TUESDAY:
 

Cathy came to my house very upset one evening. She looks down for her phone that was sitting on the ledge. She called me and said, “Come outside for a minute please.”
I walked outside, looking around confused. I didn’t know what was going on. I asked, “What’s wrong? Why do you look so upset?”
Cathy began to speak as she was crying, “My own son is ignoring me. I feel horrible.” 
I started to cry as well. I tried to explain to her, “He get’s very upset when he doesn’t get as much time with me, and you know that. He’s always busy with work.”
Cathy looks just as sad as I do. She begins to reply, “I understand what you’re saying but I’m just so scared. I don’t want you getting pregnant at a….”
She stops in the middle of her sentence. “I do have to go run some errands, she says. See you when I can honey.”

WEDNESDAY:

Brian is coming home from school, and he is in a pretty good mood with his smile extending for one side of his face to the other. What he doesn’t know is that his mother is still upset, and she is going to ignore him. He walks in the front door, jiggling his key into the top lock. He shuts the door, and begins to head to the family room. He sees his mother sitting on the couch watching tv. She is thinking about ignoring Brian just so he can feel bad. He says, “Hey mom,” with a smirk on his face.
Cathy just rolls her eyes, and doesn’t say a word. She is texting someone else about Brian. She’s telling them about all their business, and what has been going on between them lately. She is trying to be sneaky so Brian doesn’t see her.
Brian begins to frown as he slowly walks out of the family room. He grabs his cell phone out his pocket, and begins to text me. He types, “I don’t know what is going on. I tried to speak with my mother, and all she did was ignore me.”
I am at my house, reading a very interesting book as I receive a text from Brian. After I read it I begin to respond, “She is very upset. Give her a few days to calm down before you talk to her again.”

THURSDAY:

When Brian comes home from school he goes through the same routine. Opening the front door, closing it, and heading to the family room. He decides he’ll try one more time to speak with his mother. He swallows his pride and says, “Hello mom.”
Again there was no answer from Cathy. She does the same thing as yesterday. She rolls her eyes, and again is trying to hide the fact that she’s texting someone else their personal business.
Brian then storms out of the family room, slamming the door. He pulls out his cell phone, and texts me again,“I have had it with this bull s***! She’s acting like I don’t even exist anymore.”
I read the message shockingly. My mouth is wide open. I respond, “Calm down. Think things through before you make any final decisions.”
That same day later in the evening Brian has to head to work. He works with his mother and his best friend Anthony, cleaning a big building called Stoney Batter Family Medicine on Limestone road. While Brian is working he over hears his mom speaking to his best friend Anthony. Brian is now feeling even more mad, and alone right now. He says to himself, my mother doesn’t even notice me it seems like. She’s being fake as hell! Brian feels worse right now more than ever. His mother is ignoring her own son, but is speaking with his best friend as if he was her son. Brian is thinking about how fake his mom is being, and won’t tolerate it anymore. He picks something up off of the table, and slams it on the ground. Glass is shattered everywhere. Brian is pissed. I then receive a message moments later from Brian. I struggle, wiggling to get my phone out my pocket.  He texts me and says, “I have made my decision. I am moving out after I graduate. I’m going to tell my mom tomorrow.”
When I get the text I immediately respond, “Are you sure that’s what you want to do?”
Brian replies back quickly in anger,“Yes. I can’t take her ignoring me any more. How could she neglect her own son?

FRIDAY:

Brian is at Stoney Batter Family Medicine now with his mother, and Anthony. He is pacing back, and forth huffing and puffing. He is frustrated with his own thoughts of how he is going to tell his mother the news. It is about 5:45 p.m. He is thinking of how he is going to tell his mom this breaking news. He’s fed up with the way she’s acting. He sees his mom listening to music, and cleaning the bathroom at the same time. He walks into the bathroom that Cathy is cleaning. She’s scrubbing the disgusting toilets. One is even overflowing. He then says, “Mom since you’re not listening to me I just wanted to tell you that I am moving out after graduation.”
Her face has lit up as if she couldn’t believe what he has said. She tries not to show emotion and says, “Good luck with that.”
Brian still can’t believe the way she’s acting. He says to himself, How can she not care. He sends a text to me. Letting me know he has told his mom the news.
I type, “Maybe you just need some time away from her. She seems to be really bothering you lately.”
Brian responds, “No. I want to move out. You’re right I do need to get away from her. That means I don’t want to be under her roof anymore!”

