Chapter 18 - The Price of Love

 

Taking the phone off the hallway table, Jon drags it into his room.  He knows he won't be able to sleep, there is no way he's going to sleep.  He is still quite pissed off at what Liz just pulled, and there is a little spot in the back of his head that's freaking out.  He thinks to himself, 'What if she is pregnant?  What will happen to my career?'

 

He dials Liz's number and after three rings, she answers.  ""Hello?"

 

"What are you trying to do?" he says as calm as he can, when really he just wants to scream at her.  She made his mother cry, that is one thing you don't do.

 

Liz is smiling because he called, and she didn't think that he would.  She knew he was pissed.  "What do you mean, Jon?  I'm not trying to do anything."

 

He doesn't like that she's playing a game.  "When did you find out that you're pregnant?"

 

"Earlier today, I went to the clinic."

 

"What made you go to the clinic?"

 

"I'm late, Jon.  That's what made me go." She snaps at him, defending her actions.

 

He snaps back, "How late?"

 

"A week."

 

"What are we going to do?"  His heart is racing and his thoughts are going just as fast.  He can't believe that he's having this conversation with a crazy ex girlfriend.  He has always been so careful.  He wanted to wait until marriage until he became a father, is it possible that he's going to be a father now?

 

"What are we going to do?"  She squawk's at him.  "We?  I'm having a baby, Jon.  You have already moved on with what's her name."  Jon can hear the anger growing in her voice.

 

"She has nothing to do with this, Liz.  What are we going to do?  Do your parents know?"

 

Liz takes a deep breathe and confesses, "You and your mom are the only ones I've told.  I'm scared to tell my parents.  My dad will kill you."

 

Jon hates how she skirts around the question that he has asked her a few times now, but he needs to take a step back and look at this as if she's telling the truth.  He cannot believe he is having this conversation.  He lays back on his bed, sliding his cowboy boots off.  With the phone receiver being held in place with his shoulder, he's able to pull his socks off.  "Liz, what are we going to do?  Have you thought about our options?"  He isn't wanting to give her any ideas.  Both of them are Catholic and whatever way they look at this, in his mind there will be no right answer.

 

"I've thought some about it.  I only have one option, Jon.  I can't have an abortion.  That goes against all of my beliefs, as a person and a Catholic.  So, my only option is to have the baby."  He can hear something in her voice, but he can't make out what it  is.

 

"Are you alone?"  he asks.

 

Liz is quiet. 

 

"Who's there?"  he's getting really pissed now. 

 

The line goes dead.  She hung up on Jon.  He lays there for a minute and lets a little bit of the anger dissipate before he decides what his next move will be.  He has many thoughts running through his head, but all he can see is his mother crying.  How dare that bitch come over here and make my mom cry?



Jon didn't know what to do.  So, he went with his gut and called Monica.  He smiles when he thinks about how cute she looked when she showed up at Richie's.  Jon wished she had come over sooner so he could have spent time with her, but if she was there - he never would have practiced. 

 

"Hello?"

 

"Hi." he softly says to the sexy voice on the other end.

 

Monica responds with, "Hi, Jon." and he can hear the smile on her face.

 

"Is this a bad time, is it too late?"

 

"It's never too late, the phone is in my room.  What are you doing up?  You looked exhausted earlier." she wonders.

 

He is now torn on what to do?  He can't stop thinking that Liz had just hung up on him.  He wants to tell Monica the truth, but he doesn't know if he should.  The good boy in him often fights with the bad boy and often, the good boy wins.  Should now be any different?

 

So, he explains to her, "When I got home, I walked up the driveway and seen my mom crying in the living room.  When I got inside, I seen Liz was here.  Well, to make a long story short - she was here telling my mother that she's pregnant."  And he waits.

 

"Oh, Jon.  I don't know what to say."  Monica is borderline speechless and really didn't see this coming. 

 

"It gets better.  I kicked her out, calmed my mom down and then came up to my room.  I made the mistake, or maybe it wasn't a mistake and called her.  She wasn't alone and when I asked her who she was with, she hung up on me."

 

"You don't know who she was with?"

 

"Nope, and that raises suspicion.  If she was with a friend, she would have told me."

 

"Who do you think it was then?"  Monica is feeling really anxious right now.  Could she really have just met this really cool and awesome looking guy - and now she'll have to walk away?  She can't be with him if he has a baby on the way.