The Fast Times

After getting through school, Nancy in Pete sit in her car, silently, not sure of what to do first. Nancy was feeling guilty by the fact Pete was choosing her, than choosing school. Her stomach rumbled, causing Pete to look at her, "Wanna eat?"

Nancy nodded, despite the fact her stomach was in knots, she was hungry.

Pete smiled, just barely, driving away from the curb they parked at near his parents home. He drove to Homer's, everyone's favorite hang out spot. The drive was quiet until they arrived; "You wanna go inside or get something to go?"

"Inside," she answered, "we should talk somewhere warm and not waste my gas."

Pete agreed, following behind her, wanting to take a hold of her hand. He could feel it all falling away, as if his life was ending and beginning, he didn't understand it at all. Still, he kept his hopes up, despite the fact he was sure that Nancy was pulling away.

They grabbed a booth close to the heater, both ordering hot chocolate to drink first. They sat across from each other; Nancy had her eyes adverted, Pete was looking at her, admiring her features, causing his stomach to fill with butterflies. He reached over and took her hand in his, "You're beautiful, you know that?"

Nancy was barely paying attention, all of it was on the fact that Pete was being ignorant -to her, and wouldn't just do as she said. But she did hear him, so she looked over, "What?"

Pete smiled again, still just a small one, "I said you're beautiful."

"Thank you," she murmured in reply, letting him take her bare hand in his. "I need to get gloves."

Pete frowned now, "What's wrong, Cy? You don't want me, do you?"

The words surprised him, they just tumbled from between his chapped lips.

Nancy continued to look at him, "It's not that, I swear," she told him, "I just want the best for you...I don't want you to stay here and work a 9 to 5 job because you have to. You have a chance to go to college, play professionally and make something of yourself. 10 years from now, I don't want you to resent me and the baby because you could have done a lot with your life and you chose not to."

Pete looked down at his cup, understanding, "Okay. But I don't think I ever would."

"You don't know how you'll feel in a year from now. You could resent him then, and I don't want that. I'd be burdened too, knowing you could've done this or that and I was the one who held you back."

"Then why won't you just come with me?"

"I have to finish school, Pete," Nancy stressed, "I have 2 jobs here! I...I don't want to go anyway, and not because of you. I don't...wanna leave Wilmette, my parents are buried here, and I have a lot memories here."

"We can come back," he exhaled, "I don't wanna go there and be by myself and not see our kid everyday. That...that would fucking suck."

Nancy sighed, "We still have less than 5 more months to figure this all out, alright? But I know that I want to get my own apartment...Norman sent me $8,000 and Chip wants to help me--"

Pete let go of her hand, cutting her off in the process, "Chip? When did you talk to that asshole?" He questioned angrily.

"We talked this morning. I went to his house and yelled at him for starting the rumors, but he didn't," she explained. "We talked and he wants to help."

Pete practically snarled, feeling angry, "You won't let me or my mom help, but you'll go to Chip?"

Nancy was set to answer, but the waitress came over; "Ready to order?"

Pete looked at the waitress, grabbed the menus and handed them to her, "2 burgers, one with extra everything, and fries, thanks."

The waitress's brows shot up, "Um, okay. Anything else?"

"I need a cup of coffee," he said shortly, "that's it."

The waitress hummed and darted away. Nancy took her winter beanie off and coursed her dark hair back, "It's not what you think. He's 18 and he can get me an apartment, that's it. He's only a friend--"

"Why him, though?" Pete asked, temper still flared. "Chris is 19, for chrissake, he can rent one for us! My mom can do it--"

Nancy cut him off, "He offered! Okay? He offered first and I just figured it would be okay. I didn't think about your friends, I didn't want your mom to question me about it, didn't want her to change my mind. So don't get so mad, Pete, I didn't even think about it, it's only been a few hours."

They were both silent again, Pete feeling a little bad for thinking the worst. Nancy just wanted to go and hide away, find a new place to be where no one knew her or her name. The both of them felt down and out.

"I'm sorry," Pete murmured then. "I didn't know...just...everything with him, it's been crazy."

"Do you really think I've been sleeping with him?" She asked, sipping her hot chocolate.

Pete shook his head, "No. I was just mad."

"I'm gonna get a DNA test to shut you all up," Nancy mumbled. "I want this all to go away, I want a better life."

"You don't need a DNA test, Cy," Pete muttered, "I know that baby's mine. I know--"

She cut him off, "No, I need it to shut your dad up. To shut you up when you start to think I was messing around with Chip. This is your son and I want you to know that for sure when you start to doubt it."

Pete had nearly forgotten Nancy had told him what the sex of the baby was. He kept quiet, thinking about it all, letting it hit him. He was having a son.

The waitress came back with a cup of black coffee, "Sugar? Cream?"

"Nah," Pete exhaled, "black is fine."

"Alright, your burgers will be up shortly."

The waitress left swiftly. Nancy cupped her hot chocolate, thinking deeply herself. Her stomach was in knots again, worrying about everything.

"Do you have any names?" Pete asked softly, sipping his cup.

Nancy shrugged, "I haven't thought about it. I was excited last night to tell you, and my mood went down as soon as you got angry and rejected me."

Pete sighed, "I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing already," she mumbled. "It's all over."

He nodded to himself, watching Nancy stare down at her cup; "Do you wanna pick out names when we get home?"

"Not really. I just wanna sleep after I eat."

