Jude Baker awoke the night after his senior year semifinal game in an unfamiliar place. Next to a very familiar girl. He could clearly remember how the night before had gone...

*flashback*

He walked into the his teammate Jared's humongous house and was met by applause. He had scored the game winning shot in their semifinal and the team would advance to the championship game in a few weeks, all thanks to him. His friends clapped him on the back and tossed him a cold beer. "Hey!" An athletic brunette called, he grinned, it was his friend Lydia, she had her hair down from the bun she'd had it in all night and her cheerleading uniform was hugging all the right spots.

"Hey sexy." He smirked as he waltzed over to her,

"Good shot Baker." Lydia grinned, her brown eyes sparkling in the dimly lit room.

"For you." He winked and she laughed; this is how their friendship worked, the pair was always ready with sexual banter and flirtatious grins, but nothing ever happened, both were too stubborn to get hurt. Lydia wasn't reserved by any stretch of the imagination, she was always smiling and tossing her head back with full laughter, she didn't date, never had, she was more into the hook up scene, god forbid her parents ever find out. Jude was the same way, he'd lost his virginity the summer of his freshman year, he always had a girl near him and he never fully committed, quite the opposite of his quieter, and smarter, brother Davis, who had been dating the same girl for two years.

Everyone knew they two were close, rumors always flew that they were "friends with benefits" or had hooked up on the down low, but none of them were true. Jude respected Lydia, and Lydia returned the respect. Neither wanted to be caught in one another's game.

Lydia put her hand around his shoulders, "How bout you mister big shot, show me where the shots are?" And he happily obliged, leading her to the bar in the suave kitchen. She must've knocked back three or four before Jude realized he was going to have to return her to her parents,

"Come on Lyds. Don't want to get too hung over." He beckoned her away and she shrugged her shoulders a wobbled after him,

"Too late." She mumbled into his shirt as the pair sat on the beach outside the home,

"I'm trashed too don't worry." He pulled her closer and she breathed in the smell of cologne,

"I should tell my parentS I'm staying over at Ashley's" she fidgeted, pulling her phone from her pocket and successfully firing off a text to her mom.

"My mom and dad don't get home until tomorrow, and Davis will cover for me." He smiled at the girl next to him and she took a breath of the salty air,

"How come we never do anything?" She asked drunkenly.

"We do lots of stuff. Movies, pancakes." Jude, in his equally buzzed state, rambled and she turned to him,

"You know what I mean Jude." She was surprisingly coherent in her sentence forming,

"I don't know Lyds. Why don't we?"

" I don't know." She whispered into the wind,

"I mean we could, if you wanna." He offered sheepishly, his blue orbs staring at the brunette. "Hey, you only live once right?"

*end flashback*

That might've been the best sex Jude Baker had ever experienced, and he'd had a lot of it, but his jumbled recollection of where they were, or what they were gonna do now, was confusing him. "Good morning." Lydia rolled over in the sand, her makeup smudged from the night before,

"Morning sexy." He winked and she tiredly rubbed her head,

"My heads fucking pounding."

"Mine too."

They settled into a silence, she curled into him, "That was good." She broke the air and he chuckled,

"Yeah it was. Really good."

She turned to him, "I want pancakes."

"Well then pancakes we shall have, I know this really good place in Raleigh."

"I have to ask, and I must sound hungover." She grumbled as he helped her up out of the sand,

"Text em."

"Good idea, now where the hell is my bra." She went searching through the underbrush for her bra, finding it next to her lace underwear and crumpled cheerleading uniform.

"We can stop by my place and grab you a shirt if you want." He offered and she nodded, pulling on the uniform and taking his hand as he led her to the car. Jude walked in, trying to make as little noise as possible, not wanting Davis to wake up, he rummaged through his draw, pulling out a Ravens basketball tee shirt and running a brush through his dirty blond locks. He got to the car without waking anyone up, Lydia had found a magazine in the consul, one she'd left at his place last time she'd been over for movie night, and was feverishly reading it. "I got a shirt."

"You're a god." She pulled off her cheerleading top and pulled the shirt over her black cheer shorts she had worn under her uniform the night before, "I'm a sexy god." He was met by silence, which scared him shitless, she was staring at an ad in the magazine, "Jude..." Her voice wavered and he immeadietly looked at the ad, it was an ad for Trojan Condoms,

"Yeah?" He asked,

"Did you...you know?" She nudged her head towards the ad.

"Let me check." He pulled his wallet out of his pocket, he pulled out a still wrapped condom, "nope."

He finished, slowly returning it to its spot,

"Shit."

"You're on the pill aren't you?" He asked softly, and he watched in terror as she shook her head,

"I had a migraine before the game so I took migraine meds that don't mix with my other pills." "Oh." He rubbed his face with his hands, then he heard a soft whimpering,

" Don't cry Lydia we don't know! Maybe nothing happened." He put his hand on her shoulder, still concentrating on the road,

"But what if something did."

