“Blah, he must not be working tonight.” Bianca looked around in disappointment.
“At least the food will be good.” I forced a smile and picked up the menu.
“Oh, gross! I’m not going to eat anything that they serve here.” She wrinkled her nose.
“I’m—actually kind of hungry.” A whiff of something fried came my way and it induced a craving that was unusual for me. “I probably shouldn’t have skipped lunch.”
“Fine, I’ll order a salad or something.” Bianca rolled her eyes and grabbed the other menu.
Our quest for alcohol seemed to have hit a dead end. I told Bianca she could use her fake ID and get something if she wanted—I was actually fine if I didn’t have a drink. She didn’t think that was much fun, nor did she want to buy something at the store and drink it at her place—like a loser, as she put it. She kept asking questions about my supposed mystery guy, and I finally admitted that I was dating someone that lived in Los Angeles. She thought that was crazy and encouraged me to break up with him so that I could enjoy all four years of college. I thought that was a little strange coming from someone who said they didn’t intend to sleep with anyone from Arizona—which is where she was going to be for the next four years, just like me.
I really miss Amelia right about now…
Two months later
My Outback Steakhouse adventure with Bianca proved to be the only one we had. She must have decided that I was boring or found friends that were interested in doing the things she wanted to do. I certainly didn’t mind. I made friends with a few people that lived in my dorm—they were fairly chill and were more focused on school than partying. They also didn’t think it was weird that I had a boyfriend back home in Los Angeles. A couple of them were involved in long distance relationships as well—which is probably why they were more grounded than the free spirited Bianca. They weren’t offended when I didn’t want to hang out with them because I had a Skype-date with Everette—which is exactly what we had planned.
“Hey!” I hit the button to connect with him and held up my box of Chinese food from Ming’s Dynasty. “I got Sesame chicken!”
“Hey there beautiful.” Everette smiled and held up a box from Ming’s Dynasty in Los Angeles. “I have General Tso.”
“Chopsticks?” I picked up my pair and snapped them together.
“Yep.” He nodded and held his up.
We couldn’t have dinner together, but we found something that was almost as good considering the distance. Everette was the first one to suggest it after realizing there were several chain restaurants in Los Angeles that were also available where I was. Everette continued to surprise me—literally. I had come home from school several times and found flowers waiting for me. The latest was a fresh bouquet of roses sitting on the table on the other side of the room with the sweetest card telling me how much he missed me. A few of our Skype sessions had gotten a little dirty, and if I had my way, we were going to heat things up once we were done with our dinner. He made me promise not to touch myself unless we were on one of our Skype-dates, and I was hornier than normal for some reason. Unfortunately, that feeling seemed to pass as we ate because my stomach didn’t seem to agree with what I was eating.
Maybe Chinese food wasn’t a great idea after all…
“Are you okay?” Everette leaned forward with a hint of concern on his face.
“I don’t know.” I looked down at my food. “Maybe they made mine with cat or something—it isn’t sitting well in my stomach.”
“Oh god.” Everette shuddered. “Well, I’m all done with mine now.”
“Me too.” I put my box down.
“Try some rice. That might soak up the kittens,” he chuckled under his breath.
“I think I’m going to just skip straight to the fortune cookie.” I picked it up while I pushed my food away.
“Sounds good.” Everette picked his up.
“Mine says…” I cracked the cookie open and read my fortune. “A passionate new romance will appear in your life when you least expect it.”
“You better not be finding any new romances,” Everette growled under his breath.
“Maybe this fortune cookie is just late.” I looked at him and forced a smile, even though my stomach was still having issues.
“Mine says…” Everette cracked his cookie open and held it up. “The smart thing is to prepare for the unexpected.”
“Sage advice I suppose.” I shrugged.
“Meeting you was certainly unexpected.” He smiled and leaned back against the couch. “I’m glad I was prepared.”
“Maybe both of our fortunes are old.” I shifted to my side to see if that would help alleviate my stomach issues, but it really didn’t. “They both came true before we opened them.”
“Yeah, it seems that way,” he chuckled.
It didn’t seem like we were going to be able to have any dirty fun—not with my stomach trying to do somersaults for some reason. I was glad that Everette wasn’t upset by it. He suggested that I try some rice if I felt like I could stomach it later that evening, and possibly some antacid if I had any on hand. I didn’t but promised I would make a trip to the store to pick some up if it didn’t wasn’t cleared up by morning. I started feeling worse as we continued to talk and really just wanted to lay down. I stretched out on the bed and continued talking to him until my eyelids started getting heavy. Everette was tired too, so we agreed to try again the following night—and mark Chinese food off our list for a while.
I’ve never had any issues with Chinese food before—this is really strange. I think it hit me too quick to be food poisoning.
