Fifty-Two Weeks

nineteen

"I was four when I decided to paint my walls pink to match my tutu.

I was twelve when I wanted them blue like the colour of the sky.

I was seventeen when I wanted them grey to match the rain and clouds.

Now I'm nineteen and wondering what colour goes with fear and love?" -M.J.

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On a particularity hot day in November, Scarlett found herself absentmindedly flipping through a magazine. Her fingers stuck to the printed pages and she focused on the many bright advertisements within the folds. How could someone ever think mustard yellow was an appropriate colour to use on a font? She had to squint just to make out the simple little words, words that didn't stick much. Her focus was distracted on how surreal life was at the moment.

Here she was, sitting on the couch in the tiny apartment she shared with her best friend; emphasis on the tiny. Jessica, her best friend and roommate was in her room cuddling up with her not-quite boyfriend, Calum. Then there was her boyfriend of precisely twenty five days who was fast asleep in her bedroom. The same boyfriend that got her pregnant with their now five month old unborn child. Where had the time gone?

Just five months ago she was Scarlett Mae Pierce, best friend to Ashton Fletcher Irwin and currently studying exercise science. Now she's Scarlett Mae Pierce, girlfriend to celebrity Ashton Fletcher Irwin, juggling a job, pregnancy, and her studies. She was in her second year of university and still had two more to go, she'd have to postpone those until the baby was older.

But the baby was getting older, and Scarlett was everything but prepared. Her tiny bedroom had just enough room for a crib at the end of her bed, a crib she didn't even have. In every pregnancy book she read, there was always a chapter on preparing the nursery. Something about making it seem real and a mother needing to nest. Scarlett always sighed and skipped those parts, she wasn't allowed to paint the apartment walls and the baby wouldn't even have a room to itself.

The magazine was spread open to an ad for home furnishings and that's when her memory kicked in. Scarlett realized she still had a three piece nursery set on reserve at the tiny store in the mall. The collection seemed pricey, but the crib itself was cheap. Maybe around three hundred dollars and that was something she could afford.

Scarlett was a go getter, always had been. Once her mind was set, there was no stopping her. So as she marched to her room to wake Ashton up, she didn't even bother considering his feelings towards this adventure. She especially didn't care that he was "still tired" when she sat on his back and shook his shoulder to wake him.

"Babe, you're getting heavy." He groaned and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"I know I am, which is why we have to go out today!" She cheered and rolled off his back and onto the mattress beside him.

"That doesn't make sense." Ashton stated and rolled back over to sleep.

"Yes it does, do you need me to explain?" She asked way too cheerfully for a groggy Ashton.

"Not really, but I know you will anyway." He laughed and turned his attention to her frowning face.

"Not funny." She flicked his face and giggled when he flinched, "I'm getting heavier, which is naturally a sign of the baby getting bigger. When this baby gets too big it'll come into the world to greet us and guess what? We have nothing for it. So, we're buying baby stuff today." Scarlett concluded, proud of her logic and reasoning.

"With what money?" He laughed and cuddled her into his side.

"Are you telling me being in a famous band has left you broke?" She joked, "But I have some money saved for what we need." She kissed his cheek and Ashton smiled.