Bella's POV (Lacy 16)
Lacy comes home from the movies with her boyfriend and when she sees me waiting for her she bursts into tears.
"Oh baby what happened?" I ask her and she comes and curls up with me.
"We didn't go to the movies." She whispers.
"OK baby, where did you go?" I ask her not really sure I even want to know.
"His house, his parents are out of town for the weekend. We were just hanging out and then we were kissing and then…" She's crying so hard.
"Lacy do you want to talk about this in the morning?" I ask her and she shakes her head no so I just hold her while she cries until she's a little bit more in control.
"We had sex." She whispers. I'm not sure why she's so upset and I don't know what to say. Is it guilt or did he dump her? So I just wait.
"I don't think I love him mom. I don't love him like you love dad. But he really wanted to do it and I tried to say no but he kept trying so I gave in. And now I feel like a slut." She explains.
"Oh baby you are not a slut. Everyone makes mistakes." I want to tell her she shouldn't have been there, she shouldn't have put herself in the situation to make that mistake but she feels bad enough as it is I think. "Did you use protection?" I ask her really hoping she says yes. She shakes her head yes and I sigh in relief. None of us are ready for that.
"What do I do mom? I don't want to do it with him again but I feel like a terrible person for breaking up with him now."
"Lacy he pressured you into it; you can break up with him guilt free." I assure her.
"Are you mad at me?"
"I'm not happy that you lied to me but I'm not mad. But I do want you to stick up for what you want from now on and if you do decide you want to have sex in the future I want you to tell me so I can get you a prescription for birth control." I tell her hugging her.
"Are you going to tell daddy?"
"You know I tell daddy everything baby but he's not going to be mad at you either. I know it's hard for you to believe but we kind of get it."
"Did you have sex before daddy?"
"Well no but I met him when I was your age. And even before we were dating I pretty much hung out with him and Jake and Embry and before I moved here I stuck to myself because we moved so much." I tell her.
"I kind of want to wait until I meet the man I want to marry but I'm ruined now." She cries.
"You are not ruined and I definitely think waiting is a good idea." I tell her.
"It's just not fair, you met daddy at my age and Derek loved Lena when she was a baby and even Aidan and Ari have each other. You say that most people don't meet their person so young but look at all of you."
"I know baby but look at Jake and Leah they broke up for years and Embry didn't meet Stacy until after he dated Ari's mom for years. Sometimes it's easy but mostly it's not. And there are no guarantees that Derek and Lena or Ari and Aidan will be together forever."
"Maybe not for Ari and Aidan but Derek and Lena will be together mom. I'm not even sure Lena realizes there is a world outside of him." She tells me like I'm dumb.
Like that's not a whole other issue. She is very attached to him. Embry doesn't like them to be alone together but I know Lacy lets them before whoever comes home for the afternoon is here. She watches the time for them and makes sure they aren't doing anything. They are both so young still I don't even think they know what we think they might be doing but better safe than sorry.
"I know you're feeling guilty about what happened Lacy but other than are you OK with what happened? Physically?"
"It hurt but I'm OK I think."
"Do you still feel like working in the shop tomorrow? Daddy won't mind if you want to stay home."
"No I want to work. I don't want to sit around and think. Thanks mom. I love you and I'm glad you always wait up for me." She tells me hugging me and then she walks upstairs.
My little girl is growing up way too fast.
I go to bed and start crying.
"What's wrong babe?" Quil mumbles.
"I didn't mean to wake you."
"It's OK, why are you crying?"
"Lacy had sex." I tell him and that wakes him up fast.
"Is she OK? Did he hurt her?" he asks concerned.
"She's OK, she just feels guilty because she doesn't love him. She's going to break up with him and she says now she wants to wait for the man she's going to marry. But still… she's my baby."
"I know babe, I know. But she's OK and she told you about it. That is something most 16 years olds don't do. She's a smart kid and she's responsible most of the time. She's going to slip sometimes."
"Yeah but this is a huge, could be life changing and ruin your life slip. I didn't mean to get pregnant when I did and while I'm glad I did I was happily married and older. We had the money to, barely but still, support ourselves and her. I just hope she means it, that she wants to wait."
He falls asleep pretty quickly while I lay awake and think about how fast all the kids are growing up. Even Sara, the baby is 5 now.
The next morning I wake up with Quil while he gets ready for work. I knock on her door and she opens it and says she's almost ready. I can tell she hardly slept.
"Daddy said he doesn't care if you take today off baby, you're sure you want to go in? You look really tired."
"I'm OK really. I just didn't sleep a lot. Is daddy mad at me?" She asks.
"Nope, I told you he wouldn't be. We just worry about you."
"I know mom but I don't want to be here today crying and thinking about it. I like working. Is daddy going to say anything about it?"
I tell her probably not, he knows we talked about it.
I tell Quil she insists on coming and he's kind of relieved about it. I think he wants to watch her for melt downs or something.
"If she starts getting upset or something call me and I will come pick her up." I tell him and he promises me he will.
She comes downstairs and I sit with her while she eats and then they leave.
Leah and Stacy and Embry and all the kids come over a couple of hours later and while they know something is wrong I don't feel right telling them about Lacy.
"It's kind of personal but not my personal so I really can't talk about it." I tell them and they understand.
We plan out the week and just as we are about to go grocery shopping Quil texts me asking me to come pick Lacy up.
I get there and he tells me she's in the office, the boy came to see her and she broke up with him and he called her a slut and now she's crying in his office.
I walk in and she looks up and then lays her head back on the desk.
"Look at me baby." She looks up. "You are not a slut and breaking up with him was the right thing to do. Let's get out of here; we can go get some dinner or something. Whatever you want."
"This isn't going to go away." She tells me sadly.
"Well no it isn't but you're going to be OK. You're strong and you're smart and you will get past this."
She goes to tell Quil good bye and I tell him we're going to drive into the city and get dinner. Then I call Leah just to make sure she doesn't mind staying with Derek until Quil gets home. Of course she doesn't mind.
We drive to our favorite restaurant about an hour away and we order chocolate cake. We don't talk about happened because we've already talked about it. Instead we just talk, about her upcoming driving test and her garden and working at the shop. We talk about the other kids and what she wants to do for her birthday. It's kind of nice to just be with her and I feel a little bad that it doesn't happen more often but too often life gets in the way. It wasn't so bad when I wasn't working even when we did have a house full of kids but now I have papers to grade and prep work to keep me busy.
"You and daddy aren't like the other parents." She tells me between bites of cake.
"Why?"
"You're just not. None of my friends will talk to their parents about the stuff I can talk to you about."
"Oh well then I'm glad we're not normal. You can talk to me about anything ever and there is nothing you can do that will make me stop loving you. I might be mad or disappointed but I will always love you and you will always be my little girl." I tell her trying not to cry.
We finish our cake and head home. By then the kids have already split up and we end up with Derek staying along with Ari and Lena. Lacy takes them upstairs to watch a movie promising to keep an eye on Derek and Lena.
"She OK?" Quil asks me as soon as they're upstairs.
"I don't think so, but she will be." I tell him.
"And are you OK?" He asks.
I really don't think so but I will be.