I go to bed, dreading having to go to the hotel tomorrow. I stay awake thinking about it. Pregnant. I feel haunted by the positive pregnancy tests. I really don't want to tell him before I figure out what I want to do, but it meant so much to Dayna and I didn't want to let her down. She's always been there for me. I finally feel my eyes grow heavy, so I close my eyes and fall asleep. I wake up to Dayna jumping on my bed.
"You know what time it is don't you?" She asks me. This annoys me. I push her and she falls off the bed. I get up and pass her on the floor.
"Somebody's grumpy," she says getting up off the floor. I fake a smile at her. "That's better." I make my way to the bathroom and hop in the shower. When I'm done, I try to find something to wear. What kind of thing do you wear when you're about to tell a guy you had a one-night stand with that you're pregnant with his baby? Maybe yoga pants? I put on a grey hoodie and a pair of black leggings. Is this too casual? I trade my hoodie for a white t-shirt and a jean jacket. Better.
"Alright, I'm ready," I say to Dayna who's in the kitchen eating cereal.
"Aren't you going to eat?"
"No, I don't feel like eating."
We get into Dayna's car and make our way to the hotel. She lets me out and stays in the car to find parking. I walk to the front desk and a lady at the desk sees me approach and smiles. "Hello, welcome to BeachFront Inn, what can I do for you?"
"Hi, uh... I'm looking for Noah Knight?"
She looks me up and down. "And you are..?" That's a good question I think to myself. What I'm I really to him? His acquaintance? his baby mama?
"A friend," I say.
She checks her computer. "Mister Knight checked out five weeks ago." This makes her suspicious. If I was really his friend wouldn't I be aware of this?
"Do you know a way I can contact him?" I ask her.
"I'm sorry, we don't give out personal information."
"Listen, it's kind of an emergency. I really need to get in touch with him. I know you're not supposed to give out information, but is there any way you can make an exception? please?"
She looks at me for about fifteen seconds. "Sorry, the answer is still no." She looks back at her computer. I sigh. Well, at least I tried. Dayna walks into the hotel.
"So, how'd it go?"
"It didn't. He checked out. The lady at the front won't give me any contact information." She looks at the girl behind the desk and approaches her. I know exactly where this is going.
"Dayna!" I call her. "Stop." She's face to face with the receptionist.
"Listen, you skinny bitch! This woman is pregnant with mister Knight's baby and he doesn't know it. I'm pretty sure when he does find out, he would love to know the receptionist who kept him away from his own child. So unless you want me complaining to your manager about how you prevented a father from meeting his unborn child, I suggest you cough up his phone number now."
The receptionist looks scared. "Okay, hold on." She looks through the computer, grabs a notepad and pen and writes something down. When she's done, she rips the paper from the pad and hands it to Dayna. Dayna walks to me and hands me the paper.
"Here you go," she says as she walks off toward the exit. I follow her.
When we get in the car, she takes out her cell phone.
"What's the number?" I read what's on the paper and she dials it in. "What's the extension?" She asks.
I shrug. "It doesn't say it on the paper." She puts the phone call on speaker. It rings two times before a woman answers it.
"Hello, KnightTech Incorporations, how may I help you?"
"Hi, can you transfer me to Noah Knight please?"
"Just a minute," she says before beeping noises take over her voice.
Another woman answers this time. "Hello, Noah Knight's desk. What can I do for you?"
"Can I just talk to Noah please?" I ask.
"And this is?"
"Uh, um. This is Ava."
"Well, Noah's in a meeting right now. Do you have a last name, Ava? I can leave him a message."
"Yes, It's Ava Stephenson. Just tell him it's an emergency and to please call me back."
"Okay," she hangs up the phone. I sink into my seat.
"She didn't even ask for a callback number," I say. "This is hopeless. maybe it's a sign. I should just give up," I say.
"Maybe she has caller ID," Dayna says. "Look, we haven't stressed all possibilities. Let's just go to his workplace."
"Yeah, 'cause that's not stalkerish," I say sarcastically. She grabs both my shoulders.
"Ava, my God, you're carrying his child. Nothing at this point is stalkerish." In a weird way, she does have a point. She takes my phone.
"What are you doing?" I ask her.
"Looking up the address to this Tech company"
"Do you think he owns it? It did have his name on it."
"Yes," she says reading something on my phone. "It says here that his father, Michael Knight, founded it. He's going to retire soon and hand over the company to Noah." Her eyes widen at her screen. "Ava, Noah's a friggin millionaire. He's almost on the verge of being a billionaire." She hits me on the shoulder. "He's in Forbes magazine for being one of the youngest richest men in this city."
"Give me that." I grab the phone from her. This makes everything worst. "My God, now it's going to look like I'm trying to get money from him. He's going to tell me to get an abortion. He'll probably pay me off to get an abortion." I cover my eyes. "I don't feel too good."
"Alright that's it," Dayna says. "We're going to his workplace." She starts the car.
"Dayna no!"
"Honestly Ava, shut up. We're going" She drives. In twenty minutes we arrive downtown and Dayna parks in front of a tall building.
I open the car door but I can't seem to make myself get out of the car.
Go!" She pushes me out the door and closes it behind me. I grab the door to try to get back in the car, but she locks it. She points to the building. I walk slowly to the building. It takes ten minutes before I make it to the building and another five minutes before I make it to the receptionist's desk.
"Hi, I want to see Noah Knight."
"Do you have an appointment?" She asks.
"No, but it's very important that I see him" She looks at me. She then picks up the phone and calls somebody.
"Hey Brenda, it's Macey. There's someone here who wants to see Noah." She says. The woman on the other receiver says something to her. "Alright, thanks, Brenda." She hangs up the phone and looks at me. "Sorry, he's busy for the rest of the afternoon. Did you want to make an appointment? I'll give you Brenda's number and you can sort it out with her."
"It's okay," I say and I make my way to leave.
I'm about to leave when I stop dead in my track. What would Dayna do? I go back to her and I ask her where the bathroom is. While I ask her, I stare at the directory on her desk. Noah's office is on the tenth floor, room 1017. I go up the elevator and in several seconds, I'm on his floor. I poke around until I see his room. His secretary is busy doing something, so I pass her and head to his room. She looks up and sees me.
"Excuse me miss, you can't go in there," she says. I keep walking. She gets up and trails behind me. "If you don't leave, I'm going to have to call security."
"Listen," I say, "I really need to speak with Noah, it's urgent."
"He is busy. Either you make an appointment or I call security!"
"I'm not leaving until I see him."
She goes to the phone. "This is your last warning!"
Just then, Noah walks towards us. "What's going on?" He asks.
"Good thing you're here sir," she drops the phone. "I was just about to call security. This lady won't leave, even after I told her you were busy."
He finally looks at me.
"Ava?" He asks in surprise. At least he remembers my name.