Artie Abrams always thought that being smart was one of his best attributes. It had helped him so much in his life, particularly in school, and hopefully one day in a successful career. What he didn't always acknowledge though, is that it was something that you needed in life more. For a while, he thought he had a lot of common sense, with exception of one night. A night that turned out to be a blessing and a curse.
It was the night of his graduation, and the entire glee club had gathered for a party at Brittany's house. Having actually graduated this year, her parents had let her throw a huge blow out, even agreeing to stay the night at a hotel because they were so impressed. Booze was flying, and music was blaring, and everyone was having a good time. Well, everyone except for Artie.
He sat alone in a corner on Brittany's back patio, with a beer, reflecting. He always thought he'd be happier in this moment. Here he was, done with high school, with a scholarship to UCLA to study filmmaking, and a lot of his friends surrounding him. He just felt like he should be more excited in this moment. But instead, he just felt sort of sad.
He had to admit to himself, that he knew part of it had to do with girls. When Mike and Santana went off to school, he couldn't help thinking that maybe, just maybe, he would have another chance with one of his lovely ex-girlfriends. However, it didn't seem to work out that way. The same thing went for Sugar, once Rory went back to Ireland. He really didn't like the girl all that much, she was kind of annoying, but he was kind of lonely, and all in all, he really just wanted someone to hook up with his senior year of high school. And now, senior year had gone by, it was over. And while he couldn't wait to go to college and start fresh, he felt he wasn't completely satisfied with how his high school chapter ended.
Just than, Sugar herself came up and threw herself onto Artie's lap.
"Artie! Why are you hear all by your lonesome? I told you people by themselves are boring!" she said with a giddiness and slight slur. She was drunk. It was pretty clear, but Artie really didn't mind, considering he was just about at that point where he was too.
"What are you doing here? You...you don't like me. You chose that kid with the funny voice over me, last valentine's day." He blurted out of no where. Okay, he was passed the 'barely' drunk point. He took another swig of beer.
"Only because he was getting deported, silly!" she said giggling, "You want to know a secret?" she whispered, still laughing.
Artie nodded. "I liked your song better, his was just too depressing, and being depressing is boring!" Artie was beginning to think boring was one of her favorite words, but he smiled anyway.
"I'm sad your leaving! What if I need a ride class when my legs hurt and I don't feel like walking?" She pouted.
"You'll make it. But hey, your right, being depressing is boring. You...you want to go do shots?" Artie asked. He knew that if he was sober he'd think this was a bad idea. They had both probably had enough to drink but he was done moping around, Sugar was being all giddy, why shouldn't he? You only get one last hurrah after all right? Sugar nodded eagerly.
"Shots! Shots! Shots!" She started singing in her terrible, tone-deaf voice. But at this point, to Artie, it might have well sounded like a sweet symphony.
The next morning, Artie woke up to the brightness of the sun and a pounding in his head. As he drearily opened his eyes, and felt beside him for his glasses, and once he found them the world semi came back into focus.
What happened last night? Was the number one question on his mind.
As he looked around he started to recognize his surroundings. He was in the Pierce backyard. He must've passed out there after the party. He was covered in a blanket, he assumed Brittany probably brought out to him so he wouldn't be cold. But it wasn't really working, considering he was still freezing. As he went to get up and back into his chair, he realized. His clothes were next to it, all of them. Including his boxers. Than he looked to his left, and saw no other than Sugar Motta. Naked as well, and still sleeping.
Oh shit, what did he do? He thought with a panic. Of course, this wasn't his first time having sex, but it was his first time having sex where he couldn't remember it even happening. As his mind continued to race, he saw a condom wrapper sitting by his wheelchair, next to all his clothes.
"Thank God." He mumbled as relief swept over him. Even in his drunken state of stupidity, at least he remembered to use protection.
He got up quietly and put his clothes back on, not sure if he wanted to wake up Sugar. He realized that he probably should. He couldn't just leave her here for her to wake up and find herself naked in Brittany's backyard, and not have known what happened.
"Sugar, Sugar wake up." he said nudging her shoulder.
