Single Ladies

Amy Juregens had been living in her own apartment for a month now. It wasn't a huge apartment but it was enough for her and John to live in. Anne helped Amy pay for the condo because from the money she got when selling the house.

Since Amy broke up with Ricky she lived on her own in a two bedroom condo that was big enough for her and John. Amy and Ricky had made fair agreement on sharing John, she was going to take for first half of the week and Ricky would have him the second half of the week.

Amy had grown up a lot over the past couple of months, she realised that the path in life that she'd planned to take didn't work out. During her last year of high school, she had wanted to be set free and she was envious of her two best friends who had no obligations and could do what they want. This was a dream though that was never going to happen for Amy though. She had a baby in high school her life became revolved around her son. It was difficult but it wasn't impossible she had a lot of support from her family and was still going to follow her dream to become a teacher.

Tonight though she didn't have to be responsible, she could just relax and be a teenager. It was Friday night and she was going over to hang out at Grace's guest house to hang out. Amy and Grace had grown a lot closer over the past year; they had bonded and shared their doubts about marriage with their fiancés. They also shared the common bond of being step sisters. Amy never thought that she'd ever grow to accept her father being married Kathleen but somehow Kathleen had made him a much happier and relaxed person. Amy now just wished her mother could find someone who would make her just as happy as her father. Amy also thought about Ashley and her life in Italy. She had recently called Ashley because she felt disconnected from her family. The divorce had affected Amy, but more so Ashley, she was really hurt and that's why she made such snarky comments. Amy had just thought Ashley hated her and that's why she was mean. When Amy found out her sister was hurting just as much as her, she began to empathize with her and two started being nicer to each other. The two sisters just had very different personalities, and that's why they bickered a lot.

When Amy reached Grace's guest house, she noticed that her father's car wasn't there so she figured that her and Grace would be alone tonight. Grace and Amy had grown a lot of the past year; they had bonded a lot over their issues about getting married. As soon as they got engaged they both felt trapped and guilty for realising that they actually didn't want to get married. However both of them didn't deal with their guilt in the best way but now they both just wanted to move forward.

Grace heard car pull up at the drive way and then leaped at the door to open it.

"Amy!" Grace exclaimed in her super cheery voice and then leaned in to give Amy a give.

"Grace! I've been so looking forward to tonight, I've had such a long week and it'll be nice to just relax"

"Yeah me too, come on in and let's get the night started" Grace said as she motioned Amy to come in.

Grace had laid out snacks, movies, nail polish and facial masks for their girls' night in. Amy was surprised at how much effort she had put in to this. Madison and Lauren never really put this much effort when they ever hung out, well Amy actually couldn't remember the last time the three really had a girl's night out. So it was nice to just relax and have a girl's night.

"Wow, all this food looks so good Grace, you've really put a lot of effort into this! Oh and those brownies look amazing. Did you make them?" Amy exclaimed.

"Thanks and no my mom did. It's not really much, Adrian and I used to have these nights all the time. I miss her a lot" Grace said.

"Mmm. Yeah"Amy mumbled as she bit into her brownie.

Grace looked up and gave her a curious look, realising that Amy and Adrian were never really close friends and were more frenemies. However found it easy to be friends with the both of them, she really liked Amy but Adrian was her best friend. "It's okay I understand if you don't miss her that much Amy. You two were never really that close"

"No it's not that I don't like Adrian; I do but you're right we weren't really that close. I mean I think we were kind of there for each other during hard times, but a friendship between us always resulted in a competition of some sort." Amy said casually.

Grace chuckled a little at Amy and then d said "You two had the most ridiculous competitions about who would get married first, have sex first and other petty things. "

Amy laughed at herself thinking back to the time her and Adrian were making some stupid competition between each other outside her house over their relationships with Ricky and Ben. It was quite silly now that Amy reflected on it, talking about marriage and moving in with boyfriends in high school.

"I know it was ridiculous when you put it that way, but I don't know having a baby in high school is a confusing thing. You feel like you've grown up and are much older than your age because you're responsible for this other human being's life but you're actually still a teenager. I remember when I first had John I was such a mess, I was so tired and I said and did all these ridiculous things. I just wanted to normal and do what I want but I soon realised that John was everything to me. "Amy stated.

"Yeah, I remember the perpetual bad mood you were in, it must've been difficult for you. But I think a lot of people really admired you for having a baby and staying in school, that's something to be proud of Amy."

Amy smiled and sincerely thanked her. She hadn't felt proud of herself at the time, she was angry at herself, Ricky, Ben and the world for not understanding how she felt. She looked back at those times remembering when she lashed out at everyone and now she feels so terribly for behaving selfishly.

