A World Without Sun discussion

The three ate in silence. Miles wasn’t sure if it was still a good idea to share the baby news now that Melody had Lori to worry about.

"Melody, we wanted to talk to you about something." Jade said as Melody picked up her plate to put in her sink.
"Can it wait? Lori just made it to the house." Melody said. "Be back in a bit!" She said hurrying out the house

Miles sighed when their daughter left. “I guess it is going to have to wait…”

Lori was outside the main house, talking to Sunny. She looked uncomfortable, but had a small smile on her face.

Melody ran over and hugged her friend. "Thanks for picking her up GranMummy."

"And I doubt she'll want to leave her friend today to go with me today either." Jade picked up her plate and Miles. "I can tidy up here. You should get to your studio

“Are you sure? I can come with you if you want the company,” he offered.

Sunny nodded. “No problem. I offered your friend a room if she needs it.”
Lori bowed her head. “Thank you again, Lady Sunny.”

"What about meeting with your friend?" Jade asked, sounding less bitter about it now that she knew that he planned on breaking off things with his artist fuck buddy.

Melody took Lori's hand. "Can we use your tea room?" The way her parents were always making out now she didn't want to stumble on them again with Lori. Besides they needed to talk and she probably hadn't eaten in forever,

Sunny nodded. “Of course. Take all the time you need. I’ll have someone bring you two some refreshments and something for Lori to eat.” Sunny had asked the girl about when she ate last in the carriage.

Miles shrugged. “I can always meet with her next month.”

"Thanks!" Melody pulled her friend instead, pausing in the foyer seeing Lori look around. "Ah. I can explain when we get to the tea room." She didn't want Lori's eyes gettting any wider

Jade looked over her shoulder at him, smirking. "Oh? You must really enjoy spending time with me again. I usually have to pull you from a canvas." she teased.

Miles smiled lightly. “I’m trying to be more attentive.”

“I’ve known for a while. Seeing it in person is still a bit overwhelming, though.”

"Ahh. Is that what its called now?" Jade asked, loading the dishwasher. "I don't know if I can give you the full attention you desrve around my siblings. Maybe we should stay here instead? Gross out Melody more?"

"What? You knew?" Melody asked, suprised. "How long? How?"

Miles laughed. “I think she might kill us if we embarrass her in front of Lori.”

Lori shrugged. “I googled you shortly after we met.”

Jade groaned playfully. "Fine. I guess we can go to Greyson's and be gross there."

"What?! Why?" Melody shook her head. "And that's an invasion of privacy!"

“Because I wanted to know who my best friend was going to be. I don’t know why you’re getting upset, you’re the one who lied for years.” Lori sat at the table when they got to the tea room.

Miles chuckled. “Sounds like a plan.”

"Its not that Im upset. I just...okay so I lied for a while. A long while." Melody sighed sitting down. "Im sorry. Okay. There. I just wanted to not have to deal with all this." She gestured around. "Publicly and all the attention that comes with it."

Lori nodded. “And I get that. It just hurt that you didn’t trust me with it. I accept your apology, though.”

Melody fiddled with the tablecloth. "Was the ride over awkward?"

Lori nodded. “Very. But your grandmother seems nice. She offered me a room to stay in and help with financing the baby if I keep it.”

That sounded like her grandmother. Melody looked at her friend's stomach, she didn't look pregnant. "Do you want to keep it?"

Lori sighed. “I don’t know. Either way, I’m not allowed back home. My mom thinks I’ve been sneaking around and sleeping with Peter or other boys.” She hugged herself.

"That can't really disown you over this. Thats ridiculous. And if you do keep the baby it's their grandchild. " Melody said upset on her friend's behalf. She thanked the servants when they brought in tea and a sandwich for Lori. "You dont deserve that."

“I know… but my parents can’t afford to take care of a baby. Neither can I. We also can’t afford the procedure to get rid of it.” She picked up the sandwich and stared at it.

