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“Twice,” I told him “Condom broke the second time”

“Fuck”

I sat back and crossed my arms “Yeah That pretty much covers it”

He sighed loudly, but I still couldn’t look at hio from there”

“We?”

“Ale, Josh Whatever you need”

I stood up “I’ll see ya, Hunter” And then I pushed off the ground with one foot, the other on the board, and headed ho the entire tinant” left h, but like I said, what the hell else could I do?

For teeks Natalie talked and I listened She went back and forth a thousand ti the same questions Then one day, she sat down next to me in the school cafeteria and placed ht blue eyes seemed to sparkle when she flicked her blonde hair over her shoulder and pushed out her stoether?” she asked

And I foundwith her “Of course,” I said And I meant it

We were sixteen and pregnant And at the time—ere happy

We told her parents first She said it would be easier if she did it alone, but I refused Natalie and the baby were my soon-to-be family, and I sure as hell would take responsibility for theoing to punch eared myself up for it Natalie was an only child, like me, and she was their baby But they weren’t around much Her dad was a hotshot industrial realtor who traveled a lot Her mom was his trophy, and she’d follow hih—they understood that the decision to keep the baby was ours, and they said they’d support us to a certain degree But they were done being parents, and not ready to be grandparents, so not to expect too much support

My parents? That was a whole other story My dad actually did what I thought Natalie’s dad would do Yeah He punched me My mom cried Natalie cried My parents yelled so about how she should’ve forced o to church with her every Sunday My dad called s and leave Mo with her to try to talk so, because she said, “No, Joshua This is your mistake You deal with the consequences” I did what they wanted I packed my shit and left No one would ever call my child a mistake No one

Natalie drove home

I skated to Hunter’s

He saw the bag in my hand and the fresh bruise under my eye and opened the door wider

I slept in his guest bedrooshells around his asshole dad Then one day Hunter said, “You wanna look for an apartet jobs and split the rent” And I knehat thatit His dad wanted uesthouse, but Mom’s moved in there”

“What?”

“Yeah I think it’s easier to hide her drinking”

I called Natalie She picked me up and took me back to her house Her parents said I could stay in the bedrooas no one knew about it They didn’t want to seenancies With theone so much on business, Natalie and I made a ho the day We never argued, never had a bad thing to say to each other It was nice Actually, it was kind of perfect