Grace was silent for a few minutes too, and reflected back on her high school too and she started to laugh.

"Grant high is like a breeding ground for teen pregnancies. I mean it's like our school has a magnet for teens that are pregnant!" Grace exclaimed.

Grace just thought about what she said and then mentally kicked herself in the head, how could I be so stupid she thought. But much too Grace's surprise, Amy burst out into laughter, nearly knocking over the nail polish.

"You're absolutely right, it's ridiculous, ever since I got pregnant there were about three or four other pregnant girls at our school. While most kids in high school are gossiping about who got drunk or stoned on the weekend at Grant it was about who got pregnant or when I'm getting married, or my dad's vasectomy, or me being gay!" Amy exclaimed.

Grace had a guilty look that washed over her face "I'm sorry I was the one who started the rumours about your dad lying about his vasectomy, and you're mom being gay. .."

"Grace, it's not entirely your fault my dad unfortunately has a big mouth, and doesn't always have the best judgement when he tells people things. He's an idiot but he's still my dad. I've just learnt to accept my freak show family, for what it is. Though it would've been nice if the whole school didn't know."

"Yeah my mom is pretty is pretty nuts, look at her she's on her fourth marriage. Maybe she and George is a match made in heaven. My family is a freak show too. I still can't believe my dad was cheating on my mom for all those years and I have a half-brother." Grace said.

Amy chuckled and said "Yeah our families are pretty screwed up. I mean look at me I've been fake married twice. The first time I had sex was with a guy who I'd only known for a day and then I had a baby in high school. Here I am talking about how screwed up my family is and look at me!"

"Hey at least you didn't think you'd killed your dad the first time you'd had sex."

Amy looked down at her plate of food of sadly, at what Grace had just said. She remembered how distraught Grace was about her father's death and Amy wanting to go to the funeral so badly just to get out of the house. Amy suddenly felt at a pang of guilt wash over that when she about that.

"Grace I'm really sorry that must be so hard for you." Amy said softly.

"It's not your fault; I know it wasn't the sex. I was just overwhelmed with guilt because the last conversation I had with my father wasn't a good one. Then Jack ended up cheating on me anyway." Grace said, rolling her eyes.

Amy scoffed and shook her head. Jack had really hurt Grace, and she was angry that he had continually lead Madison on. Then she found out Madison had kissed Jack while he was with Grace. The guy was all over the place with his feelings and Grace was better off without him.

"I'm sorry Grace but you're better off without him. I mean he's a nice guy but he's all over the place, you know? It was the same thing with Madison. Lauren and I were thrilled when she broke up."

"Yeah, I know, I mean I never thought I would be this happy single. I feel so free, like nothing is holding me back. We should make this a no boys' summer or year!"

Amy smirked and chuckled at Grace. Grace was always bouncing around with boyfriends and didn't really know what she wanted. She had a good heart but was a very fickle girl.

"Ah huh Grace just like you promised the last summer to stay away from boys!"

"Hey! You can't talk you've barely been single either. You've gone back and forth with Ben and then Ricky!" Grace explained.

"I know, I haven't made the best decisions over the years. I want to focus on myself and John only. Not a relationship, I think to find out who I am before I can even go into a relationship."

"How are things between you and Ricky? Is it an awkward relationship?"

"It was awkward at first, but now things between us are really good between us. The transition into friendship hasn't been as difficult as I thought it would be. Ricky is still hurt about everything and I don't blame him, but we have to be friends for John's sake. "

"Do you still love him?" Grace asked.

"Yes I will always love Ricky; he's a wonderful father to our son and a great guy. But I don't know if I'm in love with him. I wish I had said something earlier to him than the day of the wedding but I apologised and I think he understands."

Grace later made Amy raise her glass. Amy gave Grace a strange but just went along with her anyway.

"A toast to us to celebrate an end to high school. I hope college is better to us than high school. I hope that we both succeed in reaching our dreams. Most important I hope that we both learn from the mistakes that we made in high school."

"Cheers to us" Amy exclaimed.

Grace then decided to put the Single ladies song on by Beyoncé. The two girls look ridiculous and out synch when they were doing the dance moves to lyrics but they were enjoying themselves too much to care. They were enjoying themselves so much so, that they didn't even notice George and Kathleen come in. They both just stood there for second, confused by their daughters' behaviour.

"Amy never fails to surprise me" George stated, shaking his head. Kathleen lightly tapped George on the chest and told him to lighten up. Yes their daughters both were rather crazy at times but they were essentially good girls. At that moment George and Kathleen had decided to join in the dancing madness with everyone ending up in hysterics on the floor.