"Alex," he said. "Why would you tell her that?"
"She misunderstood. I never said that," he said. "I was trying to tell her we could talk about anything. I would listen to whatever she had to say."
"Evan," I said. "Can you please take me home?"
"Of course, Joce." H put his arm around my shoulder.
"I can take you home." Alex moved to stand in front of me.
"No, please," I said. "I’m really tired, and I need some space."
"Jocelyn, I’m sorry. I just need to let this all sink in."
"I know," I said. "It’s a lot to process, and I don’t want you saying or doing anything you’ll regret later. I’m not asking you for anything, Alex."
"But I want to be there for you," he said.
"Maybe after you really think about it, you’ll feel differently," I said. "I wouldn’t blame you."
"Jocelyn—"
I didn’t let him finish. I’d had enough for one night.
"No, I want to go home now." I looked at Evan.
"Alex," Evan said, "you both need to take tonight and think. I’ll take her home."
"I’ll call you tomorrow," Alex told me.
"Okay." I smiled, but I was seconds away from losing it, and I didn’t want to cry in front of him. "We can talk tomorrow."
"Fine," he whispered. "Make sure she gets home safe."
"I will," Evan said.
Alex looked at me one last time before heading back down the hall and into his room. I jumped when he slammed the door.
This is not how this was supposed to go down.
Chapter Seventeen
"Joce," Evan said as I pressed my face into his shoulder. "Please stop crying. Alex didn’t mean what he said. I know he didn’t."
"He wants me to"—I sobbed—"put our baby up for adoption. He’s mad because I didn’t tell him."
I knew there was a huge possibility he wouldn’t want to keep our baby, but I was holding out hope that he’d want us.
"He’s not mad," Evan said. "He’s just shocked and needs some time to figure it all out."
I removed myself from Evan’s arms and glanced at his tear-stained shirt. I tried to dry it with my hand.
"It’s okay." He smiled. "I’ll take it to the cleaners."
"Thanks for taking me home," I said. "I think I need to go to bed."
"Jocelyn, please don’t give up on Alex."
"I don’t want him to do anything he doesn’t want to do." I didn’t want to be an obligation or a responsibility. If he wanted me, it had to be because of what we were to one another and not because he got me pregnant.
