,” he smiled, but then quickly wiped it off from his face. He had been like that all night since we had gotten married. A piece of me was growing anxious. Why was he reverting back to his old ways? That was how he was acting when he was depressed. He would be happy one second and then mad the next. However, I tried not to think too much about it.
“Are you okay?” I asked, sitting up.
“More than okay. This is perfect.” He responded, no sign of a smile on his face. I leaned back down and placed a kiss upon his neck, then worked my way up to his lips. We laid there together, kissing until our lips went raw.
After a few minutes, Keiffer stood to his feet unexpectedly. He grabbed my hand and pulled me up to my feet. “I’ve got to show you something,” he said seriously.
Without further explanation, we piled into the old Toyota and he took me a different route to get home. I placed my hand on his thigh as we drove. This was my new life. It made me excited and nervous at the same time. However, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Why are you going the long way?” I asked, as I buried myself deeper into the seat. He smiled over at me, his eyes telling me a secret story.
“It’s a surprise,” he responded.
After realizing that he wasn’t going to tell me until we got there, I decided to change the subject. “Can you believe tomorrow is the day we have to read our papers out loud to the class? Well, you can’t because you went and got yourself suspended…”
“I told you that it was all for love,” he teased. “And besides, I’ll just give you the paper and video tonight to give to Mr. Thomas.” He kissed my forehead before turning his attention back to the road.
After a few more minutes, he stopped the car once we reached the destination. He jumped out of the car before I even had a chance to take off my seatbelt. He opened the car door for me, scooping me up into his arms. I let out a playful squeal as he held me firmly. We were standing in front of an old apartment building. Only a few lights were on in the building and a few residents were standing out on their balcony, smoking cigarettes.
“What’s going on?” I laughed.
“Welcome to your new home,” he smiled. Trying to not scrunch up my nose out of judgement, he grabbed my hand and led me up to the second level. The building was loud, as I could hear babies crying, women yelling at their husbands, and dogs barking. After a few seconds fumbling with the key, Keiffer finally opened the door to the apartment. There, in front of me, was a smelly old apartment. It wasn’t big and it wasn’t fancy, but it was ours. My jaw dropped as I stared at the apartment in front of me. He started walking inside to show me the different rooms, my mind too numb to even think straight.
“Keiffer!” I exclaimed. “You can’t tell me that you rented this apartment for us?” I asked, almost asking if this was even real. He kissed me again to tell me that he loved me. “I…you bought a car…and now this?”
“I didn’t rent it, your dad did. I worked out a deal with him and he’ll pay the first year’s rent for our wedding present. We needed to get our feet planted on the ground before the baby comes.” He glided his finger across my cheekbone.
“You’re amazing, Keiffer!” I said, before running through the apartment. I stopped in my tracks once I reached the extra bedroom. It was full of a crib, changing table, clothes for the baby, and so many toys in a homemade wooden box.
Keiffer came into the room behind me, as I touched the wooden toy box. I spun around, looking him straight in the eyes.
“My mom knit that quilt,” Keiffer pointed at the quilt that was hanging on the back of the rocker. “The moment she realized that you were pregnant, she knew that she wanted to give you something that she put a lot of work into. She loves you, Jenna.”
I felt the tears come again as I continued looking at the baby room. Everything had so much detail. He had painted the walls a light green and hung up some wallpaper. I had to sit down on the rocker to catch my breath. No one, absolutely no one, had ever shown me this much love before and it knocked away my breath.
I stood to my feet, grabbing his hand and leading him to the master bedroom. We both laid on the floor where our bed would someday be placed and I began taking off his clothes. That night we made love for the first time since becoming husband and wife. It was more romantic and more heartfelt than it had ever been before.
We laid together until the next morning, our coats used as blankets. I had my cheek pressed against his chest as we laid there looking up at the ceiling. This was where I wanted to be. Forever. He had come into my house as someone that I completely loathed, and now he had become my best friend…my everything. He had changed my whole life and I had absolutely no complaints about it.
The next morning came sooner than expected. I hardly wanted to get up in the morning, if it wasn’t for the smell of fast food breakfast. Keiffer brought me breakfast and set it on the flower next to me. He had even placed a flower in a paper cup on the floor where we ate.
“Good morning, sweetie,” he said before kissing my cheek.
