NAIVETÉ

"He has to marry you. Make an honest woman out of you. You can't be the one to be treated like a pariah while he's slinging around with his guys and smoking cigars."

"I'm not going to be treated like a pariah. Granted, the gossip blogs will have a field day, but it will die down as quickly as it will start. I'm going to do what mother does when a scandal blows up: ignore them and leave the country for a while."

"Are you okay? Leave the country? You're pregnant! Pregnant! You have a Master's degree program to begin next month, and you are carrying some man's baby. Are you okay?"

Trembling lips, teary eyes.

"He said that I was different. He said I wasn't a spoilt rich brat like the others. He told me I had brains, and was too damn smart. And he said he would use protection, I told him not to, that I wouldn't get pregnant."

"And yet, here we are. Why would you even belive anything that loser said?! Men like him eat up girls like you for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and maybe dessert. You're not the first girl he's told that."

An angry hiss. And then a sigh.

"I wanted to be the kind of woman he'd be proud to be with. It's why I was asking you all those questions, but I couldn't do any of it. He was my first, and...and he was so gentle and..."

Tears. It's a display of waterworks. Her nose has turned red too.

"My god! Your parents are going to kill me. For heaven's sake, why did you have to go and do this with him? There's a gazillion of boys out there in your circle that would have been willing to do this...what am I saying? You're fucking pregnant! And if my calculations are right, you're going to start showing soon. It's been three months already, no?"

"Yes, it has been three months already."

"Well, there's only two things to do. You either tell him you're keeping it, or you kill it and tell him later, or not. I prefer you don't. I know someone who can do it for you, discreetly."

"Kill it!? Have you lost your mind? That's a child right there, my child! I'm not killing her."

A long groan.

"Look, you're being overly emotional. Think of the long term here, how are you going to face your father if you keep it? Your mom is going to disappear into thin air, and you know it. And technically, you don't know if it's a he or she, it's just a tadpole swimming around in fluid. I should know that, I'm the nursing student here."

A quick drag, and then a slow exhale.

"No. I'm not killing my baby. I'm going to have her and raise her, and love her. And I am not going to give her up either."

"Now, you've lost it. I swear it, you have lost it! What are you smoking?! You're fucking twenty three?! You don't even know what you want to do with your life and now you want to riase a baby?! Look, dude, you have got to squelch all of these emotions, pregnancy doesn't look good on you. You don't know how to take care of a baby, hell, you can barely even take care of yourself."

More tears. 

"He said I was different. That he couldn't stop thinking about me. He said I was.... ohmygod! Ohmygod! This isn't how I planned my life! I don't want to be a baby mama at twenty three!"

"Looks like you may need to buy the handbook: How To Be A Baby Mama. I hear Sophie has got some experience, you could send her a DM."

A startled expression.

A tentative smile, and then loud, bellyaching laughter.

The problem is forgotten, for now.

The End.

I haven't written dialogue in a while, and describing emotions is something I am working on. So I'll be glad to get your thoughts on the emotional state of the two people in this dialogue, is it relatable or not?

And this picture belongs to Monstera on Pexels.

I like the innocence of the petals.