Baby Bump

"There is NO WAY I'm not letting you go to Vivian. That is a perfectly good school that you have worked extrememly hard to get into. You graduated early, did summer school two years in a row!" Shaking my head, I let my mother rant on and on about how she was going to fix this emotional break down I must have been going through. You know, since I wanted to maybe stay home a semester, travel around a little before I was stuck forever into the lifestyle I was supposed to have picked by the time I was a Sophmore. Droll.
     Nobody knew, except Tyler, what had happened about two and a quarter months ago. God, even thinking about it made me feel a tad naseous. Observing Mom pace back and forth through the kitchen a few more times, i gulped down the last of my water. So thirsty lately, weird.  "Geez, Ashton, why do you have that sweater on again? It's nearly 90 degrees outside."  Oh, and cold too.
    Flipping back the strands of the fly away frizz that happened to escape my bun, I trudged a beaten path around the living room furniture to the staircase. Whistfully examining my happy surroundings that were the only security I knew, I wondered for an instant how it would feel to be kicked out of them. Whatever. They wouldn't do that to me. Right? They would still love me.


Tyler tried his hardest to put it all into the football program that day.  He followed every instruction, kept to himself, did extra reps in the weight room, but nothing could take his mind off of Ashton. "Kingsley! Where you at?" Jerking to attention, he swiveled to watch his teammate stride up to him.  "Dude, we went out like 20 minutes ago. You're still sitting here, doing nothing, at the same seat, looking at the same place in the wall. Man, you schitzo?" Bewildered, he gritted out, "Just got a lot on my mind. What's up?" 
    Flinging every known possession into his duffel, Tyler dialed Ash's number. "Hello?"
    "Ash, babe, I'm coming home. I can't do this anymore, I've got to help you fix this. It's not fair."
    "Wait, wait, hold on.  That's crazy! Stay there, at least until you get that break... That would make more sense. There's nothing you can do right now, Ty. Nothing. It would just complicate things with my parents, and I'm trying to figure out where I'm going to go in a few weeks--"
     "Go? What do you mean, you need to figure out where to go? I thought you got into Vivian? You just disappear, not without me."
     "I'm not going to disappear. Just, let's just talk about this when you get here, OK? That's only in--"
     "No, no, Ash. I'm coming home now.  This isn't worth it. I need to be there."
     "I gotta go. Call me later, k?"
     "On my way."