I'm Just a Teenage Dirtbag, Baby
Five
The week without Adam seems to go by fast and before I can even think about what I’m going to say to him when he comes home, it’s Monday and I’m walking home from school with Will and Jeff.
“Do you want us to stay at your house when you talk to Adam?” Jeff asks.
I shake my head, “I want us to be alone when I tell him.” I see them exchange a look of worry. “I’ll be fine you guys, okay?”
I still wanted to avoid Adam until I talked to him about me being pregnant, so Will was the one to ask him to meet us at my house. We get up to my front porch and Adam is already sitting in one of my parent’s rocking chairs, typing on his phone. He hears us come up the steps and his head snaps up, his eyes immediately landing on me.
I look back at the two guys and motion for them to leave. They give me a look before walking back in the direction of Will’s house.
“Hey…” Adam says once I turn back towards him.
I swallow a lump in my throat and finally meet his eyes. “Hi, we uh, we need to talk,” I say, shocked I can get a full sentence out. He looks at me for a second, trying to read me but I walk past him and into the house.
He follows behind me and takes a seat on the couch. “What’s up?”
I sigh, “Well, uh, it’s about last Friday…” His eyes go wide and he sits up. “Do you happen to remember anything about…?”
He shakes his head, slouching slightly. “Most of it’s a blur still, except some of the parts I don’t think you’d like me to repeat.”
I grimace, “Listen, I really don’t want to beat around the bush and I spent the entire week trying to figure out how I was going to tell you and I’m standing in front of you and I still don’t know-” “Charlie, what is it?”
“I’m pregnant.” The silence that follows makes me want to cry as he just sits on the couch with a blank expression, trying to take in what I said.
“No no no no, you can’t be!” He finally yells, jumping up. He starts pacing and pulling at his hair, coming to a sudden stop and continuing, quieter than before, “I wore a condom. I know I did.”
“You just said that you don’t remember most of what happened, how can you be sure?” I say, trying not to break for the thousandth time this week.
He stops again from the pacing he had resumed just seconds ago, and looks at me furiously, “Do you really want to question me right now, Charlie?”
I take a step back, “Adam, calm down-”
“No! No, Charlie I won’t calm down, I just found out I’m going to be a fucking father in nine months and you want me to calm down?!” He sighs, walking up to me and hugging me tightly when he sees the tears start, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. How long have you known?”
“Less than two weeks. I took the test a week after you left,” I say into his chest.
He looks at me for a second, pulling me away from him so he can see me properly, “I’m gonna be there for you, Charlie, you know that right?”
I look up at him, and see him smiling his signature grin that I’ve grown up with and I nod, “Yeah.”
-
Adam stays home in Cornwall throughout the whole summer. He’s gone with me to all my doctor’s appointments and he’s sat through every late night barf session and hormonal attack. He even rented an apartment in Charlottetown for us.
He’s in no way tried to become romantic or assume my parents would turn it into a shotgun wedding, which I appreciate; but then again, we’re nowhere near our old friendship before any of this happened.
Will, Jeff and Sara are a constant presence in our apartment, one of them is almost always spending the night on the couch. My parents are a different story, though. Adam and I decided to tell them what happened almost right after he found out, and they didn’t take it too well. My mom had said she saw us becoming a couple eventually, but she was upset this was the way it was to happen. We both discredited that statement immediately. My dad went nuts. Not only was he upset about the party and the drinking, but the unprotected sex really set him off.
We tried to reason with him and so did my mom, but he had none of it, and immediately wanted me out of the house since I was already eighteen. That’s part of the reason Adam got the apartment.
However, once the summer is over, Adam needs to go back to his team in Sudbury, Ontario, a thirteen hour drive away. He left a week ago, and Will has taken over for him in doing everything but paying the rent, Jeff comes every other day for a visit from University.
Adam makes sure he calls every day to see how the baby and I are, but the calls stop coming in daily and become weekly- if we’re lucky- once the regular season starts. Eventually, they stop coming at all and I start to think Adam has lost interest in being present in our lives anymore if it means making it to the NHL and not having to acknowledge the idea of being a teenage dad.
But, after a couple months without him, I stop caring, too and focus just on my baby and me. Will has become fully invested in taking over the responsibility Adam had deserted when he left. He and Jeff, when he can stay over, have become the ones who fulfill my weird cravings at two in the morning when I can’t sleep and put up with me as I become a person full of hormones.
-
Before I even notice, it’s Christmas and my baby boy, Aaron, will be coming in just under a month. I overhear Will and Jeff talking in the kitchen, two weeks before Christmas, about Adam coming home for the week of the holiday. They go back and forth, trying to decide if they should let me see him and if they should let Adam come over to the apartment to see me.
“Thanks for asking my opinion, guys,” I say sarcastically, waddling into the kitchen.
They both look at me apologetically and Jeff says, “You know we just want what’s best for the two of you, Charlie, and I don’t think cussing Adam out and attempting to attack him while you’re eight months pregnant is a good idea.”
I roll my eyes and pull out a bowl for my cereal. “I’m over it, you guys, I thought we established that a few months ago when the calls stopped coming in?”
