Smoke on the Water

Brody’s eyes went wide and his brows furrowed as he looked at his girlfriend. “What did you say?” he asked, as if he genuinely misheard her.

“I’m pregnant.”

A few seconds of punishing silence passed between them. This silence was gruesome to Natasha who was scared beyond anything as to how he would react. Brody kept looking at her, staring intently.

“Are you saying that we’re going to have a baby?” Brody asked.

Natasha nodded with a hint of a smile on her face.

That little smile is all it took. That’s all it took for Brody to jump up from the table, pick Natasha up from her seat and give her the tightest, love-filled hug he could. He picked her up from the waist and spun her around, in front of the entire restaurant.

“We’re going to have a baby,” he whispered to her as he looked in her eyes.

Natasha nodded as she bit her bottom lip. “Yes, yes we are.”

Brody looked once more at the mother of her child and gave her biggest kiss of her life, pouring as much emotion into that kiss as possible. And at that moment, the moment in which Brody was elated over the moon, the moment in which Brody looked the happiest of his entire life, at that moment, all of Natasha’s worries seemed to vanish. She didn’t think one thought about what their parents may say, or how this pregnancy could affect going to college.

She was genuinely happy. For the first time since finding out the pregnancy, she was truly elated about having this child because her biggest worry, what would Brody say, vanished into thin air. At that moment she knew that Brody was going to be the best father ever. Sure they were young, but together Natasha and Brody are going to have a baby and they are going to be the most loving parents they could possibly be. Maybe not the best parents, but the most loving, definitely.

“I can’t believe we’re going to have a baby,” Brody smiled again as they took the seats at the table again.

“I know,” Natasha said laughing. “Can you believe it; we’re actually going to be parents.”

“God, this is… This is incredible!” he screamed. “I’m going to be a father.”

“Yes, I think we established that, Captain Obvious” Natasha said coyly.

“This is amazing,” Brody said as his mind finally calmed down from the hype.

Natasha’s mind let her be happy for a little while before weaning her thoughts back to the aftermath of this pregnancy. There was still the question of what their parents would say. And before that, how would the two of them tell them? In eight months, Natasha stomach would be as big as a beach ball, how is she going to go to classes at university? Would they let her have maternity leave like employers do when a worker gets pregnant?

“Brody, I know you’re excited but we have to talk about how we’re going to deal with this.”

“What do you mean, baby?” Brody asked hesitantly.

“Well, we have to tell our parents somehow, and that’s not going to be an easy task, but we’re going to have to do it,” Brody nodded in agreement. “I don’t know what your parents will say, but my parents will most likely kill me.”

“They won’t kill you,” Brody said.

“Yes, they will! I already pissed them off big time by saying I want to go to Temple. I haven’t even told them that I sent the application in eleventh grade. When they find out about that plus the pregnancy, they’re going to flip!” Natasha almost laughed.

“How do you propose we tell them?” Brody asked.

“I talked to the girls. They said that it’s best if we get both sets of parents together and tell them that way. That way everything is out in the open,” Natasha suggested. “Do you think you could get your parents to come over my house?”

Brody pondered on that thought. “I could try. My mom won’t be too happy but my dad would come and he could probably talk my mom into going. Although my dad is leaving to go to New Jersey for a business trip on Monday and he’s going for a week, so we have to plan this meeting quick.”

“Okay, that leaves us two days to get your parents and my parents in the same room together. Do you think you could get your parents to come tomorrow morning?”

“Yeah, I’ll definitely try. And then we’ll tell them together.”

“Okay,” Natasha said softly. She kept her head down, a signal Brody knew that meant fear and nervousness.

“It’ll be okay Natasha,” he whispered softly, while taking her small delicate hands into his large ones.

“What if they take away all of my money? I don’t have a job; I don’t know how to support myself. How will I go to university without any money?” she started rambling.

“Babe, it’ll be okay. No matter what they say. I will always love you and together we are going to go to university, get a degree and be the best parents for this baby. And no matter what your parents may say or do, nothing will ever change that.”

“You promise?” Natasha looked up at him with earnest eyes.

“I swear with everything that I have. I love this baby so much and I am willing to do anything to prove that to you. I love you and now that I know you are the mother of my child, I will do everything in my power to make sure that we will get through this pregnancy together.”

“I love you so much, Brody.”

“I love you, too, more that you can ever imagine. And I love this baby, just as much as I love it’s mother.”

Natasha laughed, “And to think I was most worried about what you would say. I thought that you would never want to speak to me ever again, that you’d blame me for this pregnancy and wouldn’t want anything to do with this child.”

“That’s a shame that you’d think that. Any man would be honored to have your baby and any man that wouldn’t take responsibility for his actions is a damn coward,” he replied dutifully.

“That you are not,” Natasha replied. “I am so happy I have a boyfriend like you,” she said with a sweet smile.

“And I am so happy you are my girlfriend.”

The rest of the dinner went without a hitch. Brody ordered them a full four-course meal that had their stomachs bloated. Natasha and Brody didn’t spend much time talking about what would happen tomorrow morning. They did agree on the fact that it would be an eventful meeting knowing how much their mothers disliked each other. Hopefully no fights would erupt in the Hutchinson living room. For the rest of the course, the two teenagers talked only about the baby. They didn’t have any preference for a boy or girl; they knew they would love it the same. Brody talked about if it was a boy, he would teach it all about football and baseball, and hockey. He also said that if it was a girl, that when she started dating, he’d make sure that he’d kick every boy’s ass that dared to hurt his baby girl.

And hearing Brody talk about being a father, made Natasha even more certain that together they would be the best of parents.

“So tomorrow, nine o’clock?” Brody verified after they split the bill.

“Yep, text me if you can get your parents to come.”

“Okay, I will.”

The couple said goodbyes to each other and shared another kiss outside the restaurant before Brody headed off to go home for the toughest job of all.