I've Hoped For Change, It Gets Better Everyday

Jack Barakat was completely frozen in shock. He stared out into space as I attempted several times to break him from his trance.

“Jack?” I shook Jack’s shoulders, hoping he’d respond now. He completely ignored me. “Jack!”

He looked up at me with wide eyes. “She’s what?”

“S-she’s pregnant,” I repeated. “Jackie, are you okay? Are you going to be okay?”

“Oh god,” Jack leaned forward and put his head between his hands. “No, this has to be a mistake, a huge mistake.” He looked up at me, so scared and vulnerable. It upset me.

“She said she was trying to tell you when you called. She’d just found out,” I fed him the same lines Linda had given me.

Jack took deep breaths. “What the hell am I supposed to do? I’m not ready to be a dad!”

“Hey, it’s okay. It’s going to be okay,” I said soothingly. But Jack was too far gone. He jumped off the bed and away from me.

“How can you say that? You don’t know if it’s going to be okay! You didn’t impregnate someone when you depend on your mom to help you with laundry!” Jack exclaimed. I said nothing, hoping he’d finish his rant and be rational again.

“How am I supposed to be a dad? Oh my god, I’m gonna be a terrible dad! I’ll screw it up and it’ll hate me!”

I stood up and walked to him. “Jack, you need to calm down.” I sat him down on the floor and pulled him into me. “I don’t know how it’s going to be okay, but I know that eventually it will be okay.”

He took a deep breath. “But I’m not ready for it.”

“Well you decided you were ready enough to sleep with Linda, so you should’ve thought that this would be a possibility,” I said gently. “But that’s not the point. You need to talk to her, she needs you and that baby is going to need you more than I do.”

Jack looked up at me. “So what are you saying? You don’t want a relationship with me?”

As much as it hurt to say no, I knew I had to. “I’m sorry, but you need to focus on Linda. If what she says is true, then you need to be there for her and that baby.”

Jack shook his head and chuckled darkly. “Of course, you would say that. I can’t do this, Abby.”

“Well you have to, Jack. You can’t just ditch Linda. If you do, you won’t have me as even a friend,” I told him. He needed to step up. “I can’t respect someone who would do that.”

“Fine, I guess I should go then,” Jack replied numbly. “God, this is shit. We were so close.”

“I know, but sometimes things don’t quite work out,” I sighed. “I’ll be your best friend again, would that work?”

Jack smiled. “Yeah, that works. I better figure out what I’m going to do.”

“Good luck.”

“Thanks, I’m going to need it.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Jack drove the hour and a half it took to get to Linda’s house. It was dark; only the light in Linda’s room glowed steadily; her parents’ car missing from the driveway. He took a deep breath and told himself he could do this. He shut the engine off and made his way up the footpath to the door and knocked.

He heard footsteps on the stairs he knew oh so well. He could see her in his mind passing the decorative mirror that went so well with the crème colored walls that her mother had chosen, passing the family portrait her parents proudly displayed in the living room, and finally opening the door. The sound of clicking made him sick. He’d see her soon enough.

“What are you doing here?” Linda looked less that pleased to see her boyfriend. Scratch that, her ex-boyfriend.

“Abigail told me that you told her you’re pregnant,” Jack replied. “Is it true?”

Linda stepped back. “Come inside, I’m cold.”

Jack followed inside, his stomach in knots. What the hell was he going to do with a kid on the way? He’s barely eighteen, hasn’t even lived his life, and now he’s created one. He sits on the couch, not sure what exactly he’s going to say.

“So, is it true, or not?” Jack asked, praying it wasn’t true.

Linda sighed and sat on the opposite end of the couch. “It’s true. I’m guessing I’m about four weeks along.”

Jack leaned forward, putting his head between his hands. “This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening.”

“Yeah, well it is happening,” Linda snapped. “You think I want this happening? I’m eighteen and I’m pregnant. I’m going to get fat and everything’s going to change for me.”

“God, Linda! You said you were on birth control!” Jack stood up as Linda flinched.

“I was. I don’t know what happened!” Linda defended herself. “You said you used a condom!”

“I did!” Jack yelled back. “So how the hell did this happen?”

“I DON’T KNOW!” Linda screamed. They hadn’t noticed the door opening or closing, hadn’t heard the footsteps.

“What’s going on here?”Linda’s mother, Tanya, and her father, David, were standing in the doorway of the living room.

Linda looked over at them in shock, praying that they hadn’t heard everything. But the look on her mother’s face said it all.

“Linda, are you pregnant?” Tanya’s hand shook at her side.

Linda’s face fell. So her parents had heard everything. Well, things couldn’t get worse right?

Jack stared at Linda’s parents. There was no way out of this one. The look David was sending him told him all he needed to know: he was so dead.

“Yes, mom, dad,” Linda whispered, playing with her hands. “I’m pregnant. It’s Jack’s.”