Then *Poof* I'm Here: A Sequel #Wattys2014

Chapter 3: Brave New World

(Play music now!)

We got home late. Not as late as last night, though. More like around eight at night. We had dinner at Wade and Molly's. They ordered Chinese take-out and we all watched the new Big Bang Theory episode. Lex still didn't say a word all night. She laughed at the show, but each giggle or smile was brief. As soon as we had gotten home, she went straight to bed and curled up in the covers, trying to hide from the world.

I felt so bad though. I wished I could do more to help her out. But nothing made her happy. She was in a seemingly permanent depressive state. Even bringing her a bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream didn't help. She said she wasn't hungry, so I left it on the side table. She even asked to be alone for a while, and I left the room, leaving a crack in the doorway just in case.

I stayed in the living room for hours, watching Netflix for most of the time. I decided to record a few videos, but it just wasn't the same. If I can pretend to be happy for the viewers over the summer, I can sure as hell pretend to do that now. I got a couple new games recently. Maybe I should start one of those. Nah, let's just go with another Happy Wheels for now.

"Daugh, alright kiddies! We ain't gonna have no puny bottle run stop us!" I played as Santa for a little bit, then I went to my old favorite, the segway guy. "Spike faaaaAAAAAAAAALL...oh..." Switch to dad on bike. "We got ourselves a 'poon run! AAAUGH MY ASS!!!"

That went on for about half an hour. I didn't have anything else to do. I'd check in in Lexi every now and then, but she would still be curled up in her ball of blankets. There was a huge part of me that wished we had been more careful, that we had used more protection then and even now. Our lives were never going to be the same, but a part of me was okay with it. There a very small part inside that wanted to have this baby; that wanted to be a dad and take care of someone that came from me. I wanted to look into him or her and see not just me, but also the love of my life. I thought that day would be years from now, but life had a different plan for us, didn't it?

"99.9999 percent impossible. WEEEeeeell not for ME!" I was about to do another challenge when the bedroom door creaked. Looking back, the girl I'd come to adore, whom I believed to be the love of my life, was slowly walking through the hallway into the living room, her black PJ pants with colorful penguins on them popping out of a soft black robe wrapped around her. Her arms were crossed against her chest, and her eyes were red from crying again. She looked at me with some uncertainty, but smiled softly.

"Mark, we need to talk."

I nodded my head and paused my recording, taking my headphones off and walking with her to the couch. When we sat down, she pulled out a plastic bag with the two tests still in them.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you first. I was just scared and I needed a girl friend to talk to and Molly was the first person to pop into my head and-"

"Shhh it's okay. Don't worry about it. I'm not angry about that, or about anything. The only thing I could be angry about is myself for not being as careful as I should have been."

"I'm not going to say it isn't your fault, but it's also mine. Just..." She sighed heavily, biting her lip and looking anywhere but my eyes. "I always told myself when I was younger that if it came down to it, if I ever got pregnant when I wasn't ready, that I would...that I would have an abortion." I tensed up at the word. She finally looked at me, and her sad smile came back. "I always said that when I was younger, like, two years ago. Mainly because I never imagined it would ever happen to me. But it did anyway!" She chuckled a little and wiped a few tears that had fallen from her cheeks. "Now that I really am, I don't want to just...just kill it off like that." She shook her head and looked at her hands, picking at her already peeling nail polish. "I...I want it to have some kind of life. Whether it's with us or someone else, I want to go through and have this baby." She shyly looked at me finally. She was a little girl asking to get a doll from the toy store, not sure whether she wanted to keep it herself or give it as a birthday gift to someone else. I took her hand in mine and closed the gap between us. I kept her in my arms, cradling the girl who was going to be in my life forever now in some way.