LOGINShare
Some Advice
Last Updated:
2024-10-29 19:42:56Related chapters
All Grown Up Gone Girl
JesseIt had been over a week since Audrey went back to Paris, but things still hadn’t gone back to normal. I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I couldn’t stop feeling alone. Joe had been coming over nearly every night, just like he used to when Dad had died. He brought beer most times, but I drank most of it by myself. Getting drunk seemed to be the only way I could sleep.Not that I slept all that much. I couldn’t bring myself to go upstairs to my bedroom most nights. I’d had Audrey in that bed. I’d planned a life where we woke up together morning after morning. Instead, I was sleeping fitfully down on the couch, and waking up feeling as though I had never slept at all. I knew I probably looked like I was going through hell. It seemed like the whole town was in on it, giving me sympathetic looks.I almost wanted to remind everyone that it was my own damn fault that I felt this miserable. I’d known she’d be leaving. I knew better than to get attached. It wasn’t like she hadn’t disapp
All Grown Up Calling Her
JesseI found myself walking over to the studio that Audrey had rented. She had been gone for over a week now, but no one else had taken over the place. It wasn’t like there was much demand for real estate in the town. Hell, for all I knew, Audrey might still be renting the place.Either way, the door was unlocked, and I headed inside. I grabbed one of the beers that I had stashed there and sat heavily on the couch, running my hand absently across the leather as I thought about Audrey in there. I would give anything to see her dance one more time.In my mind’s eye, I could see her that one night, when we had come here after our date. She had looked so ethereal and beautiful as she spun around barefoot, dancing to music that only she could hear. It was so different from the way that she danced at Gabby’s, but both were equally entrancing. The thing about her dancing here, though, was that it was all for me. There was no one else to see her. No other audience.And that was part of why I
All Grown Up Just Water Weight
AudreyI couldn’t believe it had been two months and we were almost to the end of the summer season. Just a few more times putting on this costume and dancing this routine. I was going to miss it, that was for sure. But on the other hand, I was already looking ahead to the fall season. We still hadn’t received the final casting list, but I had my fingers crossed that I’d have another amazing part. Maybe not lead for the third time in a row, but I knew that the director had been thrilled with my performance this summer.Especially given the time crunch that I’d had in learning the part. I’d basically had a week to pull everything together after flying back from North Carolina, and then it had been a whirlwind of final dress rehearsals and then performances.I was exhausted, but I was exhilarated as well. My first lead roles couldn’t have gone better. My ankle still gave me a little trouble now and then, but the pain was manageable. Thankfully. I had returned from North Carolina in a bi
All Grown Up Hung Up
JesseJoe laughed as I totally missed the ball I was shooting for and sank the cue ball in one of the pockets. I swore loudly, knowing that I had basically just handed him the game. Sure enough, Joe carefully placed the cue ball where he wanted it and managed to sink the eight ball. “Come on, you didn’t actually think you were going to win, did you?” he teased.I rolled my eyes at him and glanced around Gabby’s. The place was crowded on a Saturday night, but I didn’t see anyone else floating around like they were waiting to take over our pool table. I started racking the balls. “Let’s go again,” I told Joe, even though I was sure that I would just lose again. I could count on one hand the number of times that I had beat him at pool, and we must have played thousands of games over the years.Joe clapped me on the shoulder. “Sure thing,” he said. “You might get us a couple of beers first, though. Loser pays.”I snorted but grabbed our glasses, heading up to the bar. Annabelle was workin
All Grown Up Like Crazy
JesseI shrugged. “Of course I am.” Joe knew the whole story. He knew that I had liked Audrey back when we were still in high school, but had held off dating her because we had found out that our parents were dating. He knew all the recent history, too: that once Audrey came back to town, I found myself unable to keep away from her, even though I knew that she was planning on leaving in six months at the most, as soon as her injured ankle healed back up.I had admitted to him that I loved her. He knew all of this. So of course, I was still hung up on her. I missed her. That was just the way that things were.I knew what Joe was about to say before he said it. Whatever chance I might have had with Audrey, I had lost it now. She had gone back to the world that she belonged in, and I had just let her go.Well, not ‘just.’ The truth was, I had been thinking about all the ways that we could make things work between us. The only thing that I could think of was for me to go with her to Paris
All Grown Up It's Only Water
AudreyI looked wistfully at the almond croissant that the waitress set down in front of Madeleine. “God, I would kill for one of those,” I groaned. It wasn’t just that this café did some of the best pastries in all of Paris. Or the world, really. I was also just hungry, like I seemed to always be these days.I wrapped my hands around my plain green tea, as though I was trying to keep myself from reaching out and snitching a bite of the other dancer’s dessert. There was a reason that I hadn’t ordered anything other than tea for myself, I knew.It was strange. It used to be second nature for me to stick to the strict diet that they had me on for dance. I had always known that I wanted to land lead roles in global productions. I had always known that I wanted the spotlight. That had always comforted me when I had to give up sweets and treats and other things that I wanted.Things had been much harder since I had come back from North Carolina. Maybe it was the fact that I had cheated on
