Chapter 4: Under Pressure
Disclaimer: No, I'm not Brenda Hampton. No, I don't have anything to do with TSLOTAT, outside of this fan fic. I'm just playing with the characters a bit.
Morning sickness was killer. The worst part of it was scheduling it into my mornings – I would typically rush into the bathroom right around six in the morning and vomit everything in my stomach up. And then Ricky would come around the corner and offer me a glass of water, patting me on the back and holding my hair out of my face. It would typically last a good hour and a half, therefore pressing in on the time I had to get to school. Ricky would get John dressed for me and if I wasn't quite ready to leave, he'd take John to day care and swing by and pick me up on the way to school. We had quite the system going.
I was twelve weeks along, right at the end of my first trimester. I was tired all the time and it took everything I had not to fall asleep right in the middle of class.
"Amy?"
The bell had rung and I was sitting in my seat at the back of the class, my head against the cool concrete wall, my eyes closed. I opened them blearily and saw Madison and Lauren standing right in front of me.
"What?" I asked, pulling my notebook off my desk and throwing my stuff into my tote.
"We're going to ask you something and we really don't want you to take it personal," Madison started off, looking rather nervous.
"And you don't have to tell us if you don't want to because it's really none of our business – " Lauren added anxiously.
"But we're your friends so you really should be completely open and honest with us because we would be with you if – " Madison looked over at Lauren helplessly.
"Adrian said that she was in the bathroom on the second floor and she heard someone puking in there. Your tote was sitting on the sink. You've been really moody lately and Ben overheard some guy talking about your chest the other day. You even look a bit bloated," Lauren whispered.
"And why is this all such a big deal?" I sighed, getting up and picking my tote off the floor. I needed to get out of there and fast.
"You mean, you're not – " Madison looked around furtively, "pregnant again?"
I dropped my tote back on the floor and whirled around.
"Who told you?" I asked, not even trying to argue with them.
"No one in particular," Madison replied.
"We just kind of put two and two together," Lauren added.
"I'm due at the end of April," I answered, picking my tote back up off the floor again. "And please, don't tell anyone. Keep this to yourselves. I'm telling my parents today."
"But... how?" Madison asked, looking stunned.
"Ricky and I have been living together since mid-summer, after I got back from New York. Birth control failure, I guess," I said. "I've got to go," I added, looking at the clock above the teacher's desk. Ricky would be here to pick me up soon and then I had to go watch the kids at the day care center.
I was so tired when Ricky climbed into the SUV after work. It was agreed that we would go meet my family for dinner. After we got done with my family, we were supposed to go to his family the following day for dinner to spill the news to them. I was definitely not looking forward to it.
"Any ideas on how you want to spill the news?" Ricky asked, looking over at me.
"I have an idea," I said. "I figure it's probably better to try to focus on the positives rather than focusing on the negatives of the situation. Therefore, I bought John a shirt before I came to pick you up. Take a look."
Ricky looked into the back seat and saw John smiling at him, decked out in an "I'm the Big Brother" T-shirt.
"I'm kind of curious as to how long it'll take my parents to even notice what his shirt says," I shrugged.
"You really think that's the best idea?" Ricky asked me.
"I don't want to focus on the negatives," I repeated. "We're going to act like this is a great thing for our family."
Ricky smiled at me. "This is a great thing for our family," he answered.
We drove the short distance from the butcher shop to my parents' house. I had forewarned Ashley that we were going to be sharing our "wonderful news" at dinner, so she was conveniently out with Griffin for the night.
We pulled into the driveway and Ricky pulled John out of the backseat. I nervously shut the driver's door and crossed my arms over my stomach anxiously.
"It'll be fine, Amy," Ricky assured me. And then we were at the door leading into the kitchen, opening it, and walking inside.
"We're here," Ricky announced.
The smell of garlic was overwhelming. I couldn't help but feel a little queasy. I looked at Ricky and he shook his head and I took John from him and walked into the living room.
"Hey, Amy," Mom said, looking happy to see me. "Hi, John!" she waved to her grandson. He buried his face into my shoulder. I couldn't help but smile.
"Hi, Robbie," I said, using my free hand to wave to my little brother. He clapped his hands eagerly. "Hi, Mrs. Juergens," Ricky said, offering to take John from me. "Mr. Juergens just came into the kitchen and said that dinner's almost ready."
"You know it's Anne," Mom said to Ricky. "And finally. It's about time. I've been waiting for him to finish that lasagna for hours now, it seems like."
"Don't you usually make dinner?" I asked Mom, surprised that Dad even had the slightest hint about how to make lasagna.
"He was just supposed to take it out of the oven and put the Parmesan on top and then put it back in," she sighed. "Of course, he barely ever gets it right."
Ricky smirked at me and the five of us headed into the kitchen.
"Dang it, George!" Mom sighed, sitting Robbie in his high chair. "You forgot to take the bread out of the oven!" she yelled.
"Oops!" Dad yelled from outside. "I was getting drinks out here!"
Mom opened the oven and pulled out the bread before throwing it in the trash can. So that was the garlic that was making me so nauseated. I focused once more on not getting up and running out of the room. It was difficult.
"At least we have salad and rolls," Mom sighed. "Too bad for the garlic."
Ricky sat John down into the high chair and went over to the counter to make John some juice in his sippy cup. He sat the cup on John's tray and headed outside.
"So what's been going on with you and Ricky?" Mom asked me, taking a seat on the other side of Robbie. "Anything exciting?"
"Lots," I replied, focusing on pouring myself some milk. "School's been exhausting, work almost as much so, and I haven't really had time for anything other than school, work, and John."