Melody watched her friend sadly. Was this how her mom would have been if she didn't come from wealth? Lori had to be around the same age as Jade when she got pregnant. She picked up the teacup and pour tea into their cups. "I'm sorry."

“Why are you sorry? You didn’t get me pregnant.” She bit into her sandwich.

"Yeah but you dont deserved to be treated like that especially from your family. " She picked up a biscuit. "Peter is an asshole too so there's that."

She smiled a bit at the last thing she said. “I know. But it is what it is.”

"And imagine how many other girls he has done this to." Melody huffed. "And Jacob's sister is engaged to that creep."

She looked down. “I was so stupid…”

"Sure you made a mistake. But everyone does sometimes." Melody sipped her tea. "But your also super smart. And you have me. "

Lori nodded. “I don’t know if I can raise a baby. What if I’m bad at it?”

"What if your good at it?" Melody countered. "Not that you have to do it if you dont want to. But you have choices."

“What if I’m not, though. What if I don’t do a good enough job? I’m only fourteen!”

Melody put down her teacup and took her friend's hand. "Breathe. Breathe. We don't have to figure it out today." She said looking up at her grandmother when she came into the room and hoped she agreed and wouldn't go straight into problem solving.

“Worrying isn’t good for the baby.” Sunny took a seat. “But it is important to think about the future and what the best course of action for you is. If you don’t think you can care for this child, then there are other options.”
Lori took a breath. “It’s a lot to think about right now.”
Sunny nodded. “You don’t have to have an answer right now.”

Melody nodded and poured tea into her Granny's cup. "I told you nobility boys sucked." Well minus Jacob.

Lori nodded, sniffling. “They really do.”
“Not all nobility boys suck,” sunny sipped her tea. “Just the ones who were raised wrong.”

"Why do they get raised wrong though? Grandpa Bruce and Cole aren't bad."

She shrugged. “Some people just don’t know how to raise children. Or they raise them with the same beliefs as themselves.”

Melody couldnt help but think of Jacob. His father was a jerk but he wasnt. Jacob was almost the complete opposite of his dad. "But kids still have free will."

“Yup. That’s why some either hate their roots, like you, and some embrace it, like Peter.” Sunny sipped her tea again.
Lori nibbled her sandwich.

Melody frowned a little at the jab but didnt argue since her grandmother wasnt wrong. "They wrote about me in the paper." Shebsaid to change the conversation

“I saw,” Sunny didn’t look up from her teacup.
“They did?” Lori asked both confused and curious.

Melody nodded and updated her on the gala and Jacob and his fiancé's plan to get out their arranged marriage. "His father was furious and now hes not answering my calls."

Lori frowned. “I’d be scared in your shoes. Who knows what he could do to Jacob. What if he took away everything he owns? Forbids him from seeing you again? Breaks his cameras?”

Melody flinched at the idea of Jacob's father breaking any of his cameras, knowing how much they meant to him. "But Jacob's is his eldest child and his only son. He wouldn't be that mad to do something rash like that." She said, but looked at her grandmother for confirmation. After all, she understood the nobility world more than they did.

Sunny took a breath. “Noble men are held to fulfil certain duties. Just like women have a lot of responsibilities, as do the men. They have a lot of eyes on them. A lot of expectations. I wouldn’t be surprised if your and Jacob’s stunt sent her father over the deep end.”

Melody bit her lip and pulled out her phone again to call Jacob. What if his father really had done something to him? When he didn't answer, she called again trying not to look like how freaked out she was.

“Do you have his sister’s number?” Lori asked, remembering the girl who took them in after Peter released their sex video.

"I don't know. Maybe?" Melody said going through her messages. She found an unsaved number that she had texted a while ago about makign it home safely. She hoped it was Allie since they had responded back about how Peter was an asshole for what he did to Lori. Melody called the number hoping it was Jacob's sister. Would she even know anything? She was his half sister. What if she was with her other family or something?

Alice picked up. “This is Alice.”

"Alice! Its Melody. Are you with Jacob? I haven't heard from him since last night and with all the things in the paper...I wanted to know if he was okay." She said