The next morning
I tossed and turned for a little while, even though my eyelids were heavy. I finally got sleep about two hours after I finished talking to Everette. I woke up a couple of times during the night, but I was able to get back to sleep without much difficulty. I slept until the sun was peeking through the clouds, which was way too early to be up on a day when I didn’t have to go to school—but my stomach had other plans. I jumped out of bed as soon as I realized my dinner from the previous night had no intention of staying down and made it to the sink before I threw up. I felt a little better after that, but not much. I quickly cleaned the sink, gargled with mouthwash, brushed my teeth, and went to the kitchen to see if I could find something that would settle my stomach.
I could really use a soda right now—I switched over to coffee, but I bet the fizz would be nice.
There was a soda machine in the common area of my dorm, so I grabbed my debit card and headed that way. Coke was always my go-to, but for some reason, I really wanted Sprite. That was a rather odd craving—the last time I had Sprite was in middle school. I decided to buy both. I wasn’t sure coffee would feel that good on my stomach, and I would need caffeine at some point. I popped the top on the Sprite as I walked back to my dorm room, and it did make my stomach feel less queasy. I spent an hour slowly sipping it, watching television and finally decided that I should shower. I had no desire to eat the leftover Chinese food, and I would have to get something to eat—I was feeling a little famished after purging the bile out of my stomach.
Maybe I’ll go to that cafe that serves brunch. That might be nice—I’ve been saying that I should try it, but I haven’t yet.
I took a shower, got dressed, and went to the bathroom to fix my hair. I didn’t have anyone to impress, so I combed it out, used the blow dryer, and tied it up in a ponytail. I wasn’t really in the mood to put on makeup, but I figured I should at least make something that resembled an attempt if I was going out in public. It was nowhere near perfect, but it was passable for someone that gave a damn about their appearance—that would have to do. I reached for my birth control like I had been doing every morning since my mother made me get it. I popped the pill out of the pack and was about to wash it down with a cup of water when my brain started connecting a few dots.
“Oh my god…” I stared at the pill in my hand.
/> Did I have morning sickness? No—there’s no way I could be pregnant. I’ve been on the pill since I was sixteen…
I put the pill down on the counter and ran to grab my laptop. It wasn’t going to tell me if I was pregnant, but it could at least tell me if I was crazy. My head started to spin as I thought about the odd craving I had for Sprite. I knew the pill wasn’t guaranteed to work, but it was supposed to be pretty much impossible to get pregnant while you were on it. My search told me that I was within the range for someone to experience morning sickness, but cravings normally didn’t start until later—but some people had them a lot earlier—there were even comments on the article from women who claimed they knew they were pregnant the moment they started craving weird stuff that they normally didn’t eat.
Maybe I’ve just got a stomach bug—that makes a lot more sense than being pregnant.
I had to know for sure, regardless. My periods had been practically nonexistent since I started taking the pill. The doctor said it was a side-effect, so I didn’t really think much about it. There were months when I had something very light, but normally I went through my week of placebo pills without a speck of blood. There hadn’t been any specks of blood since Everette left—I knew that for sure—which made me even more nervous. My stomach was twisted in a knot, so I decided not to even bother with brunch. I just needed to go to the drug store and grab a pregnancy test—maybe more than one just to be sure.
My parents are going to kill me if I’m pregnant—and oh god, Everette—what if he doesn’t want a baby? What if he thinks I lied to him about being on the pill? This has to be a bad dream!
My legs were wobbly when I got to the drug store. I grabbed two different pregnancy tests—both packs of three—and started walking towards the counter. I was still craving Sprite, so I picked up a two-liter and a cold can from the fridge. If nothing else, they would help me pee, because I fully intended to take every single test that I bought to make sure the result was real. My stomach stayed twisted in a tight knot as I checked out and walked to my car. If there really was a baby trying to grow in there, I knew one thing for certain—it hated Chinese food. I drove back to my dorm and broke every speed limit, but thankfully there were no cops on the road. I quickly ran to my dorm room and blew right past Dave, who tried to high five me—I still didn’t know why he seemed to want to high five everyone, but he always smelled like weed, so that was probably part of it.
The smell of weed makes me absolutely nauseous—it’s never bothered me before.
I stripped from the waist down, sat on the toilet, and started opening all of the pregnancy tests. I always wanted children—I just didn’t expect to have one before I graduated from college. Things were going so great with Everette, but I wasn’t sure if an unexpected pregnancy would derail the relationship as quickly as it began. As soon as I started peeing, I dipped the pregnancy tests into the stream. I managed to get four of them saturated with some stop-go action that didn’t feel that great. I didn’t have enough to get the last two, but I had guzzled a Sprite on the way home, so it wouldn’t take long.
“Come on—why do these things take so long…” I stared at the plastic and waited for something to appear.
