(Untitled)

[stopatakiss]

Overalls? Not too good for hiding growing baby bumps. Ivy has learned this already. That doesn't change the fact that it's about the most comfortable thing she can wear right now

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[knifenfork]

"Is everyone pregnant around here?" It's a declaration Edna feels needs to be made. Of course, this one looks much younger than the last. She smiles shyly at the girl, dancing on her toes a bit. "Congratulations, hun!"

[stopatakiss]

Ivy, for her part, is sort of tired of the attention. She used to love it. Now she just wants to be invisible.

"Thanks," she replies kind of flatly. "I know I'm absolutely thrilled."

Sorry, Edna. It's nothing personal.

[knifenfork]

Edna's not used to young girls talking to her like that. Correction she's not used to talking to anyone.

"No need to get flippant, hun." She sinks into the seat next to her. "So it wasn't exactly planned then?"

[stopatakiss]

Ivy raises an eyebrow at the large strange woman. "Uh, no. I'm seventeen and unmarried and I got pregnant on purpose."

The dripping sarcasm, it drowns us.

[knifenfork]

"Boy, you got a mouth on you, don't you?" She stares forward. "It happens. My mother used to say that's how you get a man to marry you." Edna flushes. "My mother was never a good example to follow though. The women would talk a mess 'bout her."

[stopatakiss]

"Yeah, well, he wasn't very interested in marrying me," Ivy snips a little. "He was more interested in having a pity party because his boyfriend that I didn't know he had broke up with him. So he fucking up and killed himself."

Oh, the mouth on this girl.

[knifenfork]

Gasp-choke-what?!

"Oh, child, I know you're angry and hurtin, but there ain't no reason to use that word in front of me." She feels dirty and disgusted just hearing it. "Now don't you go dirtyin up that pretty, young mouth of yours. You can tell me all about this man who left you in nice words, now can't you?"

[stopatakiss]

Ivy is a little taken aback. Where is this woman from, Leave-it-to-Beaver-land?

"Uh... I guess..." She shifts a bit, uncomfortably. "He... I'm... I was in love with him. So... y'know, we... slept together. And then after spring break I found out I was... y'know. And I told him. And I figured we could figure something out. But it turns out he was gay and dating his roommate, but they'd broken up, and he was apparently so depressed over that that he killed himself. On stage. During Romeo and Juliet."

[knifenfork]

"Oh, hun, I'm so sorry." Edna says when she finally gains the ability to speak after that story. It sounds like something out of a dirty magazine or book, but never anything that could actually happen. The future is a strange place.

"At least, there is one good thing that will come out of this tragedy."

[stopatakiss]

Ivy gives her a 'wtf are you on?' look. "Uh, like what?"

Sorry, Edna.

[knifenfork]

"Why the new life that you've created, of course! There's a little baby inside you and who knows what he or she will become or do or..." Edna shakes her head, slightly confused. "My little girl, Tracey's the best thing that ever happened to me! She's gonna become so much more than me or her father have ever been!"

[stopatakiss]

"I don't want it, though," Ivy says. "How's that a good thing? I was going to go to college in Paris. Now I'm stuck living with my roommate from school and her family - incidentally also Jason's family." The tone should make it clear who Jason is. "I don't want any of this."

[knifenfork]

"You might not want your baby now, but you have him or her inside you, and it's best to not get in the habit of blaming them for what you have suffered. She or he didn't ask to be born, it's just as big a surprise for him or her as it was for you!" Edna says quietly, but firmly looking straight at Ivy.

[stopatakiss]

Ivy shifts a bit, suddenly uncomfortable under Edna's stern gaze.

"I... I guess so." She'd never thought of that before. It wasn't the baby's fault that they didn't use protection, or that Jason was gay, or stupid enough to kill himself. It was just an innocent bystander.

Moreso than her.

[knifenfork]

"You'll learn to love him or her more than anything or anyone else. I promise." Edna says with a firm nod, gaining a softer look to her eyes. "A baby always requires a lot of sacrifice, but they're always worth it."

[stopatakiss]

"Yeah. If I keep it." Always 'it'. She starts thinking of it in terms of 'the baby' or 'him' or 'her' and she might actually get attached. She doesn't want that.