Chapter Four
Y/N sat in on a creative writing workshop; she gripped her pen stiffly and looked down at the empty paper in front of her in frustration. Writing always came easily to her; the words just flowed out without much effort but not today. Something inside of her felt unnatural and really, really wrong. She clutched her stomach in pain and ran out of the classroom in a hurry. Before she could make it to the bathroom, she hunched over a hallway trash can and emptied out her guts. She sank to the floor too anxious to go back to class. She wondered if this was just nerves over the choice she was facing or was something seriously wrong with her?
She wasted no more time; she headed straight for the nearest hospital. Maybe, she was overreacting, but something was different; she knew enough to trust that feeling rather than just push it away.
Y/N restlessly fiddled with the buttons of her coat awaiting the series of test results she had taken. In her head, she had gone through all the possible outcomes, and she couldn’t shake her worst fear: cancer. She pictured a hopeless future of chemotherapy appointments; all by herself because neither Haz nor Tom wanted to love a girl with a death sentence.
“Y/N Y/L/N?” a monotone voice called from the opposite side of the waiting room, and a rush of adrenaline overcame her. She followed the doctor into a separate room picturing the words, “we regret to inform you that, sadly, you have cancer; there are a number of treatment options…” She took a seat across from the doctor and gripped the chair until her knuckles turned pale white.
“Okay, can we just cut all the bullshit? How many years do I have left in me?” she blurted out, skipping the typical formalities.
“What- what are you even- no, no, Miss, you aren’t dying…” he bit back an amused smile trying to keep a professional composure. She just blankly stared back at him in disbelief not sure how to respond.
“This might come as a surprise, or this could be great news; it’s up to you how to take it. You aren’t ill- you’re pregnant,” the doctor informed her softly smiling probably expecting her to be excited.
“I’m pregnant- with… With a baby? There is a baby... inside of me right now? Are you sure?” she cross-examined him, not willing to accept the news.
“Yes, I have your blood test results right here if you don’t believe m-- Um, where are you going?” he continued to explain, but she flung open the door and sprinted to the glowing red exit sign.
She couldn’t comprehend it. However, she had to.
Then it dawned on her- the baby had to be Tom’s. They never exactly used protection; how fucking stupid, she reflected.
Tom…
She couldn’t even think about how he would react. The worry began to eat her apart; the words ‘I didn’t sign up for this shit’ echoed through her brain from the last time she confessed something to him.
He would throw her away; he would tell her the baby was someone else's, or he would leave.
She couldn’t handle any of that stress; she had to be the one to leave.
She pulled out her phone and checked the earliest flights she could catch; she didn’t care where. Anywhere except where she was would do.
New York, departing in 90 minutes.
Back at her apartment, she threw only essentials into her suitcase. She just needed to leave as fast as possible before she changed her mind. In the midst of the chaos of packing, she reluctantly dialed Tom’s number. It went straight to voicemail.
“Hey, Tom, it’s me… We haven’t talked since that night, and that’s not exactly why I’m calling. I don’t know if there's any good way to say this, but I’ll just be brutally honest with you. Tom, I-I’m pregnant. I know it’s yours. I can’t do this; I can’t do this with you, and I know you wouldn’t want to do this with me either. So, I’m just gonna save us both the trouble and leave as soon as I can. I booked a flight to New York, and I’m leaving in an hour. I just thought you should know… I guess this is officially goodbye,” she spoke her mind holding back nothing from him.
She sucked in a deep breath and slowly released it feeling confident that she was doing the right thing for herself and for Tom. Before she shut the lights off and said goodbye to her apartment, she paused at the door. Memories came in waves of the times she had shared here with Tom and Haz.
Harrison…
She couldn’t worry about another thing at the moment, so she shoved him to the back of her mind for another time.
“Cut!” the director bellowed, and Tom headed over to Harrison to take a break. He clicked on his phone and sharply inhaled at a notification indicating a missed call from Y/N.
He pressed on the message and held the phone close to his ear. ‘I guess this is officially goodbye…” The words went right over his head. It was all too much to handle in a 30-second voicemail. He couldn’t believe she just casually dropped the news on him like a bomb and then planned to leave without a real goodbye.
His gaze flickered to his watch; he had a mere 25 minutes before she flew away thousands of miles from everything they had experienced together.
“Tom, is everything alright?” Harrison questioned, noticing his best friend’s horrified expression.
“I have to go right now,” he answered, confusing Haz even more.
“But- we’re in the middle of shooting Spiderman, you’re in costume; you can’t just leave,” he tried to reason with him.
“Watch me, bitch,” Tom snapped as he began to ditch the set.
Y/N hesitated before boarding the plane. In the back of her imagination, she hoped someone would stop her and give her a reason to stay. The fact that she was all alone proved to her that she was making the right choice after all. She took one last glance behind her and stepped forward leaving the past where it belonged.
