Gutter ***s

“Adie’s coming today, Adie’s coming today.” Billie sings throughout the apartment as I grab a couple of t-shirts and toss them into my bag when suddenly I feel very queasy. I run to the washroom and up chuck into the toilette.
“Morning sickness!” Mike calls as he passes by the washroom. Tre runs into the washroom.
“Uh what can I do?” he asks nervously, he’s been walking on egg shells since he got back from his parents’ house.
“Take back your sperm.” I joke as I flush the toilette, “Nothing, I’m vomiting, there’s not much you can do.”
“But I feel bad.” He says sheepishly.
“Then gimme a hug.” I say seriously in need to feel secure. Tre comes up to me and wraps his arms tightly around me and kisses my cheek.

“If you don’t mind, I need to pee.” Jackson says from the doorway, “Unless there’s more puking to take place.”
“All yours.” I say as Tre and I walk out of the washroom, “Tre, you packed right?”
“Yeah, yeah.” He says calmly, “Oh, I need to go to the store before we go.”
“You better go now, we have to be at the train station in less than an hour.” He kisses my lips before running out the door.

I go back into our room to make sure I have everything for our trip to my parents’ house. The phone rings, but someone picks it up.
“Liiiiiiiisssssssseeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaa!” Billie calls annoyingly, “Phooooooonnnnne!” I roll my eyes and head into the living room where Billie is fingering the phone chord. I grab the phone and put it to my ear.
“Hello?”
“Oh hello Lisea.” Someone says in a cheery voice.
“Uhh.”
“Its Helen, Fra-Tre’s mother.”
“Oh hi Mrs. Wright.”
“You can call me Helen,” she says lovingly, “Tre told me to wait a couple of weeks before calling you, so the two of you could get everything settled, but oh, I just couldn’t wait.”
“Umm.” I stammer, not sure how to respond.
“How are you doing?”
“Well, you know, morning sickness.” I say furrowing my eyebrows, Billie starts making dorky faces trying to make me laugh.
“Oh well dear, that just comes with the joy of being with child.”
what’s the joy in pregnancy? I ask myself, you’re sick, your hormones are outta whack, apparently there’s farting, swollen feet, sore tits.
“Umm.” I say as I swat Billie over the head to stop him from distracting me.
“Have you gone for a doctor’s appointment yet? Have an ultrasound?”
“Yeah, the day before yesterday,” I say finally being able to answer a question, “Everything’s good and healthy.”
“And how far along are you?”
“Six weeks.” I say reciting the words the doctor said in my head.
“And what about Tre, has he been umm behaved?”
“Yeah, he came with me to the doctor’s office and he’s been really nice since he got back.”
“That’s great.” Helen says softly as Tre comes back into the apartment with a plastic bag from the corner store in his hand, “So I don’t have to come down there and slap him again.”
“Oh no, Billie already volunteered to do that if he got out of line.” I laugh as I feel Tre wrap his arms around me from behind, pressing himself tightly against me.
“Who ya talking to?” he mumbles in my free ear as he goes to place small kisses behind my ear and neck.
“Your mom.” I whisper and he quickly let’s go of me, “Well Helen, Tre and I have to catch a train now, to go tell my parents the news.”
“Oh good luck,” she says happily, “I would really like to meet them soon.”
“Uh, yeah, for sure.” I lie, I really wanted to avoid the whole family thing as much as possible.

*
I open my eyes and look at the screen hanging from the ceiling of the train to see we’re still a half hour till our stop. Tre’s still fast asleep with his mouth wide open, I push his chin closed and get up and head to the washroom.

I get back from the washroom and Tre’s awake.
“You okay?” he asks rubbing his eyes, “Did you puke again?”
“No, I’m not a puking machine.” I say rolling my eyes as I sit back down and rest my head on his shoulder, “You know, we could just not get off the train until Vancouver and not tell my parents.” I joke, “Run away.”
“Ooohh yeah, and what about Green Day?”
“Green who?” I say poking him in the ribs, “Fine, we’ll go tell my parents.”
“So umm this time around, we can stay in the same room right?” Tre asks jokingly.
“Well too late to stop anything from happening now.”

As we get closer to our stop, Tre stands up and takes our bags off the over head rack. I hold my hand out to take my bag but he shakes his head.
“S’okay, I’ll take it for you.”
“Why?” I ask furrowing eyebrows, “C’mon, I’m not in the mood to be pranked.”
“Can’t I be a gentleman without all these accusations?” he asks as he puts his back pack on.
“Why are you being a gentlemen?” I ask crossing my arms. He glances at my stomach.
“Because.”
“I’m not crippled.” I mutter, “So that’s it then, you’re going to spend the next nine, well more like seven and a half months being so umm gentlemaneelike?”
“Uhh, well actually I realized I’ll be on tour most of that time.” He says scratching the back of his neck.
“Oh yeah.” I sigh realizing, shortly after our trip home he’d be leaving.