“Sex and breakfast,” I laughed. “Looks like this just might work out.” He laughed with me before leaving the room. I ate in silence before quickly getting ready for the day. Honestly, I was a little nervous about the presentation in Literature class, but I was also ready to get it over with. I had been waiting for this day for five months, I might as well just finish it.
“I want you to know that I love you,” Keiffer said before I left that morning for school. He handed me my math textbook so I could pack it away in my bag. “And I don’t want to be the cause for you to not go to Yale.”
“I want to stay home with you-“
“Let me finish.” He grabbed my hands nervously and his bottom lip trembled. I knew what was going to happen. We were having a great couple of weeks and now he was going to break up with me. I shook my head, slowly at first, but then faster with anger. “You’ve been a great woman in my life and I love you. But I’m not a good person.”
“You’re a great person! Keiffer, look at me!” I grabbed the sides of his face so he was looking directly at me. “Where’s your medication?” He was silent. “Your medication, where is it?”
“I don’t need it, neighbor.” He grinned at me and I couldn’t stop the tears from spilling. This was exactly what I was worried about! I opened myself back up to him, made myself vulnerable, and he was going to succumb to his disease. Why did he keep doing this?
“Listen, I have to go to school,” I said between sobs. “You stay safe here and I’ll swing by Indigo’s after school to pick up your medicine. Okay?” I placed a kiss on his cheek. “You’ll be okay here, baby.”
“I’ll never be okay,” Keiffer whispered. His face was turning white and I pulled him into another hug. “I’m broken, Jenna.”
“No, no you’re not. Okay, I’m going to go do my presentation for Literature class and then I’ll come right back.” I let him out of the hug, my hands trembling with fear. I hated when he wasn’t on his medication… he was never his normal self. “Where’s your paper and video?”
“I placed it in your folder,” he responded.
“Okay, good. I’m going to go to school now, and I’ll be sure to grab your medicine from your house, okay?” I ran my fingers through his hair and he nodded his head slowly. It killed me to leave him that morning, especially when he was so unpredictable without his medication.
Unsurprisingly, there was the word SLUT written across my locker in permanent marker when I got to school later that morning. I tried not to let it get to me, but it still did. I would know that handwriting anywhere…it was Lacey’s. I tried to rub it off with my sleeve, but it wasn’t budging. Instead, I took a deep breath and tried to ignore the pain. Even so, it still killed me to know that my ex-best friend had tried to humiliate me in front of the whole school.
Walking through the hallway was just as worse. Now, instead of everyone just looking at me, they were calling me a slut. Some said it under their breath, or they would literally come out and practically scream it in my face. I pulled my jacket on a little tighter as I tried to walk through the hallway. One girl, twice the size of me, pushed me into another person who was walking. I scrambled back up to my feet, trying to hide the pain.
I slid into my seat as soon as I got to first period. Luckily, no one started calling me a slut in there, but I knew they were all thinking it. I was mortified. I had just married someone that I had loved…how did that make me a slut? I knew that this whole thing was fueled by Brad and Lacey, but couldn’t they just let me live my own life without trying to make it hell? We only had like one more week of school left.
“Good morning, class,” Mr. Thomas said as soon as the bell rang. “We’re going to start class early today considering we have about fifteen presentations to go through. I hope everyone did their assignment…
Mr. Jenson
,” Mr. Thomas said sarcastically to one of the students in the back. The class snickered. “Anyway, basically you’ll just come up, do your presentation, and then your partner will do their presentation. You’ll be coming up by pairs.” He continued giving out instructions until about five minutes after class started.
“Let’s begin with…” Mr. Thomas looked around the room. “How about Lacey and Marcus.” Lacey stood to her feet, purposefully knocking my notebook off my desk. My papers scattered all over the floor. My peers didn’t even help pick them up. In fact, they started kicking the papers under their desk so it was farther to reach.
Lacey talked about Marcus and what he liked to do. I could tell she was nervous, but she tried not to show it. I could only tell because she had been my best friend for years. Sometimes our eyes would meet (it was as though she forgot she was mad at me) and then they’d land on someone else. It didn’t matter anymore…it truly didn’t.
After Marcus had finished his presentation, Mr. Thomas sent another group to do theirs. I sat patiently in my chair, my palms growing moist with sweat. It wasn’t like me to be nervous before public speaking. But now, standing in front of a classroom of sharks was going to be much harder than I anticipated. However, in the middle of my thoughts, Mr. Thomas called my name next.