I have never understood the big deal about turning sixteen. I guess they have to make sixteen exciting for some reason. At seventeen you get your liscense and at eighteen you're legally an adult. Sweet sixteen! Yay! Even on my sweet sixteen I still didn't get it. I was sixteen, so what?
  The morning of my sixteenth birthday I didn't wake up till four thirty. That was the longest I'd slept in days. I read and drank a cup of coffee. Around six I got a shower and then decided to find breakfast. Around nine I began to wonder if Jack was ever gonna get up. I heard his door open and then the bathroom door closed. Twenty minutes later he came out of the bathroom and went back into his bedroom. I waited for him to come out for nearly an hour before getting up and going to find out why he was still in his room. As I started down the hall something crashed in his room. It sounded like he threw something at the wall. Then he was yelling unintelligible things and more things were being thrown. I knocked on the door, tried to talk to him and only seemed to make things worse. I tried to open the door, but it was locked. Something that sounded suspiciously like glass hit the door when I tried to open it. The yelling and crashing lasted for more than an hour and then it got quiet. I knocked again.
"Dad?" There was no response, "Dad?!" I tried the knob again just to see, but it was still locked. I waddled back to the kitchen to get my phone. I tried Alex first and then Rian. Neither of them responded to texts or calls. I called Zack next.
"Hello?" He sounded groggy. The time difference had slipped my mind completely in my panicked state.
"Somethings wrong with Dad! He locked himself in his room and he was yelling and throwing things and now it's quiet and he won't answer me! And I don't what to do and neither Alex or Rian are answering. And-and I-I-"
"Hey, calm down. Take some deep breaths." I sat down against the wall and took a few deep breaths, "Have you talked to him at all today?"
"No." Zack sighed.
"Can I call you back in a minute?"
"Uh. . . Sure."
"Thanks." He ended the call. I slid over beside Jack's door and pressed my ear against it. I could hear him talking. I couldn't make out what he was saying. It also sounded like he was crying. I pulled away from the door. I texted Leo and didn't get a response. About half an hour later my phone rang. Zack.
"So he's fine, but I'd suggest leaving him alone for a bit."
"Ok." I sighed.
"Just-He'll explain at some point. Right now he just needs a little bit to cool down. Okay?"
"Mmhm." I sighed and rubbed my eyes.
"I'll talk to you later, Anna."
"Bye, Zack." I mumbled and ended the call. It took me ten minutes, but I did manage to stand up. At that point it was lunchtime so I made a grilled cheese, that I only ate half of and then ended up puking up. I took a nap after that. I slept for almost two hours. Jack was still locked in his room. The boredom became too much so I slipped on my shoes and went for a walk. I walked until I found a park. My feet hurt so I sat on a bench for a little bit before walking back. When I got back Jack was standing in the kitchen quite obviously panicking. He was on the phone yelling at whoever he'd called.
"I mean she's fucking gone! She left her phone here and didn't leave a note. I don't fucking care right now! Of course I'm fucking freaking out! She's gone!" I slammed the door. He turned. "She just got back!" And then he hung up. "Baby girl, where were you?" I didn't answer. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "If you're gonna go out alone at least take your phone? Please?" I slipped my shoes off and walked past him. He grabbed my arm and stopped me.
"Don't fucking touch me." I snapped. He looked hurt, but didn't let go.
"What's wrong?" I rolled my eyes.
"Well, I thought today was important, but I guess I was wrong." I pulled my arm out of his grasp, grabbed my phone off the counter and walked down the hall.
"Baby girl. . ."
"Leave me alone!" I walked into my room and slammed the door. I sat down on my bed and started to cry. Happy birthday to me.
I had a few missed texts from Leo that I responded too, including happy birthday, I love, I miss you, and I have gift for you that I'm not sure when I can get to you.
   Around four Jack came and knocked on the door.
"Baby girl? I'm so sorry I forgot your birthday. I had a really shitty start to my day and it's all I've been thinking about." I didn't answer. He tried the door knob. Unfortunately I hadn't locked it so he came in.
"I'm sorry." He said again when he saw me.
"Hope you're happy. Ruined my birthday. Thought sixteen was supposed to be sweet, but you made sure it wasn't." I muttered and looked away from him.
"Baby girl-"
"And to make things worse you ignored me all morning and threw things at the door when I tried to come in. You don't get to be upset that I went out for walk. What else was I supposed to fucking do?!" I snapped. He sat down beside me.
"And I'm sorry about that, but I knew if I came out I'd do or say something I'd regret." It was quiet for a little bit. I sniffed and wiped the tears off my face. "Everyone knows about the baby." Jack finally broke the silence.
"What? How?"
"I don't know. But people aren't handling it well. My dms are full of people accusing me of getting you pregnant. It just-it pisses me off that I've got no kind of private life and you don't either and it's so fucking-" he groaned in annoyance and put his head in his hands. I sighed.
"It's not your fault." I whispered.
"This is exactly why I don't let people into my life." I took that differently than he intended. "Love you too, asshole."
"No, baby girl, that's not what I meant!"
"Thank you for make a shitty day even worse!" Fresh tears started falling.
"No! No, no, no, no." He started tugging on his hair and mumbling to himself, "I need-I-I-Alex!" He stretched his leg out and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He looked a bit less stressed out when Alex answered and then left the room. After an almost two hour long phone call Jack ordered pizza and we watched Bob's Burgers. We didn't talk much for the rest of the day. We both murmured apologies and that was that.
   The next morning, at four, I woke up feeling more nauseous than I had in months. I barely made it into the bathroom before losing the contents of my stomach. I tried to sip some juice, but ended up throwing up again. That was around six which is when Jack woke up and found me hunched over the toilet, crying and sorta wishing I could die. Around eight I started feeling more human and decided to get a shower. I got dressed and threw my wet hair up into a bun. I met Jack in the hallway.
"Go put your pajamas back on and then pick out some movies. Okay?"
"Okay?"
"Great. I'll be back in an hour." He kissed the top of my head and left. I turned too fast and rushed to toilet again. At that point there was nothing left in my stomach aside from stomach acid. It burned coming up and I started crying again.
  When Jack got back I was in my pajamas, curled up on the couch with a mixing bowl in my lap so I wouldn't have to run to the bathroom.
"Did you pick some movies?"
"Yeah."
"Great. I have those crackers you like and Gatorade as well as nausea medicine and a cake because today we're celebrating your sweet sixteen. Sorta. What's our first movie?" He walked into the kitchen.
"You've Got Mail. It's one of my favorites and I haven't seen it in awhile."
"Sounds good." He came in with my crackers and Gatorade and we attempted to make ourselves comfortable. It wasn't the worst birthday I ever had despite the fact that I was seven months pregnant and I had a stomach bug so I felt like shit all day, but Jack did his best to make my birthday fun. We ended up having Alex and Lisa and Rian over a bit before supper and we watched more movies of my choice. I curled up with Jack on the couch with my stack of crackers and a bottle of Gatorade. We had chicken soup from a can for supper and then the cake. All in all my birthday kinda sucked, but I don't hold it against Jack. Around eleven I called it a day and went to bed. When I walked in I found a small gift bag and a card. In the bag was a new notebook, some pens, a box of junior mints and gift card to hot topic. The card said It's Your Birthday! On the outside and As If We Needed Another Reason To Celebrate. On the inside. Then in Jack's scrawling handwriting it said,

