baby season

chapter two

tw: this chapter mentions vomiting and eating disorders (briefly, but still potentially triggering)

"hey," maia's older brother chris greeted when she stormed into their house. she ignored him, running to her bathroom to throw up.
once she was done, she stood up to and turned to see him standing in the doorway.
"are you sick or something?" he asked, following her to her bedroom. "you've been throwing up for the past few days."
she whirled around to look at him. "i am not sick."
"do you have an eating disorder? maia, that can kill you."
"no, chris, i don't have an eating disorder! just leave me alone!" she snapped.
he just stared at her, confused, and she realized that he'd probably be putting two and two together soon.
"it's just pms, i'll be fine," she lied.
he nodded his head. "oh. mom said you need to wash dishes."
she rolled her eyes, still relieved he hadn't figured out the truth. "fine."
...
"what's wrong with you?"
chase jumped, removing his head from his hands to see his sister standing in the doorway of his room.
"nothing, brooke," he replied.
"it's something. you didn't say anything when you got home."
she sat on the end of his bed. "is maia okay?"
"no!" he exclaimed. brooke's eyes widened.
"she's fine, we, um, we just had an argument," he lied.
"you better apologize to her," she told him. "but don't be sad, you two love each other."
she stood up and left, and he grabbed his laptop and opened it up.
adoption
open adoption
teen pregnancy options
deadline for an abortion
he didn't like any of those options, so he changed his searches.
cost of raising a baby in high school
do teen parents stay together
how to support pregnant girlfriend teen
he leaned against his headboard, feeling overwhelmed. he needed to start his homework and talk to maia and try to get an idea of what they'd do.
instead, he decided to take a nap.

...

"did you tell him?"
maia shushed her best friend as she shoved her into her room.
"shush. and yes, i did."
maia told her exactly what'd gone down when she told chase. nia listened to her, legs crossed.
"and thank God it's februrary. i looked in the mirror and noticed you can sorta tell," she confessed. "my parents are gonna kill me."
"well, it's only if you know," nia consoled her. "and how about you look at the positive side. you'll have a baby, a mini you-and-chase!"
maia smiled; nia was really helping her accept it. "yeah. i'm gonna text chase a picture of it, freak him out a bit."

...

chase groaned as he grabbed his phone off the charger, seeing a text from maia.

my love: look :)
his heart stopped when he saw the picture attached.
it was maia, lifting her shirt up to show a tiny bump.
it made everything seem so real. maia was pregnant, it was his, and he was gonna have a kid in a few months.
he didn't even respond, shutting his phone off and pulling out his laptop once again to go over the options.