Disclaimer: I'm so tired of this disclaimer…

Chapter 13: Too much too soon

"Sam, are you serious?" Heather asked him as they left the airplane. "I'm seventeen and so are you! And you want to get married?"

"We'll be engaged until we turn eighteen," Sam explained. "Then we'll get married, if that's what you want."

"I don't know, Sammy."

"I even got you a ring." He pulled a small black box out of his pocket and opened it up. Inside was a beautiful, diamond ring with a golden band.

She took the box from Sam and stared at the ring. "Oh, Sam, I don't know. Think about it: we'll have to move out of your mom's, we'll have to be able to rent an apartment, buy groceries, and anything else we need. Have you thought any of this through?"

"We have a long time to prepare before we actually get married."

"And what about planning the wedding?"

"It will be taken care of when it needs to be. So, are you saying yes?"

"Yes."

Reggie laid in Twister's arms, wrapped in the bed sheet. "I can't believe we just did that."

"Neither can I," Twister replied.

"But I think we waited long enough. After being just friends for so many years, maybe we waited too long."

"I agree."

"Maurice!" His mom called up the stairs. "Maurice!"

"Oh hell!" He mumbled. He scurried out of his bed and started pulling on his clothes. "Get dressed!" He commanded Reggie. He finished pulling on his clothes and stuck his head out the door. "What's up?"

"Breakfast's almost ready, tell Reggie."

"I will."

"I'll just tell her myself." She pushed open the door and caught Reggie, in her bra and putting on her jeans. Mrs. Rodriguez looked at Twister with an angry glare. "Downstairs, now!" She stomped out of the room and down the stairs.

Reggie pulled her t-shirt on and then said, "we're in trouble."

"You're telling me." They went down the stairs and saw Twister's parents sitting at the kitchen table.

"Maurice, Reggie, sit down," Sandy demanded. They did as they were told. "What you two did is very bad. You're 16 and 17 years old, you're too young. Now, I didn't do that until I was married."

"Mom, didn't want to know that," Twister stated.

"Quiet, Maurice!" She yelled. "Now, what's done is done, it's too late to change what happened. What matters is that you were protected, right?"

"Yes, ma'am," they replied in unison.

"Good, don't let it happen again. You're excused."

They climbed back up the stairs and thought about why Twister's mom had acted the way she did.

"Why didn't she freak out more?" Twister asked Reggie as he sat down on his bed.

"Yeah, I was expecting Prison Guard Otto times ten. Why didn't she like send me back to Otto and Ray, or forbid me from seeing you? Not that I'm complaining…" Reggie added.

They heard a knock on the door.

"Who's there?" Twister called.

There was no answer. The door swung open and Lars (once again) stood in the doorway. "I heard that you're very bad little teenagers."

"Get out of here, Lars," Reggie said.

"Make me, you little whore."

"Lars, you jackass… Get out of my room…"

"Twist, don't worry about it, he's not worth the sweat…"

"You're just lucky that I didn't get to her first, oh wait, but I did."

"Yeah, cause she was drunk… She wouldn't be with you on a normal day."

"Right, you're just lucky that she said your name, probably the first one that came into her head."

"You're right, I am lucky, lucky that she loves me."

"Whatever, Bro."

"Bye, Lars," Reggie said before she shoved him out the door and locked it. "He's so annoying."

A few days later, Reggie disappeared for a few hours, without telling Twister where she was going. When she returned, she wasn't happy.

"Hey, Reg, where've you been?" Twister asked, as Reggie tried to sneak back into his room.

She turned to look at him and then down at her feet. "Out."

"Can you give me a little more?"

"I've been out."

"Can you be more specific?"

"I've been at a place."

"Oh yeah, now we're getting somewhere…"

"What do you want from me, Twist?"

"Just tell what the hell is going on."

Reggie stayed incredibly quiet. "You don't want to know." She turned away from him.

He came up behind her and put his hands on her waist. He whispered in her ear, "you can tell me, I'll understand."

Tears were falling from her eyes. She brushed his hands away from her waist and placed her own hands on her stomach. She turned to face him. "You're going to be a father."

He took a step back. "You're pregnant?"

She nodded.

"How can that be? We used protection!"

"Only 99 percent effective."

"Well, isn't that just wonderful?"

"Twist, don't get upset with me."

"Don't get upset? Fuck! I'm going to be a father, and you're telling me not to be upset?"

"So you don't want the kid?"

"Reg, you're 17-years-old and I'm 16! I just got my drivers' license, I'm not ready to be parent! And neither are you!" He stormed out of the room.

"How do you know!" She shouted at nothing.

Twister had run out into the cul-de-sac and over to Sam's house. "Sam! Open up!" He yelled as he pounded on the door.

Heather opened the door and stared at Twister. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah, is Sam here?"

"No, he went out."

"Oh, I really needed to talk to him."

Heather paused for a second and then jutted her head towards the inside of the house. "C'mon in." She walked back inside.

Sam followed her into the house.

She dropped down on the couch. "Dude, like, sit down. You look so nervous."

He sat down next to her. He watched her as she pulled out a cigarette and lit it. "You smoke?" He asked.

"Just when I'm stressed." She took a drag.

"I bet that I'm more stressed than you."

"Try me."

"You first."

"Alright. So after this hellish ordeal; dealing with my step-father, running away, being kidnapped, and then being rescued, Sam lets me go back home. A few days later, Sam comes back and I come back here with him. Just when our plane is about to land, I look out the window and see, cut into the grass, "Heather will you marry me?" And I said yes. Now I have to deal with the fact that I will be wearing this ring until I'm at least 18 and the wedding plans." She took two more drags.

"That's a lot to deal with."

"Yeah, it is. Beat that." She took another drag.

"Okay, so Reggie and I hooked up after several years of being friends. We decided to hide it from Otto since he's overprotective. That seriously backfired. He found out about us and put her in a lockdown. Her house burned down, almost while she was still in it, and I saved her and gave her a place to stay. After our first night together, I made a move on her and she freaked. As revenge, she went down to hang out with my brother, Lars, and she got drunk. She almost had sex with Lars and then she came to me and she made a move on me. I called her drunk and I just walked away from her."

"Smart move on your part. I still don't see why this is more stressful than getting married." She took yet another drag of her cigarette. It was close to being done.

"Well, the next day, I found her in her house, sitting in the ashes and she told me that she wasn't drunk. We started, um well you get the picture, and Otto walked in. He tried to bring her back with him and she disowned him as her brother. We left her house and well, slept together. Now, earlier today, I find out that she is pregnant. I'm 16, and she's 17, neither of us are ready to be parents."

"Okay, you win. That's a tough break."

"I don't know what to do."

"You just need to think." She took the last drag and extinguished the cigarette in an ash tray sitting on the table. She picked up a pair of scissors and held them in her hand. "This is what I do to relieve stress. I smoke a cigarette and then break out the scissors. Most people think it hurts but really, it's a release of stress. It's like with that first cut, all of your troubles disappear." She opened the scissors and pressed the blades against one of her existing scars, reopening it. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she finally reopened them, she looked over to Twister. She held out the scissors to him. "You want to try?"

He took the scissors from her and just stared at the blades. "I guess I could try."

"Cut anywhere, usually arms are better but your shirtless all the time and if you don't want people to know, that's not a good place."

"At this point, I don't care." He pressed the blade against his unscathed skin on his arm.

AN: So much is happening! Only I know what'll happen next! Wha ha ha! Please R and R!