Should she call Jennifer? Jennifer was Justin’s mom and the second to last person that Britt wanted to talk to. But, Britt was certain that she was the one who made Justin pay every month.
Jennifer so desperately wanted to be a part of Millie’s life. She frequently sent gifts for the baby — a teddy bear wearing a sparkling pink tutu, a pretty little doll with big blue eyes and honey-colored hair, and boxes of clothing.
Jennifer had called about a month ago. Her voice was sad and timid as she asked, “Would it be all right for me to visit Millie once in a while?”
Britt snapped at her, still raw and mistrusting from Justin’s abandonment. How dare his mother just call her like that? “No. Don’t call again!”
Now, Britt didn’t know what to do. Maybe she shouldn’t have snapped at Jen.
She picked up her phone and thought about calling her own mother. Her parents’ reactions to her unplanned pregnancy were still fresh in her mind. Her mother’s cold eyes almost bulged out of her head. “Brittany! How could you be so stupid?” She’d paced back and forth in the kitchen. “Go terminate the pregnancy. It’s still early enough. You aren’t ready to be a parent and this will destroy any chance of a bright future.”
It made Britt sick to remember her mother’s words. Was Britt the baby that had ruined her mother’s bright future?
When Britt’s stepfather arrived home from work, her mother wasted no time in telling him how ungrateful, disrespectful, and stupid Britt had been by getting pregnant after all they’d done for her. His thick black eyebrows had furrowed over his dark eyes as he shouted, “Don’t you dare come crawling back to us, asking for help! You made your bed; now lie in it!” Britt’s stepfather hadn’t even met Millie.
She wouldn’t call her parents. They had a new perfect daughter to focus on now, one that hadn’t screwed up her life yet, and one that was theirs, together.
Britt wiped a tear from her cheek. She stared straight ahead at the empty TV stand and scoffed. That was the one thing Justin had made sure to come back for. He needed his god-damned TV, not his daughter.
“I hate you, Justin,” Britt whispered into the quiet room.
Justin was Brittany’s high school boyfriend, and she’d been stupid to think that he’d stick around after the baby was born. Justin had always been full of immaturity and wanderlust. She should have seen it coming.
***
Sixteen Months Earlier
Brittany paced back and forth in her bedroom, clutching a pregnancy test in her hand. She wasn’t pregnant. She didn’t even need to use the test. It was all just a precaution.
Britt let out a deep, shuddering breath. “Let’s just get this over with,” she said aloud. She slowly opened her bedroom door and peeked down the hallway. Her parents weren’t home from Lily’s violin recital yet. She had at least another hour of privacy.
Britt walked down the hallway and into the bathroom. She made sure the door was locked, then tore open the pregnancy test with shaking hands. Her period was just late because of all the hiking that she and Justin did in Thailand.
But she was in shape. She kicked ass in volleyball every day, and that had never made her period late.
It was the stress of graduation, or maybe the food poisoning she’d gotten at the end of the Thailand trip.
Brittany wrinkled her nose as she read the pregnancy test instructions. “Okay, so I just… pee on it. Easy. Gross.” She held the test under her stream of urine and bit her lip. Ew. Ew. Ew. She placed the little pink cap back on the test and set it on the bathroom counter.
She washed her hands and stared at herself in the mirror. Her short, dark brown hair was pulled into a high messy ponytail. Her tan was perfect from all the beaches she and Justin had visited on their senior trip. Her body looked lean and toned, and she would have approved of her reflection, but her almond-shaped, brown eyes were full of fear.
Brittany glanced down at the pregnancy test.
Her breath caught in her chest, and she sank to her knees, sobbing.
After a few minutes, she forced herself to stand and grabbed the test from the counter. She wrenched open the bathroom door and stumbled down the hallway. She wrapped the test in several paper towels and then took it out back to toss it into the big green garbage bin. Her parents couldn’t see it. Her mom would be furious at Britt for repeating her mistakes.
Brittany wandered back into the kitchen and pulled out her phone to make a call. Justin answered immediately. “What’s up, baby?” His voice calmed her. He would know what to do.
“Justin! Can you come over? I’m freaking out!”
“Totally. What’s wrong?”
“I’d rather just tell you when you get here.”
“Okay. I’ll be there in a few.”
By the time Justin showed up, Britt had forced all of her tears back inside. He didn’t like it when girls got all weepy and lame. That’s why they worked so well. Britt didn’t get weepy and lame. She was strong and less emotional than pretty much every girl in their high school. Justin was into that.
“Hey, sexy.” Justin grinned and held open his arms.
Britt adored his smile. He could convince her to do anything with that smile — like have sex without a condom, just once, because high school graduation was a special occasion.
“Justin, I’m pregnant.” Britt stared right into his dark blue eyes.
He burst out laughing. “Oh, man. That’s a good joke, Britt.”
She glared at him. “This isn’t a joke. I’m pregnant.”
The color drained from Justin’s face. “Oh shit.”
“Yup.” Britt looked away and felt tears burning the corners of her eyes. Don’t freaking cry.
“Uh… okay. Okay. You know what? That’s great, baby! This will just be like another epic adventure for us, you know?” Justin’s grin was back, and he pulled Brittany into his arms.
Brittany let out a sigh of relief and buried her face in his neck. “You think we can do this?”
Justin laughed. “Absolutely! How hard can it be? Babies just sleep, eat, and poop, right? Besides, my followers will love this!”
Justin had a mildly popular Youtube channel full of videos of his adventures. He wasn’t even planning on going to college because he was sure that pretty soon, his videos would make him rich. He’d done a whole series of videos on their senior trip to Thailand, and Britt had been featured in most of them. All of her bikini shots garnered lots of creepy comments and doubled Justin’s usual number of views.
He wouldn’t ask her to do bikini shots now.
Britt cleared her throat. “What about school for me? What about all of our plans?”
Justin sat on the edge of her mother’s cherrywood entryway table. “It’ll be fine! My videos will make plenty of money, and you can just take online classes or something after the baby is born.”
Britt nodded. “Yeah. I mean, that will be fine, right? I’ll just ask my parents to put my college fund on hold for like a year.”
“Yeah!” Justin squeezed her shoulders. “It’ll be great! We can go get an apartment together, and everything will be awesome!”
Brittany sighed and smiled, letting some of her sheer panic slip away. “You’re great. I love you.”