Los Carnales

Chapter 35: Starting Over Again

WARNING: This is a long ass chapter.

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December 8th, 2007
Saturday, 9:00am - Kendall, Miami

"Aleesia, you have to tell her," Jesús strongly advised, his head bowed as he held his sister's hands over the dining table.

They were alone in the house together on a gloomy morning, sharing long moments of tension filled silence that allowed the sound of rain harshly tapping at the windows to slip in louder each time. There were two small off-green tea cups filled with black coffee, a small plate of half eaten hash browns for Jesús, and a pregnancy test in between them. Aleesia's eyes were tainted with dark circles and clear exhaustion, her cheeks were damp and stained by tears that sometimes slipped out and dropped down to her chin. It's been like this since taking the test last night and it coming out positive.

"I don't think I should. Lauren is gonna hate me, she's not ready to be a mother. The last thing she needs is a kid," Aleesia's frown deepened. "And same here. I'm going to nursing school soon, I can't have a baby."

"You're not gonna have an abortion either. You know the family we come from, that is absolutely unacceptable. And Lauren is in love with you, Aleesia, she could never hate you. I see the way you two act together and the way she treats you and how she expects else everybody to treat you, too. There's no way. Is there a possibility she might be mad? Yes. But it takes two to make a baby, so you can be mad too. Now is there a possibility she might be thrilled and wanna keep it? Sure. And if that's the case, we're all gonna have a long talk about this at home with mamá y papá," said Jesús.

Aleesia groaned and whimpered as she buried her face in her hands. "They're gonna be so mad and disgusted. They don't even accept my relationship, Jesús. They think Lauren's weird and they'll freak out if they find out a girl got me pregnant because that's just not normal. I'm just scared, I don't know what to do."

Jesús rubbed his sister's hands with his thumbs and sadly watched as she cried. "Didn't you guys use a condom? Are you not on birth control??"

"I'm off it because it was really fucking with my body, I didn't feel good on them. Lauren wore a condom the last time we had sex and that was three days ago—"

"And how about a week ago?" he pushed. "At Lauren's 'welcome home' party I peeped that you both were gone, so I went inside your room to find you both passed out naked under the covers."

Aleesia had to think real hard about that night, as she was really drunk and all of it was just hazy. She remembered pulling Lauren inside the home and leading her to their bedroom, she remembered some of what happened during sex, and— "Oh my God!" she exclaimed, things finally clicking. "She didn't wear one that time, she forgot. We both weren't thinking."

"Congratulations. That's the reason half the earth's population was born; your baby just joined the club," Jesús let go of her hands to quickly point at her. He shook his head and chuckled with his fingernail between his teeth. "Man, oh man. It's an unspoken rule to not have sex when you're drunk. Look, you have to tell Lauren, end of story. And if she doesn't take responsibility for that baby" —Jesús's eyes went dark and a menacing expression took over his face to match his tone— "I'm gonna call up Jamie and Miguel and we're gonna kick that bitch's ass. I don't care that Miguel is still in prison, I'll find a way for him to join in on the fun."

Aleesia got up from the table and circled around to lean down and hug her brother from behind, resting her head against his with her chin on his shoulder. "Thank you for having my back. Honestly, you're the last person I'd expect to be so understanding and accepting of Lauren and I because we've always disagreed on so much. But you're the only one and I'm thankful."