There Goes My Life

Disclaimer: Read one of the previous chapters. The song is "There Goes My Life" by Kenny Chesney.

A/N: Review! I hope you guys like this chapter better than the last one.

All he could think about was I'm too young for this.
Got my whole life ahead
Hell I'm just a kid myself
How am I gonna raise one

All he could see were his dreams goin' up in smoke.
So much for ditchin' this town and hangin' out on the coast
Oh well, those plans are long gone.

Ruthie awoke to a lifeless day the next morning. Outside, in place of the bright, summer sunshine, were dark and heavy black clouds, threatening to flood the small Californian town of Glen Oak at any given moment. After several minutes of observing the outside world from her bedroom window, Ruthie concluded that nothing good could come out of such a depressing-looking day.

And nothing did.

After getting dressed and eating breakfast Ruthie walked over to Jake's house. She didn't want to, but at the same time she knew she had to talk to him. It wasn't fair to either one of them if she didn't explain herself. Immediately after she called Tom last night, she had regretted it. I should have told Jake myself. That was all she could think about on the walk to Jake's house. She rang the doorbell, and then had a strange wanting to run away and into the comfort of her own home.

Jake opened the door, and then seeing Ruthie standing there, shut it without hesitation and then leaned against the door, and slowly slid down until he was sitting on the floor, his head in his hands. Knowing he was going to come out eventually, Ruthie took a seat on the front steps, and sure enough, after about five minutes, Jake emerged from the house and sat down next to Ruthie. Jake had his arms tightly folded over his chest and hung his head down, staring at the ground beneath him. His dark hair was falling over his face, covering his tear filled eyes. Ruthie and Jake sat in silence, Ruthie waiting for Jake to speak first. And finally, after several long minutes, he did.

"Why couldn't you tell me?" Jake questioned in a soft, sad voice, not bothering to pick his head up.

"What?" asked Ruthie, who couldn't understand what Jake was trying to say through his muffled voice.

"I said," Jake stood up and turned around to face Ruthie, "Why couldn't you tell me?"

Ruthie didn't know what to tell him. She couldn't stand seeing him so upset. She wished that she was a thousand miles away, just anywhere but there.

"Why couldn't you tell me!" Jake said, after waiting for and failing to get a response from Ruthie. Both his voice and his anger were now rising as he looked at Ruthie. Tears were now freely falling from his eyes, faster than he could stop them.

"I-I'm sorry," Ruthie managed to choke out, avoiding eye contact with Jake, at any and all costs.

"Me too," Jake said, taking his seat next to Ruthie again, "But why do I have to find out from my brother? Why couldn't you tell me? I mean…I didn't believe him at first, but then," he sighed, "I don't know."

"I thought I was doing the right thing. That's all."

"Well," Jake said, drying his eyes with the back of his hand, "What are we going to do now?"

"I…I don't know. I haven't told my parents yet, or anyone for that matter."

"Yeah…that figures. If you had told your family, your father or somebody probably would have killed me by now."

"Can you be serious for one minute? Just one minute, okay?"

"Sorry."

"I'm not getting an abortion. I'm telling you that right now."

"You know, you might not even be pregnant," Jake said hopefully, "Those home tests are only like 99.9 correct anyway, right?" He gave Ruthie a small, sweet smile.

"I am. Mother's instinct, I guess."

"Mother…" Jake repeated Ruthie in a whisper, "We're 16. We…we can't keep this baby."

"I said I'm not getting an abortion! You want to kill our baby!" Ruthie said, raising her voice and tears welling up in her eyes.

"I didn't say that! We could give it up for adoption."

"No."

"What?"

"No. I don't want to give it up for adoption."

Jake got to his feet and started pacing in a small circle. His face was red and tearstained and his eyes were fixed on Ruthie.

"Then, what the hell do you want to do, Ruthie! We're teenagers! We can't do it!"

Ruthie stood and walked past Jake, towards the street. Before starting the walk back to her house, she turned around and faced Jake.

"Maybe you can't do it, but I can. And if you don't want to be a part of your child's life, it's only your loss. But, just do me a favor and tell your parents. Tonight. And I'll tell mine, too. Okay?"

"Ruthie, I'm sorry."

"Just, just tell me that you're going to let your parents know."

"Okay. But-" For Jake to finish his sentence would be a waste of time, for Ruthie was now walking on the side of the street, on her way back home. What did I do now?

The last thing Jake wanted was to be sitting alone in an empty house, pitying himself, so he made his way down to the football field down the street, where he would most likely find one of his brothers. And, just as he predicted, he did. His twin brother Tom and his older brother Adam were sitting on rocks, underneath the visitor bleachers at the football field. Jake sat down, taking handfuls of the small rocks in his hand and throwing them in the opposite direction with all of his strength.

"What's wrong with you?" Adam asked, seeing that Jake seemed to be in a sort of trance.

"Nothing."

Unconvinced, Adam turned to Tom. "What's wrong with him?"

"Nothing."

"What's up with you two?"

"My life's over." Jake muttered underneath his breath, but loud enough for Adam to hear.

"What did you do now?"

"I'm going to be a father. Okay? Now go and tell the whole world."

"The minister's daughter?" Adam started laughing hysterically, "Dude, you knocked up the preacher's kid!"

Jake and Tom looked at Adam in horror.

"Shut up, man!" Tom shouted at Adam. Being so close, Tom and Jake were very protective of each other. Adam immediately silenced his laughter.

"Would you be laughing if you were me?" Jake asked Adam angrily and then threw a rock at him which hit his forehead.

A sharp pain ripped through Adam's head and he jumped up. "Jesus Christ! What the hell is wrong with you!" He approached Jake with the intention to punch him or kick him or anything, just to get even with him for the rock.

"Leave him alone." Tom told Adam.

Jake couldn't take it anymore. He got up and ran home. All he wanted was somebody to talk to. He couldn't talk to Ruthie. He couldn't talk to his brothers. And now he would have to tell his parents tonight that he was going to be a father, and they for sure weren't going to happy.

And he said,
There goes my life.
There goes my future, my everything.
Might as well kiss it all good-bye.
There goes my life...

A/N: Next chapter Ruthie and Jake tell their parents. Read and Review!