"Want me to do it? You're already doing the heavy lifting."

Nancy giggled, smiling as she looked up, "Don't I get the privilege since I am doing the heavy lifting?"

He smiled back, shrugging, "I was just askin'...I've always kinda liked the name Nate. It was my imaginary friend's name."

Nancy continued to smile, "Nate? It's okay."

"We'll figure it out...whatever he looks most like when he's born."

Nancy bit at her lip, "Hey...look, Pete, I'm sorry I'm so...so mean. I'm just so frustrated and I'm pregnant and I feel weird all the time, and people are constantly calling me a slut--"

Pete put his finger to her lips, shutting her up, "It's okay, Cy...water under the bridge, as my old man says."

She tweaked her lips, his finger falling away, "I only want things to go good for us. I want you to be happy."

"I'm happy with you, Cy," he replied with a small exhale. "I never liked...loved a girl as much as you. It's all so fast and crazy, but I love it, I love you...I love our son."

Nancy found herself on the verge of tears. She inhaled, "I don't know what to say."

"You don't gotta say anything," Pete told her, "food's coming, just eat."

Nancy agreed with that, her stomach suddenly growled from hunger. As soon as the food was in front of her, she began to devour the burger. She was about to call the waitress back for pickles, when Pete stopped her, "Pickles and ketchup, right?" He placed his extra sliced pickles on her plate and slid the bottom of ketchup towards her.

Again, she was on the verge of sobbing, "You're the best."

Pete shrugged, "It's not everyday your girlfriend craves pickles smothered in ketchup."

Nancy found new appreciation for Pete; her love for him grew.


It was later that night that Pete and Nancy brought up the topic of moving out. Dale had been making dinner when they sat her down; Nancy explained why she wanted to leave, and made sure that Dale knew how grateful she was for everything. At first, Dale was skeptical that they'd make it, and a little hurt. She wanted them to stay so she could watch Nancy's belly grow and be there to help take care of the baby. And, the fact they were just 16 and 17 wouldn't work for her.

"You guys are too young," Dale said, "you shouldn't be living on your own."

"Mrs. Wentz, my uncle Norman sent me some money; 8 grand to be exact, and we'll be good for a little while. I just want to keep everything okay between you and Mr. Wentz."

Dale shook her head, "Honey, what's going on between Peter and I, has been going on since before you moved in--before we knew you."

Nancy looked down, "Oh."

"We aren't going to get divorced, we'll work through this, Peter will come around, believe me. He wasn't all that ecstatic that I was pregnant with Andrew, but look now; he's one of the scout masters for Andrew's eagle troop. We'll be alright."

"Nancy wants to be comfortable, ma," Pete added. "And, she's pregnant, so isn't she supposed to be relaxed?"

Dale was quiet a moment, watching them, "Okay...you kids want to know what's going on?"

They were confused with the sudden turn of conversation.

"Your father is moving out," Dale confessed. "The house will be quiet. He and I haven't talked all that much, but he told me he was going to stay at, his friend, Tom's condo until...until he feels like coming home."

Nancy felt sick, "I didn't want this to happen."

Dale grabbed Nancy's hand from her spot in front of her at the counter; "Honey, this isn't your fault. Peter is just a big baby because he can't get his way. Believe me, he will come around, he's an adult. You shouldn't worry about things you have no control over or can't change."

Nancy held Dale's hand back, "I can't help it. I don't want you to go through problems on my account."

Dale shook her head, "Nancy, I've known Peter nearly my entire life, I know he'll be back and we'll be okay. We're gonna talk tonight."

"Are you sure about this, mom?" Pete asked softly. "Cy has the money for us to leave."

"You two aren't going anywhere," Dale stated firmly with a small smile at the end. "You two are gonna use that money to buy my grandson clothes and toys, a new crib and all of those things. Don't waste that money on anything but yourselves and my grandson."

Pete and Nancy both smiled, "We will."

"Good. Now, you two go do homework, dinner should be done soon."

Nancy and Pete got up from the counter and headed down to the basement.

Pete plopped on the bed, grabbing his backpack; Nancy sat too, grabbing her own bag, pulling out her binder. The two actually began to do their assigned work; Pete paused after they sat in silence for a good 20 minutes; "What happened yesterday? At the doctors?" He asked.

Nancy looked over at him, thinking, "Uh, normal stuff. They gave me some anti-nausea capsules that smell like mint, they taste like gum."

Pete cleared his throat after a moment, "Can I uh, see the ultrasound?"

Nancy felt butterflies, "Yeah, okay."

She stood up and went over to the desk on the opposite side of the room, picking up her papers to retrieve ultrasound photo. She returned and sat across from him, on the bed and handed it to him; "They say that that's the penis," she pointed to gray blob on the photo, "but I can't tell."

Pete squinted, but didn't look that long at it. His eyes scanned the photo, seeing the shape of a baby curled up. He smiled at the photo, feeling a rush of excitement shoot through him; "I wanna call him Nate, Cy."

"Can we work my dad's name in there too?" She asked, biting her bottom lip.

"Nate Tyler?" Pete murmured aloud.

"Nathaniel Tyler," she corrected with a small laugh. "Nathaniel Tyler Durden-Wentz."

Pete nodded in agreement, "Works for me."

Nancy out her hand to her stomach, feeling the quickening again. She quickly grabbed Pete's hand and pressed it to her belly. Pete didn't feel it, but he smiled, rubbing away at her stomach.