Tom flew through the crowds, shoving confused passer-by's marveling at his suit out of the way. He made it to the terminal departing to New York out of breath and sweaty. He ran up to the desk and practically shouted at the attendant.
“You have to let me in! I have to get on the plane right now! My girlfriend is there, and she’s alone, and she thinks that I don’t care but I do! I want this baby, and why the fuck aren’t you doing anything to stop the plane?!” Tom cried out, pointing angrily to the plane that was beginning to head down the runway.
“Sir, can you kindly step away before I call security,” she responded, too calmly for his liking.
“No, I won’t fucking step away; did you hear anything I just said? My pregnant girlfriend is alone and scared. I have to talk to her right fucking now, so how about you just step aside! Okay?” he struggled to convince her only making the situation worse.
Two security guards spotted Tom and strutted over to him in preparation to remove him.
“Okay, okay. I’m sorry; how about you just book me for the next flight to New York?” he pleaded, using his good looks to persuade the attendant.
She pursed her lips, shot the guards a look, and started typing on her monitor.
“We have another flight that leaves in 45 minutes,” she stated, a slight tone of sympathy evident in her voice.
“Okay, one ticket please,” he responded in a calmer manner.
He moved to the side to take a seat when he noticed a familiar purse on the seat next to him. It was hers. He breathed in a sigh of relief; he was glad her forgetfulness was actually a blessing in disguise.
Now, all he had to do was wait, and hope it all went according to plan.
Y/N yawned as she strode down the walkway. She smiled at the fact that she was in New York: ‘concrete jungle where dreams are made of.’ She reached down to her side to grab her wallet from the inside of her purse.
Panic ripped through her-- the purse was gone. She racked her brain for the last time she had it, and that was at the London airport. She had no money, identification, nothing except clothes, and a baby growing inside of her.
Hopeless, she plunked herself down on a row of chairs and decided to close her eyes for a minute until she thought of a better option.
Tom anxiously tapped his foot, waiting for the people in front of him to hurry off the plane. He rehearsed in his head the entire plane ride what he was going to say to her once he found her. He even wrote it down multiple times word for word.
Finally, he made it out into the airport. He looked down at himself and realized in embarrassment he was still wearing his Spiderman suit, and it made sense as to why everyone he passed scanned him up and down. He had nothing except her purse in his hands which further explained the weird looks he got.
He rushed up and down the aisles desperately hoping he would turn the corner and find her. Thirty minutes later, he was nothing but exhausted, and he plopped down on a chair. He ran both hands through his messy curls beyond stressed out. He set the purse on the chair next to him but pulled it back once he noticed a pair of feet propped up on it.
“I’m sorr- Y/N!” he shrieked. She flinched awake, and her jaw dropped at the sight of him.
“Tom! Wait, why are you here? How did you even get here?” she grilled him. He moved to help her sit up and sat so close to her his skin tingled at her touch.
“Y/N, love… I had everything I was going to say to you planned out, but those words don’t describe what I’m feeling right now,” Tom struggled to explain.
“Okay…” she left it up to him to do the talking.
“I haven’t given you any reason at all to put your trust in me, and I know that. I’m so sorry about that. But, this baby, our baby. It has to be a sign. A sign that we’re meant to rise above the odds stacked against us. I’m terrible at expressing my feelings, but I’m trying. I’m trying for you, for us. Please, don’t leave Y/N,” Tom shuddered at the thought of her leaving him.
She melted at the sight of the love of her life finally opening up and revealing his true self.
“So, you actually want to have this baby with me?” she confirmed in disbelief.
“God, yes! I’m thrilled for us. We’re having a fucking child together! I’m going to be a dad!” he grinned and held her head in his hands. She slowly met his eyes and saw the pure joy in them. Maybe, he was right. Maybe, it was a good thing she wondered.
“This was your plan all along wasn’t it?” she asked suspiciously.
“Darling, I don’t think that far ahead. For you, I will now,” he pledged.
“Can we go home now?” she teased. He laughed boyishly and pulled her up.
“Only if we take the jet instead,” he compromised.
Harrison checked his phone repeatedly; he was extremely concerned that neither Tom or Y/N answered any one of his multiple calls. He feared that Tom hurt her again and was off blowing steam while she was drinking away her pain as usual.
His phone beeped, and he jumped for it immediately.
One new message from Y/N
His breath hitched, and he opened it in less than a second.
‘Haz, can you meet me tomorrow, we should talk.’
He texted back right away smiling like a dork at his phone. This was it. She actually chose him! He couldn’t contain his excitement to see her. There was no other reason for her to text him; he specifically said he couldn’t see her again unless she committed to him. It all seemed to make sense; she must have broken the news to Tom that she was choosing him instead, so Tom was avoiding his messages out of jealousy.
Harrison felt a pang of pity for Tom. Afterall, he had her first. However, he ruined his chances with her while Haz treated her right every time.
It felt good to be the one.