“OK. What’s going on?”
Lex tried to come up with something witty and Lex-like, but his Lexicisms failed him. “Ah, I’m not quite sure what to say.”
“Just spit it out. I can read it.”
“Lu’s pregnant,” Lex said quickly.
Mike’s eyes got wide, he rubbed his hands over his face, and then turned away. “Can you say something else?” his dad quipped.
“I could, but this is what I need to talk to you about.”
“How is she?” Mike asked. Lu might as well have been one of his children. And Mike could imagine her intellectual anxiety, which would be far more potent than with most sixteen-year-olds finding out they were pregnant. “And don’t think I’m questioning you, but how did you handle it?”
The smile that was so much a part of Lex’s charm split his face. “I told her I’d be back as soon as I could and we’d play it from there. I’m not leaving Lu behind. You know that, right?”
Mike smiled, but it was tight, worried.
“So, how do you think Dr. A. and Mr. Chris will take it?”
Mike didn’t even know how to respond. He wasn’t sure how he was taking it. “Have you guys discussed options?”
“Like what? Abortion?” Lex laughed. “You know Lu. In all her intellectual glory she knows exactly what abortion is. And ya know, she knows what she’d be giving up, but she doesn’t want to have an abortion. She said, and this might be word-for-word, ‘Lex, I know I’m supposed to go on to greatness because I’ve been “blessed” with this crazy-smart brain, but I can’t have an abortion. I know my mom will freak because she’s done everything in her power to raise smart, independent thinkers. Her picturing her sixteen-year-old daughter pregnant will offend all of her feminist sensibilities. But I think I can have our child and still make something of myself.’
“Seriously, Dad, how can I argue with that? It was like listening to Dr. A. When Lu talks like that, I feel like I am totally out of my league.”
“We’re all a little out of our league around Lu. But if it wasn’t for you, Lu wouldn’t be who she is. You bring out the best in her.”
“Well, I think it’s more like I bring out the stupid in her,” Lex said with a very Lex-like self-deprecating smile.
“How did this happen, Lex? Your mother’s been handing you condoms since you were fourteen.”
“Well, it’s like I said. I bring out the stupid. The only time we had sex without a condom was when I found out I made the team. Can we leave it at that?”
“And when did you two start having sex?”
“Is this something we really need to talk about?” Lex asked as sheepishly as he could.
“Yes. Because, really, Lex, she’s only sixteen.” When Lex started to protest, he said, “I know her birthday is soon, but, really, Lex, you are both children.”
“Dad, I stopped being a child the day you let me leave the country on my own,” Lex said indignantly.
“Regardless, you think you’re not going to have to answer these questions? What happens when Chris hears about his sixteen-year-old daughter having sex with you? And not that I think this will be an issue, but you are over eighteen, Lex. Technically, they could press charges.”
“Dad!” Lex looked mortified for the first time in the conversation. “Do you think they would do that?”
“No, I don’t think so, but they could. I’m just trying to point out to you that this is serious, Lex.”
“You think we don’t know that? You think I’m not scared shitless. Jesus, Dad. I’m about to go off to follow my dream. It was hard enough leaving Lu behind, but now I feel like a piece of shit even thinking about leaving.”
“Not leaving is not an option. I know I should be noble and be ready to trade your dreams in, but you’ve worked too hard. And if there are any two kids—because you are kids—that could make this happen, it’s you and Lu. But you have to promise me that you’ll follow this path that you’ve been on. If you don’t, I think you’ll be damning you and Lu to failure. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, sir. Lu said the same thing.”
Mike smiled a sad, weary smile. “I love that kid,” Mike said.
“Me too,” Lex responded. “So, how do you think Mom’s going to take this?”
Mike blanched. “Not good, buddy. Not good at all.”
Lex snapped back to the present when he felt someone grab his hand. He looked down to see Lu sliding in beside him in the pew. Smiling over the irony of his memory, he squeezed her hand, happy she’d come to him at last. He tried then to pay attention to what was going on around him. Now that she was there, he could focus on the present, getting through the day, instead of thinking about the past.