Chapter 6

That night Luka dressed up in his best suit and knocked on the door to Abby's house ready for their dinner.

Maggie answered the door, she was dressed in a beautiful pink dress, not fancy like a prom dress but elegant like something she would wear to church. Abby appeared behind her, looking slightly upset in her prom dress from the previous year which was looking rather tight against her steadily growing abdomen. It was a wonder Maggie hadn't figured it out already, considering Luka had been beginning to use his paycheck from Jiffy Lube to buy Abby new clothes as the old ones became too tight.

Abby smiled sadly at Luka, knowing there was no denying the inevitable but he quickly grabbed her hand giving it a reassuring squeeze. After stiff greetings Luka led them to his car and the drove to the restaurant.

Abby could feel the baby fluttering around in the bottom of her stomach and it was all she could do to keep from putting her hand across it the way she knew would calm it down. But she couldn't take the chance of her mother connecting the dots before they had the chance to tell her. It was crazy to have kept it from her this long; she was almost 4 months and was definitely starting to show. She was so worried about it she could barely eat at meals with her mother and found herself holding her breath every time her mother so much as looked at her for too long.

When they arrived at the restaurant Abby began to relax a little, because she and Luka were sitting opposite her Maggie where she couldn't see Abby's hands. After their dinner Abby quickly excused herself and rushed off to the bathroom, hoping Luka would take the hint and follow, he did.

"I don't think I can do this! She is going to make a scene! I know it! And what will I do if she kicks me out! We can't live on your jiffy lube salary!" Abby began rambling at 60 miles a minute and was nearly in tears when Luka finally got a word in.

"Abby! Honey! Don't worry! If she kicks you out we'll cross that bridge if and when we get to it... there is no use worrying about it until we get there! Ok? Now come on, let's go back to the table, we will tell her after desert, before we get the check."

Maggie's first reaction to the news was utter shock, she just sat there, and looking like someone had just smacked her between the eyes with a 2 by 4. This quickly faded into disgust mixed with anger; luckily she knew was lucid enough to only glare at them and waited until they left the restaurant and were in their car before she began yelling. "What the hell were you two thinking going off and doing something as irresponsible as having sex and without birth control or a condom to boot!"

Her yelling was mixed with very colorful cursing for which Abby pushed herself into the far corner of the car, arms wrapped around her stomach as if somehow she could shield herself from the pain by shielding her baby.

They were almost back to Abby's house when the tears came, and with them came courage to face her mother. "You know what mother? Having unprotected sex was pretty stupid but having sex with the man I love, was most definitely NOT! I don't care what you do to me, I am going to keep seeing Luka and I will not get rid of my baby. I don't care what you say." This seemed to startle Maggie out of her endless ranting because she quieted down.

The tears were flowing unchecked and steadily down her cheeks, Abby slowly took a deep breath and lowered her voice, "Mom, I don't want to move out of the house and I don't want you to not be a part of mine and Luka's baby but that is what I'll do. Luka and I have already discussed it, if you want me to move out we can live with his mom for a while but only until we can afford an apartment of our own. But if you will allow it mother, I would really like it if you would allow us to move into the basement, we can pay rent and buy our own groceries and even take care of the baby ourselves. But only if you will allow it. I want you to take some time to think about it and I will respect any decision you make, even if it breaks my heart."

Luka pulled up in front of their house and turned off the engine, amazed at the strength Abby had. His heart swelled with pride for her and he told her so with his eyes. Abby's tears began to flow hard once more when Maggie got out of the car, she too was crying but gave them both an icy glare before storming up the steps and into the house.

Chapter 7

Luka looked at her and pulled her into his arms.

Abby gave him a weak look still crying, "Can-can-can I stay at your house tonight? I don't need long to grab some stuff from inside."

Luka nodded and kissed her, "of course, any time you want to." He went inside with her and within 10 minutes they were back in the car headed to his house.

That night after Luka was asleep Abby got up and went to his desk, flipping on the small desk lamp. She reached into a hidden pocket of her backpack and pulled out a small leather bound book and began writing:

"Dear Diary.
It seems so silly to start a journal entry with 'dear diary' especially since it is so childish and I am no longer a child. It is so late and Luka is asleep and every night about this time I wake up thinking, I still have the same doubts as every other night since I found out about the baby. But before it was so surreal, now I have this small little thing swimming around inside my stomach and he's growing. He gets bigger every day, and I know it's stupid to say that but it's true, I look huge! I have this huge belly now, which Luka loves and talks to all the time but I'm terrified that I am going to end up like my mom… She is so bitter toward the world, and I know that most of it is due to her bi-polar disorder but I can't help but hate that part of her. The violent, scary part. The part that causes her to chase me and Eric around the house with a butcher knife.

I was so proud of myself today. I stood up to her for once. I told her about the baby and she was so angry and I just blew up at her! It was amazing. But I'm even more afraid now that Luka and I are going to have to find a place to live on our own. And I don't think I'll be able to face everyone at school, I'm getting to big and they are going to make fun of me and Luka. I could stand them talking bad about me before, but that was different, now it is going to be about us. Luka, Me and the baby. I don't know what to do. I'm so scared."