The train comes to a stop and a herd of people get off, including Tre and I. We spot my brother almost instantly and meet up with him at a seemingly new car.
“Dad got a new car?” I ask looking it over, trying to distract myself for the reason I’m visiting.
“Nope,” Andrew says smugly, “I got a new car.”
“Very nice.” I say looking it over as he goes to open the trunk.
“I see you got Tre whipped.” He jokes as Tre puts the bags in the trunk.
“Hey, hey, hey, I’m not whipped,” Tre says putting his hands up, “I’m just a gentleman.”
“Sure.” Andrew says rolling his eyes.

“So, why are you visiting anyway?” Andrew asks on the ride home.
“We ran out of food at our place.” Tre says after I stumble with my words.
“Uhh?” he groans, “that’s code for what?”
“Code for you suck too much hot dog.” I say poking the side of his head.
“Real mature Lisea,” He groans, “Hoe-bag.”
“Skank.” I say crossing my arms, Tre just sits by with a smirk, he’d witnessed this little game on several occasions last summer.

The game comes to a halt when we pull into the driveway, and that’s when I get really nervous, so does Tre.
“C’mon you two.” Andrew grunts, “Mom and Dad can’t wait to see you and all that sappy junk.” Tre and I clamber out of the car and Tre gets our bags before we head into the house.

I step into the house and a millisecond later my mother is hugging me.
“Lisea, are you okay, you look uneasy.” She says looking me over, “Was it a bad train ride?”
“Uhh, I’m fine.” I say as I go to hug my dad.
“Ahh Tre-ster.” My father chuckles as he goes to hug Tre after me, “You still in that band of yours.”
“Yes sir.”
“Sir, goddamnit.” My father grunts, “JERRY!” Andrew laughs lightly.
“Actually, his band is playing Lollapalooza this summer.”
“Isn’t that a popsicle?” my mother asks quizzically.
“It’s a huge ass rock tour.” Andrew says rolling his eyes.

“Why don’t you put your stuff away and then we’ll have supper.” My mom says looking Tre over.
“Yeah.” I say grabbing Tre’s free hand and leading him up the stairs, my mom looks at us disapprovingly for a second but my dad shakes his head and she rolls her eyes.

We get to my room and I shut the door before letting out a loud sigh.
“Oh god.” I gasp as Tre paces back and forth nervously, “I can’t do this.”
“Yeah!” Tre says running his hands through his hair, “Did you see the look you mom gave us when she saw we were going in the same room!”
“Kinda hard to miss it.” I say as I go up to him and him close, resting my chin on his shoulder, “We need to stay calm.”
“Yeah.” He sighs against my skin, “When do we tell them?”
“After supper, we’ll probably have coffee, then we’ll tell them.” I say quietly as I shut my eyes and let Tre’s essence comfort me.
“Okay, let’s do this.” He says finally. I nod against his shoulder as we part and head down the stairs.

The smell of the food makes me nauseous, my mother decided to make lasagna, the cheese smell is what’s killing me. I sit down and try to hold down my stomach as my dad serves everyone. I scrape the cheese off my piece and put it on the corner of my plate.
“Something wrong with the cheese?” my mother asks, damnit, she noticed. The cheese used to be my favorite part.
“I’m detoxing.” I say thinking quickly.
“Detoxing!” my father exclaims, “From what?!”
“Not drugs, detoxing, like dieting.” I glance from him to my mom, “you know like you don’t eat dairy, meat, very little grains to cleanse your system, a lot of fruits.”
“And how long have you been doing this?” he asks quizzically.
“Jerry, its not a permanent diet, you eat like that for two or three days, then go back to the usual way you eat.” My mother informs.
“Uhh okay.” He mumbles.

I manage to poke at my food for five minutes before I can’t stand it anymore.
“I need to go to washroom.” I say standing up and receiving a worried look from Tre. I practically run into the washroom and throw my guts up. I find a bottle of air freshener under the sink and spray the room. As soon as I leave the washroom I find myself extremely hungry and eager to eat my plate of pasta.

I help my mom clear the table and while were in the kitchen getting coffee mugs she turns to me suddenly.
“So what’s the occasion?” she asks carefully.
“We both had time off, we thought we’d visit.” I say carelessly, because I practiced this in my head a million times in the car ride over, “Because we won’t be able to this summer, like usual.”
“So you and Tre are pretty serious then.” She says uneasily.
“Yeah.” I nod. She inhales deeply through her nose, “Mom, Tre’s nothing but good to me, I love him and things aren’t going to change because you don’t approve of him.”