All Grown Up Symptoms
AudreyAll the same, I grimaced when I heard someone else enter the stall. I quickly flushed the toilet and stood up, wincing as nausea roiled through me once more. Trish raised an eyebrow at me. “You all right?” she asked, looking concerned.“Yeah, I must have drunk that tea a little too quickly or something,” I said, trying a weak smile.Trish held out a glass of water, and I gratefully took a slow sip, trying not to upset my stomach again. From the considering look that she was giving me, I knew that I wasn’t going to like whatever it was she was about to say.“Nausea, weight gain, those fabulous boobs,” she slowly began. “A couple of bad headaches lately too, right?”“It’s nothing,” I said stubbornly. “I’m just under a lot of stress with the show. Nothing that I can’t handle, though.”“Are you sure you’re not pregnant?” Trish said, and I stared at her in shock.“Pregnant?” I echoed dumbly. “Of course not!” The moment the words were out of my mouth, I felt a little prickle of doubt
All Grown Up Thinking of Her
JesseI glanced over at Chance a couple of times as I stacked paint cans on the shelf. He was sorting some hardware at the counter, his tongue stuck between his teeth as he concentrated. He had finally become a relatively competent employee over the past couple of months. It had taken a lot more hours of training than I had planned on, and he still had weird little lapses, but overall, I was glad to see the kid get his act together here. I was glad that I had given him a chance, when the rest of the town didn’t seem ready to.He still drove Joe crazy, of course, and there was part of me that thought that maybe I should have hired someone different just so that they wouldn’t be at odds all the time. Joe was my partner in the business, after all. If I left, he would be in charge, and I wanted him to have an employee that he could work with.If I left. That wasn’t going to happen now anyway. Audrey had made it clear that she saw me here, even while she was off in France performing. There
Latest chapter
All Grown Up All Grown Up
AudreyI couldn’t believe that Jesse had gone to all of this work to build the perfect nursery for our baby. From the looks of the crib, it was hand-built, not just one of those flimsy things that you put together from the store. I could tell that there was still some work that he planned on putting into that, and there was a rocking chair only half finished on the floor. But Jesse was building me a nursery for our baby.I could barely believe it.Here I had been so worried that he would want nothing to do with me or the baby, when in fact, exactly the opposite was true. He wanted this enough that he was willing to put his love and dedication into incorporating us into his life and his home. He wanted our baby to grow up here just like he had grown up here.He was so perfect. I didn’t know how to tell him that.Instead, I was given the opportunity to show it to him.I caught his hands in mine and tugged him out of the nursery and back down the hallway to his bedroom. This time, I was
All Grown Up Moving Forward
JesseWhen I heard Audrey’s reasons for why she hadn’t told me about the pregnancy, I felt my heart break a little. Not because her reasons were terrible, but because I’d been so terrible to her this week. If she’d only explained things to me before. I knew that was my fault, though. I hadn’t let her explain. We’d been tired and too full of emotions to really talk last weekend, but I at least should have made time to see her earlier in the week.I didn’t know what I’d been expecting from her, but her actual reasons for not telling me were almost too sweet.“I’m assuming that you want to try to get yourself back into shape and go back to being a ballerina once the baby is born?” I said now, at dinner.To my surprise, Audrey shook her head. “Honestly, I think those days are over.”“I’m sure you can talk to your director and work something out with him,” I said, frowning. “I know there was the injury as well as this, but he seems like a reasonable guy. It’s not like you don’t have the ta
All Grown Up Mending Bridges
AudreyJesse slowly came up to the porch, like he thought I might run in the other direction. “You look really pretty,” he said quietly.“Is that all you came here to say?” I asked tartly.The lips of his mouth twitched with a grin. “Just the start of it,” he promised me. “Have you already eaten? I was hoping that maybe I could take you to dinner and we could talk.”I stared at him for a long moment. So now he wanted to talk? I wanted to hear whatever it was that he wanted to say, though. I wanted him, so badly that I ached. I found myself nodding. “Let’s go,” I said, heading toward his truck.We were both silent on the way to the restaurant that had been our favorite as teens. I should have known that he would take me there. Back to where it all began. There was a part of me that was terrified that I was never going to be able to come back here again after this too-serious conversation that we were about to have.There was another part of me that soared with hope, wondering if this m
All Grown Up Missing Him
