Page 55 of Finding Fate

“Well, come on, son. Spit it out. We’re not going to sit here all day,” Chuck said when neither of them answered his mother.

He took in a deep breath. It was now or never. Their parents knew something was up. They had to tell them.

“Izzy’s pregnant,” he blurted and braced himself for the reaction.

His mouth had gone a little dry, he noticed, while he waited for the crying and yelling to start. It was the first time he had actually said the words aloud since they had taken the test, and they sounded foreign and terrifying.

The room stayed silent. The three adult friends stared at their eldest children blankly. Tucker was beginning to wonder if he had just imagined himself saying it when he heard his mother’s nervous voice trying to maintain calm.

“I’m sorry. What, honey?”

Oh, no, they were going to make him repeat those horrifying words. He tried to move the little bit of saliva he had left if he was going to answer when Izzy spoke.

“I’m pregnant.”

Watching their parents react was surreal. His mom folded herself forward and started crying into her hands while his dad sat perfectly still, staring straight at him, the vein in his forehead Tucker hadn’t seen in years starting to pulse. Even still, Bridgette’s reaction was by far the most terrifying. Nostrils flaring, she jumped from the couch, a glare in place so intense it surpassed anything her daughters had ever thrown at him.

“You’re what, young lady?!”

He felt Izzy tense beside him and gave her leg a reassuring squeeze above the knee. She grasped his hand, clutching tightly.

“Pregnant,” she repeated, her voice timid.

Bridgette’s hands flew up into the air wildly. “Pregnant?! How can you be pregnant?!”

“Sex?” she offered, sounding on the verge of tears.

Tucker’s gaze still fixed on the vein pulsing in his father’s forehead. It seemed to be gaining momentum as the seconds ticked by. He could still hear his mother crying.

“But you two have only been dating a couple of months! Why would you be having sex already?! Not that I think you should ever get to that,” Bridgette added, her hands resting at her hips as she began to pace.

“It just kind of happened. We didn’t plan it.”

“When?” Bridgette demanded. “How long has this been going on?”

“Um…” Izzy muttered, and Tucker was sure the silent tears had started to flow.

She had been holding the conversation long enough, he decided, breaking his gaze from his father’s pulsing forehead. He looked up at his best friends’ mother. Bridgette was beyond furious, and it was easy to see where the twins got their temper.

“Well?!”

“About two months,” Tucker blurted.

Bridgette faltered at those words. She looked at them both in disbelief. “Excuse me?”

“It’s kind of how we started dating…” he replied nervously, his answer sending their parents off into a whole new round of reactions.

Somehow, his mom started crying harder. Bridgette looked too shocked to speak and took a few steps backwards toward the couch, but his dad was up and in front of them within a second, his vein pulsing so fast and hard that Tucker started to wonder if it would burst.

“What in the hell were you thinking, boy?!” Chuck shouted.

Tucker shook his head, cowering, not knowing how to answer.

“How could you be so irresponsible?! You know to use protection every single time! I’ve told you that! I can’t believe you would mess up your future over one night of stupidity!”

“Wait, no…” Bridgette cut in. “Their futures don’t have to be over.”

Jenna lifted her head hopefully at Bridgette’s words, and their parents started doing one of those silent conversations only best friends could.

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