We lined up and shook hands. They gave me some good-natured ribbing. The kid that hit the towering foul balls told me next time he would straighten them out.
We all quickly showered, changed, and caught the varsity’s at bat in the top of the second. We were already down 3–0. Unfortunately for the varsity, it was not their day. Wesleyan manhandled them 7–2.
EVE GAVE ME A RIDE home when we got off the bus and we made out for a little bit, but she had to get home to do her homework. I’d had a few hot dogs at the game, but was still hungry. I went into the kitchen to find Angie talking to Beth. I’d forgotten about the schedule. Mom had a plate of food for me in the fridge. I heated it up and ate while the two girls talked about Angie’s college classes. As soon as I was done eating, Beth grabbed my hand.
“C’mon, Stud, you have work to do.”
Angie grabbed my plate, shaking her head at Beth’s antics. We raced up to my apartment. Beth was stripping, just a little eager to get started. I was leaning against the doorframe, enjoying watching her getting naked. She saw me watching her. She slowed down and did a sexy striptease. When she was done, she came over and kissed me.
“Get undressed, it’s a school night,” she reminded me.
She indicated she wanted me to give her oral. I went down on her, getting her ready.
“Suzanne told me that you two did something new. Do you think that’s something we could try?”
My accident was making the rounds it seemed. My guess was that she meant anal sex; my vote was easy to predict. For Beth, I would want to make it special.
“I’d love to, just not tonight. When we do that, I want to take my time.”
She grabbed the sides of my head and pulled me up so she could kiss me. Mr. Happy seemed to know what he was doing and slid home, and I sighed because she felt really good. We started making slow, passionate love as we kissed. She wrapped her legs around my hips to give me a better angle to make love to her.
She nipped my lip and I leaned back to look into her eyes.
“David, do it hard. I’m close and need to get my cookie,” she begged me.
I began to pick up the pace. Beth urged me on with her moans of satisfaction. When she peaked, the sensation was too much and I joined her. I buried myself deep and let loose. I leaned back to grab the condom, only to find it wasn’t there. Oh shit, I’d forgotten!
“Beth, I’m sooo sorry,” I apologized.
She looked at me funny and then saw I didn’t have a condom on. She jumped up and got into the shower. I had one of those handheld showers that she used it to clean herself out.
“Where are you in your cycle?” I asked her.
“I should be okay,” she reassured me.
“I think we should talk to your mom.”
“I couldn’t. I’m supposed to be the responsible one. I should’ve made sure you had the condom on.”
She started to cry. We got dressed and I walked her home. Her mom and dad were watching TV. She ran to her room, leaving me to the wolves.
“Hey, David, what’s up with Beth?” her dad asked.
Of all the times for him not to be traveling, it had to be tonight.
“Actually, I need to talk to you about that.”
Mrs. A could see something was wrong. Mr. Anderson didn’t handle news like this well. She looked at him.
“Honey, I think David and I need to talk.”
I was relieved when he went to the den. I waited till he was out of earshot.
“Beth and I forgot to use protection tonight.”
I figured I’d better just say it. She had been my second mom for a long time, and I knew not to beat around the bush with her. She went red and I could tell she was fighting not just to lay into me. I hoped that coming clean would save me some grief.
“Do you think there’s a chance?”
“She says no, but from the way she’s acting, I think there is a chance.”
“Thank you for telling me. I’ll take her to our OB/GYN and get her the morning-after pill. I’m also going to get her on some sort of birth control. You have to promise me that you won’t do anything with her until she’s safe.”
“Yes, ma’am. You have my word.”
She reached over and gave me a hug.
“I want to kill you right now, but I love you for being man enough to tell me. I know that was hard,” she said. She released me and wiped a tear from her cheek. “Now get out of here before I change my mind and decide to kill you after all. You might also want to go home and tell your mom and dad. I’ll give you till tomorrow, and then you know your mom and I will have a talk. I suspect that your mom, Beth, and I will be talking to you at some point, also.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said, and got up and left.
When I got home, Mom was asleep. I took Dad into the office and I told him what happened. Neither one of us knew how the morning-after pill worked, so we pulled it up on the Internet. It said that it was 95% effective if the pill was taken within the first 24 hours. I about lost it when I realized I had at least a 5% chance of being a daddy.
Dad told me he would handle my mom. Yeah, right. I was a dead man walking.
Chapter 24 – Recycling
Saturday March 22
ON THURSDAY, BETH HAD made it back to school by lunchtime. She and I skipped lunch and found a study room in the library to talk. She told me that there was still a chance, but she had been treated. She said that there was going to be a family meeting on Saturday.
I came down to breakfast to find Mrs. A and Beth drinking coffee with the rest of my family. I got some OJ and sat down. Mom started the festivities off.
“I’ve talked to the church. They can get you and Beth in for an end-of-May wedding.”
I think Beth may have peed herself. I tried not to laugh, but I was too nervous. Beth’s eyes went big, but then she saw everyone trying to keep it in.
“You bunch of jerks. I need more time than that to plan my wedding.”
That lightened the mood. Then Dad stepped in.
“David, we talked about you having to be more responsible last fall. Do you remember what I said would happen if you slipped up?”
“Yes, sir. I would lose the apartment.”
“Your mom and I have talked about it. Not using a condom during sex rises to the level of you losing that privilege.”
“I understand.”
“That being said, we feel it was an honest mistake. How we judge this is by how you handled it. You told Beth’s mom so that something could be done about it. You also came to me and told me. Those were acts of maturity that we’re looking for. So your mom and I have decided to let you keep the apartment.”
“Thank you.”
“But there will still be consequences over you jeopardizing your friendship with both Beth and her family. You’ll not be alone in your apartment, with a girl, for the rest of the school year.”
“If he has two girls up there, it’s okay?” Greg asked.
Oh, what a dumbass! I scooted my seat back a couple of inches to get out of the line of fire.
“Do you think this is funny?” Dad seethed.
I have never seen my dad so angry. Angie took Kyle from Greg to save the baby.
“No, sir. That was totally inappropriate. I apologize,” Greg said with all sincerity.
My dad stared Greg down. Mom touched Dad’s arm, he looked at her, and she shook her head. He took a deep breath before he continued.
“We love you two,” Dad said, looking at Beth and me. “Nothing would make us happier than someday having another grandchild. There is still a slight chance that we may be so blessed. If that happens, we want you to know that we’ll support you both, in every way we can. So please don’t feel like you need to carry this burden alone.”
He came over and hugged and kissed us both. I felt my anxiety lessen, but it wouldn’t go away until we knew for sure.
“When we went to the doctor’s office, we got a home-pregnancy test kit. They told me we needed to wait at least twelve days to get an accurate result,” Mrs. A told us.