Old Me

42 - Consequences

I moved my head to the beat of the music coming from my speaker on my dresser and sighed.

I slammed my laptop shut and rolled over, staring at the ceiling.

"So much for the gallery job," I groaned to myself.

"Come in," I called out facing the door that someone had knocked on and paused my music.

"Oh hey, Teo," I smiled, sitting up, "What's up?"

"Um," he paused, biting his lip and looking around the room. His eyes were glossy like he was about to cry.

"What's wrong, Matteo?" I asked with concern.

He let his tears fall and I quickly stood up to engulf him in a hug. He gripped me tightly and sobbed into my shoulder.

"Hey," I soothed as I rubbed his back, "it's okay."

After a few minutes, he pulled away, wiping his face and I pulled him to my bed to sit down.

"Is it about Ally?" I asked.

He stared at the floor and nodded.

"Did you guys break up?" I asked slowly.

He shook his head, and I scrunched up my face in thought.

"Then what is it?"

He sniffled and finally looked up at me, "She's pregnant."

A gasp involuntarily escaped me, but I quickly composed myself.

"Okay," I nodded, "I'm assuming you're the father?"

"Yeah," he nodded, wiping his eyes.

I thought about it for a moment before continuing, "What are you guys going to do? Do you know how far along she is?"

He licked his lips and finally spoke, "She's, uh, 8 weeks. She doesn't want to get an abortion, and I don't want that either."

I felt disappointed for him as thoughts about how much his life was about to change flooded my brain, but I didn't let him know that.

"Does anyone else know?" I asked gently.

He shook his head.

"Wait," I paused, looking at him curiously, "Is this why she was so upset that day when you were at my party?"

"Huh?" he scrunched up his face, before understanding what I was referring to, "Oh yeah."

"So when did you find out?" I asked him.

"That next week," he shrugged.

"So you've been keeping this a secret for like a month?" I asked in shock.

"Yeah, well, she wanted to wait to get it confirmed. And we just had her first appointment today."

"Oh," I breathed, "makes sense."

He took a deep breath and laid back on my bed.

"Is she going to tell her parents?"

"I mean, she's going to have to," he finally spoke after a moment of silence, "they're going to find out eventually."

"What about your mom and dad?"

He ran his hand over his face and groaned, "I don't want to tell them. You know my dad," he frowned, looking over at me, "he'd probably disown me."

I chewed on my lip, unable to deny that his father would react poorly to the situation.

"I just really want to do everything right," he stressed, "I don't want to end up like my dad."