"Hmmm, mom go away. I have a headache, let me sleep." she stirred.
"Sugar it's Artie. You're in Brittany's backyard, I really need you to wake up."
She did finally, sitting up holding her head. She looked confused, but as soon as she realized she was naked, she sat up with a start, just as Artie had.
"Oh my god! We...we didn't, did we?" she asked panicking.
Artie nodded. "I don't really remember it but...yeah."
Sugar looked devastated, but not as scared when she saw the condom wrapper that was still on the ground. Yet, Artie could see a sadness in her eyes.
"Here, do you wanna go get some breakfast?" Artie suggested, wanting to do something to cheer her up, she looked miserable.
At the mention of food, Sugar went a little green.
"It'll help you feel better. C'mon trust me, I promise." He told her with a small, awkward smile.
With that Sugar nodded. "Yeah, yeah okay. Um-just let me get dressed."
The two of them sat in a local diner, waiting for their pancakes to arrive. Artie had already stopped at a drug store on the way and bought them some I.B. Profane and ginger ale. The combination of those two, with some greasy pancakes had worked like a charm for him on the few occasions he'd been hung over. Yet, him and Sugar still sat there in an awkward silence.
"You...feel any better?" Artie let out, trying to do something to break the tension.
"Yeah, a little. Thanks for this." She said quietly. It was so weird, for the two years Artie had known her, she had never been so quiet, so withdrawn. And he felt like that wasn't just the hang over talking.
"Look, I'm sorry about what happened between us. I guess we were both just to out of it to realize but-"
"Artie you were my first." she blurted out. Artie had thought that she may have had sex with Rory, but apparently that wasn't the case.
Suddenly guilt hit him like a ton of breaks. He remembered how he felt after he lost his virginity to Brittany. Betrayed. Like it all happened too fast, and was out of his control. To think that she couldn't even remember her first time was heart breaking.
He sighed. "Sugar, I'm..I'm so sorry."
She shook her head. "It's okay, it's not just your fault. It's mine too, I just-I wish it didn't have to be like this." she said with tears forming in her eyes.
"Listen, I really like you. I think you're great, and maybe if I wasn't going off to school-" he started but she once again cut him off.
"Artie, I know. You're really sweet, and a really good guy. But can we just eat our breakfast and get out of here, and never talk about this again? I just need to move on from this, please?"
Artie was a little taken a back by her bluntness at first, but he understood. So he nodded, they ate, he paid, and he took her home. And for the majority of the rest of summer, that was that.
It had been a month since graduation, and he hadn't heard from Sugar at all. If he was being honest though, he hadn't really noticed. He was getting ready for school, and he moved to L.A. in three weeks. That glumness he was feeling about not being satisfied with his high school chapter had changed. Not because he finally got some, but because he was just so overly excited for college at this point. This is what he'd been waiting for and it was time to move on. He was working on beginning to pack when he got that dreaded text message.
Can we meet up at Breadstix and talk? The message from Sugar read.
He was a little confused, but thought maybe she was just finally ready to have more of a closure with him, so they could be friends again before he left for school. He figured since he had three weeks the packing could wait a couple hours while they went to dinner. He texted her back and told her he'd meet her there in an hour.
As he rolled in, he saw that she was already there. He was prepared to give her a smile and a hug, and talk after all this time, but instead he was greeted by incredibly sad, lifeless eyes.
"Hey." he said quietly as he rolled up to the table, taken aback by her mood.
"Hey." she said softly.
"What's up? Why do you look so upset?" he asked concerned.
"Artie, I...I'm pregnant." she let out with a single tear trailing down her cheek.
Time for a second, stopped. As he looked at her, he went into utter shock and disbelief, as well as fear. The silence continued. He kept trying to say something, but no words came out.
"Please say something." She pleaded softly, snapping him back into reality.
"What? You...you can't be. Are you sure?" he questioned.
She nodded. "I um, I started to feel really nauseous and tired. I thought I was just coming down with a bug, but then I realized that my period was two weeks late, and-I went to planned parenthood, got a blood test and-I'm so sorry." she said with more tears streaming down her face.