"It probably didn't."

"But what if?" She asked, her voice rocky, her hangover long forgotten,

"Well we can find out right? I'm here Lyds."

"Not for like 3 weeks! Am I supposed to live my life for the next three weeks not knowing?! We're not even dating!" She wailed and he looked over at her,

"We could be. Were gonna get through this together Lydia either way." He said softly,

"So is this something?" She asked pointing between the two of them,

"Oh it's definitely something. " and she smiled for the first time on their drive, the pair turned on the radio, she turned it down a few minutes later

"Three weeks and I can take pregnancy tests." She was met by quiet, saying the word out loud made the situation real,

"Yeah three weeks."

"And until then?"

"Lets just assume you are," he paused before he said the word, "pregnant. That means no drinking."

"I know that." She said softly and he sent a soft smile her way,

"You still want pancakes?"

"Yeah." She nodded as they pulled up to the pancake house in Raleigh. The pair walked in, hands intertwined and forced smiles on both their faces. The championship game happened to coincide with the three week mark, so Jude had a lot on his mind, no one at school had been surprised the pair had started 'dating' and his brother had been strangely ecstatic but as the star point guard shot his free throws in the gym after dark, all alone, all he could think about was Lydia. As if by a miracle, the same brunette wandered into the gym, "Hey number 14." She called, and he immeadietly let go of the ball in his hands, and walked over towards her, she kissed him softly, and he could tell she'd been crying,

"Hey what's wrong?" He asked and she swallowed,

"I'm late."

"Oh." He whispered and he pulled her tighter into him, letting her know it was all going to be okay,

"I just thought you should know." She mumbled into his chest.

"Hey we still don't know for sure, three more days right?" He asked and she nodded against him,

"My parents are gonna kill me."

"Your mom had your brother when she was 17." He pointed out,

"Doesn't matter, doesn't excuse me." She gulped and he kissed her forehead,

"Hey it's all gonna be okay." Three days passed in slow motion, every day she'd mark a little x on her calendar and cry, and every day he was at her house holding her tight when she needed him to be there. Game day approached and Jude got on the bus with his team, "Tell me as soon as you know." He whispered into her ear,

"I will." She offered quietly and he gave her one parting kiss,

"Wish me luck sexy."

"Don't lose." She shouted and he laughed as his teammates and he boarded the bus. She was in her car, driving in silence to the game when she saw a CVS, far enough out of town that no one would recognize her, but close enough that she could still get to the game by halftime. She pulled into the parking lot, and bought two, reemerging with a bag and her future in the boxes. She pulled into the highschool parking lot a little while later, and took the bag with her, she wandered into the small bathrooms of the rural school and parked herself in the big stall. 3 minutes was a hell of a lotta time. She could here rocketing cheers from inside the gym, and she hoped Jude was having a good game, she concentrated on the two white sticks in front of her, softly praying that they'd be negative.

Her prayers however were not met, a minute later,two pink plus's appeared and she sighed, burying her head in her hands. She collected herself, and walked out o the bathroom, all the evidence shoved in her purse, she ran into him on the way into the gym, he nodded at his coach and his coach gave him a thumbs up, he pulled her to the side, down a hall that no one was in,

"Did you?" He asked and she nodded, biting her lip to keep from crying,

"I'm pregnant Jude." She croaked and he tried his best to hide his terror as he pulled her into a tight hug,

"Hey it's all gonna be okay, we're all gonna be okay, I promise Lyds." And she sobbed into his chest. The pair didn't know it, but Davis had followed his brother to tell him that their parents had called and said the movie went longer than expected and they'd be out for the next few weeks, but instead he heard everything, the crying and hiccuping Lydia and his brother trying to act like an adult for once in his life everything.

He was shell shocked by the whole situation, so he decided to back out, and give the couple some private time. Jude didn't know how he was supposed to play a game of basketball like it mattered now, Lydia was what mattered and she was hiding her tears under a facade of happiness as she stood next to her cheerleading friends, and both were pretending everything was the same, but then he caught her gaze, and she just grinned and gave him a thumbs up, and he knew that no matter what, he was going to be okay, and to play.

He had 23 points in the second half, unheard of for a point guard, his game total was 33 and she cheered for him the loudest of all. The final buzzer sounded, and for a second, everything was right, his life was getting completely changed, he was just a 17 year old guy who'd won the championship game and she was just a 18 year old girl in a cheerleading uniform. He was greeted by an exuberant Lydia who had also momentarily forgot their position with a rush of adrenaline. He picked her up in his strong arms and spun her around, placing her back on the ground as their lips collided forcefully. He didn't say anything, they just appreciated the moment, and together they watched the confetti fall on the court.