SATURDAY:

It is Saturday now. Brian and his mom are off on the weekends, but Brian isn’t home. He’s at my house. We’re on the couch watching spongebob on demand.
I stare at his face, and think about how worried he looks. I ask him, “What is on your mind right now?”
He says, “Nothing. What are you talking about?”
I respond,“You look worried. Don’t tell me nothing when I know it’s something.”
He then sighs and says, “For the time I have left with my mom I don’t want to leave on bad terms, but it looks like it’s going to have to be that way.”
I put my head on his shoulder and sigh. “Just give it time,” I say. “It’ll all work out for better or for worse. You’ll still have me here.”
He looks at me and gives me a soft kiss on the cheek. I bring him in and hug him tightly, hoping to take all his worries away.
Brian stays the night at my house that Saturday. He explained to my mother with a sad face and tears how he needed time away from his mom. My mom understood where he was coming from, shaking her head in agreement. I assume she went through something similar when she was his age.
He wasn’t allowed to sleep in my room so he slept on the couch. He texted me from the living room and said, “I can’t sleep. All I keep thinking about is my mom, and how she doesn’t care about me anymore.”
When I get the text I walk out to the living room, and sit on the pull out couch next to him. I say, “You don’t have to worry so much. It may sound harsh but once you’re gone she’ll start to miss you.”
He stares at me as I’m talking. I’m not sure if he’s listening, but I am just here to help all his problems go away.
After about 5 minutes he says, “What if she never misses me,” in a very sad tone.
“Don’t worry about that. If she doesn’t miss you then I know I will every time you’re gone,” I say.

SUNDAY MORNING:

Brian wakes up, looking around confused. It’s like he doesn’t know where he’s at. He then realizes that he is at my house. He comes in my room, turning the knob gently, and opening the door slowly. He tries to be quiet, and then tries to wake me up. “WAKE UP. I MISS YOU,”  he shouts while he’s sitting right next to me on my bed, shaking my left shoulder viciously. So much for trying to be quiet.
I wake up, and cover his mouth. “Shut up,! I hiss. “You’re being too loud!
Brian removes my hand, and covers his mouth with his own hand as if he were in shock.
I removed his hand from his mouth and said, “Why did you wake me up so early?” It was 6 in the morning. The sun wasn’t even up yet. 
He said, “I received a text from my mother,”  looking down at the phone in his lap.
I rose up from my pillows my head is aching, but I don’t complain. I say “What did she….”
Brian interrupted me. She said, “I’m sorry for neglecting you, and I didn’t mean to make me you feel alone, and I didn’t want to seem fake.”
I took in the words he repeated slowly. “So does this mean that you’re going to stay with her even after you graduate,” I say.
“No,” Brian replied. “I am still going to move out, and she’s just going to have to deal with it. She messed up, and she knows she did, so now she has to face the consequences. Even if that means losing her son.”
I looked around confused still trying to process what he had just said, and I am still half asleep. I get up from my bed, leaving Brian in my room as I head for the bathroom. I close the bathroom door, and lock it. I yell for Brian, and tell him could he go outside in the car, and get my cell phone. I heard the sliding glass door open, and Brian stepping outside. I start to think to myself. I don’t want him to hear me getting sick. His mom was right. I am pregnant.
Brian comes back in just in time. I am finished throwing up. He closes the sliding glass door carefully, and sits down next to me on the couch. He pushes my hair behind one ear, and sees that tears are falling down my cheek slowly. He asks in surprise, “What’s wrong babe?”
At first I don’t reply but then I say slowly, “I have to tell you something very important that is going to change our lives forever. Let me know when you’re ready.”
Brian tries to process the words that I just said one more time. He looks at me and then looks around the living room. He takes a deep, deep, deep breath, and when he finally let’s it all out he says, “I’m ready. Whatever it is I promised to always be here. No matter what.”
I do the same thing Brian does. I take a deep, deep, deep breath, and once I let it all out I say something that Brian, and I will never forget for as long as we live. I say, “I am pregnant. We are going to be parents….”

TO BE CONTINUED….