Alden sat down on a chair in his garage while he waited for his best friend, Brock, to show up for band practice. Normally he would have been waiting for their other band member, Carmen, as well but he was away on vacation this week, so Alden and Brock had to manage practice without him until he got back. Alden started strumming the strings of his guitar absentmindedly. It had been almost two hours since he found out that Sharon was pregnant. He still had no idea what he was going to do about it. He wanted to be supportive of his girlfriend no matter what, but the truth was that he just wasn't ready to be a dad at this point in his life. He knew that Sharon didn't want an abortion, so he was kind of hoping that she would consider putting the baby up for adoption. Even though she would still have to go through labor and childbirth, at least this way they would both be able to get on with their lives after the baby was born and wouldn't have to deal with the burden of raising a kid.
"Oh man, why am I being so selfish?" He thought "I'm only thinking about what I want. I should leave this up to Sharon like I said I would. She's the one carrying the baby... and if she wants to keep it, I will help out like I promised her. I don't want to be like all those other assholes who get a girl knocked up and then abandon her and leave her alone with the baby. No, I'm going to be there for Sharon. I'm the one who got her pregnant, so I have to take responsibility for it too. I just hope she doesn't expect to get married or anything."
Even though he loved Sharon and wouldn't mind marrying her some time in the distant future, he just didn't feel ready for that kind of commitment yet. He was only seventeen and he wanted to get his music career started first. He also wanted to go on tour with his band over the summer, which he knew having a kid would interfere with. But he could probably work something out with Sharon. Maybe Sharon and the baby would even be able to come along on the tour with them. This was all assuming that Sharon wanted to keep the baby, of course.
Then he got to thinking about his family. He didn't even want to think about what they were going to do when he told them that he and Sharon were irresponsible enough to have unprotected sex and get pregnant from it... and it wasn't even their first time. He has been sleeping with Sharon for about eight or nine months now and they hadn't bothered using any form of contraception at all for reasons that seemed so stupid now. The consequences of unprotected sex were so much worse.
Brock finally arrived, nearly a half hour later than he was supposed to. Not that Alden even noticed, of course. He was too deep in thought about what a mess his life was right now.
"Hey, sorry I'm late. I was..." Brock looked at Alden and noticed that his best friend wasn't even looking at him. Instead, he was looking down at his guitar and he seemed so preoccupied.
"You okay, dude?" He asked, sounding concerned. When Alden didn't answer him, he went over and shook him.
"Hello! Earth to Alden!"
"What? What happened?" Alden asked, as Brock's shake shocked him back to reality. He looked up and finally noticed his best friend was there.
"Oh, hey Brock." He said as he put his guitar down. "Sorry, I didn't see you come in."
"Yeah, I know. What's going on, dude? Why are you so out of it right now?"
"I just have a lot on my mind. That's all."
"Like what?"
"Nothing, really. Just some stupid things. Its no big deal. Just forget about it."
"Come on, you're my best friend. I know you better than that. So spill. What's really bugging you?"
"Fine." Alden sighed, figuring there was no use in trying to keep it a secret. Everyone was going to find out eventually anyway. "I got Sharon pregnant."
Brock's eyes widened in shock. "Damn, dude! Are you serious?"
"Do you think I would joke about this kind of thing?" Alden asked, sounding a bit annoyed.
"So what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to support Sharon with whatever she decides to do. What else can I do?"
"You do realize that if Sharon decides to keep the baby, you're going to be a father and will have to help take care of it, right?"
"Yes, Brock. I am well aware of that. Thank you." Alden said while rolling his eyes.
"Do you even know if she wants to keep it yet?"
"She's not sure. She said she doesn't want to have an abortion though, which means that she will either keep it or put it up for adoption."
"Do your folks know about this yet?"
"No, not yet. But I'm going to tell them later tonight, right around the same time Sharon tells her mom." Alden sighed "My parents are going to kill me for this... and my sisters are probably going to give me some big lecture about safe sex or abstinence or something like that."
"Good luck, man."
"Thanks. I have a feeling I will be needing it..."
I just wanted to thank everybody who has reviewed this story so far. I'm sorry for the delay in getting this chapter up. I have been away for the past couple of weeks and now I'm not sure how often I will be able to update anymore since school is starting up again next week. I will try to update whenever I can though. Keep reading and keep the reviews coming! Thank you.
