Early Sunsets Over Monroeville

After that I fell asleep. I woke up the next morning to an empty room, so I took that small moment of privacy to go into the bathroom and do something I had been doing a lot, as of late. I closed the door and leaned against it. Breathing deeply, I lifted up my oversized black Glamour Kills shirt. My stomach was rounding, a small bump forming over my grey shorts, and I didn’t truly know how far along I was. A tear slid down my face as I began to think about when I first found out about my pregnancy.

I was in the bathroom in the back of the Automatic Loveletter tour bus at Warped Tour. My knees were hugging the toilet, I was using one hand to hold my hair and the other was gripping the toilet seat while I puked for the fourth time that morning. There wasn’t much in my stomach to dispose of, so it didn’t last long. I pulled myself away from the toilet and got up, getting ready to brush my teeth once again. I turned around heading for the bunks to get my toothbrush and toothpaste when I saw Alex. He was sitting on my bed, staring at me with a concerned look in his eyes. “How’d you know I was here?” I asked him. He got up from the bunk and told me “Juliet told me you were feeling sick again,”. He walked up to me and hugged me before grabbing my hand and pulling me off of the bus.

“Alex, what are you doing, where are you taking me?” I tried demanding. He just kept walking behind the buses, dragging me along. After about 5 minutes I noticed he was headed to Walmart, but for what I didn’t know. When we got to the superstore, Alex knew exactly where he was going. He started towards the Health & Beauty section of the store, and then down the aisle where they sold pads and tampons. I couldn’t but say “What the Hell are we doing here Alex!” and pulled my hand from his grasp. He didn’t even falter and walked all the way down the aisle to where the “sexual wellness” products were. Alex grabbed a box off the shelf then came back over to me. “Andy, you need to take this,” he said and handed me a pregnancy test. My heart stopped. Alex didn’t miss a beat though. He grabbed my hand again, paid for the test, and then we headed to the All Time Low tour bus.

The walk was short, and as soon as I was in the bus Alex was pressuring me to take the test. I grabbed the box and went to the bathroom. Luckily no one was in the bus except for Alex and I. After opening the box, I read the directions and peed on the stick. I set it on the counter and set my phone’s alarm for 3 minutes, before walking to the front of the bus where Alex was waiting. I sat down beside him on the couch and laid my head in his lap. He knew I needed comfort. He started to stroke my hair and I said “Alex, I’m glad I have you. You’re the best guy friend a girl could have,”. I looked up at his face and he smiled saying “And you’re the best girl friend a guy could have,”. I returned his smile and reached up to hug him from my lying position. He chuckled and bent down, allowing me to wrap my arms around his neck. Then the alarm went off.

“I can’t do it, Alex, you have to look for me!” I immediately jumped up and began pacing.

Alex took a deep breath before going into the bathroom and retrieving the evil stick determining whether I was going to be a mother or not. He stopped at the end of the bunk area and looked at me. I already knew what the results were just by looking at his face. I walked up to him, grabbing the stick out of his hand. The results were positive, I was pregnant. I broke down, collapsing to the ground with tears pouring down my face. Once again Alex came to comfort me. I, Andy Monroe was going to be a mother and Jack Barakat was going to be a father . . .

I was pulled out of my thoughts by the sound of the motel room door opening and closing. “I came back with breakfast!” I heard Emi say “Where are you at?”. I pulled my shirt down and walked out of the bathroom, so she could see me. “Don’t worry, you made it just in time. I was about to die from hunger!” I tried to get my mind off of what I had just remembered and began to eat an egg, cheese, and bacon Mcmuffin. I didn’t realize how hungry I actually was until I started eating. Knowing me, Emi pulled out another Mcmuffin, hash browns, and one small packet of ketchup. I smiled at her with my mouth full and made a heart with my two pointer fingers and thumbs. She just rolled her eyes and began to eat her veggie Mcmuffin. Emily had been a vegetarian since we were in Junior High. I tried it, but obviously it hadn’t worked out too well.

“So what are the plans for today?” I asked, once again having my mouth full.

“I was thinking we could leave after breakfast, with me driving, and I figured we could make it to New York in about 2 hours.” Emi said, ignoring my horrid mannerisms.

“Sounds like a plan,” I replied after swallowing, this time.



After Emi and I finished eating, we got dressed. I changed into my black Hufflepuff shirt with blue jean skinnies, my black converse high tops, and a black and grey striped hoodie. Emi changed into her black and white ‘Out Of Control’ shirt, black denim shorts, Punkrose graffiti hightops, and a black Avenged Sevenfold hoodie. This time Emi was driving and I couldn’t help but to wish that I was instead. At least then I would have to concentrate on the road instead of having so many thoughts run through my head, and then back up so I would think about the same thing multiple times. Thankfully, Emi can’t stand any type of silence and she started a conversation.

“So how long have you been pregnant? When did you find out?” Emi asked me.

I sighed, turning my head away from the window to look at my best friend.
“I don’t know, maybe 8 weeks? I found out about it a couple of days before I came back,”

Emi nodded her head, her eyes still on the road.
“Well, when we get to New York, or at least get settled in, I’m going to be taking to the baby doctor!”

I laughed, “The baby doctor? Don’t you mean a pediatrician?”

She scoffed.
“That sounds like a type of dinosaur! I shall call it the baby doctor and you can’t stop me,” Emi then stuck her tongue out at me, taking her eyes off the road for second to look.

I know what you’re thinking. ‘Oh my God they’re going to get in a car accident and Andy’s going to lose the baby! No!’ Wrong. After that we just kept up with our banter. It was how we had always been. We would go back and forth with insults or smartass comments, then just laugh it off. When we both got tired of that, I plugged in my iPod and turned it on shuffle.

The 2 hours that it took to get to New York passed by rather quickly. Emi kept me talking, laughing, and sometimes singing, not bringing up the baby again. When we got there, I was amazed. I had never really driven through New York City, I’ve only ever been on the highway. The tall buildings and the rush of the traffic seemed so far away when I was in Maryland. I never thought I would make it here.

Emi and I already rented an apartment at the beginning of the summer, so we just drove to our new home. When we got there Emi began to unload the van, while I went to the landlords house across the street. I had never met them before, I didn’t even talk to them. It was Emi that did that, so I was surprised when a woman answered the door. She had long red hair, obviously a natural ginger, and seemed to be in her late thirties-early forties. The landlord was nice, and I got the keys to the apartment from her rather quickly. After that I ran back to Emi and brought some of the unloaded luggage into our new place.

Emi and I settled into life in New York with ease. Once September came, we both started school. Emi went to New York’s School of Visual Arts, and I was taking courses at the Art Institute of New York. When I wasn’t in school, I was singing at some clubs and coffee shops to help pay for our bills. Emi’s parents were paying our rent, thank God. Within the couple of months we were here Emi and I became stressed out (though not for long), closer than ever (I didn’t know that was even possible), and happy in what was now our home. Emi did a good job with making me forget about Jack, but of course I could never fully forget about my first love and the father of my baby.

Speaking of the baby, Emi sticked to her word of bringing me to the “baby doctor” and she went with me to every visit. I was 15 weeks pregnant and I had healthy baby boy inside of me. My bump had barely grow from what it was when I was 8 weeks, but I had gained about 3 pounds.

With school, working, and going to the doctor’s office, I forgot one thing. I still had to tell my mom that I was pregnant...