The birth of a child is always a blessing, but can it keep young parents Nick and Miley together? Or will the stress of a whole new world of backyard barbecues and trips to the park tear the once carefree eighteen year olds apart?
NOTE: I do not own any of the characters or settings.
We have all made mistakes. We have all tried to hide them. We have all listened to adults tell us that we will learn from them and then never really learned from them. But as I looked outside the window of my mom's silver car at the gray sky, trying to build up the courage to tell her my biggest secret, for the first time in my life I was scared. I was never scared. I was always a smart, courageous girl with lots of things to tell to the world, not one to hide my insecurities away.
"Mom," I said, pressing my lips together and bracing for what I was about to say.
"Yes, sweetheart?" She asked me, carefully keeping her eyes on the road. We were back in our hometown of Avon, North Carolina, on our way to join the Jonas family for Thanksgiving dinner.
"There's something that I have been keeping from you. And I feel sort of guilty about it because I think that you have the right to know, so instead of keeping it to myself I'm going to just come right out and say it. I, well, me and Nick, or just me I guess, am pregnant."
It was a windy day in Avon. Although it was gray and rather desolate outside, the sky of this town always made me think. It was so beautiful, yet so dull. The sun tried over and over again to reveal itself, only to be hidden behind the clouds as soon as its full circle came into view. I could hear the sound of the waves crashing from the ocean, and once in a while, I could catch a glimpse of it over the dunes. Not many people lived here year-round as the town was mostly for summer tourists who rented big beach houses. Growing up here, the Jonas family and my family had run the only church on the island, a few towns over in Buxton.
My mom remained silent. Her thin lips were slightly parted and she had a small smile on her face. She looked out the windshield, her eyes glued on the road. I fiddled with the purity ring on my left hand, wondering if this now meant I should no longer be wearing it. As we approached the Jonas's street, East Gables, my mom finally spoke up, her voice trembling. "Does Nick know?" Those three words must have taken a lot of strength for her to say, as although she was quite clearly on the verge of tears, the slight smile on her face remained.
"No," I said. I didn't say it the negative tone that most people use to say 'no', instead, I said it in one of those more dramatic tones from movies, like the one's where the best-friend asks the girl if the boy has called yet, and trying to keep the mood up, the girl replies it in a tone in-between happy and sad.
Mom turned onto East Gables and into the Jonas' driveway. I quickly undid my seatbelt, but before I exited the vehicle, my mom grabbed my hand with her cool, frail fingers and said, "we will be talking about this later." I nodded once, then proceeded to open the car door and make my way up the wood staircase which I had climbed up so many times as a girl. I felt at home as Denise and Paul opened the big blue door with their arms wide open and Nick's dog, Elvis, barked uncontrollably.
As my mom gave Denise and Paul a hug, I saw Nick emerge from behind them and motion for me to come in. I pushed my way passed them and entered the Jonas household, surprised at how similar everything looked to the last time I had been here. The walls were still painted a light blue, and the typical beach house furniture was still spread throughout the home.
"Hey," Nick said as he took off my sweater and hung it in the wardrobe. "How are you?" he asked, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. As he did so, I couldn't help but remember the last time Nick had placed kisses all over me, the night I wasn't in entire agreement of what he so badly wanted to do but did anyway. I saw him hovering over me, his bare chest so close. The dozens of times he told me his love for me and pushed my hair out of my face and looking into his eyes and seeing nothing but the young boy I used to spend hours looking for bugs with, wondering how time had flown by so quickly.
"I'm fine," I managed to say. I wrapped my arms around my frail upper body, annoyed that Nick had to take off my sweater when his house was clearly freezing. I looked down at my stomach, wondering if he could tell there was something growing inside me. Cool it, I told myself, you can't see the bump after three weeks.
"You know," Nick said, walking up the staircase. I followed after him and he continued, "I was calculating, and these past three weeks have been the longest we haven't seen each other in person in like, five years," he chuckled, "I missed you."
"Hm," I replied. That was it. Just a lousy, hm. I was so paranoid about this pregnancy thing, the thought of another being inside my stomach, only three weeks along. He opened the door to his bedroom and we walked in and sat down on his bed. I leaned back, placing my hands over my stomach and resting my head on the comforter.
"You alright?" Nick asked, kicking off his shoes and sitting next to me.
"Yeah, I'm good," I lied. I could have made my lie seem more believable, but for some reason, I sort of wanted Nick to notice that something wasn't right. Another part of me felt sort of bad for being rude to Nick who was nothing but nice to me.
"I know something's up, Mi," he leaned back and turned his head so our faces were close, our noses nearly touching.
"Nothing's up. I'm just really tired from filming." Technically, that wasn't a lie. I had just finished filming my new movie Outrageous yesterday. The boys had finished their world tour only weeks ago as well.
"Well, in that case." Nick picked himself up a little and kissed me. His arms made their way underneath my back so that I was in his arms. The kiss was passionate, yet soft and sweet at the same time. It was different from our normal kisses. As he slowed down and eventually took his lips off of mine, he said, "I love you."
"I love you too," and he pressed lips into mine once again. As he began to get a little more into it and rough, I put my hands on his chest and pushed him off of me. At first, it was clear he didn't want to stop and practically ignored me. But when I failed to kiss him back, he pulled his head away from me and leaned back over onto his back so we were next to each other once again.
"Do you always have to end it right when you know I'm enjoying it?" he asked, standing up.
"I just don't want a repeat of a few weeks ago. I hate it when you get rough like that." I said rough like that in a rather inappropriate tone. Nick was barely rough. He was a boy, he was supposed to lead it. But me, being me and being pregnant, decided to put it in a tone I knew would annoy him.
"What do you mean, 'rough like that'? And why are you acting as if you're embarrassed or something about what happened a few weeks ago?" He asked, standing awkwardly in front of me. I was still lying down on his bed, acting as if I owned the place.
"I didn't say that. But it's not exactly unusual for people to have regrets after having sex. Especially when they have promises...," I said.
"Nobody forced you," Nick shrugged. Except you, I resisted saying. I knew it wasn't even close to the truth, because I never said or even implied that I didn't want to. It was all in my head. "And would you mind getting off my bed?" he asked, clearly annoyed by me. "I just made it."
I stood up and faced Nick. "I'm sorry," I said. Nick shrugged and walked over to his bathroom and shut the door. This is going to be awfully difficult, I thought as I felt tears gather up in my eyes.