GOOD NEWS

Clive never saw anything more clearly in his life than he did at that moment. Of course, he wanted the news not to be accurate, but not for the reasons one would assume. Clive stood in his living room in mix-match socks, basketball shorts, and a mustard-stained wife beater in complete shock. The news had come out of nowhere as he was in a heated firefight with his nemesis, THEHATEYOUGIVE, when from behind him, his girlfriend Lana blocked his view of the 55-inch hand-me-down plasma TV to tell him she was pregnant.

Lana, her hand trembling, held the pregnancy test to Clive’s face. The fiery shootout on the PS5 shooter game was in full swing; each kill made Clive’s eyes widen. He had to have known this was going to happen, given the frequency of their morning rendezvous. The odds, man, the odds.

Lana, now standing over him, her face a mix of concern and anticipation. The weight of the issue was bearing down on Clive, his thoughts racing. He fought the idea that he’d be like his own dad, a thought that repulsed him. The fear of the responsibility, of being a father, provider, and helpmate to Lana, the woman bringing their first child into the world, was overwhelming.

With all of these thoughts coming at him and more, the only thought he could voice was how they were going to keep the lid on this issue from their parents until they were ready to share it with the world. Lana herself was with Clive on this, as the twenty-something couple now sat closely entwined on their sofa, dumbfounded that this was actually happening to them.