OUT OF THE RED ↝ dave grohl

forty-eight.

          "WOW," CHRIS SAID, sitting perched on Reagan's porch step with an outright look of shock on her face. Reagan was seated next to her, her eyes rimmed red from the few tears she had shed. She had just finished unloading every piece of drama from the past twenty-four hours onto Chris — from finding out she was pregnant to her spat with Dave about marriage.

"I know," Reagan said hollowly. She tucked her arms around her stomach, hating the nauseating way it seemed to constrict inside of her.

"Well . . . erm, better get rid of this," Chris said jokingly. She stubbed out her cigarette on the ground, the glow of the orange ember burning before vanishing against the pavement.

"I've made a huge mess of things," Reagan continued. Her voice was thick. "I might have ruined our relationship by turning him down when he asked me to marry him."

"Don't be stupid," Chris snorted. "That dude loves you. And now that you're going to have his little drummer spawn, he loves you ten times more."

"Do you think I'm crazy?" Reagan mumbled. She dropped her head into her hands. "Am I crazy to want to have this baby?"

"A little," Chris admitted with a grimace. "But I think you'll make a great mother. You've had tons of practice."

"I don't think I will. Sometimes I don't think I've got a motherly bone in my body."

"Uhm, hello? What about Robbie, Kody and RaeLynn? Those kids would be hopeless without you, Reags."

"That doesn't count. They're my brothers and sister. I helped raise them by default."

"Maybe that's true, but it's going to count even more when it's a baby of your own."

Reagan bowed all the way forward and put her head between her knees. It had been two days since she'd last seen Dave and in honor of her request, he had not called her. She had filled Kate in on what had happened and Kate had been aghast, telling her that she needed to accept Dave's proposal and get on with it before she lost him for good. Reagan would have obeyed the command if not for her fear that she'd prematurely screwed things up with Dave, whether or not a baby was involved.

And that was the other thing parasitically eating away at her thoughts. She was going to have a baby. She was all at once in charge of bringing a human into the world. In retrospect, she would have much rather done something less extreme first, like adopt a cat.

"Oh, come here," Chris said comfortingly, putting an arm around her friend. "It's going to be alright Reagan. And hey, I don't mean to pry, but if you're so freaked out, then why are you going through with this?"

"I don't know," Reagan said. "I had this epiphany when I was talking to Dave and I just saw myself with this baby and it made sense. I mean, it's still scary as hell and I'm upset, but I know I don't want to be without the baby. It's like I'm attached to it already or something."

"And Dave really wants it too, huh?"

"I think so. He wouldn't let on to the absolute truth because he wanted it to be my choice, but I have a feeling he does. He seemed really emotional about the whole thing."

"Sounds to me like he's turned into the woman of this situation. He's over the moon about getting tied down and meanwhile, you've assumed the role of the playboy serial dater who isn't ready for kids nor staying committed."

Reagan lifted her head and stared at Chris incredulously. "I am so not. And you really should cut me some slack. He's the first guy I've ever actually dated. Of course I'm freaking out."

"I'm not one for cheesy relationship motifs, but haven't you ever thought that he's it for you? Like, he's the one or whatever people like to call it?"