Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
NOAH
I feel terrible about blindsiding Allie with this meeting, but I did leave her a message. Smiling up at Jordan and Margie, I tell them, “Please, sit down.”
Even though their chairs are next to each other, their body language indicates they couldn’t be farther apart. I look at Allie and tell her, “In the message you didn’t hear, I told you that Jordan and Margie were going to be joining us.”
Allie looks uncomfortable but instead of getting weird, she smiles kindly at the kids. “How are you guys doing?”
“Awful,” they answer in unison. Their mirrored response allows enough levity that they both smile a little.
“You have a lot going on,” Allie tells them.
Margie, who clearly resembles her siblings with their dark wavy hair, grimaces. “My parents pretty much hate me.”
“I’m sure that isn’t true,” I tell her. “This has to be a shock for them.”
“My parents do hate me,” Jordan offers. I can see how he feels that way. After all, I was there when he told them what was going on.
“Have you two had a chance to make any decisions?” I ask them.
They glance at each other covertly out of the corner of their eyes. Margie is the first to answer. “Not really. The last thing I knew, Jordan broke up with me. I was surprised when he asked me to meet him here.”
“Margie,” Jordan says with not only sadness but a touch of longing in his voice, “I love you. I didn’t want to break up with you. In fact, I never would have considered it if you weren’t … you know…” He gestures toward her stomach.
“That’s a really crappy thing to say,” she declares heatedly. “If you love a person, you don’t abandon them when they need you the most. Especially when the circumstances are half your fault.”
“You’re right.” His head droops hangdog low. “I called because I want to figure out what we’re going to do.”
“You just want me to get an abortion,” she tells him angrily. “And I told you that I don’t want that. I don’t judge other people who do, but I don’t believe in it for me.” She’s quick to add, “Certainly not when the baby was made out of love.”
“Your parents want you to get an abortion, too,” he tells her, obviously trying not to be the only bad guy in this scenario.
“I’m my own person, Jordan. Heck, as of yesterday, I’m old enough to vote so I’m old enough to decide if I’m going to keep this baby.”
What a horrible way to celebrate your eighteenth birthday. Even though it’s currently the least important thing, I tell Margie, “Happy birthday.”
It’s clear we’re both looking for a way to defuse the tension at the table when Allie asks, “Did you do anything fun to celebrate?”
Margie’s dark brown eyes fill with tears.
“I threw up the first half of the day, and my parents yelled at me the second half.” We all sit quietly for a moment, absorbing her unhappiness, when she adds, “All I know is that I’m going to keep this baby and that means I have to move out of my house.
” With tears flowing freely now, she adds, “My parents told me they’ll keep me on their health insurance until the baby is born, but afterwards I’m on my own. ”
I know Margie and Jordan’s situation happens all the time, I’ve just never really thought about how hard it must be to go through without the support of your parents.
Allie asks, “When are you due, Margie?”
“July,” the teenager answers. “I’m six weeks pregnant now.”
Allie sighs loudly before saying, “I’m not trying to be insensitive, but a lot of pregnancies spontaneously end on their own in the first trimester.”
Jordan looks positively thrilled by this news, but Margie does not. “While I wish I wasn’t pregnant, I don’t want the baby to die,” she says. For added effect, she stares at her ex-boyfriend and adds, “Especially not by my doing.”
Jordan reaches over to take Margie’s hand, and I’m surprised she lets him. I suppose it’s a testimony to how badly she needs to feel like someone is in her corner.
Allie takes a sip from her cup before giving her full attention to Margie. “I know you don’t want your pregnancy to end, but we don’t always have a say. I think it might be best to take things one day at a time.”
Margie shakes her head which causes her curls to sway back and forth. “I feel so alone. My parents hate me, and they hate my baby. I wish I could just move out now and get some space so I can think.”
“Do you have a friend’s house you could stay at?” Allie asks her.
Margie tells her, “My friends’ parents are treating me like their kids can catch what I have. Like I’ve got the plague or something.” I imagine that’s a common reaction, but I still can’t help but feel bad for her.
“I know you’ve missed a bit of school lately,” Allie says. “You are planning on going back, aren’t you?”
I feel the need to interject, “No matter what happens here, you should both at least get your high school degrees.”
Before the kids can respond, Allie surprises us all by announcing, “I just moved into my own apartment, Margie. It’s only a one-bedroom, but I would be happy to let you stay on my sleeper sofa until you know what your next step is.”
The teenager’s eyes bug out like she just saw a ghost. “You would seriously do that for me? Why?”
“Because I agree that you need some neutral space where you can think. I’d be happy to talk to your parents about it, too, if you want.”