I walk back into the dining room and sit next to Tre who’s trying to avoid a conversation with my father at all costs. My mother pours everyone a mug a coffee, and I can’t stand their beady eyes any longer.
“I got some news.” I say not looking up.
“Oh, did you get a promotion?” my father asks eagerly.
“Uh no,” I sigh, “What would you say if I told you that you were going to be grandparents?” I feel Tre’s hand clasp mine under the table. My parents and brother stay perfectly silent then my dad starts laughing.
“Oh man, you really had me going there for a second.” My dad says slapping his thigh.

Tre clenches my hand tightly.
“We’re not.” He says.
“I’m pregnant.” I say quickly.
“I uhh, erm, why?” my mother stutters.
“Well when a man loves a woman and their clothes-“ my brother starts.
“What do you mean why?” I ask trying to ask casual.
“Didn’t you two plan to get married first?” she says abruptly.
“Yeah,” Tre says quickly, “We wanted to get married this October, but we got the baby news the other day so we decided to post pone it till after it’s born.” Thank god for Tre’s quick wit.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were engaged?” my mother asks with wide eyes.
“Well it isn’t a real engagement, I mean no proposal, just a decision between the two of us.” I say calmly even though I can feel my palms sweating liters at a time.
“Ahh so basically Tre can’t afford a ring.” Andrew says with a laugh.
“Uhh maybe I don’t wanna walk around with a chunk of rock on my finger.” I say coolly.

“But, but you two can’t have a baby.” My mother says slowly, “You live in an apartment and, and, Tre doesn’t have a real job.”
“With him touring Lollapalooza, he’ll be making more money than me.” I say seriously.
“What about when the tour is over?”
“We’ve already made twenty grand on our album.” Tre says confidently, “And we that’s without a promotional tour.” I’m not sure if he’s lying or not, we’ve never really talked about how much money the band makes, just as long as we have enough for rent and food.
“And you’re going to raise a child alone, while he’s off touring and surrounded by groupies.” My father exclaims.
“Umm, I’m kinda too ugly for groupies.” Tre pipes up, “And I’ll be back home by the time the baby’s born.”
“Well, I see you two have a down pact plan.” My father says understandingly, “Sorry about that, I just keep thinking of you as my little girl, I have to remember you’re an adult now, with your own life.”

My mother bites her lower lip.
“Congratulations.” She says standing up and leaving the table. I look at my dad who’s just shaking his head.
“Its okay, she’ll be happy as hell tomorrow when you give it a chance to sink in.” he reassures as he too gets up and heads up the stairs.

“Who’s up for a movie?” Andrew asks breaking the silence.
“Yeah.” Tre and I say one after another. The guys head into the living room and I head upstairs to put on my sweat pants because my jeans have grown uncomfortable.

“Tre’s not even his real name!” I hear my mother say from her bedroom, “Its Frank!”
“Honey, he’s a musician, they all have stage names.” my father says.
“Yeah, stage names would be like Frank Freakydeaky, not Tre Cool! That’s delusion right there!” she gasps, “Even so, it’s a stage name! Why’s Lisea always calling him Tre, I don’t see a stage any where Jerry!”
“He didn’t bother you before, she’s dated worse and it’s never bothered you before.” My father says simply.
“It was just supposed to be a phase!” she exclaims, “Like when she was twelve, she went through her phase where she only wore pink green and black! Now it’s the punk phase, the punk clothes, punk music, punk boyfriends.”
“Claire, she’s been into the punk thing since she was fifteen, sixteen, she’s almost twenty-two, I think it’s a bit more than a phase.”
“They’re kids!”
“Then they’re a hell of responsible kids.”
“Responsible! She’s pregnant.”
“They have a plan, they’re actually going somewhere. They’ve already figured out his tour schedule, the financial aspect, what more do you want.”
“I don’t know.” I hear my mother say in a softer tone, “I’m just worried, they’re punks, and they’re having a baby.”
“Well do you remember how we used to dress before Lisea was born?”
“Yeah, but everyone dressed like that.”
“Well everyone they know dresses like that.” My dad says quietly.

I go into my room and change into my sweats before heading back downstairs. I find Tre sitting on the sofa Indian style. I sit on his lap and he puts his arms around me as Andrew puts a movie in the VCR.
“Are you okay?” he whispers in my ear, god, its like the millionth time he’s asked me that today.
“Yeah, I think my mom cooled off.”
“Oh good.” Tre says as I lean against him.