Teach Me ✅

35. Sparkling Grape Juice

The days that pass Christmas are tense. Josh receives countless calls from his dad while his mom remains silent. Morgan texts me to check in on how I'm doing and of course Riley and I have been talking to us nonstop. I know he's frustrated and torn between loyalties. He thinks he needs to be there for me but I know he wants to try to fix everything with his family. We're sitting on the couch watch a rerun of Pretty Little Liars when his phone vibrates. I look down and see his dad's name flash on the screen. "Answer it" I insist, looking from the screen to his face.

"Let voicemail get it" he shrugs. I sigh, grabbing the remote and turning off the television. "Hey" he exclaims, "I was watching that." I roll my eyes.

"You hate that show" I reply snippily. "Josh you need to talk to your dad." He shakes his head.

"No I don't. I need to sit here with my girlfriend and suffer through an episode of Pretty Little Liars that I know you've seen a million times."

"He didn't say anything to me" I argue carefully.

"He didn't stop my mom either" he replies snippily.

"Neither did my dad" I point out. "Or my mom, or Riley, or Lucas, or Morgan-."

"Alright' he snaps. "I get it."

"Do you? Your dad didn't say anything about us. He was mad about school but I think that's pretty understandable."

"What my mom said to you" he trails off. "It's not acceptable. I'm not letting her think that it was okay."

"You're not" I insist. "You're replying to your dad. Talk to him" I beg. He doesn't move towards his phone and I groan in frustration. "Fine" I snap. "If you won't" I say as I reach for his phone.

"Maya-."

"I'm pregnant" I remind him. "We're having a baby. A baby who at this rate is down one set of grandparents because it's parents couldn't grow up and talk things out. We're adults Joshua. We're gonna be parents. We have to think about more than ourselves now."

"Our kid doesn't need grandparents that call it's mother a whore" he replies. The word sends a stab of pain through my body.

"I'm calling" I reply as I unlock his phone and find his number in the call log. It rings once before he picks up.

"Joshua" Alan exclaims. "Finally." I bite my lip as I walk out of the room, towards our bedroom.

"Actually. It's Maya" I say carefully as I click the door shut behind me. "I'm sorry. Josh wouldn't take your calls and I just" I trail off. "I don't know" I admit as I take a seat on the edge of the bed.

"I'm not surprised that he doesn't want to talk to me. I wouldn't want to talk to me either. What happened on Christmas was out of line. We were guests in your home and we completely disrespected you. That wasn't fair and my wife shouldn't have spoken so harshly to you."

"I don't blame her" I admit. "She wasn't wrong. I ruined Josh's life."

"Now I don't think that's true" he argues. "And she was wrong. You're obviously much more to my son than some fling. Josh doesn't give his heart easily. You've earned it."

"At what cost?" I ask softly. "His future is over."

Alan takes a long, deep breath. "Amy and I had Eric around the same age as you" he explains making my eyes widen in shock. "We weren't prepared for parenthood but we managed it. I got a job at a grocery store to support us and eventually I grew to hate it. What I believe my wife is frightened of is the same fate for Josh. She went about expressing that the wrong way but I believe that's what fueled her blowup."