Lucas' POV~~1/8/17
Maya and I went back inside the classroom and when I sat down crossed out my entire letter, flipped the page and started a new one.
Dear Maya,
I'm so sorry for doing this to you. I can only imagine how this feels for you, physically and mentally. I can also only imagine how hard it's going to be for you to have this baby; if you, ya know go through with this pregnancy. I can't imagine not loving this baby and I only found out about it seconds ago.
I promise never to leave you two (hopefully only two) and give you guys anything you ever need. Maya, I'm so sorry we broke up on conflicting terms. I hope we can get back together, for us or for the baby, but mostly for us.
Love, Lucas.
Followed by an extra credit letter.
Dear Mamma,
You're going to have my head for this. I got a girl pregnant. She isn't showing yet so she can't be too far along. I really do love her, she was the one I dated for almost five years until last November. I hope we can get back together so we can support the baby better? Can we keep the baby? I mean I know ultimately that's maya's choice but I really want you to support her in this. She means the world to me and she is carrying the most important thing I've ever called mine.
Mamma, I'm so sorry I let you down like this.
Love, Lucas.
I sealed them into envelopes and dropped them on Mr Mathews' desk as the bell rang. In the hallway I pulled Riley aside, dragging her into a corner by the locker rooms.
"What's up, Lucas?" she asked sweetly.
"What are we?" I asked bluntly. I didn't have time to mess around with other girls now.
"Well, you know I really like you and I was hoping to be something more than friends, ya know? How do you feel? What are we to you?" she asked naively. It hit me suddenly that she must not have knoe what was going on with Maya.
"I'm in love with Maya and I wanted to clear that up with you because I want to ask her back out." I said. He shoulders sagged and her entire body deflated.
"Oh. well, that's good for you. You guys were great together, you should be happy. You deserve to be happy." She nodded a few times pulling the left corner of her lip up in a disappointed smile her nose was pulled in like she was about to cry.
"Riley, you're my friend, we can still be friends-"
"Maybe Lucas, I'll talk to you later." She walked away, her hair flowing out behind her she was moving so fast.
I slouched back against the wall and closed my eyes. I has just crushed her innocent heart into pieces, and she would probably hate Maya for this. As the late bell rang I got back up and wandered to class.
/||\\/||\\/||\\
Maya was standing by my locker when I arrived there after the last class of the day. Her arms were crossed and she was leaning against my locker legs crossed in front of her.
"Hey there, Other one," I greeted her, scooting her over a bit so I could toss some books into my locker.
"Hey Ranger, let's go, come on," she said. Her voice was tired and gravelly, but she pushed forward and started walking.
We walked in mostly silence because I could tell Maya was tired and very, very irritable. She dragged her feet as she walked, tripping over many cracks in the sidewalk and grabbing my arm for support; just like she used to do when we were together. The walk was much further than I expected and I now regret not offering to drive us. As the walk drew on Maya leaned against me, closing her eyes and trusting me to guide her. We finally reached the hospital and entered the women's and children's ward. We went up three stories in the elevator and lazily walked towards the reception desk. Maya checked in keeping her head propped up on her wrist, she took the clipboard the receptionist handed her and practically dragged herself to an empty chair. I sat down next to her.
"Fill it out Hee-Haw," she mumbled, tossing it in my general direction.
I took the board from her and started writing but tried to keep her awake. "You can't go to sleep now Maya. What's your birthday?"
"You know the answer to that Huck, and yes I can and will. Wake me up when it's time." And with that she was out.
I kept filing out everything I knew about Maya and did my portion of the questions. I had to leave a few blank regarding Kermit but other than that, she was right, I knew everything. She was asleep on my shoulder so I couldn't bring the board up or really move. About a good twenty minutes later the nurse came out and called Maya's name. She didn't budge.
"Maya, wake up. It's time for you to see the doctor." Nothing. "Let's go see the baby,Shortstack." Nada. "Hart, wake up or I will toss you over my shoulder and carry you in there!" I said, lightly pushing her off my should her and poking her,
"I'm up, I'm up," she said, jumping out of the chair. A lady a few chairs down laughed and I took two long strides to catch up with Maya's frenzied pace.