The box said that a plus sign was good news—a plus sign meant I was pregnant. That wasn’t going to be good news for me. Apparently, the people who manufactured the pregnancy test didn’t make them for college girls that could be on the verge of losing everything. I stared at the first one—closed my eyes—opened them—closed them again—and then I saw a plus sign. I immediately put it on the counter and grabbed the next one—same result. The third and the fourth weren’t done yet, but I double fisted them while I waited—until two plus signs appeared. I was pregnant. The pill had completely failed me, and my life was about to change whether I liked it or not. I was pregnant with Everette’s baby.
“I’m screwed…” I dropped my head in my hands and started crying.
I have to figure out how I’m going to tell Everette—and my parents—which means I have to tell my parents about Everette. This isn’t a bad dream. This is a nightmare.
I spent part of the day crying, and the rest of it trying to figure out how I was going to handle the situation. Deep down, I believed that any child was a blessing, and I was definitely going to keep our baby, but its arrival was going to change my life—possibly both of our lives. It didn’t seem right to share the news during a Skype conversation or on the phone, so I decided that I would wait until I returned to Los Angeles to tell Everette he was going to be a father. That would give me time to process everything, work the details out in my head, and come up with a plan. I cared about Everette—he had stolen my heart—but I had to prepare for the reality of the situation. We hadn’t discussed children, or what it meant, and I didn’t know how he would react when I told him the news. I could hope for the best, but I needed to be prepared for the worst.
I don’t know if it is going to be a boy or girl that I welcome into this world, but I know two things for sure—they hate Chinese food, and they love Sprite.
Chapter Thirteen
Everette
“Hey, are you okay?” I leaned forward when the computer came on, and I saw Holly’s face. “You don’t look well—are you still sick?”
“Yeah, but it seems to be passing.” She nodded. “I think I just have a stomach bug or something.”
“Did you get antacid?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Oh, no.” Holly shook her head back and forth. “I didn’t even think about that. I don’t really have heartburn or anything.”
“I suggested it last night because it can help calm the acid in your stomach, even if you don’t have heartburn.” I leaned back slightly. “You’re supposed to listen to your doctor—not ignore them.”
“I’ll pick some up if I don’t feel well tomorrow.” A half-smile appeared on the corner of her lips.
That’s not the beautiful smile I was hoping for, but I guess it will have to do for now.
“Make sure you stay hydrated too.” I narrowed my eyes. “Lots of water.”
“I’ll try.” She nodded.
Still no smile…
Holly and I had been meeting for our almost-daily Skype conversations and occasional Skype-dates since I left Arizona. They were usually filled with friendly banter, long discussions about things that didn’t always matter, and occasionally they got a little dirty. It was the best thing we had due to the distance between us. I badly wanted to hold her in my arms, and if she was sick, I wanted to be there to take care of her. It definitely seemed like a stomach bug, although I couldn’t shake the feeling that something else was bothering her. When her stomach was bothering her during our Skype-date, she was very uncomfortable and had to change positions multiple times to try and alleviate the symptoms. She wasn’t moving around or anything like that—she just looked very unhappy. The picture wasn’t the clearest, but it almost looked she had been crying—but she denied that and said it was just because she didn’t feel well.
“Alright, I don’t want to keep you up too late. If you’re not feeling well, you should try and get some rest.” I tilted the laptop and smiled.
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” She nodded. “I’m sorry that we haven’t been able to talk like we normally do this weekend.”
“It’s okay.” I tapped the screen. “You just need to take care of yourself right now.”
“I will.” She nodded again.
“Oh, by the way—only three weeks until Thanksgiving.” I could feel my face light up.
“Yep.” She barely cracked a smile. “I can’t wait.”
“Me either.” I leaned back and sighed.
We said our goodbyes and the conversation was over. I was a little more worried than I would have been if she just had a stomach bug. She just looked unhappy in general. Truthfully, I didn’t know what kind of patient she was when she was actually sick. Some people turned into completely different versions of themselves when they had a sneez
e or a cough. People in my profession always joked that the strongest man in the world would turn into a baby if he had a runny nose, and my experience didn’t have anything to offer in the way of a contradiction. I wasn’t the best patient myself when I came down with something, but I usually did my best to hide it when I was working—as long as I wasn’t contagious.
I don’t know if something else is bothering you or not, Holly, but I hope you know that you can tell me anything.
The next day
“Good morning!” Mr. Pierce was outside working in his yard when I walked out of the house to start my morning run.
“Morning neighbor.” I smiled and waved.
“Do you run every day?” He put down his hose and walked closer to my driveway.
“I try to.” I nodded and started stretching out my legs.
“Aren’t you on your feet all day?” He raised an eyebrow. “Running seems like a lot of extra work…”
“Yeah,” I laughed. “But, I enjoy it. It helps me clear my head before I go to work, or just get a good start on the day. You should join me sometime!”
“That’s gonna be a no from me, doc,” he chuckled. “These old knees ran their last mile a long time ago.”
“Maybe a brisk walk then?” I finished stretching and made sure my shoes were properly tied. “It would be good for you—if you got bad knees, it could build up the muscles around them—it’ll take some pressure off the joint.”
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