Love You Too: PART NINETY FIVE

-TIFFANY-
"Tiffany? Sorry, I had to call you. You left me your number last year remember? If I needed a party planning?"
"Oh yes, of course" I said to Mrs Guy, my English Literature teacher.
"Well, I couldn't help but read your essay straight away, and I have to say its absolutely perfect. I literally can't fault anything you've written! You've managed to home in on not only colour's relevance to the storyline but also to the image of characters. Really really well done. I was just wondering if I had your permission to send it to a company?"
"Thank you! Which company?" I asked, intrigued.
"I think you'd make an amazing journalist. And not just because of your amazing people skills, but that your writing has real character. I don't know whether it's because I know you, but when I read your pieces they have a real voice: a tone to them that can totally change the angle of your piece. I've got a friend who works at Condé Nast, and I know you've already had connections with Vogue, but I really want you to give W magazine a whirl. They are more focused on the arts and other aspects of style, and I think with your sense of style, you'd be able to make it there. Like really make it there. Anyway, I'm sure it's all a bit overwhelming, so we'll talk about it tomorrow in the lesson before I do anything. I hope telling your parents goes well!"
"I don't know what to say... Thank you so much! That's just the confidence boost I needed, thank you!"
"You deserve it. You really do"
"Thank you"
"Good night Tiffany"
"Night"
"Who was that?" Nate asked, from his position slumped on his side of the bed. He had his laptop open, and he was preparing the webcam for telling our parents, but he's clearly got distracted as he'd put on his over the ear headphones and had drifted off into another world entirely.
"Mrs Guy. She marked my essay and couldn't fault it. So she's sending it off to W magazine" I said, not really believing myself when I heard it a second time.
"Oh well done baby" he said, still gazing at the screen.
"Don't sound too proud. It's only a national magazine, nothing to stress about"
"What? Oh sorry, I'm just nervous. Well done!"
"Don't worry, I'm serious. It doesn't matter" I said, siting up alongside him in bed.
That was when it dawned on me. Everyone always talks about relationships going stale once rings are involved, and up to now I couldn't believe them. Everything had been just like before, but this relationship's 'volta' was thus: everytime we lay together in bed, he either wrapped his arm around me, or offered up his chest as a cushion, without fail. But now, for the first time in our relationship, we were sat side by side, just after getting into bed.
"Are you alright?" I asked him, trying to place my head near his chest but finding his laptop in the way; so I had to settle in the vicinity of the bed surrounding him, sighing at how uncomfortable it was compared to him.
"Huh? Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" he said, turning on the webcam and linking up both my parents and his.
"You just seem a little cold tonight, that's all" I said, sitting up again, and giving up on ever reaching his chest. He sat up too, pushing his headphones down so they were draped around the base of his neck.
"Nate?" his mother asked as she glanced into the webcam.
"Hey mom" he replied, waving "Can you get dad? We've got news"
"Sure" she said, scuttling off upstairs to find her husband.
"Before you ask, Tiffany's father is away." my mother said.
"I know mom. I heard. Don't worry, I'll come round this weekend and we can talk about it over brunch, okay?" I replied, tearing up at the thought of what was happening between them.
"Thank you darling. Anyway, what's this news?" my mother asked in anticipation.
"Well," Nate began as soon as his parents were both sat down in front of their screen "Tiffany and I... We're having another baby. We've had a check up and it's fine, so everything's pretty perfect right now" he said, brushing his lips across the top of my head so it looked like he was kissing me.
"Oh darling! I'm so proud of you!" my mom said, face full of elation and glowing with pride.
"Thank you mom" I said, smiling back through the tears of happiness.
"Mom?" Nate asked, looking to his mother for a response. All that was visible on the Cole family end was his mother, hand over mouth, head hung low. His father had stormed off somewhere, leaving his wife to look so distraught.
"Nathaniel. We didn't raise you to have a child as a teenager. And I know Tiffany isn't white trash, but this kind of thing is what happens with a girl like that. Do you really want to be branded like that, either of you? I thought the last child should have been a warning to you" she said, brushing hair behind her ear casually as she said so, as if she was simply speaking her mind and she didn't care about the implications.
"I'm sorry, who made you the judge of their happiness? And who allowed you to call my daughter white trash?" my mother interjected, seeing the look on Nate and I's face.
"Oh come on, don't you see my point? You expect this of inbreds, not pedigree children like ours"
"They're in love. We can't blame them for that. I think more people should be inspired by these two" she argued, clearly speaking from experience in her own love life.
"One more thing, hasn't anyone cared to notice the fact that they've only been together for about half a year? They're married, and she's been pregnant twice in that time, doesn't that tell you something?"
"It tells me the believe in love at first sight, yes. Why can't you be happy for them?" my mother said, despair filling her voice where there once was rage.
"Because I don't want to see him waste his life away. I'm sure you feel the same was about her"
"She has a name. And anyway, don't you want them to be part of each other's futures?"
"As friends, yes. I just wish he'd given Mollie more of a thought. She's a fine young girl"
"So's Tiffany!" Nate finally interjected, his arm muscles tensing.
"Mollie wouldn't get pregnant this soon"
"Cecelia, if you're not willing to be part of Tiffany's life or the baby's, then you're not part of mine. I thought we already established that? Say goodbye to dad for me, because I doubt I'll be seeing you again" Nate said, cancelling the call to them.
"Nate?" my mother asked, seeing all this "Are you sure that was the right thing to do?"
"I'm certain. She was like this last time, and she's not getting away with it like last time. So what I didn't get my trust fund, so what I didn't get to move the last of my stuff out of her house, it's worth it just to be rid of her" Nate said, crossing his arms and flexing them again.
"Mother, can we talk at the weekend? I'm sorry, there's a lot for Nate and I to talk about"
"Of course, congratulations!" she said, smiling and kissing the air.
"Thanks, it really does mean a lot" I said, glancing at Nate who had his headphones on already.
"No problem sweetheart. Have a good night's sleep"
"You too, mom" I said, ending the call to her.
"What was that?" I said to him, headphones inducing a deafness that I knew would lag until the morning. I took all my clothes off, bar my underwear and threw on my silk dressing gown and climbed into bed. Still, no response from Nate.
That was it: the turning point, the volta, call it what you wish. That was the moment that Nate and I's relationship took a turn for the worst, a turn that took us away from young and in love, and towards growing old alongside each other.