/||\\/||\\/||\\
They took some blood from Maya, a urine sample, her vitals etc., etc. The nurse told us to hang tight and wait for the technician and doctor to come in.
I sat on the table with Maya and she slouched over my shoulder and whined exhaustedly.
"Don't go back to bed, missy," I mock scolded her and she just grumbled something into my chest.
The door swung open then and the doctor giggled like the lady in the waiting room did. "Exhaustion one of your symptoms, miss?"
She yawned largely and nodded. She talked back and forth with the doctor and ultrasound tech for a while.
"Alright, Lucas, Maya. I'm tech Julia I work with Doctor Gilly. The hormone levels in your blood Maya definitely show pregnancy, but let's do a confirming ultrasound." Maya lied back on the bed and lifted her shirt so the tech could spread gel across her abdomen. The tech worked silently for a few minutes. "Alright, the size of the baby is about twelve weeks sized. I'm putting your due date at July twenty-second." The doctors cleaned Maya up and told us to head out whenever we were ready.
"Do you see the baby, Hee-Haw?" Maya whispered.
"It's bigger than I expected," I admitted.
She nodded in agreeance. "Well, let's go," she said after a beat of silence. This time I nodded and followed her out of the room and to the reception desk where she book her next appointment and was handed an envelope with the ultrasound pictures in it.
/||\\/||\\/||\\
"Look at that little onesie!" Maya practically screamed, halting suddenly and pointing into the window of a little shop. The onesie in question was white with thin, hand-writing like word on the front that said 'Cutest Little Asshole'.
"You're going to put our baby in a onesie that accuses it of being an asshole?" I asked her, shaking my head but already opening the door for her.
"Have you ever spent the night with a baby?" she aske me with her eyes wide open as she grabbed a onsie on a hanger and began wondering the store. "How 'bout this one?" she held up a pale blue, long sleeved shirt that said 'Are these people really my relatives?' I laughed but nodded. She smiled and skipped - Maya skipped - over to another rack of clothes.
"Look at this one!" she pointed to a flyer that advertises customized due date onesies.
"But we don't know their name yet." Maya picked up a pink onesie with a tiara and made puppy eyes. "You can't get that one Short Stack, we don't know if we're having a girl."
"Fine," she fake pouted and put the little outfit back. "But promise we'll come back when we know the gender?"
I nodded, guiding her to the check out counter and pulling out my wallet.
"Hello there, dears." The cashier said. She bagged the onsies. "Are you two expecting?"
Maya practically jumped up at the question. She laid a hand on her barely showing bump and nodded, a large smile lighting up her face.
"Are you two excited?" The lady handed Maya the bag and smile kindly.
"Scared as fuckkkkk," Maya said, her eyes where shining with honesty and the lady let out a hearty chuckle.
"You should be. Good luck youngins." The older woman waved at us as we thanked her and left.
"So tired," Maya groaned as we resumed our walk.
"Will ice cream make you feel better?"
"Hell yeah," she leaned against me and tilted her head back so I could see her smile. We veered of the main side walk and cut through side streets to et to central park. Once we were there we jogged to the ice cream cart that Maya loved. She panted as she came to a stop.
"Can I have a choco taco, please?" she asked the man running the cart. He nodded and pulled one from the portable freezer.
"I'll have a strawberry shortcake bar, sir," I said pulling out my wallet. He nodded again and handed me the frozen treat.
Maya folded her lips in and shook her head. "I got it," she said, opening her purse. She dug around for a minute before looking up beat red. "So, maybe I don't got it."
I gave her a small smile and tossed the man fifteen dollars. We walked to a bench and sat down, enjoying out ice cream. Maya ate slowly savoring every bite, while I ate quickly picturing the box of these Mamma had in the freezer. "Will you go out with me on Friday?"
Her eyes flicked up, her mouth never moving from the ice cream. "Friday, huh?"
I nodded. She put her left hand on the bump that seemed more prominent in this angle. She licked her ice cream taco again and then her lips.
"What time do you want to pick me up?"
"I'll pick you up at seven bring your camera." I crumpled my wrapper in my hands. I saw her face perk into a smile.
"See you then, Huckleberry."