He felt like he'd been slapped in the face. He couldn't believe it, he didn't want to believe.
"But we used protection, I saw that condom wrapper the next morning. How..."
"Artie we were drunk," she said cutting him off. "Who knows if that condom even made it on correctly. Look, no matter how it happened, it did. This is real."
He took a deep breath. He knew she was right, but that didn't change how he felt. What were they supposed to do? He was supposed to be across the country in three weeks time, starting to make his dreams come true; and she still had one year left of high school. How could they do this?
He reached over across the table and grabbed her hand. "What are we going to do?" he asked.
She looked a little surprised. "We? You mean, you're not going to ditch?"
Artie was a little offended that apparently that's what she was expecting. But a part of him really did want to. He had his whole life ahead of him, but looking at her, this scared, poor girl, that was carrying his baby; he could never abandon her.
"Of course not. Sugar, I'm in this with you. We got into this mess together, and whatever you want to do, whatever you decide, I'm here for you. Okay?"
She nodded and smiled. "I don't know what I want to do, I thought about getting an abortion but I just don't think it'd be the right choice for me, same with adoption, I don't know, I mean I don't think we can really keep this baby, but-I keep picturing how hurt I'll feel if I don't."
Artie understood. Did he really think it was a good idea to keep the baby, hell no. But he understood.
"I'll help you, I promise."
"Artie what about your scholarship though? I can't just let you-"
"I'll figure something out."
"That is a chance for our baby to have a better life though, if you go to college and get a good job."
She was right.
"Like I said, I'll figure something out."
And so they did. After the initial anger and shock from their parents wore off, they all came up with a plan. Artie's parents would take his dorm money and use it for an apartment for the two of them in L.A. Sugar would finish high school online, while Artie went to school, and they both worked part time.
The arrangement managed to work for the whole time Sugar was pregnant. They were scrapping by, but the baby would seem to be taken care of.
"It hurts so bad!" she screamed as she crushed Artie's hand when she was finally in labor.
"You got this, okay, you got this." Artie told her as he held her hand trying to get past the pain in his own fingers.
With a few more pushes, their baby daughter was brought into the world. Artie was in awe. Looking at her, he never felt he could feel a love like that. But he did. No matter what, he would be there for that baby girl. Forever and always.
Her name was Sarah. She was beautiful, and a perfect combination of both her parents.
The perfect family situation they had going, didn't last for long. The baby was a stress, and though she denied it, Artie knew that Sugar had a case of Post Partum depression. He could see it in her. He tried to get her help, he would tell her he would take her to get some medication, and that she had nothing to be ashamed about, but she wouldn't listen. Until one day, when he returned from class.
Normally, he loved coming home from class, just to see Sarah. He missed her all day when he was gone, and she made everything happier. Though when he was greeted in the apartment today, the first thing he saw was Sugar's suitcases.
"What's going on?" he asked as he made his way in.
"Artie, you know what's going on." she said bluntly, walking over to him and putting Sarah in his arms.
"You're leaving? Look I know things have been hard for you, but you can't leave! You can't take my daughter away from me!" he cried, desperate to get a reaction out of her.
"Artie, I'm not taking her away from you. I thought I could do this. You know? I managed to finish high school, live here with you, be pregnant, work. But I-I can't do this. I'm not cut out to be a mom. I miss my family, I miss my old life! I'm going home, and I'm leaving Sarah with you."
"You think I feel like I'm cut out to be a dad? No half the time I don't, but I love her. I love her so much, and I know you do too, please Sugar! Stay!" He begged.
She walked over to him one last time, kissed his forehead, and Sarah's and left. Just like that.
What would he do? Would he have to drop out of school? Go home? No he told himself, no. He made it this far, he would stay, and he would graduate no matter what.
He looked at Sarah, who had started to cry.
"Hey, shh baby, shh. It's okay. We...we're going to be okay. I promise, through everything, we'll be in it together. I promise."
A/N: I know...longest intro ever. Tell me what you think! The rest of the chapters will be more in that chronicle/ vignette style.