I felt like finally telling my mom about the baby lifted a huge weight off my shoulders. I knew she wouldn't be too happy but she would still be supportive. I was excited for her to meet Quinn. Going back to my room, I grinned when I found Quinn sleeping like a pretzel, bent at the waist with both arms over her head her legs crossed in a weird position. She was impossibly cute with her hair spread out over the pillows and a content, peaceful look on her face.
I softly brushed my fingers through her hair to help her wake up gently. Her eyelids fluttered open and she looked confused. "You sleep like a little weirdo." I smiled at her.
"Oh wow, I didn't mean to fall asleep, Puck. I need to get going before your mom gets home." She started to sit up and I held her back.
"Relax, Quinn. Listen… I went out to your car and I saw all your stuff and I kinda figured out what's up… I just, that's not okay with me Quinn, I can't let you live out of your car, and I'm sure that's not what you want either. So I told my mom everything when she got home and we want you to stay with us."
Quinn stared at me for a long time. "You told your mom?! I… I can't ask her for help, Puck. I got myself into this mess and I need to take care of it, I can't let her take care of me."
"You didn't ask for our help, Q, we're helping because we want to. This is my baby, too. We can figure this all out together, even if you don't want us to be together. We'll be okay. Just let me help you. Give me a chance to show you that you can depend on us."
After some coaxing and reassurance, I finally convinced Quinn that I could hear her stomach growling and she should come down to eat. She admitted that dinner smelled good. I knew she would like my mom once she was able to get past the awkwardness of the situation. She probably was reluctant to trust any adults at the moment after her parents' temper tantrum. She stayed mostly behind me after getting downstairs, like she was subconsciously using me to keep her safe. I cleared my throat when we got into the kitchen.
"Hey Mom, this is Quinn. Quinn, this is my mom," I said a little awkwardly.
"Oh hi, sweetheart. It's nice to meet you. And don't even think about calling me Mrs. Puckerman like I can tell you're about to do, call me Natalie okay?" My mom reached out to take Quinn's hand and gave it a squeeze.
"It's so nice to meet you too, Natalie. Thank you for having me tonight. I appreciate it."
"Quinn, you're welcome here as long as you'd like, okay? Noah told me that your parents didn't react very well to your pregnancy, and I'm very sorry to hear that. I want you to know that you have my total support with everything you need," I think my mom could sense Quinn's discomfort with the conversation so she cheerfully changed the topic. "The only thing I ask is that you try to stick to our Kosher diet in the house. It takes a little getting used to, so I don't expect you to be totally perfect at it. But we'll talk about that later. Are you hungry? Dinner looks like it's about ready." Mom turned back to the stove and Quinn gave me an awkward little smile and inched a little closer. Suddenly the door slammed open and my little sister came barreling in with her backpack bouncing.
"Hi Mom, hi Noah. I had the best time at Carly's house. We played with her bunny and had a really yummy snack and played with her baby brother and I colored a picture with these cool markers and I even got to help make cookies, but I didn't eat any yet, don't worry mom. I brought some home. Who are you?" She suddenly noticed Quinn standing next to me.
"Sophie, this is Quinn, she's Noah's friend. She's going to be staying with us here for a while."
"Oh. Okay. Your hair looks pretty, Quinn. Maybe now since you're pretty much my sister, you could teach me how to do my hair fancy too!"
"Oh that sounds like fun. I'd love to play with your pretty hair," Quinn responded with an enthusiastic smile. Mom shot me a sneaky wink while Sophie obsessed over the new girl in the house. Quinn offered to set the table and by the time we sat down for dinner, she seemed a little more comfortable. We had light conversation, not talking about the baby or Quinn's parents. My mom pushed Quinn to take seconds and she actually did, saying it was delicious and she was hungry all the time now. After dinner she offered to do dishes but my mom put her foot down and sent us away to relax.
We both went up to my room, Quinn picking up her notebook and asking if I wanted to study with her for our biology test. I absolutely did not want to study, but decided to go along with it to hang out with her. A while later, my mom came up and knocked on the open door. "Hey guys I just put Sophie to bed and I think I'm gonna turn in myself. Just… try to… behave yourselves, okay?" She requested extremely awkwardly.
"Ma, she's already knocked up, what's the worst we could do, right?" I joked, earning a hard elbow to the ribs from Quinn.
"You have nothing to worry about, Natalie, I promise you. I just want to study a little more, then I'll be ready for bed too." We said goodnights to my mom and Quinn rummaged through her suitcase. "I'm just going to go clean up for bed. Um, I just wondered, do you have a guestroom, or an air mattress or anything? Where will I sleep?"
"No guestroom, but I was gonna bring in an air mattress if that's alright with you." I got it all set up and even changed the sheets on my bed while Quinn was getting ready.
"Hey, thanks for setting that up for me, I've never used an air mattress before," she smiled when she came back to my room.
"Uh, yeah, and you're not using it tonight either. The bed's for you, and if you want me to move the air mattress for me to the living room, I can. I didn't know how you felt about sharing a room."
"I'm already taking over your whole life, Puck, I'm not kicking you out of your bedroom too." She cleared her throat and played with her hair, not looking at me. "I, um, really appreciate everything you guys are doing for me. I don't know what I would do without you." She quickly wrapped her arms around my waist for a hug and I kissed the top of her head.
"One day at a time, Q. We'll figure this all out."