"Tell him."
"I'll tell him later." Ingrid said as she avoided looking at Ayden. Her charisma suddenly disappeared.
"Make sure that you do that, okay?" Ethan stressed further. "You two cannot be keeping such vital information from each other."
"I will tell him, I mean it," Ingrid said. She turned to Ayden. "Babe, can you excuse us. There are some things that I want to talk with my brother about."
"Oh... it's fine." Ayden said as he rose from his seat immediately.
"Ayden are you okay?" Ingrid asked worriedly, as she grabbed his wrist. "I hope that you're not getting this as an order."
"No, no, it's okay. I mean it. I know that there are just some family matters that you two need to discuss and I get that. I'll be outside."
"I'll come back to get you when we're done okay?" Ingrid asked.
"Yeah. I'll be waiting."
Ayden got up from his seat, finessed his skinny jeans, and messed up his hair a little bit. He went over to kiss Ingrid on the lips before Ethan interrupted.
"Not in front of me," Ethan said, arms crossed. Ayden nodded while Ingrid chuckled. He kissed her on the forehead and walked away leaving the two alone.
"You really meant all that stuff?" Ingrid asked. "About Ayden."
"Yeah. He's really in love with you." Ethan said. "He makes me feel jealous."
"Of what? Us?"
"No. Elena... and Lance."
"Elena..." Ingrid mumbled. "I haven't seen her for over a month now. It's like she just disappeared."
"She didn't. She's in Mexico with Lance."
"What are they doing there?"
"Living life, for all I know. She was here on my birthday."
"Oh which reminds me..." Ingrid gasped. "Happy belated birthday Ethan!"
Ethan scoffed, "Thank you, Ingrid."
"How did I forget? I mean I knew I was coming to tell you those words but how comes I never told you the moment we first saw each other today?"
"School, anticipation built in your mind. Duty perhaps." Ethan said, giggling.
"Duty..." Ingrid mumbled as she looked at her belly.
"How do you feel about all this? Is it something you never expected?"
"Yeah, truth be told." An accompanying nod followed. "I mean with mom, and school, with this and my boyfriend… sometimes I wonder how I have managed to get this far, despite everything's that's happened. You know Ayden wasn't up for the idea at first. Like he wanted me to abort the baby. I understood why he had to think that way, but when it came to choosing between me and the baby, I told him he could go fuck himself."
"Whoa... someone was angry. Wait. You don't love him anymore or what?"
"No, I do... it's just that sometimes I get confused about whether I'm doing the right thing. With him being a part of this you know?" Her hands caressed her belly. "I just hope that I'm making the best decision."
"It doesn't have to be the best Ingrid, it just has to be the right one. I told you that. However hard decisions might be, if they are right then nothing else matters. You remember the words?"
"Yeah, I do." She said before she paused and they talked concurrently. "Stop crying. This is the right thing to do."
"You clearly haven't forgotten," Ethan said.
"I'm sure no one hasn't yet," Ingrid said. Ethan looked down at the table, guilt acting as a mask on his face. "Ethan, did you really do it?" She asked. "I need to know."
"Do you?" He asked, still looking away.
"Yes."
A minute passed as they looked at each other, and away for a moment. "Yeah. I did it." He answered. Ingrid's heart skipped a beat. Her skin hairs were erected and she sucked in air to shock.
"What happened? Why did you?"
"It's a simple story, Ingrid. And I guess you know how it works. I'm sorry that you had to discover that there was a part like that inside your big brother." Ethan said. "I'm so sorry that I ashamed you all, and there's no way to turn things around now."
"Ethan, why did you? I thought that things between you and Elena were cool!"
"I'm not having this discussion with you. Stop talking about her."
"You guys were so in love that night, I mean how did it end up from whenever you're ready to rest in hell you devil in a span of three hours?"
"Because I screwed up, okay? I saw an opportunity and I took it. Is that what you want to hear, huh?"
"Ethan I know you. And I know you loved Elena very much to even do that to her. Something happened, didn't it? Were you sick or drunk or something?"
"Ingrid will you just stop asking! I'm not talking about such matters with a young girl like you, okay? Stop asking questions, it only brings back the horror that I inflicted on her, and trust me, I want to forget."
"Ethan," she continued.
"Ingrid... please." Ethan cut her short. "Stop. You'll be helping me when you do that."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. This is the right thing to do."
"Fine..."
"Thanks for understanding." He said, hoping that she'd not inquire any further and that things stayed that way. She looked at him with doubtful eyes, as she tapped her fingers on the table between them. "Okay, either way... how's school?" Ethan asked. "Any new things happening lately."
"You might wanna take a long comfortable seat because I'm about to spit tales like nonsense."
"Tales? Like what?"
"I was sent home for a suspension." She said, wallowing.
"For what?" Ethan asked, eyes wide and mouth in a laughing agape gesture.
"Well... it was one Monday midday..."