AudreyI shook my head. “It’s more complicated than that,” I sighed. “He just got mad because I didn’t tell him that I was pregnant until we were on the way to the hospital. I lied to him about why I was back here, and he can’t trust me anymore.” I bit my lip. “I deserve it, for waiting for the perfect time. I just didn’t think waiting was going to end up making things so terrible.”“Oh, Audrey,” Annabelle sighed, coming over to sit next to me on the bed and giving me a hug. I knew she was probably going to be running late for her shift, but she didn’t seem to care. She just wanted to make sure that I was all right. I nearly cried with how much I appreciated it.She noticed. “Are you crying?”I had to laugh. “Hormones,” I told her. “I’m pregnant, remember? My emotions are all over the place.”She shook her head and went to grab me a tissue from the box on the dresser. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think he’ll be mad at you forever,” she said. “You didn’t see him when you were in Paris
All Grown Up Baby On Board
AudreyI’d had a great day with Mom and Annabelle, cooing over all the adorable little things that we could buy for the baby in the local mall. I knew that they were really excited about the baby, but as much as I tried to match their enthusiasm, I still couldn’t help but feel upset and unsure. It would have been so much easier if I had known that Jesse and I were an item and that he was going to be there for me. For us.I still hadn’t heard from him, though, and now it had been nearly a week since he had found out about the fact that I was pregnant.It had been a long week. Other than that shopping trip, I had barely left the house. What was there to do? Anywhere that I went around town, there was a chance that I might run into Jesse. I didn’t want to admit that I was avoiding him, but the conversation that he and I needed to have wasn’t one that I really wanted to start in public where anyone could witness it.It was a small town. Soon enough, everyone was going to realize that I wa
All Grown Up Audrey
JesseI took a calming breath to steady myself. No. I at least knew Audrey well enough to know that she wouldn’t do something like that without at least telling me that was her plan. Even though I hadn’t reached out to her, she knew where to find me if she really needed to talk about something like that. She knew where I worked, and she knew where I lived.At least, I thought I knew Audrey well enough to trust in that. If not Audrey, though, I had a feeling I would have caught an earful from Annabelle if her sister was even considering that.“You’re sure it’s yours?” Joe asked.“Yeah,” I said. I grimaced. “I actually asked her if it was someone else’s and that was why she hadn’t told me about it. She got pretty upset that I had even dared to think that she might have been with someone else. I believe her.”Joe nodded, and I could tell he was thinking everything over.“Am I right to be angry with her?” I asked, when he didn’t say anything. “I mean, she flat-out lied to me. You were rig
All Grown Up Processing
JesseI knew that I should probably talk to Audrey. Not talking to her was driving me crazy. She had always been one of my best friends, and if there was anyone that I wanted to talk to, it was definitely her. I missed her. I wanted to know how she was handling all of this. I wanted to know what she was thinking.I wanted to make sure that she was following the doctor’s orders to rest and stay off her feet for a little bit, in case it was the stress that had caused that terrible cramping that she’d had the other night. It had been hard for Audrey to stay off her feet before when her ankle was injured, so I could only imagine how she was coping with it now.I hoped for the sake of the baby, our baby, that she was taking the doctor’s words seriously. I had a feeling she would be, though. Somehow, I knew that she was going to make an incredible mother. That little baby was lucky.It was one of the few things that I was sure of.The rest of it was all uncertainties, and that right there w
All Grown Up Stress
Audrey“Eleven weeks,” I said. “Annabelle and I went for the ultrasound on Friday.” I pulled out the picture to show her, and her face lit up.“Look at that little peanut of a thing,” she cooed. “He looks adorable.”“He?” I asked skeptically. “You can’t possibly tell that from the picture.”Mom tutted. “Let me have my dream,” she said. “It would be good to have a little man around the household again. Besides, look at the way he’s positioned. He must be a boy.”I tried not to laugh. “Maybe it’s a boy,” I said, glancing at Annabelle.“Audrey’s hoping it’s a girl so that she can teach her to be a ballerina,” Annabelle said.“The world could use more male ballerinas,” Mom said, winking at me. “I always wished that I would have a boy to balance out you girls.” She sounded wistful, and I suddenly realized that I had never known if two kids were all that she planned to have or if things just hadn’t worked out for more. It suddenly seemed like something that I should know.Mom was wrapped up
All Grown Up Telling Mom
AudreyI had barely left my bedroom for the rest of the weekend after Jesse dropped me off at home. I couldn’t help thinking of the terrible things that he had said to me out in the driveway. I couldn’t help thinking of how much I deserved for him to say those things and more to me.I had fucked up. I knew that now. No, I had known that all along. I knew that I should tell him about the baby. All the reasons not to tell him seemed so stupid now. I couldn’t even think how to apologize to him, in fact, that’s how stupid all the reasons sounded in my head.Not that I was going to get a chance to apologize to him. I had given him his space on Saturday. He wanted time to cool off and process things, and I would give that to him. Sunday, I hadn’t been able to stop myself from texting him, though. I understood if he wasn’t ready to talk yet, but I just wanted to know when he might be ready to talk. The uncertainty was killing me.He hadn’t responded. Suddenly, I felt panic go through me, eve