"As usual," Mom agreed. She looked over at John, who sat his sippy cup down on the tray and smiled at her.
"He's getting bigger. I miss not having him around all the time, but Robbie keeps me busy enough," she smiled. "Is that a new shirt?" she asked.
"Yeah," I said, ignoring the knots in my stomach. She wouldn't be mad. She couldn't be mad. Disappointed, maybe, but never mad. "I picked it up for him today."
"It's cute," she said. "What's it say on the front?"
I didn't answer her.
John knocked his sippy cup off the tray and raised his arms up high, looking for someone to pick it up for him. I leaned down to get it, hoping Mom would quickly see the point of the shirt.
"I'm... the big brother?" I heard her read aloud. "Amy Hannah Juergens!"
I sat up and handed John his sippy cup again.
"What?" I asked, trying to keep a straight face.
"You're having another baby?" she asked, looking completely floored.
"I was on birth control. It was an accident. But Ricky and I are stable enough right now and he graduates right after I'm due and then he'll be taking online college courses and working more while I finish high school and work at the day care."
I wished Ricky would hurry up and get back in the kitchen so I wouldn't have to fend all of my mom's shock and disappointment all on my own.
"Still, Amy! Two babies before you're even eighteen? Were you even thinking of the consequences of your actions?" I didn't think her eyes could get any bigger.
"I must have missed a pill or something. I was taking them religiously, Mom." Okay, so that was a small white lie. But I didn't want her to think I was totally irresponsible. "Besides, you and Dad had me and Ashley in the space of two years. I think Ricky and I can handle it."
"Your father and I were married by the time Ashley came along," Mom reminded me.
"But not for very long. I'm only seventeen. I'm not going to get married right away and definitely not until I know that's the right thing to do. Ricky and I are still dating and both of us are actually excited about this baby. We're taking things one step at a time."
"How far along are you?" Mom asked me.
"Twelve weeks. I just found out about two weeks ago and we wanted to wait and make sure everything was okay before we told people," I answered.
Mom sighed. "I can't say I'm happy about this, but there's nothing that can be done about it now. Looks like John's going to be a big brother. But just you wait, Amy Juergens. Once your father hears about this, it's going to be all over. He's going to flip out."
I nodded.
Mom looked shaken as she got up and put the lasagna dish on the table. She headed outside and I wondered what was taking Ricky so long. Was he outside telling my dad about the baby while I told my mom?
And then they were back inside, Dad wearing the biggest grin on his face that I'd ever seen. He kissed John on the top of the head, completely ignoring his shirt, proclaiming his newly established big brotherhood to the world, and took a seat across from me. Ricky sat down next to me.
"What was all of that about?" I asked him. He merely shrugged and poured himself a glass of milk. Mom brought over the rolls in the bread basket and the four of us sat down. I offered John some fruit and a roll and we all started eating dinner.
Mom shot me a look and I sighed, looking over at Dad.
"So how is my oldest daughter doing?" he asked me. "School, work, baby?"
"Fine," I answered.
"And you," he asked Ricky. "How's the job at the butcher shop going?"
"I was actually going to wait to tell Amy with you guys," Ricky answered. "I'm supposed to be promoted to assistant manager at the end of the month. It'll be plenty enough to support the four of us."
"Four of us?" Dad asked, looking from Ricky to me to John. John squealed, smashing his pears into the tray of the high chair. "Did you guys get a dog or something?"
Sometimes I wondered how ignorant my dad could be. But Ricky getting a promotion? That was amazing!
"No," Ricky said, shaking his head. Mom looked from me to Dad as Ricky announced, "We're having another baby."
Dad's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. "Is that what the conversation outside was about?" he gaped.
I had no idea what conversation he was talking about, so I looked over to Ricky in confusion. He sighed and Dad got up, taking his plate with him to the living room. The roar of the TV signaled that he was blocking out the rest our conversation.
"What conversation was he talking about?" I asked Ricky.
"It doesn't matter," he replied. "I was just asking him hypotheticals at any rate."
"As long as the two of you are serious about doing this, then you'll be fine. The promotion at work helps, Ricky. But won't you be working longer hours?" Mom asked.
"Yeah, but once I graduate, I'll be able to work while Amy's in school after the baby's born. John can go to the day care center while Amy's in school and I can work at night and watch the new baby during the day for the first few weeks until it's old enough to go to day care. I was thinking about asking Leo whether I can change the den into a second bedroom and that way, John can move into there and the baby can take his spot next to the bed. I've really thought all of this out."
I was surprised at the detail into which he'd thought about everything. He seemed to really have everything under control and for the first time, I thought I could breathe.
"But what about college, Ricky? You're going to need a degree of some sort..." Mom trailed off, looking worried.
"I figured I could take a semester or so off and start online classes in the spring. I know I'm going to need a degree. But my family comes first and they need me right now," he said, shrugging. "Everything else comes next."
Mom sighed. "I'm really not thrilled about this, not yet at least, but at least the two of you seem a little more prepared this time. And Amy loves you, Ricky. So she's going to do whatever is necessary to make things work. She proved that she was capable of that through everything with John. It's just a little too early to repeat things all over again, in my book."
"But Anne, it's not repeating things. It's starting over and this time, I'm going to be there every step of the way." Ricky reached under the table and squeezed my hand. I tried my best to keep from bawling.
Mom sighed and looked over at me. "I think I need to have a talk with your father, Amy. I'll give you a call when we've gotten things worked out, okay?"
I nodded. That was our signal that it was time to leave. I gave my mom a hug and then picked up John and changed his now fruit-splattered shirt into a fresh one. I handed him to Ricky and the three of us headed out the door.
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