The New 90210

. 35 .

Kian walks through the house, dressed as if he never changed his ways in Portland. He had on a dirty t-shirt & pajama pants, mismatched socks, and dried paint on his hands. His hair was disheveled and he hadn't showered in a couple days. He goes to the kitchen, rubbing his stomach underneath his shirt. Vanessa enters soon after.

"Oh my God," she exclaims. "You smell foul! When's the last time you showered?"

"...When did Mady leave?" He yawned.

"Disgusting. That was like 4 days ago."

"Wait...no. 5 days," he laughed as he scanned the fridge shelves for a quick snack.

"Go bathe!"

"No can do, sis." He grinned. "I'm working on a masterpiece and a shower will make me lose that inspiration."

"What masterpiece?"

"I'm making a painting." He takes out a pint of ice cream. "Bought everything after she left. Transformed my room into an art studio."

"What are you painting? A landfill?"

Vanessa waited until he moved to the other side of the kitchen to go into the fridge herself for some juice.

"Go on, make your jokes," he said. "But once I finish...and shower...everyone will be blown away."

"M'kay," she rolled her eyes. "Can't wait to see your stick figures. Anyway, are going to the anniversary party for Lucy's parents on Saturday?"

"I wasn't invited. Wait, you were?"

"Yeah, Jack and I," Vanessa replied. "I guess I just made things awkward. Sorry."

Kian cleared his throat. "It's cool."

"I just figured since you and her found closure that she— I don't know, I'm gonna stop talking now."

"It's cool sis."

"Stop calling me that...for the 80th time."

. . .

John sat in the living room of Nadia's house, on the couch across from Nadia's mother, Cassandra. She poured him some more tea. In the other room, separated by closed sliding doors, Nadia was getting yelled at by her father, Julian. She finally broke the news to her parents about her pregnancy. And while her mother was more saddened than angry, her father wasn't standing for it. John had to keep himself from bursting through those doors every five minutes to go & defend her.

"What about your education, mija! Stanford is not cheap! Do you know how many strings I had to pull to make sure you got into a good college?" Julian kept his arms crossed when he wasn't banging his fist on the table.

"I got into a good school because of my good GPA," she shouted with pride.

"Every little bit helped! You cannot have this child, I forbid it!"

"Forbid?" She scoffed. "I'm not a child anymore, Dad. And quite frankly, I didn't come over seeking advice as to what I should do with my body & my life. I came over because you're my family and you should know!"

"Know what exactly, Nadia? That you're knocked up and don't know what you're going to do after it's all said & done? That you have no job, no career, no house of your own yet you're on the fence about keeping it or not?"

In the other room, John's jaw clenched and he set his cup of tea down. But Cassandra gently placed her hand on his wrist, letting him know that going in the room would be a bad idea.

"I may not have life figured out," Nadia's breath hitched. "But John and I will both figure it out together along the way. Besides, when does anyone ever have it figured out? How many different paths did you take in life? And you're doing fine. So why can't we?"