(Not really a spoiler. Go ahead and read this)
Spoiler! :
Noah walked out his front door, and up to the grey truck that had pulled up in front of his house. He smoothed back his short black hair with one hand, and opened the door with the other. He climbed into the passenger’s seat, slammed the door and buckled his seatbelt, then turned to the person in the driver’s seat, and smiled at her, “Hey gorgeous.”
Julie stared at the steering wheel, as a small smile crept over her lips, “Hey babe.” She thought it was cute that they had reached this point in their relationship… and she knew she had to enjoy it while it lasted. Now, when they were hopelessly in love, yet completely carefree, it wasn’t something that would last. She started the ignition, and took a shuttering breath.
“So, where’re we going?” Noah asked.
Julie shrugged, “Houston? Or… the graveyard?”
Noah looked at her sceptically, “Um… good suggestions and all, but I thought maybe we could go see a movie or something.”
Julie shook her head, “No. We’re definitely not doing that. I think the graveyard was a good idea.”
Noah rolled his eyes, “Fine, whatever, but pull up at the next gas station and let me drive, I’ll take you to the graveyard, I promise.”
Julie shook her head, “I’m sorry, sweetie, but this is my car. Look, how about we go nowhere. You let me drive, I’ll get us more lost then I ever have before, then I let you take the wheel and you will, miraculously, find the way home.”
He smiled at this, “Okay, but I control the radio,” he reached for the radio dials, but Julie stopped him.
“No! No, no, Noah. No.” Julie said insistently.
“Fine, you can pick the station; just make it something we both like, please?”
Julie shook her head, “No. We’re not listening to music.”
“Then what are we doing?” Noah asked as his girlfriend turned off the main road, heading toward the countryside, “Just waiting to get carsick?”
Julie sighed, and took her eyes off the road for a minute to look at Noah, “We need to talk.”
He looked at her, confused, “About what?”
“About life!” she said indignantly, “What is it? April? We’ll graduate in less then two months. What are we going to do with our lives?”
Noah shrugged, “I don’t want to think about that right now, okay?”
“No. It is not okay,” she replied firmly.
“Okay then, Jule, this is what’s going to happen; you’ll go to Rice, I’ll go… well, somewhere... we’ll drive to see each other on the weekends. It’ll be fine.”
“Not if you go out of state…” Julie muttered.
“I probably won’t…”
“You should, if you want to,” she insisted.
Noah put his arm around her shoulders, “I don’t.”
“Then why don’t you go to Rice too?!” Julie asked him in frustration.
He smiled, “It would distract me too much to know that you’re on the same campus as me.”
“That’s a really stupid excuse,” Julie muttered, shaking her head.
“It’s perfectly true!” he insisted, “Do you know how badly my grades dropped after we started going out? My parents wouldn’t let me go to Rice.”
She scoffed, “Jerks.”
“Yeah…” he muttered.
Julie stared at the steering wheel again, her stomach hurt with nerves, “There’s something else… concerning our future.”
“What else?” he asked, confused at her anxious tone.
She stared at the road, which stretched ahead of them, then she took Noah’s hand in hers, and said very quietly, “I’m pregnant.”
He heard her perfectly clear, as there was nearly no noise besides the slight rumble of the truck as it rolled along, but he still asked, “What?” squeezing her hand tighter and craning his neck towards her.
Julie swallowed hard, unsure if she could bring herself to say it again. “I… baby…” she moved her hand that was holding his over her belly, “fat…”
“Oh God,” his hands started shaking.
“I’m sorry,” Julie whispered, near tears.
“Don’t say that… it’s... it's my fault,” Noah’s voice was shaking also.
“Yeah, but mine too,” Julie let go of his hand, and held onto the steering wheel with both of hers tightly.
“Jule…” he said, uncertainly, “Are you sure you’re not just late, or nauseous or something?”
“I took the test,” she wiped her eyes, “It was definitely positive… I haven’t been to a doctor or anything, but Mom seemed convinced.”
“Wait, wait, you told your mom?!” Noah asked in shock.
