The Meaning of Family: The Collections

Unplanned (2/5)

Sammie bounded out of her bedroom, donning a yellow sundress and running a brush through her hair as she got ready for her date with Jake that night. "Dad's still not back yet?" She asked Chloe, who was sitting on the couch in the living room watching TV. Yoongi had taken Adam to an event his kindergarten was holding for the special ed kids to help them get used to their new classroom and teachers.

Chloe shook her head. "Mom just got off the phone with him and he should be home any second now."

"'Kay~" Sammie responded, passing through the room, not without complaint from Chloe over her blocking the TV for a second, and entering the kitchen. "Hey, Mom, I wanted to ask-" Sammie stopped in her tracks as the smell of chicken and garlic attacked her nostrils.

"Sammie, you okay?" Sophia asked as she noticed a weird expression on her daughter's face. Instead of responding, Sammie just threw her hand over her mouth and raced out of the room, bursting into the half bath to the right of the kitchen and falling in front of the toilet just in time for the apple and almonds she'd had for a snack earlier to come up.

Yoongi had walked into the house just in time to see his daughter running to the bathroom. While Adam quietly wandered into his bedroom, Yoongi chased after Sammie, same as his wife was doing, and stepped into the room. He stepped forward to hold Sammie's hair back while the 16-year-old retched, rubbing her back comfortingly. "How long has she been sick?" He looked up at Sophia as he asked the question.

"It literally just happened, it came out of nowhere."

Once Sammie finished getting sick, Yoongi led her straight to her bed, ignoring her insistence that she was fine and could still go on her date, and threw a pair of pajamas at her before leaving to call Jake and inform him that the date would not be taking place.

A little over an hour later, Sammie was lying in bed, tuning out the faint sounds of her family cleaning up from dinner while reading fanfiction of her favorite boyband. She looked up in surprise when she heard a quiet knock on her door, her expression changing into one of delight when she saw her boyfriend poking his head in. "Special delivery~" Jake announced as he stepped fully into the room, revealing a Starbucks cup in his hand. "I thought you might like your favorite honey citrus mint tea." Sammie sat up as Jake joined her on her bed, accepting the warm beverage with a quiet thank you.

"What are you doing here?"

Jake shrugged. "Your dad said you were sick, so obviously I had to come take care of you." Sammie's smile widened at that. "Plus, I knew you'd be upset over missing our date, so I'm bringing the date to you." He grabbed the 16-year old's laptop from where it rested on her bedside table and opened it up, typing in her password as they both knew each other's passwords to everything.

"You're amazing, you know that?" Sammie asked as Jake went to Netflix to find the perfect movie for them to watch that night.

"Behind every amazing man is an even more amazing woman." Jake retorted, leaning as if to kiss her, but Sammie quickly pulled back.

"You'll get sick~" She warned, earning another shrug in response.

"It'll be worth it." Jake assured, quickly kissing her before she could argue.

***

Two weeks later, Sammie was once again leaning over the toilet, calming down after another bout of sickness. She had gotten sick on a nearly daily basis since that first time, and even on the days she didn't puke, she was still extremely nauseated for the majority of the day. Miraculously, she'd managed to hide it from her family, due to a persistent thought that she had pushed to the back of her mind out of fear.

After cleaning up, Sammie exited the bathroom, jumping as she almost ran straight into Chloe. Before she could even get a word out, the 12-year-old was rambling. "I need help with something, and mom's already left for work and I can't talk to dad about this."

Sammie looked at her younger sister in confusion. "Okay...what is it?"

"I think I got my first period." And with that statement, Sammie realized she couldn't push away that thought anymore.

After helping Chloe decided between pads and tampons and showing her how to use them, Sammie rushed into her room and closed her bedroom door. She pulled her phone out and dialed the person she trusted most to help her in that moment, lowering her voice to a whisper as soon as they answered. "Alessia, I need you to help me with something."

***

"Are you absolutely sure?"

"Alessia, I wouldn't be at Kroger looking at the pregnancy test selection if I was!" Sammie snapped back as she looked over all the different brands the store carried.

"Sorry, I'm just still trying to process the fact that my best friend might be pregnant!"

Sammie sighed. "No, I'm sorry, I shouldn't be snapping at you when you're here to help me. Now, which one should I get?"

Alessia looked at the boxes and back at her best friend. "How would I know, it's not like I've ever had to use one of these before."

Sammie groaned before grabbing a random package, taking Alessia's hand and dragging her to the checkout area. They made sure to use the self-checkout to limit the risk of anyone they know seeing their purchase before heading to Alessia's house, as both of her parents worked on weekends.

The two of them were sitting in the bathtub as the test rested on the counter, waiting for when the results would be ready. "So, what are you going to do?"

"Can we wait until I know for sure before making plans?" Sammie asked.

Alessia shrugged. "It might be better for you to go ahead and think about options, so you'll be a bit more ready if it does come out positive. Plus, it'll help pass the time."

Sammie sighed. "Alright, fine. What do you think I should do?"

"Well you need to tell Jake first. He is the baby's father and you need to know if he's willing to be a part of the baby's life, which I'm sure he will, he's a great guy." Sammie couldn't help the slight smile that always appeared with the mention of her boyfriend. "Plus, if you guys decide you don't want a baby, then you could go and get it 'taken care of' without even having to mention it to your parents."

Sammie gave Alessia a flat look. "This is Arkansas, Lees, you have to have parental consent and go to two therapy sessions to make sure you're in the 'right' state of mind before getting an abortion."

"Oh, right~" Alessia said while Sammie leaned her head back against the wall. "Well you should still tell Jake first before anything else."

Sammie's phone started buzzing, the alarm she had set letting her know that it was time to check the test. "Here goes nothing~" Sammie said as she climbed out of the bathtub. She took a deep breath before looking down at the test, the tears starting almost immediately after seeing that little plus sign.

Alessia wrapped her arms around her in comfort after seeing the result for herself. "It'll be okay, Sammie. Everything will be okay~"