“I’m going to call bull shit on that one, Charlie. Not after all this drama,” Will speaks out.
“Do you want us to stay at your house when you talk to Adam?” Jeff asks.
I shake my head, “I want us to be alone when I tell him.” I see them exchange a look of worry. “I’ll be fine you guys, okay?”
I still wanted to avoid Adam until I talked to him about me being pregnant, so Will was the one to ask him to meet us at my house. We get up to my front porch and Adam is already sitting in one of my parent’s rocking chairs, typing on his phone. He hears us come up the steps and his head snaps up, his eyes immediately landing on me.
I look back at the two guys and motion for them to leave. They give me a look before walking back in the direction of Will’s house.
“Hey…” Adam says once I turn back towards him.
I swallow a lump in my throat and finally meet his eyes. “Hi, we uh, we need to talk,” I say, shocked I can get a full sentence out. He looks at me for a second, trying to read me but I walk past him and into the house.
He follows behind me and takes a seat on the couch. “What’s up?”
I sigh, “Well, uh, it’s about last Friday…” His eyes go wide and he sits up. “Do you happen to remember anything about…?”
He shakes his head, slouching slightly. “Most of it’s a blur still, except some of the parts I don’t think you’d like me to repeat.”
I grimace, “Listen, I really don’t want to beat around the bush and I spent the entire week trying to figure out how I was going to tell you and I’m standing in front of you and I still don’t know-” “Charlie, what is it?”
“I’m pregnant.” The silence that follows makes me want to cry as he just sits on the couch with a blank expression, trying to take in what I said.
“No no no no, you can’t be!” He finally yells, jumping up. He starts pacing and pulling at his hair, coming to a sudden stop and continuing, quieter than before, “I wore a condom. I know I did.”
“You just said that you don’t remember most of what happened, how can you be sure?” I say, trying not to break for the thousandth time this week.
He stops again from the pacing he had resumed just seconds ago, and looks at me furiously, “Do you really want to question me right now, Charlie?”
I take a step back, “Adam, calm down-”
“No! No, Charlie I won’t calm down, I just found out I’m going to be a fucking father in nine months and you want me to calm down?!” He sighs, walking up to me and hugging me tightly when he sees the tears start, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. How long have you known?”
“Less than two weeks. I took the test a week after you left,” I say into his chest.
He looks at me for a second, pulling me away from him so he can see me properly, “I’m gonna be there for you, Charlie, you know that right?”
I look up at him, and see him smiling his signature grin that I’ve grown up with and I nod, “Yeah.”
-
Adam stays home in Cornwall throughout the whole summer. He’s gone with me to all my doctor’s appointments and he’s sat through every late night barf session and hormonal attack. He even rented an apartment in Charlottetown for us.
He’s in no way tried to become romantic or assume my parents would turn it into a shotgun wedding, which I appreciate; but then again, we’re nowhere near our old friendship before any of this happened.
Will, Jeff and Sara are a constant presence in our apartment, one of them is almost always spending the night on the couch. My parents are a different story, though. Adam and I decided to tell them what happened almost right after he found out, and they didn’t take it too well. My mom had said she saw us becoming a couple eventually, but she was upset this was the way it was to happen. We both discredited that statement immediately. My dad went nuts. Not only was he upset about the party and the drinking, but the unprotected sex really set him off.
We tried to reason with him and so did my mom, but he had none of it, and immediately wanted me out of the house since I was already eighteen. That’s part of the reason Adam got the apartment.
However, once the summer is over, Adam needs to go back to his team in Sudbury, Ontario, a thirteen hour drive away. He left a week ago, and Will has taken over for him in doing everything but paying the rent, Jeff comes every other day for a visit from University.
Adam makes sure he calls every day to see how the baby and I are, but the calls stop coming in daily and become weekly- if we’re lucky- once the regular season starts. Eventually, they stop coming at all and I start to think Adam has lost interest in being present in our lives anymore if it means making it to the NHL and not having to acknowledge the idea of being a teenage dad.
But, after a couple months without him, I stop caring, too and focus just on my baby and me. Will has become fully invested in taking over the responsibility Adam had deserted when he left. He and Jeff, when he can stay over, have become the ones who fulfill my weird cravings at two in the morning when I can’t sleep and put up with me as I become a person full of hormones.
-
Before I even notice, it’s Christmas and my baby boy, Aaron, will be coming in just under a month. I overhear Will and Jeff talking in the kitchen, two weeks before Christmas, about Adam coming home for the week of the holiday. They go back and forth, trying to decide if they should let me see him and if they should let Adam come over to the apartment to see me.
“Thanks for asking my opinion, guys,” I say sarcastically, waddling into the kitchen.
They both look at me apologetically and Jeff says, “You know we just want what’s best for the two of you, Charlie, and I don’t think cussing Adam out and attempting to attack him while you’re eight months pregnant is a good idea.”
I roll my eyes and pull out a bowl for my cereal. “I’m over it, you guys, I thought we established that a few months ago when the calls stopped coming in?”
“I’m going to call bull shit on that one, Charlie. Not after all this drama,” Will speaks out.