Julie sighed, “Well, I was acting kind of weird so she asked me what was up, and… I told her I might be. Then she asked me a bunch of nurse questions, and, well… after that she started freaking out. I didn’t tell her about the test though.”
“Oh God,” he repeated, staring at Julie as if she had told him she had been bitten by a werewolf.
“So… yeah, I’m pretty sure,” she said in a murmur.
Noah breathed heavily, “Jule, pull over.”
She looked at him, confused, “Why?”
“Because I feel like I’m about to barf…” his head sunk into his hands.
The irony wasn’t lost on Julie. She eased off the gas, and put the car in park, “Dude, are you alright?” She asked, patting his back.
He shook his head, “Jule… how did this happen?” he asked, his head still in his hands.
“I don’t know,” she sighed.
“We were careful!” he insisted.
Julie smiled as she said ominously, “Yeah… we were. I guess me and that other guy didn’t take enough precautions.”
Noah looked up at her, “Not seriously.”
She rolled her eyes, “Of course not. Sorry babe, it’s your problem too.”
There was a pause; A pause during which Noah straightened up, and rubbed his temples a bit. Oh God… he thought, This had to happen to me… he imagined his father’s face when he found out. Then, even worse, his mother’s. How am I going to break this to them? But all this worrying was interrupted by the thought of his own baby girl… or boy, he added, but I hope it’s a girl… “Yeah…” he looked at Julie and smiled slightly, “But, it’s a good problem to have.”
She frowned, “Maybe from your point of view” she muttered bitterly.
“Oh… sorry, didn’t mean to be insensitive,” he apologized.
“Noah…” Julie groaned, “Don’t you get it? I can’t go to Rice with a baby. I can’t risk my water breaking in the middle of an English mid-term! I can’t… I can’t be the pregnant one...”
He grabbed her hand, and kissed her forehead, “Things aren’t like that in collage. Jule, you’re eighteen. You’re an adult. There isn’t anything wrong with you being pregnant…”
“I’m a teenager!” Julie shouted at him, “I like to watch Scooby Doo on the weekends! My mother stuffed my stocking this Christmas, and we acted like Santa Claus did it even though me and Danni caught onto that crap years ago. I dip Cheetos in vanilla ice-cream. How can you call me an adult? And who are you to talk, Mr. I-can’t-even-vote-yet?”
“My birthday is in less then two weeks,” he pointed out. “Look, Jule, We’ll figure it out. We can take a semester or two off… or, maybe I can still apply to Rice… I think this is going to change my parents’ perspective a bit.”
She shook her head, “It’s not going to work. We can’t figure it out, okay? We just can’t.”
Noah looked at her uncomprehendingly, “What do you mean it won’t work? Jule, I’ll do whatever I can to make this work,” he tried to catch her eye, but she was stubbornly staring out the windshield, “You aren’t saying we should break up, are you?”
Tears slid out of Julie’s eyes, “No… that isn’t what I had in mind.”
“Then-” Noah began, but Julie cut him off.
“Noah, we’re too young…” she said desperately, looking him in the eye, “Way too young…”
“…Oh,” he wasn’t sure how to respond beyond that, “Oh,” he repeated.
“And we’re not even married,” she continued insistently.
“We could get married,” Noah suggested.
“We’re too young to get married,” she replied.
“Who’s to say that?” he asked, starting to sound angry.
“I am,” Julie said simply.
“Don’t you want to get married?” Noah asked.
Julie didn’t reply immediately, “Of course,” she shrugged, “I love you Noah.”
“Then let’s get married!” he sounded excited.
“Do you have a ring?” Julie asked, raising her eyebrows.
“I’ll get one… soon,” he promised.
She sighed, “Babe… you’re just making this more difficult…”
“Making what more difficult?” Noah asked, his face innocent and confused.
Julie took a deep breath. He was still holding one of her hands. She twisted her torso towards him, and took his other one, then she looked into his eyes, and said slowly, “I am seriously considering getting an abortion.”
You asked me to read this and so I decided - why the hell not? So here's my review for you, even if it comes out a little... crap. I apologise for that in advance.
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