Dallas' Dorm (now vacant)

[kat]

Kat ran the palm of her hand across her cheeks and under her nose. "No," she said with a sigh. "I-I was scared and I didn't want it to be real, but I'm coming up on having missed my period for two months, and that's never happened. I know that Plan B can mess with it, but it's not supposed to just make it stop entirely."
It felt a little weird mentioning her menstrual cycle to him, but she was sure at this point he'd love it if her uterus exploded and she got her period right now. But she knew that wasn't going to happen.

"I mean...maybe this is just one of those things you know? Like...I don't know. I just feel different. I've always heard women say that they just had a feeling when they were pregnant. Will you...I mean...can we get a test? I'm not exactly sure school would be a good idea right now, considering..." she didn't finish her sentence, but if she had it would have been considering I'm pretty sure I won't be doing anything but crying all day.
She sighed again and rested her head on her knees. "I'll just go to Planned Parenthood and get an abortion if I am. It's only been a month, so..." she sighed.
An abortion. Was that what she wanted? She always thought that if she were to get pregnant at a young age, she'd get an abortion no question. But she loved Dallas. She was wholeheartedly in love with him. The thought of...of possibly ending the life of something they created in love...it was just too much to bear.
But could they be parents? Could they support themselves and a child? And if it was decided that they couldn't, was she strong enough to carry Dallas's child for nine months, give birth to it, and then give it away?

She looked at him very seriously in the eyes. "Is that what you--" she cut herself off and changed routes. "Is that what we want? An abortion?" They were in this together. This was their mess, and they were going to clean it up or deal with it. Together.

[Dallas Kennedy]

Dallas gently shook his head, "Yeah, I'll buy you whatever you need." He said as he stood up on his bed. His head almost touched the ceiling as he walked to the edge and stepped off. He had forgotten that he was only in his boxers because he threw his sweats off in the middle of the night because he had gotten hot. For a moment, Dallas looked around his room for a pair of jeans or something without luck. He went to the drawer and pulled out a fresh pair of dark denim blue jeans and slipped them on along with a red plaid button up shirt.

He had rolled the sleeves up and slipped on his boots before returning to Kat's side. By then, she was saying soemthing about an abortion and how she could do it. Just mentioning that option made his chest feel extremely heavy and he was slightly offended. Why though? He didn't want a baby right now and neither did she. Wasn't that the logical thing to do at this age? Kat was just shy of seventeen, and he would be eighteen in July. His first idea was to deny the option of aborting it.

"Is that what you want to do? I mean.. I'll be there for you regardless, I just want to know." Dallas paused and looked down to his palms. "I don't think I could go through with it. A person's a person, no matter how small. But is that selfish of me? I don't want you to have to go through that. Any of it." He huffed and leaned forward, putting his face in his hands.

[kat]

Well that was a clear no. And she wasn't about to abort his baby if he wanted it alive. That just wasn't fair. And she wasn't even entirely sure if she could do it herself.
She sighed, "No, I'm not...I don't know if I could. Especially now that you went and used a Doctor Suess quote on me," she smiled at him and pulled him by his belt loop closer to the bed.
She placed her hands on his hips and looked up at him, "I love you, Dallas. I really do. And...maybe some things happen for a reason. Maybe...maybe because we love each other we were supposed to have this..." she couldn't yet bring herself to say child out loud. "To be in this situation. Whatever we decide to do, we'll get through it."

She let go of him and stood up, adjusting the clothes of his she was wearing. "Come on, let's go to the store..." she said opening his dorm room door and waiting for him to follow.

-------------------------------------------

There they were, sitting on the edge of his bed, watching an inanimate object like their lives depended on it. And maybe it did. It sure felt like it. Everything — their futures, their relationship, their families — was riding on that stupid little stick.
Three minutes? Like hell. Felt more like a year and a half to Kat. She was gripping Dallas's hand so hard she was probably cutting off his circulation, but she didn't care. She felt like she was going to die.
When the timer on her phone went off, she jumped and then looked at him. Neither one moved, like he was just as scared of the results as she was.

But then she swallowed hard, stood up, and grabbed the test. She closed her eyes before she could see the result, and with her back to him, she slowly opened them back up.

"Dallas..." she whispered, turning around. "I'm pregnant." She handed him the test, completely numb. What the hell were they going to do?

[Dallas Kennedy]

Dallas let out a little smile when she tugged at his belt loop and brought him closer. They could do this, they could get over it. He already knew that he would have to make amends with Esme because he knew he couldn't do this without her help and her support. What if she laughed at him for finally knocking someone up? What if she refused to accept his apology and (literally or not) slammed the door in his face? It's not like he had a lot of family to turn to.. and that's maybe why he relied so much on her.