She sat back and thought for a few minutes, trying to organize her thoughts more to put them down on paper but nothing would come. She finished the entry with the words: "I'm afraid my world is going to change forever, and there is nothing I can do to stop it." She sighed and threw the pen down and closed the diary, sitting at the desk for a little while longer, her hands resting on her growing stomach.

Chapter 8

The next morning Luka woke up to an empty bed he laid there feeling for Abby, but she wasn't there, he sat up and noticed her sleeping in his desk chair, her legs pulled up to her chest and her hands on her stomach. He got up and walked over to her and kissed her neck, he kissed her to wake her up, "Hey. You look really uncomfortable. Why don't you go lie in the bed and get some better sleep." He said picking her tiny frame up and taking her to the bed.

Abby opened her eyes when he picked her up and she chuckled at him, "Morning." Abby lay down on the bed when he set her down and gasped her hands flying to her stomach.

Luka recoiled, "What? What is it?"

Abby looked down at her bump, "OH shit, oh shit! It moved Luka, it moved!"

Luka put his hands on her stomach and looked at her, a shocked look on his face. "Seriously?" He asked moving to lay next to her he kissed her.

Abby kissed him back deeply and nodded. "We really have a little person growing in there Luka. I can't believe it." She smiled at him and kissed him again, "I love you so much" They continued making out and Luka had stripped her down to nothing when her cell phone went off, he groaned and got up to get it from across the room.

"Hello?" He said and Abby rolled over to look at him pulling the blanket over her naked body.

The female voice on the other end was yelling "Luka!? Why the hell do you have Abby's phone? Where is my daughter? If you laid one hand on her I am going to call the cops!" Maggie kept screaming and Luka had a dumbfounded look on his face.

"Who is it Luka?" Abby asked breaking Luka's trance.

"Your mom," He mouthed and walked over to hand her the phone, "Maggie, here is Abby."

"Hi Mom. I'm at Luka's house… Yes I realize that you don't like him... No I'm not coming home... Yes I was being serious about what I told you last night… No freakin way mother!! There is no way in HELL I'm going to abort my baby!! I'm already 16 weeks along!" She paused and got a sad look on her face and tears welled up in her eyes. "Ummm, yeah, I'll come get my stuff today." She hung up the phone and pulled her knees to her chest and began crying.

Luka pulled her into his arms and whispered comforts into her ear, "Hey, it will be ok." He rocked her back and forth kissing her cheek and holding her close to him. "Maybe I'll call my cousin, she will let us live at her place for a while."

Abby looked up at him too scared and upset to reply instead she just nodded, her arms wrapped around her stomach protecting their tiny unborn baby.

A few hours later Luka was helping Abby pack up her stuff from her bedroom, they were sadly commenting on all of the memories they had made that were in that room. Abby had kept the tickets to the movie Luka took her to on their first date, she had the stuffed animal Luka had given her for Valentine's day, but the one thing that was freshest in their minds was Abby's hot pink bikini in the same spot it had been when she threw it there after taking it off the day they had gotten into the mess they were in. Luka picked it up and put it into the suitcase with all of the other stuff they were taking with them.

"I called my cousin Andelka." Luka said quietly, "I told her what was going on and she said we could stay with her for as long as we needed to, she only asks that we help with the groceries. So I am going to get a second job, maybe I'll apply at that hotel up the road, summer is coming to an end."

Abby looked at him, "What about school? I can't go back there by myself now that you graduated! I mean I can't do it. Everyone always talks bad about me anyway! And now without you at lunch and in classes! I won't be able to make it through the day. I want to drop out and just get my GED."

Luka shook his head and moved over to pull her into his arms "It's ok to be scared, but you can't drop out. You are too smart for that. I can't let you ruin your life because of this. I've caused too much pain for you as it is. You should be able to enjoy your senior year. But instead I've taken it away from you."

"Pain? What are you talking about? If you mean with Maggie, hell no, her kicking me out has been a long time coming, she just needed a really good excuse. And I wouldn't be ruining my life; I would be starting it, my life with you, and our baby." She gazed into his eyes, "I'm serious, I can't go back there. Not without you at my side."

"And what do you want to do? Get a job flipping burgers at McDonalds?" He said sarcastically.

Abby pulled back and glared up at him, "What are you going to tell me now that I'm not good enough to get a job to help pay for our baby!?" She asked angry.

He shook his head and sighed, "That's not what I'm saying at all, I just don't want you to have to worry about getting a job, you should focus on enjoying your senior year, not worrying about where we are going to get money." He held her in his arms. "I want better for you than that." Then before she could reply he glanced over at the clock, "Shit. We better hurry; Maggie is due home from work any time now."

They grabbed the suitcases and threw the last few things Abby needed into a box by the door and left the house. Luka watched her face get sad as they got into the car and drove away.