Margie starts to full-on bawl. “That’s the most generous thing I’ve ever heard. Thank you! And yes, I would be very grateful to have a place to stay for a while.” She hurriedly adds, “I have five hundred dollars in savings that I could give to you as rent.”
“I don’t want your money,” Allie tells her.
“I’ll buy my own food then,” Margie insists.
“Honey.” Allie reaches out and touches Margie’s arm. “Keep your money. It sounds like you’re going to need it.”
Jordan, who has been relatively quiet during all of this, suddenly asks Margie, “What about putting the baby up for adoption? Have you considered that option?”
Margie turns toward her ex-boyfriend and her eyes narrow dangerously. When a woman looks at you like that, you know you’re in trouble. “I have not considered it,” she tells him.
At this point I probably would have left well enough alone, but Jordan seems to need an immediate answer. “Would you?”
“That would certainly make all of your problems go away, wouldn’t it?” There’s no question Margie is furious. In fact, she’s practically seething.
Jordan on the other hand, doesn’t seem as happy about the prospect of adoption as his ex-girlfriend is accusing him of. “Margie, this is my baby, too.”
“One that you want me to kill,” she hisses.
“I don’t think life starts this soon,” he tells her. “I mean, there’s no way the baby could live outside your body yet, so I don’t think of it as a real person. But if you’re determined to have it, why not give it to people who could raise it without any problems?”
“Just give a piece of myself away like I’m giving away a pair of shoes I don’t want anymore?” Margie does not appear to be onboard with the idea of adoption.
“If you keep this baby,” Jordan tells her, “then my life is over, too.”
“That’s not my fault, Jordan. You were there! You participated! You know how babies are made, don’t you?” She asks the last question like he’s a moron.
“It was one time.”
“That’s all it takes,” she tells him.
Now seems to be a good time to intervene, so I say, “I think that Allie is right and you two need a little space. Just take it day by day for a while and see what happens.”
“You mean see if I have a miscarriage,” Margie declares heatedly.
“That’s always possible,” Allie tells her.
“But even if the baby stays healthy and things progress as they’re meant to, right now, you both need to breathe.
” She makes eye contact with me before suggesting, “Why don’t we plan on all getting together two weeks from now.
That gives you both some space to try to figure out what the future is going to look like. ”
I don’t blame Jordan for feeling trapped, but even so, I’m surprised when he declares, “My future is totally in Margie’s hands. I have no say-so in what’s going to happen.”
That’s apparently the last straw for his ex because she stands up and practically shouts, “Quit being such a crybaby, Jordan. This isn’t happening to your body, it’s happening to mine.
I’m the one throwing up. I’m the one kids are staring at like I’m a zombie.
I’m the one parents don’t want in their houses anymore.
You’re walking around scot-free, going to basketball practice and hanging out like nothing is wrong. ”
The fight suddenly appears to seep out of Jordan like a leaking balloon. His shoulders sag and he slumps in his chair. “I’m sorry, Margie. I really am. I never wanted anything like this to happen.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t have told me how much you loved me and that we were going to be together forever. If you hadn’t done that, you can be sure I never would have slept with you.”
When you’re a senior in high school, you think the world is your oyster.
Anything can happen; everything good seems possible.
Most kids who have sex at that age don’t have to face something like this.
They simply keep growing up and moving on.
But for the few who wind up pregnant, their worlds change to the point where they probably don’t even recognize themselves anymore.
Allie stands up and reaches a hand toward Margie. “I can take you home, if you want. We can talk to your parents together.”
“Thank you,” Margie tells her before smiling shyly at me. “And thank you too, Coach Riley. I appreciate your trying to help us. But until Jordan is ready to take some responsibility, I don’t think there’s any reason for us to meet again.”
“Let’s still get together in two weeks,” I say. “A lot can happen in that time, and you two are still in this together.”
“It sure doesn’t feel like it.” Margie turns and walks out of the restaurant without another word.
“I’ll call you later,” Allie tells me. Then she hurries to follow her new roommate.
When it’s just me and Jordan sitting there, I ask him, “How are you doing?”
“Not well, Coach. Not well at all. I know I shouldn’t have done what I did. I know I’m responsible. I just don’t want to pay the price for the rest of my life. That just doesn’t seem fair.”
I wish there was a bad guy in this situation who we could all blame and hate. But the truth is, there isn’t. There are just two kids who did what a lot of kids do, and as a result their time of innocence is over. I feel terrible for both of them.
“Two weeks, Jordan. Just keep moving forward and maybe by then things will seem clearer to you.”
And while I hope against hope that’s the case, the truth is that I don’t think two weeks will make much of a difference. If Allie is still pregnant, both of the kids and their families’ lives will be forever changed.