Chapter 1: Beginnings
There were a few mistakes here and there, but the young girl seemed to catch onto the notes pretty well. The song was there, and there were parts of it that she could play flawlessly. As the tune Moonlight Sonata rang clear through the small theater, her little pink bunny ears bounced as she moved, turning her head to concentrate on the keys before her, her handwork.
Louise didn't know how her little Carly did it. At the age of five, she seemed to be talented, blessed with the gift of music. Perhaps she got it from wherever Gene got it.
At the age of twenty one, she knew that she shouldn't be a parent yet, but here she was. And she loved it, for the most part. It was hard. She was still living at home and going to class for a business degree. She would work part time at the Wharf, the rest of her time spent helping at the restaurant and caring for Carly.
Sitting there, side bangs and pink streaks running through her long black hair as she wore a dark purple dress with her leather jacket and combat boots with black tights. Her style had changed a little. Next to her was her father, whose style remained exactly the same. Then Linda, Tina and her fiance Jimmy Jr., and then Gene.
She could remember the night that her daughter was conceived. It was right after the party that they had thrown for Tina.
oooooo
Six Years Earlier
Louise sat at the counter, playing with her phone. She loved her brother and sister, but lately it seemed to her as though they were getting all the attention. They were doing all of these things, and she herself wasn't doing anything.
So far Gene had actually advanced in his music career. The community theater was doing an adaption of Cats and he was chosen to help with the music. It wasn't much, but it was something. He was getting paid for it. And it gave him some extra credit for his music classes at the high school for the arts that he was attending.
Tina was into writing and was just awarded a full scholarship for a writing program at UCLA. She would be leaving for school in a few days. This was her big goodbye.
They were both moving onto bigger and better things while she was stuck here in the normal public high school. She wasn't sure yet of what her talent was, or if she even had any.
"Whatchya doin?"
Louise didn't even bother to look away from the tiny screen as she knew who it was from their voice.
"What do you want, Kevin?"
He pulled up a stool and sat beside her, looking over her shoulder as she went through pictures she had taken so far at the party. There weren't many, but they were weird for her to see.
"You look lonely," he told her.
It had been no secret to anyone in her class that Kevin liked her. They had all known since the first day of Freshman year.
Louise however, continued to pretty much ignore him as she searched for anything to do on her phone occupy her.
"Yeah? Well I'm not. Funny how things aren't always as they look, isn't it?" She asked.
Truth be told, she just felt left out tonight. Everyone was congratulating her siblings while she had nothing happening. That's how it had been for a while now. The only thing that truly bothered her was that she wasn't used to it by now.
Kevin nodded, sensing that she didn't want him around her. However, he wasn't about to give up just yet. He had been trying to get her attention for almost a year now, he couldn't stop now.
"You wanna go outside and talk?" He offered.
Louise emitted an over exaggerated sigh as she threw back her head. "No!"
"You sure?" Kevin questioned.
"Louise!" Linda called out to her. "We need you to take another picture with us! You need to finally be in one!"
Louise looked over towards her family and sighed. She loved them, but she didn't want to have to go back into that crowd. And she definitely did not want to have her picture taken, that was why she had been volunteering to take all of them.
"Fine," she defeatedly answered as she hopped off the stool.
oooooo
Looking back on that night, it was hard for her to believe that that's the conversation that lead to the existence of her little Carly. Of course, the beer that he stole for them after they met in the alley played a pretty big part too.
The weird thing was that she never drank like that. Sure, at parties she would have a drink or two, but they had managed to go through a couple of six packs. It were as though the feelings of being a disappointment were only feeding her drunken state. And now she drank, but it was only some nights, and it was with her mom. They would split bottles of wine after a rough week.
That was something that was weird for her too, her newfound closeness with her mother. It used to be that she would always run to Bob, she was daddy's girl. And that favoritism still did exist, they still had the burn unit, and on Saturday nights Carly would join them. It was just a little harder to tell that he was the favorite now. And she appreciated Linda a lot more now.
Oddly enough, it was the pregnancy that had brought them closer together. It all pretty much started the night that she told her family about the baby.
oooooo
Six years earlier.
"Damn it," she hissed under her breath as she paced the small bed room.
Just last week she had cancelled plans with Jessica because she thought that she had the flu. Now she was facing the news that there was a baby instead of a bug.
It had been weird though, every time that Louise had felt better, Linda would look at her. She seemed nervous. Now she knew why, she understood the suspicion. Everything made sense to her now. The way that her mom was paying more attention to her and asking her if there was something that they needed to discuss. They really did have something to talk about, and she just didn't know it then.
Stopping for a moment, she stared at herself in the mirror. The green dress and bunny ears had long since been traded in for a black short sleeve shirt, jean shorts, green converse, and a pink scarf that she wore in her long, black, straight hair. She had grown up, and her appearance was proof, but she still felt like a little girl right now. This was too much for her to handle.
