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Chapter 10

Lucy's POV

"Are you ready to go home?" Dad asked as a nurse wheeled me out of my hospital room.

"I was ready last night," I smiled. "Is the wheelchair really necessary?" I didn't understand why they insisted on carting me out in a wheelchair. It wasn't as if I couldn't walk. In fact I would have preferred to.

"I'm sorry, but it's hospital policy," the nurse told me. It's a stupid policy if you ask me. You would think that if someone was weak enough to be taken out to the car in a wheelchair, then they probably aren't well enough to be going home.

The ride to the house was mostly quiet. It was just Dad, Mike, and me. Well, that is until we picked up Mike's mom for our 'big talk.' I silently wondered if this was what was considered the calm before the storm. Thinking about the conversation we would have at home almost made me wish I could have stayed at the hospital. Sure our parents were calm last night, but how would they react today?

Mike's mom eyed me the entire way home. I wondered what could be going through her mind. I had no idea what her beliefs were on the subject of sex and to be honest, I was a little frightened to find out. I didn't really know her that well and the only time we had spoken was when she asked me to have Mike put her in a hospital. I thought she was grateful that I had helped her and Mike become close again. I wonder what she thinks of me now.

When we arrived home, everyone was waiting at the front door to meet us. Ruthie immediately embraced me in a hug. "I was so worried about you. I thought that I may have lost my sister forever."

"I'm fine," I hugged her back.

"If you are fine then why did you have to spend the night in the hospital?" Ruthie asked.

I wasn't exactly ready to tell her yet, but I knew I couldn't put it off much longer. After a few seconds I decided to go ahead and bite the bullet. I kneeled down to her level and looked in her eyes. "Ruthie," I took a deep breath. This wasn't going to be easy. "I'm going to have a baby. I spent the night in the hospital so that the doctors could make sure that my baby was okay."

""You're going to have a baby!" Ruthie yelled at me. "How did this happen? You don't even have a boyfriend, so who is the father?"

"I am." Mike told her gently.

"You?" She eyed him before turning back to me. "I can't believe this. I can't believe you. I looked up to you. I thought you were more responsible than that, but you're nothing but a loser. I don't even know you anymore!" Ruthie screamed, storming up the stairs.

"Ruthie wait," I pleaded. "Just let me explain."

"Not for you!" She shouted as I heard our bedroom door slam shut. I sighed, knowing she was right. I am a major loser for letting this happen.

"I'll see if I can talk to her," Mary hurried up the stairs after her.

"Why don't you all head upstairs. Your father and I need to speak with Lucy and Mike alone," Mom told the others.

"Sure," Matt answered as he, Robbie, and Simon gathered the twins and headed upstairs.

I sighed again. This was just great. Now that all of the witnesses have been taken care of, who knows what our parents may do to us.

"Let's head into the living room," Dad suggested. We followed him in and Mike and I sat down on the sofa. Our mothers sat down on the sofa across from us. Dad closed the sliding doors and sat down on the single chair next to Mike and me. He stared intently at us for minutes before finally speaking. "I'm not sure I even know where to begin. We were under the impression that the two of you were just friends."

"We are just friends," I told them, knowing that the statement would probably make things worse.

"We're just two best friends who made a mistake one night," Mike added.

"When did this happen?" Mom asked calmly. No one was yelling yet. I hoped that it would stay that way, but I certainly wasn't expecting it to.

I sighed, looking over at her. "Remember that night when I came home late?" I asked and Mom nodded. "It was then."

"You lied to me?" Mom asked, surprised. "You told me that the two of you were talking and ended up falling asleep."

"We did talk and we did fall asleep. We just made a mistake in between those two things," I told her. I absentmindedly wondered how long it would take Dad to counter with the old 'a lie by omission is still a lie' line. My parents live by that mantra and they love to bring it up at every opportunity. Why should now be any different?

"A lie by omission is still a lie Luce. You know that," Dad told me. That didn't take long. "What happened to saving sex for marriage? You made that promise to me and to God. How could you break it so easily?"

I sighed. "It wasn't easy. It wasn't something I planned, or something he planned. It just happened. I know that is cliché, but that is how it happened."

"Nothing just happens Luce," Mom argued. "How did you go from talking to having sex?"

"It was all my fault Mrs. Camden. I started the whole thing. If you want to blame someone, blame me, but don't blame Lucy." Mike explained, even though it was more my fault than his. "I kissed her first and that is how it all started."

"It wasn't his fault," I told them. "He may have kissed me first, but I started undressing him first. That's when things got serious."

Dad rubbed his temple and sighed. "First of all, it was both of your faults. Secondly, you have both convienantly avoided the question, so I will ask again. How did this happen? How did talking turn into sex?"

"It was like I told Mom. I went over to Mike's to talk about Sara," I explained.

"You could have talked to me," Dad told me. "I thought you knew that."

"I know that. It's just that, I feel more comfortable talking about her with someone who isn't related to me. I love you guys, but when it comes to Sara's death, you all suffocate me. It was just easier to talk with Mike."

"I guess I can understand that," Dad nodded. "Please continue."

"It wasn't a good day for me either," Mike began. "I was already upset when Lucy showed up at the house. It was the anniversary of Dad's death and I was feeling down. Anyway, Lucy showed up and we figured that we both could use someone to talk to. I invited her in and we went up to my room to talk."

"Why didn't you talk downstairs?" Mike's mom asked sternly. "Didn't it occur to you that going upstairs may not be a good idea?"

