𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐫, 𝐉𝐉 | 𝐉𝐉 𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤

11. amicably parting ways.

E L E V E N
amicably parting ways.

Otto was sat next to her mother, they both stared at the test, neither of them knew what to say.

The teenager was beyond nervous and the sudden urge to vomit was almost unbearable, but she wouldn't let it bubble up.

It would probably make the conversation a little more awkward.

She probably should've taken a little more care with hiding the all important tests if she had some warning her mum would riffle through the bin, she just chucked them in and put some tissue on the top. She hadn't thought about her mum coming in and emptying the bin, mostly because she rarely did it.

Of course she decided to do it that day.

The silence was tense, from both ends, both women were stressed. The silence wrapped around them like a thick blanket it took a few painfully long minutes before a word was said.

Otto's heart was beating painfully quickly, so quickly she probably should've gone to the doctor. It was a few beats away from breaking free if her rib cage.

"Is it Wesley's?" Laura, Otto's mother asked, somehow sensing that it wasn't. Mother's intuition and all that.

It took a few seconds for Otto to respond. "No. It's not."

Her mother was relieved, she fucking hated Wes, she didn't like how he demanded to dominate a room. He had to be the loudest, he had to dictate the conversation, he touched Otto like he owned her, and she saw the way Otto looked when with him.

She also hated his haircut, but that was neither here nor there.

"Whose is it?" Laura asked the next logical question.

Otto took a full minute to respond, she was anxious, she wasn't sure why, her mother probably hadn't even met him. "He's called JJ." Otto fiddled with her finger, pushing back the cuticles and rotating her rings around her fingers.

The teenager couldn't see the small smile that spread across her mother's lips, her mother had met JJ.

Laura had hired him a few weeks ago as a gardener.

Otto was aware he got fired from the restaurant, he told her that he and the manager got into a disagreement and he chose to "amicably part ways" from the restaurant.

Kie told the story slightly differently, she told the real story, and the real story was that JJ said he was going to the bathroom, which was true, but when he took too long the manager went to look for him and he was standing on the sink and blowing the smoke from a blunt out the window.

The disagreement they had was on the appropriateness of getting stoned whilst on the job.

There was a knock on Laura's door a few weeks prior, after the said disagreement happened, and when she opened she saw the blonde boy. He asked her if she was in need of a gardener. She wasn't really but he looked a little desperate so she said she was, and thus, JJ had a new job.

"Do you have any idea how far along you are?"

"Like thirteen weeks." She replied.

Her mother nodded, "I'm sure you know your options, and there is absolutely no shame in any of them. But if you want an abortion then it'll have to be quickly."

Laura looked at her daughter whose eyes were trained in the carpet, she didn't even look like she was registering the carpet, it looked like she was  looking far beyond it.

"When I was twenty I got pregnant, I was nowhere near ready. I was with a man I didn't really love and simply was not in a place to raise a baby. I got an abortion. I haven't regretted it for one second since it happened. When I found out I was pregnant with you I also wasn't planning on getting pregnant, but this time I had support. And I also haven't regretted it for one second since it happened. What I'm trying to say that whatever you decide is okay, I am behind you entirely. You have a right to do what you want with your body."

Otto didn't know that, it wasn't really a fun conversation topic, but knowing that was oddly comforting. She knew she had options, real options.

Laura was in no way, shape or form angry or disappointed. Neither of those were productive, they wouldn't help Otto, she needed support. She was, however, surprised. It was not what she expected when she emptied her seveteen-year-old's bin.

The conversation ended with a tight hug, and Laura reminding Otto that she loved her - whatever she did.

Otto kept quiet over the next few days, she dodged Wes' requests at spending time together. He had gotten less intense since her father had the fall. He finally realised if he kept acting the way he was he would lose her. So, instead he tried to manipulate her from a far.

The thought of spending time with Wes while pregnant with another man's baby felt a little weird to her.

She even pulled away from her friend's a little, she still hung out with them she just spoke less. And she almost completely avoided JJ.

He quickly realised she was avoiding him, he was a little hurt, he thought they were friends. He knew it was probably Wes' doing, but that didn't make him any less annoyed. JJ still tried to strike up conversations with her, but he was usually left with monosyllabic answers and smiles that were forced.

After school one day she turned down going to the Chateau in favour of going back to her house to catch up with some homework.

When she walked in she went to the kitchen to grab some orange juice when he father sat at the breakfast bar, a grin on his face. An all-knowing grin.

Laura was an excellent secret keeper, she was like a vault, to everyone but her husband. With him it was only a matter of time before she let it slip.

He too wasn't mad, or angry or disappointed.

A little surprised though.

He didn't have a blindfold on, he knew what seventeen-year-old's often got up to, but he didn't exactly expect it to actually happen.

"I assume your mum has made your options clear." He asked, Otto nodded, putting the orange juice on the counter next to a glass. "Do what you want to do, don't do what you think other's want you to do. With that being said - even of you get an abortion - I am technically a grandfather, even if it is to a clump of cells." Otto snorted.

At that point she made her decision.

She let someone else sway her decision.

Ironically it was the person telling her to not let other people sway her decision.

She couldn't help thinking of her father when making her decision, she wanted him to have a grandchild, at least then he wouldn't miss out on every important event in her adult life.

So, she decided to keep it.

•

Another thing that pisses me of about a lot of pregnancy themed books is when the pregnant person automatically looks at the test and instantly knows that they want the baby.

Suprise pregnancys aren't always wanted.

Suprise pregnancys can be a blessing, but it doesn't always have to be so cut and dry.