Fragile

Two hundred and six pounds. I was starting to show even more as summer break was drawing closer. I still hadn’t spoken to John and hanging out with my doctor after appointments was too lame to continue with it. She was usually busy anyway. I wasn’t sure how long morning sickness lasted, but I seemed to be feeling a whole lot better when I was in class at nine or ten in the morning.

I finalized my trip home after class one day the week before I was supposed to go home. I wasn’t sure whether John still wanted to come, but I was really hoping that he would. I was walking to the dining hall when I bumped into him while waiting to cross the street.

“Hey,” I said, awkwardly, and waited for our light to turn green.

“Hey,” he said back.

Awkward moments followed by awkward silence; my specialty. The light turned green and we began walking across the street and up the steps that led into the dining hall. John held the door for me, like he always did, and I hesitantly walked inside and smiled as a ‘thank you’. As we swiped our ID cards, we both turned to each other to speak and then stopped.

“Oh, you go first.”

“No, its fine. You go ahead,” John insisted. I hesitated again as we started walking over to see what was being served.

“Um, how have you been?” I asked, not knowing what else to say.

“Fine. You?”

“Great; I’ve been great. And I feel good, too.”

“That’s good,” he replied.

I nodded my head and piled a bunch of food onto my tray and found a table for four people. John followed with two glasses of milk; we always drank milk for lunch.

“Thanks,” I smiled crookedly and sat down. He sat across from me.

It was quiet between the two of us as I was eating through two grilled cheese sandwiches until John cleared his throat as a signal that he was going to speak.

“So, summer break starts next week,” he said.

“Mhmm,” I agreed with him.

“I was planning my trip to go home and my parents sent me extra money for the trip to your house. I already booked a seat, if that’s still okay with you.”

I stopped mid bite to see if I heard correctly.

“Oh, really?” I asked with a hint of sarcasm in my voice. “You think you can just plan a trip to stay with my family and me when we haven’t talked to each other for like a week or so? That’s not how it goes.”

“Are you really going to continue to hold this against me?”

“Why not?” I pouted. “Don’t you remember when we were in middle school when I first moved into town and you stood up to the jerk that kept teasing me because of my braces and glasses?”

He looked down at his tray of food, nodding his head slightly.

“And then you promised me that no matter what happened to either of us, you would be there for me and you made me promise the same thing to you; and I’ve kept that promise ever since.”

“But, Izzie, this is a baby we’re talking about here. A baby. That’s a big request to ask. I needed time to actually think it over.”

I looked into his eyes as he looked back up from his tray.

“I’m sorry for being a douche about this; I want to do this for you.”

---

Summer break…finally. I couldn’t be happier and I couldn’t be anymore nervous to go home. John was able to move his flight to the same as mine, and we were able to convince people to let him sit next to me. He just told them I was expecting and he was the father. John is the best.

“I’m scared,” I said as the plane was getting ready to take off.

“You’ve been on a plane before. What’s there to be scared off?”

“Not the plane, John. I mean going home and telling my parents that I’m pregnant. That’s nerve wracking.”

“Uh, that’s what I’m here for,” he laughed and held my hand. “To calm your nerves. I just hope your parents don’t still hate me for accidentally setting the cat’s tail on fire.”

I couldn’t hold in my laughter and finally snorted, giggling uncontrollably. John looked so mad when I was able to calm down.

“I’m sorry,” I stifled a chuckle. “But that was the funniest thing I ever saw. And, no, they don’t hate it. They were just a little upset.” I continued to laugh to myself again.

The trip home wasn’t as long as I thought it was going to be. It usually felt like a whole day went by while I was flying home, but laughing at John made it go by fairly fast. As soon as we landed, we grabbed our luggage and wait for my parents.

“Oh! There they are!” I exclaimed and dropped my bag at John’s feet before running to greet them. I ran into their arms and they held onto me tightly.

“Isabella! We’ve missed you!” My mother exclaimed and kissed my cheek.

John came up from behind and dropped our luggage next to him to greet my parents.

“John,” my father grabbed his hand and shook it. “Good to see you.”

“You too, sir,” John smiled slightly.

“John,” my mother hugged him. “You get more handsome every time I see you.”

His cheeks blushed slightly.

“So, what’s thins news you have to tell us?” My father asked.

I suddenly felt my stomach drop.

“Oh, George,” my mother said. “Let’s bring her home first and get her settled in.”

My father nodded his head in agreement and picked up my suitcase. John and I walked behind them out to the car.

“Almost time,” he whispered in my ear. Shivers slipped up and down my spine as I thought about how they would react. I started to feel my body tremble and soon stop because I could feel John’s fingers tangling with mine; and I was suddenly okay.