_______

When they returned from the store and Kat went into his bathroom (which he thankfully was able to get this year,) Dallas waited outside the door while she did whatever she was doing. Girls peed on the sticks right? His nerves were so jumbled up that he was seriously fighting off the urge to vomit. He was almost positive that his face was starting to lose color because it sure felt that way. He leaned against the door frame and pulled his phone from his front pocket and sent a short text to Esme.

When Kat came out, the two sat on his bed and waited. He took her hand first while she set the timer on her phone. Dallas could feel her grip on his hand getting tighter and tighter with every minute that passed. When the timer had finally, in what seemed like forever, gone off, he jumped because she jumped and startled him.

Dallas just looked at her, scared to move or say anything until she got up to read the test. His heart was pounding in the quietness of the dorm room and suspense. His eyes were intensely fixed on Kat and he was ready to move at any given point like his body was in defense mode. I'm pregnant.

Kat's words lingered around before they seemed to reach his ears. The moment they hit, he could feel the acid and whatever was left from the previous night's dinner starting to rise. "Uhm-" Dallas swallowed hard but it didn't help his situation any more than he was hoping for. He pinched his eyebrows close together and could feel his mouth watering. He hadn't gotten sick since he caught a stomach bug two years ago, but he knew the feeling.

Dallas darted to the bathroom and tried to shut the door. It didn't shut completely and was still cracked as everything in his stomach forcefully came up. -- When everything was hopefully done, Dallas flushed the toilet and scooted back to the bathroom wall. "God-" He mumbled and leaned his head back. If he felt like this, how the hell did Kat feel? He was too ashamed to come out at that point in time so he pulled his knees to his chin and stayed there with every possible thought running through his mind.

[kat]

Kat stayed frozen in her spot when Dallas ran past her. She was oblivious to the tears running down her cheeks or the sobs breaking in her chest. She could hear her grandmother screaming at her, probably most of it a mix between English and Spanish.

How could you Kathleen? You have shamed this family, just like your filthy mother! You're a disgrace! I can't even look at you, you disgusting little tramp. You make me sick!

She knew her grandfather would just sit in his lazy boy, chewing tobacco and staring at the blank TV screen, and pretending this wasn't happening. She knew that since Sara Sofia moved back into the house she'd more than likely be crying with her. They both hated yelling, and their grandmother sure did a lot of it.

When she finally snapped back into reality, she heard the toilet flush and realized that Dallas had just finished puking his guts out.
The door was cracked so she just walked right in after him and squatted on the floor in front of him. She pulled off a square of toilet paper and wiped the corners to his mouth, and then another line to get the sheen of sweat off of his forehead.
She sat in front of him, cleaning him up in silence. It was like a scene from some bad TV movie. They were both falling apart in their own way over one big bloated booboo.

"We'll be okay," she whispered after a few minutes, voice still thick with the tears that kept coming.
She took his hand and brought it up to her lips, placing a kiss on his knuckle. "We'll get through this because we have each other," she wasn't only saying that to him. She was saying it to herself and hoping to God Almighty that it was true.

[Dallas Kennedy]

He had been thinking about how they could possibly do any of this on their own since he had first gotten scared so badly he had called Jon for advice. He could pick up more shifts at work and run more risky and higher staked races if he needed to. Well, he couldn't really do anything too life threatening.. he wasn't about to leave his girlfriend and unborn baby without a father.

Dallas was seriously fighting back another battle with the toilet and tried to breathe through the waves of nausea that were washing up on him. That was about the time Kat had come into the bathroom and he was thankful she hadn't seen that. He frowned as she wiped his face of sweat, spit, and God knows what else. He leaned over in the tiny bathroom and reached under the sink for his bottle of minty Listerene, swished it around and then spat it into the toilet water.

"I'm so sorry, Kat." Dallas started. His voice was quiet and gentle but there was something about his tone that stood out. He couldn't even bring himself to look at her directly in the eyes. He felt like he had fucked up her life and was ashamed of his own being. He was going to have to tell his mom, at least. Maybe by the sweet grace of God, she could offer some kind of help or advice or something. His dad would be useless especially since it had been almost five months since he had seen or even really spoken to him.

Dallas made himself look up from the cold tile floor. Why wasn't she smacking him or yelling at him and saying he ruined her life? Shouldn't she be pissed as fuck at him and throwing things around? Maybe he had just seen too many drama shows.. "Kat," Dallas asked. He wasn't sure where to go from that point. Should they move into an apartment or something? Should they talk to a doctor? He was so damn clueless as to what needed to be done that he had lost his train of thought. Instead, he reached out to pull her closer to his body had actually rid him with the queezy feeling.