Confessions of A Teen Mom

Chapter 16

Ever since Ben this fracture in his arm he's been a real pain my- nice thoughts Pepper. Nice thoughts. What I mean to say is Ben is such an angel. Okay, that's a load of bologna. He's driving me insane! All he does is complain. Like now. It's yet another argument we've gotten into since he came back from the hospital.

"I can't play football Pepper! What don't you understand about that?!" He yells at me. "First of all, don't raise your voice at me. Second of all, I understand perfectly well. All I'm saying is that you have it a lot easier than most!" I bounce a crying Luna.

"Please, enlighten me as to how I have it easier." Ben glares at me* "Hmm, let's see. How about the fact that you got out with your life AND all your limbs intact. Some people don't have it that easy. You have a itty bitty fracture that will heal in a few weeks!" 

"Some people lose their lives because of drunk drivers! I'm sure they'd be pretty grateful if they were in your condition. And how do you live? You whine and complain because you can't play football for a few measly weeks! Get over yourself" I snap putting Luna in her crib. 

"Where are you going?" I say when Ben stands.* "I need some space. I'm going outside." He mutters walks out. I scoff and roll my eyes. He's such a baby. I get it. Football is his way to college, but it's only our junior year! He still has time. I'm not trying to be insensitive but he's really taking for granted what people lose everyday. 

I sigh when Luna starts crying again and pick her up out of the crib. "It's alright baby." I pat her back. "Are you hungry?" I sit down on the bed and try to feed her* "Okay, not hungry. Diaper change?" I put her on the changing table. 

"Not a soiled diaper. So what's wrong?" I smooth her hair away from her forehead. "Why-you're burning up. Mom! Mom get up here!" I yell. "Girl why are you yell-" I cut her off. "Mom Luna has a fever. " I grab Luna off the changing table. "That's why she won't stop crying!"  

"Calm down hon. It's probably because you have so many clothes on her." Mom takes her from me and sets her on the changing table carefully. She removes Luna's socks, her pants, her shirt and then her onesie. "If the fever doesn't go away we'll take her to the hospital." Mom nods. 

I take a deep breath and nod. A few minutes later I check Luna's fever. "She's cooling down a little." I say. Mom nods* "See? That's probably all it was." She walks out. I have a feeling that's not all it was. 

Ben comes back upstairs a few minutes later. "Goodnight" he mutters crawling into bed. I roll my eyes and sit in the rocking chair. "Night." I bite out. I rock in the chair and close my eyes. 

I wake up a few hours later and yawn. I stand up and check on Luna. I smile and feel her forehead. I frown. "Now you're cold. What going on with you?" I lean down slightly. 

"Ben! Ben wake up!" I shake him. Ben sits up quick* "W-what's wrong?!" He looks around. "It's Luna! Something's wrong with her. Call 911!" I rush back over to her crib and pick her up. I hear Ben talking into his phone frantically and then my parents rushing in.

"Ben came and got us. What's going on?" My dad walks over to me "It's Luna. I don't know what's wrong with her. First she running a fever and now she's cold. Dad what if sh-" he shakes his head. "It's not going to happen. Don't even think like that." He says. 

I sniff and nod. I grab her diaper bag when I hear someone rushing in the house and then footsteps pounding on the stairs.  I look up when two EMT's walk in. The woman picks Luna up and puts her on the gurney. I follow behind them as they walk down the stairs. "We'll meet you at the hospital!" Mom calls out. 

I nod and watch as the gurney is pushed into the back of the ambulance. I climb inside afterwards and Ben climbs in after me. "What'a wrong with her?" I bounce my leg nervously. "We're not sure yet. It could be a number of things. We'll figure it out though." the woman says. 

I look down when Ben places his hand on my knee to stop it from bouncing. "Calm down, she'll be okay." he whisper. I sniff and nod. I sure hope he's right. Thirty minutes later we arrive to the hospital and they rush Luna inside. I follow behind them quickly. A nurse stops me before I follow them all the way back. 

"You can't go back there just yet. Fill out this paperwork and I'll come and get you when they're done okay?" she says. I huff and snatch the clipboard muttering under my breath. I stare down at the paper. Ben reaches over and takes the clipboard from me. I watch as he fills out the paperwork and bounce my leg anxiously. 

I look at the clock on the wall and sigh. Ben turns in the clipboard and then we wait twenty minutes for the nurse to come and get us. I look up when I hear footsteps ad deflate slightly when I see my parents and Ben's dad. "What's going on? Have you heard anything?" Ben's dad asks. 

I shake my head. "No not yet. We've been waiting for twenty minutes and I'm starting to get really angry!" I raise my voice slightly on the last word. "Pepper, lower your voice." Mom scolds me. "No mom! I'm worried about her and they aren't telling us anything!" I snap. Ben grabs my hand and squeezes it. "She'll be fine." he reassures me.  

I sigh and nod. I look up when the nurse walks in. "Family of Luna Martinez?" she says. Ben and I and the rest of our family stands up. "So I have good news. Luna will be okay. She just had a mild reaction to some shots. If you want to see her you can follow me." she turns and starts walking. 

I grin up at Ben with happy tears in my eyes and follow the nurse quickly. The nurse leads us into a room and pulls back a curtain. I rush over to Luna and pick her up. "I'm so glad you're okay." I whisper kissing her forehead. Ben walks over and wraps his arm around me. "I told you she'd be okay." he smiles and puts his finger in her hand. 

Luna wraps her fist around Ben's hand. "When can we take her home?" I turn to the nurse. "In a few hours. We'll need to give you some medicine for her to take to ensure that she doesn't have another reaction." she nods and walks out. "Oh! I didn't get her car-" Mom cuts me off. "Don't worry, we got it." she says. 

I smile and nod. "Thanks mom. And I'm sorry for snapping at you." I apologize. "It's alright hon. I know you were just worried about Luna." Mom says.  I sit down on the bed with Luna in my arms. "You really gave us a scare. Don't do that again." I scold Luna playfully. Luna blinks up at me and then closes her eyes and opens them again. "Wait, did she just roll her eyes at me?" I look up at Ben. 

Ben scoffs. "No she didn't" he says. I shake my head. "No she did. I saw it!" I protest. Ben rolls his eyes and takes Luna from her. "No she didn't. Luna is an angel." he says. Mom smirks. "I wonder where she got it from." "Definitely not from me!" I grin. Dad snorts. "Yeah right. You're delusional." he says. 

After a few hours we finally got to take Luna home. I plop down on the bed yawning quietly. "What a night." I mumble kicking off my shoes. Ben nods in agreement. "I'm just glad she's okay. Now let's get some sleep. School starts tomorrow." he lays down and closes his eyes.

I never thought I'd be happy to go back to school, but I'm ready to get out of this house and see my friends.