My alarm blaring wakes me up at 9 the next morning. I don't have to pick Tal up until half ten but I needed time by myself to let the news sink in.

I decided to go for a run since I had time to spare. "Trust you to get a girl pregnant" I mutter to myself "I mean if it's going to be anyone, Tal is best"

I shake my head, I talk to myself now? I don't think so. I know this isn't the norm and I'm probably supposed to be spiralling right now but there's nothing we can do to change it so why dwell over it

I showered when I got home and since the weather isn't too bad I decided on wearing some red Adidas sports shorts that almost reached my knee with the typical three white stripes and a tight white three-quarter length sleeve tshirt

I left my house a little bit earlier than I planned - I say my house because I recently moved out of my evil mothers house, so I didn't have to deal with her "my house, my rules" bullshit. It's a medium sized, two story house with an open space downstairs and two bedrooms upstairs. It came furnished with the bare minimum but I didn't need a lot so I was happy with it

I stopped at Gracies on the way and picked up two coffees along with a blueberry and chocolate muffin

Healthy, I know

I pulled up outside Talia's house and text her I was outside. She walked out and locked the door behind her.

"Hey" She quietly says as she gets into the car

"Yo, how are you feeling?"

"Like shit"

"You look it too" I joke pulling out of her driveway

"Ryder!"

I laugh "what? Just because your pregnant doesn't mean you're going to be wrapped in bubble wrap around me"

She rolls her eyes playfully and after a few minutes speaks up again "What are we going to tell people?"

"We don't have to. Not if you don't want to"

"I'm going to have to leave my job. A baby bump in my uniform is a tell tale give away"

"I have a job" I say "and savings, we can do it" before adding as an after thought "that's if you want to keep it"

"Do you?" She turns to me

I sigh, giving her a quick glance "it's not going to be easy but it's our baby and I couldn't give it up"

"Me either" she smiles

Once we got to the hospital everything went pretty fast. Talia was lying on the bed her barely there bump on show - I say barely there what I really mean is no bump while I sit beside her

"Hey" a middle aged woman walks in holding a chart "I'm Dr. Greggs and I'll be continuing the rest of your pregnancy with you. It's Talia right?" Talia nods "So it's your first pregnancy right?"

Talia nods again "mhm"

Dr Greggs speaks again "so for now I've a few forms you need to fill out while I set up everything" she turns to me and offers me a wide smile "you must be baby daddy?"

I nod "that's me" I hold out my hand "Ryder"

She takes my hand and shakes before looking between me and Talia "excuse me if I'm over stepping but you two seem like very young parents"

Me and Talia look at each other "yep, eighteen"

"My youngest is eighteen too" she smiles "no where near as mature as you two"

"Thank you" Talia says and hands her back the forms

"So what's your deals?" She asks and when we look at her she continues "your stuck with me for another 32 weeks, I find knowing each other's stories always helps"

"So what's your deal?" I ask in a polite way "if you don't mind me asking"

She leans back against the wall, as casual as you could be "I have four kids 3 boys and one girl, divorced and I had my first child when I was two years younger than you two"

"Wow" Talia exclaims "did you find it hard?"

"All during the pregnancy I was too busy with the 'what am I going to do' and the 'am I actually having a baby' that I actually didn't enjoy the whole pregnancy, don't make that mistake" she looks between the two of us "but as soon as you both see your baby, you'll instantly fall in love and I can already tell you two will be brilliant parents"

We both say thanks

"So what's your deals?" She asks a smile on her face

"You want the truth?" Talia asks and doctor Greggs nods "because that's a long story"

"I've got time"

"It's like your typical cliché" Talia says "he's the bad boy, I'm the semi-popular girl and we 'hate each other"

I laugh "hate each other that worked out well"

Talia looks at me with a grin "we became friends with benefits, but then his ex got involved and put me in a coma"

Greggs gasps "no way"

"And then Talia decided to blame me instead when I was actually trying to help"

Talia rolls her eyes "fast forward a few weeks I apologise because I realised I was wrong and we were just friends but then at a wedding we got carried away and now we are here"

Greggs does what a lot of people would have done in her situation - burst out laughing. Once she sobered up she spoke "you two are definitely going to be brilliant parents to the baby"

"You get brilliant parents out of that?" Tal shrieks

"Mhm" she grins and moves back towards the machines "oh I can't wait to see how you two move along during this pregnancy"

"Now will we meet your little one?"

We both nod

She puts some gel on Tal's stomach and uses the machine to put the ultrasound on the tv. We hear the heartbeat straight away and me and Tal look at each other her eyes filling with water. I put my hand on top of hers and she gives me a smile

"You see here" Dr Greggs points at the screen "that's your baby. Right now its the size of an apple seed"

After a few minutes she gives us a smile and starts to finish everything up. She gives Talia a wipe for the gel and starts filling out a form "so just to quickly run you guys through everything, you're currently five weeks pregnant. I'm going to bring you back in four weeks for a standard check up and at 16 weeks you both will get a choice to find out the gender of your baby. Since it's your first pregnancy it'll be around 12 weeks before you develop your bump"

"Any questions?"

We both shake our head

"Well I'll see you guys in no time, my contact info is on this sheet" she hands Talia a sheet "feel free to call anytime day and night"

"Thank you"

"Thanks" both Talia and I say at the same time

Once we get to the car Talia puts her head back and shuts her eyes

"You tired?" I ask her

She nods not opening her eyes "and I've got work later"

"You could just leave your job"

"And how would I pay for anything?" She gives me a look "I've a minimum of seven weeks left working before I have to tell my boss I need maternity leave"

"Well if your going to stay working late shifts you should know that I love closer to the bar than you do so you can stay at mine" I tell her

Her eyebrows scrunch up in confusion "No you don't..... Oh-"

"You moved out"

"I moved out" we both say at the same time

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asks

I run my hand through my hair and start driving "I only moved out a few days ago and the last time we talked you dropped a bombshell that made mine seem pretty small so I kind of forgot to mention it"

"Wanna see it? You can catch some shut eye before work"

She nods "can we stop at my place to grab my uniform first?"

I nod and we make the pit stop before we get to my place

"Wow it's really nice" Tal says as she gets out of the car

"I tried"

"And your literally three doors down from the bar"

We go inside and Talia gives it the nod of approval "Hey at least when my mom kicks me out we have a place to stay" she says putting her hand on her stomach

"Even if your mom doesn't kick you out, ye have a place to stay"

"Thank you" she says looking around "but if we moved in, we'd definitely be doing some make overs"

"What's wrong with it now?" I ask

"It doesn't feel homely yet" she replies looking over at me

"Then we'll make it homely" I tell her "we have things to talk about but we have a few more months for that but for now you should get some sleep"

"Where'll I go?" She asks

"My room is upstairs first door straight ahead and the guest room is end of the corridor on the right" I tell her

She grins "your bed will do"