Because of You (Because of You 1)

Intentionally misunderstanding I said, "It's not a drama, it's a lame attempt at horror."

"Your love life? Wow, you really do take after your mother."

I scoffed, feeling a little disgruntled. "No kidding. I was talking about the movie, but of course you knew that."

"And I was asking about your love life, not the movie—but of course you knew that."

I shrugged. "The drama's nothing new."

"Maybe not to you, but your old man's still pretty clueless about the whole situation."

I shot him a jaunty smile. "That's how I like you."

"Regardless, I think I have a right to know what's going on in my daughter's life. It's my duty as a parent to take an interest and... whatnot."

I shook my head. "I really don't want to talk about it. You'll just think I'm stupid anyway, so what's the point?"

He laughed. "Me? Are you serious? What could you possibly do that I haven't done already?"

I hesitated, thinking maybe it would be better to let him know sooner rather than later. "I...No, I—it's too... you'll think..."

He eyed me up. "You're not pregnant, right?"

I let out a loud sigh. "No, I'm not pregnant."

"Good," he said, inclining his head.

"Derek's ex-girlfriend is," I finished.

His jaw actually fell open a bit. "Not good."

I shook my head and put the popcorn down, no longer hungry.

"So... you broke up again?" he guessed.

"No."

"No?" he questioned, one

black eyebrow shooting up.

"That's why we broke up in the first place," I explained. "But we're back together."

He didn't say anything for a few seconds, then he finally said, "Not to point out the obvious here, Nicole, but considering your family history with this particular topic... do you really think that's wise?"

"I can see how it wouldn't look very wise to you, but Derek and I have thought about this and we want to make it work. We both realize it may be a little harder because of this—"

"A little harder?" he interrupted. "No, finding out he wants to go to school in Rhode Island and you want to go to California would make it a little harder. Finding out you're an atheist and he's a devout Christian might make it a little harder. Finding out you hate kids and he wants ten—"

"I get it," I said a bit irritably.

"Finding out he's having a baby with someone else, on the other hand, makes it damn near impossible. You’re too young to take on that kind of baggage."

"That isn't true," I stated.

"He's Mike's kid, Nicole. If anybody in the world should know what a bad situation this is, you should. You study your mother's journals like most people study the Bible."

"This is different," I told him.