"We didn't talk downstairs because you were mourning downstairs. I didn't want to disturb you." Mike answered, "And no, I never considered that it would be a bad idea. We only planned on talking. I didn't realize it would turn into more."

"What happened when you went upstairs?" Mom asked.

"We talked about Mike's dad and Sara. We talked about how they died and how we wished things were different," I explained.

"We were crying. Lucy was hysterical so I pulled her into a hug. When we pulled away, I looked into her eyes and I had to kiss her." Mike explained to our parents. "I didn't mean for things to go any further."

"I had been feeling numb the entire day. That kiss made me feel alive again. I was able to forget about my problems and I didn't want to go back to the dark place I had been in the whole day. I did the only thing I could think of to keep that feeling." I took a few breaths before continuing. "I started to undress him. I knew it was wrong, but I did it anyway. At the time, I didn't care. I just wanted to feel something, anything that would let me know that I was still alive."

"And how do you feel now?" Dad asked. "Did it not occur to you that what you were doing could have very serious consequences?"

"I feel stupid now," I answered. "I wasn't thinking about consequences then. I wasn't thinking about anything except getting what I wanted at the time."

"What about protection? In your stupidity, did either of you even bother to try to use protection?" Mike's mom asked. Silly question if you ask me. If we had thought about protection, we probably wouldn't be in this situation.

"I didn't plan on having sex with anyone," Mike explained once more. "As far as I knew, I didn't have any reason to need condoms or any other form of protection."

"Neither did I. Even if I had wanted or planned to have sex, how would I get something like that? Everyone in town knows you," I looked at my father. "Besides, as you already pointed out, I promised to wait until marriage. Having condoms would have made having sex more tempting."

"At this point, what difference does that make? You gave into the temptation anyway." Mom raised her voice at me.

"And there is nothing I regret more," I turned to Mike. "It's not that I regret anything having to do with you, I just regret that I disobeyed God's will."

"I understand," Mike told me. "I kind of realized that after you stormed out of my room that night."

"Stormed out?" Dad asked.

"After we…….sinned, we fell asleep. When I woke up, I freaked out and ran out of the house," I answered even though that part wasn't really any of his business.

"If this whole thing scared you so bad, why didn't you come to me?" Dad asked.

"I couldn't talk to you about that. It scared me to even think about what you would say if I told you I had sex." I sighed loudly. "Looking back, maybe I should have said something, but it's a little late to change that now."

"Yes it is. Now you're going to have an innocent little child to take care of," Mom told us. "Have you thought about how the two of you are going to handle this?"

"I know that what we did was a mistake," Mike began. "But I also think that God had his reason for letting us lose control. Lucy and I haven't really talked about what we were going to do, but I know I want to keep the baby."

I couldn't say I was all that surprised. Mike was an emotional guy who valued his family more than anything else. "I want to keep the baby too. I couldn't imagine having someone else raise my child. I know it will be hard, but I think we can make it work."

"Make it work how?" Dad asked. "Are you two going to start a relationship together and get married? Or are you going to raise this baby as friends?"

"As friends," Mike answered. "I won't lie, I love Lucy. I really do. I also know that she's not there yet, and may never get there. Either way, I want us to always be friends and I want us to be able to raise this child together. That's all that matters, our baby. As far as a relationship goes, if it's meant to happen, it will happen on its own."

I looked at the floor and smiled. After everything that has happened, he still loves me. Still, he had a point about the friends thing. "I agree with Mike, we need to make things work as friends first and worry about the other stuff later."

"And how are you going to make it work as friends? Babies take a lot of time and money." Mike's mom pointed out.

"Well, I do have a good job," Mike started.

"I could get a job too," I added.

"Okay that's a start," Mom stated. "What about when the baby is born? Where will you live?"

"Mike and I could share custody," I suggested. "We could fix up the garage apartment like we've been planning. I just don't want to be shipped to Buffalo."

"We're not going to ship you to Buffalo," Dad assured me.

"That's a relief." I smiled.

"Actually," Mike began. "I was thinking that the two of you could move in with me. Our house is huge and since it is just Mom and me, there is plenty of room for a nursery and for each of us to have our own room."

"That would be okay with me, if it's okay with the Camdens" Mike's mom stated. "That house is much too lonely."

"I suppose that could work," Dad agreed. "What about school?"

"I could put it off for a year, and then maybe we could afford daycare." I suggested.

"One semester. I want you in college next spring," Mom told me. "If you need babysitting, I would be happy to help you."

"As would I," Mike's mom agreed.

"Okay, one semester," I agreed with them.

"So then it's settled. You will both work and after the baby is born, you will move in with Mike," Dad smiled.

"I'm glad we were able to work things out," I told them. "I know how disappointed you must be in me, in us. I just want you to know how sorry I am for all of this."

"I'm sorry too," Mike apologized.

"It's okay," Dad sighed. "Yes, we're disappointed, but it's okay. Things could be a lot worse right now. When you think about everything that happened yesterday, a baby isn't the worst thing that could happen."

My mind traveled back to the shooting. "Mike and I haven't heard any news. My hospital roommate said something about a hit list, but we haven't heard anything about how many people were hurt."

"Not counting the shooters, there were seven dead students, three dead teachers, and fifteen others injured," Mom told us. "The police haven't released any names yet."

I felt a tear roll down my eyes. Dad was right. A child isn't the worst thing that could have happened.

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