Baby girl,

I'm really not good at putting thoughts into words, but I'm gonna do my best. Happy birthday! That's a good start. It's been a year since we first met. How crazy is that? So much has happened. I'm really proud of you and how strong you've been through all the shit  that you've gone through. I know I'm not the greatest at all this parenting shit, but I'm doing the best I can and I hope that's enough. I probably haven't said it enough, but I'm here if you ever need to talk. You don't need to always be strong. You've gone through so much more than most kids your age and you've stayed just as sweet and happy as you were before it all happened. 
  On a less exciting note I'm sorry about forgetting your birthday and everything else that happened yesterday. I could make a hundred excuses, but I won't. I hope you can forgive me.
  One last thing I think you should know is that I don't regret letting you in my life. I know that's what it sounded like, but I promise it's not true. You've made this past year one of the best of my life. Thank you for that. Remember I love you and your baby girl and I'm here for both of you.
Happy sweet sixteen, baby girl.

Love, Dad

You will always come first. No exceptions.

Tucked inside the envelope were two photos. One from my gotcha day. Him, me, Alex, Lisa, Allison, William, his lawyer and the judge. Written on the back of it was the day you became mine. The other was from the concert where I called him Dad for the first time. Probably taken by Ashley. We were hugging. I was up on my tiptoes, practically off the ground because of Jack's arms around me. You couldn't see my face very clearly, but Jack was smiling wide. On the back of that one it said, the day I became yours. I didn't realize I was crying until the first tears landed on the photos. I taped them to my wall right above my nightstand and then went to find Jack. He was still up, in the kitchen, leaning against the counter with his phone out, texting Zack with a goofy grin on his face. I walked over and wrapped my arms around his waist.
"Love you, Dad."
"Love you too, Baby girl."
"No exceptions." I whispered and sniffed. He rubbed my back.
"No exceptions."