Page 1 of A Very Oceanport Christmas
1
Sam
Iwasn't sure what I'd expected my parents' reaction to be when I came back to Oceanport. I'd run through a million different scenarios in my head before I'd stepped out of the car and rang the doorbell to the apartment over the bookstore where my parents lived. But nothing could have prepared me for the deafening silence that greeted me when the door flung open and my omega father's eyes snapped to my belly.
My very round belly.
And no, I'd not gotten fat from eating too many Cheetos.
Hell, I wished it was that simple.
"Did you..." Dad started and stopped again. "Are you...?" Finally, his eyes left my belly to study my face.
"I am," I said, my whole body tense. Yes, I'd gotten myself pregnant. Yes, I was already pretty far along. At least six months or so. I could never keep the number of weeks straight in my head because I preferred not to think about the mess I'd gotten myself into. My paps, my alpha father, had always claimed that getting myself into trouble was my greatest skill. Dad would usually refute that it was okay because I also had the skills to get myself out of trouble and everyone needed to experiment a bit.
He wasn't saying anything like that now. He wasn't saying anything at all. I wished he'd just yell already. The silence before the storm was always the worst part to me, when the tension just built and built until somebody cracked--usually me.
Dad stepped aside and motioned for me to come into the house.
Our dog barked, running up to greet me. I knelt down to give her a hug, trying to distract myself from the conversation to come. Rogue was a Shiba Inu, and she was the best dog ever. My parents had gotten her a couple of years ago, but she still acted like a total puppy in some ways.
"Zander!" Dad called into the house. "Sam's home."
I put my duffel bag down next to the door. The rest of my shit was still in the car, mostly crammed into the trunk and the back seats. I'd packed everything in a bit of a hurry. It didn't matter that I'd known about this pregnancy for months, I'd still waited until the last possible moment to get off my butt and pack up my college life.
"C'mon," Dad said. "Let's move to the living room and you can..." He gestured at my belly and I took it to mean that he wanted me to explain what the hell had happened to me. He'd gone pale and his lips drew into a thin line. Obviously he was trying to keep it together, but I knew it was only a matter of time until he'd explode on me.
I totally deserved it too.
Resigning myself to my fate, I sat on the couch while Dad took the armchair, his posture completely stiff as he settled in it.
We looked at each other in silence. I thought I should say something, but I wasn't sure what. My pregnancy was already obvious.
The dog jumped up on the couch beside me. Absent-mindedly, I stroked my hand through her fur. Rogue always knew when she was needed. I looked up at the sound of footsteps in the hall indicating my paps's approach.
"Sam?" He asked walking into the living room. "I thought the winter break wasn't until--" He stopped talking as his eyes fell on me. I suppressed a sigh. Walking around Oceanport for the next couple of days was going to be a lot of exactly this. The joys of living in a small town where everyone knew everyone and everyone was into everyone's business. That was the reason I'd stayed at college for as long as I could.
Paps looked at Dad. Dad shook his head as if to say 'I don't know either. He was like that when I found him.' Paps glanced at the couch, but didn't sit. In fact, he stopped moving at all. It was as if he was rooted to the spot and the only body parts that still functioned were his arms. He ran a hand through his hair, studying me.
Seeing Paps tense up like that was weird. There was little that ever rattled him. The last time I'd seen him lose his cool was when I very slightly nudged a tree with his beloved car on prom night. He'd held that against meforever.
I braced myself.
"Is this why you're home early?" he asked. Apparently, his speech center was not as damaged as Dad's.
"I..." I paused. Should I just drop the bomb? Probably best to just get it all out. "I'm not going back to college."
"What? Why?" Dad asked as if it wasn't obvious. "You worked so hard to get in! You can't just..." His eyes flickered to my belly again. "You can't just give up because you're pregnant! And how the hell did that happen anyway?" Finally, he raised his voice.
I pressed my lips together, my stomach churning. I didn't exactly enjoy being yelled at, but this was better than the silence. This, I could deal with. "It just happened, okay?"
"No, not okay! So not okay!"
"Nick..." Paps made himself move to rest a hand on Dad's shoulder. Dad huffed, which was his way of saying, 'Fine, you deal with it, then.' I knew what Paps was trying to prevent. Dad and I could shout at each other for hours when we got worked up, but that was our way of resolving things. We were always fine after. Paps never got it, though. He didn't like the yelling, so whenever he was home, he intervened. Or tried to, anyway.
"Let him say what he wants to say," I said. I didn't need Paps to coddle me. It wouldn't make me feel better. What would make me feel better would be to get all of this out in the open so we could move past it.
Dad and Paps exchanged glances. Dad's lips had drawn tight again, like a dam about to burst with all the things he wanted to say to me. But Paps addressed me before he could. "I think we should get the facts first."
