Take Me With You

“How are we supposed to tell my mom? What about your parents? If we’re not going to get an abortion, then we’re going to have to tell them some time. The sooner the better, but I just… can’t think of anything. My mind is to blurry,” I mutter, rubbing my forehead.

Luke holds his head in his hands and shrugs. “I have no idea. We can’t tell them yet… Maybe we can wait until you start to, you know, get big,” he says, looking at my stomach with a scared expression, but he’s trying to hide it.

I turn away slightly and fold my arms over it. I hate this. We’re both obviously terrified and it’s not helping my mood at all.

“Should we really wait that long? We don’t know how far into it I’ll be before it starts to pop out,” I say, looking down at my belly.

He keeps staring and shakily says, “I can’t believe that there’s actually something in there.”

I hold it tighter and mutter, “Inside of me. How are we supposed to take care of it?” Then a thought hits me and I gasp, suddenly more terrified than I was before. “What about school? When everyone finds out, what will they say about me?”

“We won’t let them find out,” he says immediately, grabbing my knee. Why did he react like that?

I look over at him and hiss, “Are you embarrassed by me or something?”

He shakes his head and says, “No, baby, it’s not like that. I don’t want people to give you more crap than they already do.”

My stomach rumbles and I look down at it. I rest my arms by my side and stare at it. How long will I be able to hide this? When will I start to show? How in the world will we do this? I rest a hand on it and shake my head. We can’t do it. But I feel like I have to… “I’m so scared,” I whisper, closing my eyes and grabbing my shirt tightly.

“It’ll be okay. We can make it through nine months, and then, if we decide to keep the baby, through eighteen years,” Luke whispers, pulling me close.

I shake my head and say, “School starts in less than five weeks. I’m going to start getting big and everyone will notice. I can’t be like the other whores.”

“What do you mean other whores? You are not a whore!”

“I am. I’m pregnant at eighteen. How am I not one?”

“You may be pregnant, but you don’t sleep around. This was a mishap. It’s not like you’re not sure who the father is. If people find out, I will let them know that it’s my fault.”

“It’s not your fault. I was equally responsible that night. We should have seen this coming. We didn’t use protection. We’ve never used protection once out of the many times we’ve done this.”

“You can’t blame yourself for any of it, though. I helped make this thing.”

For some reason, the word thing bugs me. I look over at him and mutter, “It’s not a thing… It’s a baby, a living baby.”

Luke sighs and pulls me close to him. “You’re right. I still don’t know what the hell we’re going to do,” he says, running his fingers through my hair. I shrug and lean against him. The fact that I’m a little over two weeks pregnant amazes me. How did I not notice before?

“I should go home,” I say, glancing towards my house, “It’s getting late and my mom hasn’t seen me in two days. She could be at least a little worried.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Do you want me to walk you?” he asks.

“No, I’ll be okay,” I mutter, “Thanks, though.”

I stand up, give Luke a brief hug, and walk towards my house.

“I’ll text you later,” Luke calls as I walk away. It’s getting dark so I quicken my pace.

I finally reach my house and run inside, up the steps to my room, ignoring my mom calling my name. I lie on the bed and drift off quickly.