Even though she was pretty sure that her parents already knew, she was scared to tell them. She knew that Gene would be there for her after she got yelled at, but the thought of being the disappointment once again was enough to make her want to cry.
"Gene! Louise! Dinner!" Linda called.
Louise took a deep breath. It was now or never. There must have been a good way to handle this, but she wasn't sure what it was yet. And it was too late to come up with any ideas.
As casually as she could, she walked into the kitchen. Gene was sitting there next to Bob, blue tips in his hair now as he hurried to reach over and grab the bowl of mashed potatoes. Bob was sitting there reading an article he had found as he waited for Linda and Louise. Linda was just sitting down and pouring herself a glass of wine. All and all, it seemed like a normal dinner.
"Geeze Gene, save some of those potatoes, I need them more than you do now since I'm eating for two," she awkwardly joked as she went to sit down in her spot.
The room fell silent for a moment. She let out a small nervous laugh as she felt everyone looking at her.
"What?" Bob asked, staring at her with wide eyes.
"Oh my God! I knew it," Linda cried, setting her glass down on the table.
Bob quickly looked to Linda, beginning to panic. "What did you know? Lin? Tell me what you knew!"
"I think she meant that she's pregnant," Gene bluntly stated.
"Who did this to you?" Bob angrily questioned as he turned back to Louise.
The young teen slightly flinched back away from him. She knew that he would be mad, she just didn't do a good job of bracing herself for it.
"Kevin," she muttered.
"Louise! Go to your room! We'll deal with you later!" Linda yelled, wanting to calm down her husband before they did anything. "Gene too!"
The two got up and walked to Louise's room. They could hear their parents arguing, yelling. She figured that she was just lucky to be out of the room as they "discussed" the current problem. Even though she was out of the room, she still felt like she wanted to vomit from the anxiety.
"At least now whatever you do, it won't be as bad as this," Gene mentioned, following her into the room and closing the door behind him.
This was probably a good time to allow Louise to be by herself, but Gene wanted to make sure that she was all right. He was worried about her.
"I guess," she flatly replied, plopping down onto her bed.
"Hey, it won't be so bad," Gene told her as he went and sat beside her.
Louise softly laughed. "What? The baby or mom and dad?" She asked.
"Think about it, the worst that could happen is that they kick you out. And I don't see them doing that. Even if they did, Aunt Gayle would let you stay with her," he explained, keeping optimistic.
Neither of them thought that she would be getting kicked out, their parents just weren't like that. However, it was possible that they would have her go out and find a job as soon as the baby was born. Which, that wouldn't be bad.
"Staying with her would be the worst punishment of all," she joked, starting to feel a little better. An actual smile on her face.
"Louise? We need to talk!" Linda called from the other side of the door.
"Welp, I gotta go," Gene said, hopping off the bed.
He went over to the door, stopping to offer her a smile before leaving. As soon as he opened it, Linda softly smiled, stepping aside to allow him to leave.
"Louise?" She asked, cautiously entering the room.
Louise sighed, wanting to get this over with already. "You're not gonna catch it," she told her.
"I know how it works, believe me," she replied, closing the door behind her.
She walked over, watching Louise as she sat down onto the bed. It was hard for her to believe that her little Louise was pregnant. She never thought this was happen to either of her daughters. Neither of them were constantly going out and getting into big trouble. Louise might have been a little more outgoing than Tina, but she still wasn't one to get into these types of situations.
This was a day that she hadn't prepared herself for. She wasn't even sure how to begin. Yell at her? It was pretty obvious that she was already suffering the consequences of her actions. Yelling wouldn't change the situation. Being too gentle might give her the wrong idea.
"I messed up," Louise said, trying to get the conversation started.
"I know you did sweetie," Linda responded, her hand going to rest on her daughter's shoulder.
"I'm sorry." It didn't mean much now, but it was all she could think to say to her mom.
"I'm afraid that doesn't cut it," she firmly replied.
"I know."
"I don't think you do. Do you have any idea what you have ahead of you? You're going to be a mother!" Linda was starting to freak out once more, but retracted her hand and took a second to try and calm herself.
"So you even have any idea what you want to do here?" She asked.
Louise gulped, not knowing what all her options even were right now. Adoption? Abortion? Keeping the thing? She wasn't all too sure of what she could handle.
"I don't know," she uttered.
It was the first time in her life that she had truly been scared of anything. There had been silly childish fears such as the dentist, but this was big. This was the first time that she really had to own up to something, that she had to be responsible.
Linda saw how scared she was and instinctively leaned in and embraced her. It wouldn't solve everything like she used to think, but it was something, it was a form of comfort in a desperate time.
"Don't worry," she soothed. "You'll be alright, I promise."
Louise didn't even reply, she just sat there. It was the first time that she didn't try and pull away from her or roll her eyes. Right now, she needed her mother and she wasn't about to deny it.