Going Alone

“Jack!” I yelled, picking up my phone.

“Mae.” He smiled, “We just got your video.”

“Cool. Look, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine. I lost my phone for a while.”

“Where’d you find it?” I asked, playing with my neglected dog.

“Behind the head of cabbage in the fridge.”

“…Okay.”

“Um, anyways.” Jack laughed nervously, “I’m really excited to meet this baby.”

“Me too.” I sighed, “April just seems so far away.”

“Oh! I forgot to tell you. I called your doctor a few weeks ago.”

“So, you know what I’m having?”

“Yeah. I’m so fucking excited!”

“I’m debating if I want to know.” I said, rolling Bagel over.

“I can tell you.” Jack offered.

“No, I’ll wait.” I smiled.

“No, you can’t have the phone.” Jack said.

“What?”

“Oh, Alex wants to talk to you.”

I thought for a minute, “I’ll talk to him.”

“She’ll talk to you.” Jack said, probably thrusting his phone into Alex’s hands.

“Hey.” Alex said quietly.

“Hi.”

“Okay… I’ve thought it over…”

“Thought what over?”

“I was wrong for smoking weed.”

“I know.”

He sighed, exasperated, “Do you always have to do that?”

“I’m sorry, Alex.”

“Whatever.” He sighed, “I just wanted you to know I was wrong.”

“Well, thank you.” I said, shoving some bread into my mouth.

“Um.. Yeah.. So… I’ll talk to you later.” He hung up quickly.

What a weird-o.

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“Larry?” I asked, popping my head into the break room.

“Mae.” He said, leaning back into his chair.

“I was wondering if I could pick up some more shifts.”

He sighed, “You should stop working so much.”

“I know, but I’m just 18, no money, and going to be a single parent. I need all the work I can get.”

“I can give you a few more hours.” He said, puling up the time sheet on his computer.

“Thank you.” I smiled.

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“Mae.” Jack breathed.

“What are you doing?” I asked, leaning against the break room’s wall.

“I just ran… On the treadmill.” He gulped in air.

I switched the phone to my other ear, “Did you see another girl?”

“I’m too out of breath… To fight with you.”

“Why did you even call me anyway?”

“Can’t I just… Talk to you?” He panted.

“Well, yes. But I’d prefer to talk to you when you don’t sound like you just screwed all of Maryland.”

“I do... Not.”

“Okay, whatever you say.”

“I called you… To give you an idea.”

“And that is?”

“To move in… With us.”

“Us who?”

“Us as in… Alex and I.” He panted again.