Ethereal Love

A Broken Promise

Nini's mom, Carol left a little over two years ago, and obviously, Nini had grown to resent her for leaving. Carol had tried to keep in touch with her daughter, but Nini had blocked her in every sort of way. Before camp, she'd hardly talked to her mom since her leaving, However, after the summer camp, she'd buried all those hard feelings and grew close to her mother again.

Carol had called Nini back the night before, and had invited her to go visit her and stay for a weekend. Nini had told her she would get back to her and sort out dates. Well, now she was going to turn up on her doorstep. With an extra guest in tow.

Ricky dropped Nini off at her house to grab some stuff, and she was happy to find that Dana wasn't home. She wouldn't have been able to convince her mom to let her go without telling her the truth and she definitely didn't want to do that... she didn't want her to murder Ricky before the baby was born. She was going to need someone to yell at when she was in labor.

Throwing a few shirts and pants and, most importantly, underwear into a bag she briefly considered her options. She could tell her momm D; she was hardly likely to kick her out, and she wasn't inclined towards homicide... but Nini knew she wouldn't be as understanding as momma C, and she knew she wouldn't even consider any options other than, and she knew that, despite how firmly she disagreed with it, if her mother told her that she should do it she probably would. So she shook her head, the movement helping to clear it slightly, and re-focused on packing. She dashed into the bathroom to grab her toothbrush, a razor and a towel. She then opened the small cabinet under the sink, without thinking, and threw in a box of tampons. Then she caught herself and her breath hitched as she realized that she wasn't going to have any need for those for a few months. There was a tiny sense of relief-periods are a pain in the ass, as every girl knows, but that was quickly overtaken by a huge feeling of dread.

It wasn't natural for a girl her age to not need tampons.

It wasn't natural for a girl her age to be pregnant.

Pregnant.

Her breath hitched and her eyes welled up as she realized that she was one of those girls, one of those teenage mothers. She suddenly remembered sitting there, no older than ten, curled up beside her mom's on the couch watching some movie...Juna? Jino? It frustrated her that she couldn't remember the title.

Anyway, it was halfway through when she'd wandered into the room, bleary-eyed and yawning, and her mom had smiled and patted the seat beside her. She eagerly climbed up and settled down to watch the movie.

They were almost at the end when she felt her momma D heave a heavy sigh and turn to her.

"I know you're only ten, and you probably don't even understand how this all works yet, but please Nina... please don't ever be that girl. You're smart and beautiful and you have everything going for you... don't let some boy ruin it all for you." She could see how serious she was and, even at that age, understood the enormity of the promise she was making as she nodded her head and held up her pinky. Dana chuckled a little but humored her- after all, to a ten-year-old, a pinky promise is equivalent to a blood oath.

And she couldn't help but feel ridiculously guilty about breaking that promise and it was almost enough to send her running out to Ricky and begging him to drive her to the nearest clinic, just to avoid the heartbreak she knew her mom would go through when she found out.

But then Ricky was there in the doorway, concern etched into his features, and their eyes met and it was almost like he'd read her mind because he crouched down and slowly took the box out of her hands, placing it back in the cabinet, and then took her hand.

"I know this is hard, Nini. And it's only going to get worse. It's an uphill battle from here, but you have your mom's who you know will support you no matter what, and you've got Kourtney and Gina who'll be there to comfort you and buy you ice-cream and listen and nod when you just need to bitch about me and tell them how much you hate me for doing this to you. Plus you've got me, and I promise, you've got me for as long as you want me because I will never leave you. I'll never be that guy who knocks up his girlfriend and runs away. I just won't." he looked at her so determinedly and with so much love and protectiveness that she couldn't help but place a soft had on his cheek and lean in to kiss him softly, shortly, but she knew that it was all she needed to get her point across. She was grateful, and she loved him.

"Thank you, Ricky."

"For what?"

"Just for being you."

Ricky chuckled and gave her another gentle kiss before pulling away just slightly. "Let's go see your mom." He whispered. She nodded and the two teens got into the car and drove late into the night.