by Magan Vernon
“Pregnant?” a shrill voice asked.
I turned toward the voice and saw Abbey standing in the doorway with her eyes wide open.
“Shit,” I muttered.
“Abbey, honey, this is something that Sofie hasn’t told anybody yet, okay? And as a new member of our family, if we can keep this quiet, maybe not put it on Facebook or Instagram or any of those places, that would be great,” Stephanie said, walking forward and putting her hands on Abbey’s shoulders.
Abbey looked at her mom and me then finally her eyes trailed to Johnny. “So...I guess this explains why the swimmer’s here too.”
Johnny gave his big, cheese-eating grin as he stepped into the kitchen. “Yep. And I think you’re going to be stuck with me for a while. Your mom kind of scares me, and the girl puking her guts out could be carrying a future gold medalist.”
***
After upchucking, dinner didn’t sound so appetizing, so Johnny agreed to drive me home after getting enough weird looks from Abbey.
I knew sooner or later that the news of my pregnancy was going to get around town, even if Abbey said she would not tell anyone. But that would not happen since Abbey’s BFF Christy always seemed to come home from UT Austin on the weekends, and they would hang out. Which meant I wouldn’t be going over to Dad’s new place on the weekends.
“I’m going to have to head into Wylie or Rockwall and get some food. I don’t want you to throw up, so tell me if I need to skip tacos and go for burgers or if chicken is better or what I need to find,” Johnny rambled.
“You’re too good to me, you know that?” I asked, leaning back in the leather seat.
“So does that mean I can have tacos?”
I laughed. “Sure. You can get tacos.”
“If you want, we can stop and both get tacos? We can call it a date. Our first date,” he added.
“Is it really still dating when you’re having a kid together?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I don’t see why not, and I’ve never actually taken you out anywhere. I mean I guess we did go to that one restaurant in Plano, but we didn’t eat anything. This would be a real date. Not just one that ends with us leaving and going back to one of our places. I’ll even spring for dessert.”
“Oh, fancy Mexican dessert!”
He wiggled his eyebrows. “Flan for days.”
***
We ended up at a small place in a town outside of Friendship. The town was even smaller than Friendship but had a good Mexican restaurant with a buffet that Johnny took full advantage of, and the owner was giving side-eye at charging the hulking guy with his overflowing plate only $4.99.
“So what do normal people do on a first or second or whatever date this is?” I asked, picking at my chicken burrito. I wasn’t sure if it would stay down, so I dissected each piece until, basically, I was only eating chicken and a little tortilla.
Johnny shrugged before stuffing a big fork of something cheesy into his mouth. He chewed a while before speaking. “I mean I’ve had a few girlfriends. The only kind of serious one I had was a rower for Canada. We both went to Stanford, and we dated on and off for like a year. Then during the games, I caught her sandwiched between two Canadian rugby guys. At least it was after my last event because I got the hell out of there.”
“Holy crap.” I blinked. “I had no idea. I’m sorry. I guess that explains why you weren’t so eager to get into a new relationship...”
He shrugged before taking another big bite then swallowed it practically whole. “No love lost there. Yeah, I liked her and all, but if someone is going to cheat on me, then there is no use being sour over someone who didn’t respect me enough to be faithful.”
“Good point,” I muttered, trying to nibble on a small piece of tortilla.
“What about you? Any ex-boyfriend around Friendship I should be worried about?”
I laughed so hard I almost snorted and had to cover my mouth before I shook my head. “If you haven’t noticed, I’m pretty much the definition of the quirky geek. You did meet the girl with braces and bad eyebrows. You made out with that old me, but I’m pretty sure that was out of pity.”
Johnny raised an eyebrow. “You think I hit on you at the bowling alley because I felt sorry for you?”
“Well, yeah.”
Johnny smiled. “I’ll admit that it totally pissed me off when I saw that Christy chick giving you stank face, but I actually thought that was my opportunity to make a move. If you were thrown off guard, I thought maybe you would actually give the immature swimmer a shot.”
“Immature? Pretty sure I never said that about you even though you were throwing licorice ropes around and dry humping bowling balls that night,” I said, a small smile forming on my face.
“Yeah, well, I don’t spend a lot of time with the opposite sex unless it’s other girls on the swim team,” he said.
“Like Emily?” I muttered.
He sighed. “Yeah, and even with her, it was weird. I didn’t have any feelings for her, but she was there, you know? I probably shouldn’t have been flirting with you that night and thought you’d totally push me off when I kissed you. Which is why I was totally thrown when you even kissed me back. Then, of course, you basically bolted out of Scotty’s car that night, so I figured you were just up for a quick hookup and nothing more. Even though I had fun hanging out with you. You’re funny, you get my weird sense of humor, and you’re a great kisser. What I’m trying to put in fewer words and stop rambling about is that I liked you then and I like you now.”
“I don’t mind the rambling. It’s cute,” I said.
“Cute isn’t a manly word to describe me.”
“Then what word do I use?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” he said, taking a bite of whatever sauce-covered Mexican food was piled on his plate. “Maybe debonair? Is that the right word? Suave?”
I laughed and leaned forward, wiping the corner of his mouth with my thumb. “I don’t think suave is the best word to describe a man with red sauce on his chin.”
Before I could pull my hand away, he held my hand against his cheek then kissed my thumb. “You’re cute.”
“I don’t think that’s the best word to describe me either,” I muttered, pulling my hand back and sticking my fork in my food, trying to force down another piece of chicken.
“What about sexy? Beautiful? How about glowing?” He wiggled his eyebrows.
“I don’t think I can be glowing yet. I’m not even eight weeks along.”
“I know what I see, and it’s a glow. I might need to invest in some new shades if you keep shining so bright,” he joked, putting his hand on his forehead like a mock visor.
I smiled despite myself. I couldn’t remember the last time I smiled this much, especially with someone of the opposite sex. “So Mr. Shades, what are we supposed to do now on this date after you’ve eaten enough Mexican food to feed an entire country?”
He grinned after polishing off the fifth cheese-filled thing on his plate. “We never got to finish watching The Princess Bride.”
By watching a movie, I was sure he meant sex that my dad wouldn’t interrupt. And hopefully not his sort-of ex-girlfriend across the hall. And if he didn’t mean he wanted sex, wearing my good underwear was probably a waste. Either way, spending more time with the guy who was the father of my child wasn’t a bad thing.
Chapter 12
The house felt emptier. I guess it was. Only one-third of the furniture remained, and now, only one person resided here.
I turned on the lights, casting a low glow over the living room then looked at the ceiling fan to see two light bulbs had burned out. “Aw, shit. I should change those before I forget.”
I went into the kitchen to grab a chair, but before I could carry it fully into the living room, Johnny was standing there with the two light bulbs. “Got any new light bulbs for this?”
I smiled and set the chair down then grabbed the broken bulbs from him. “I guess there are perks to having someone
tall around.”
Turning back in the other direction, I threw away the old bulbs then went to the kitchen pantry. I thanked God we had a package of light bulbs, so I brought two back to Johnny.
He smiled and reached up, screwing in one of the light bulbs. I watched as his sweater slowly rose up, giving me a peek at his amazing abs.
So I might have thought I wasn’t sure about sex, but watching Johnny take care of my household problems and especially staring at his bare stomach, I thought maybe he wouldn’t hit our baby in the head with his member.
“So I guess there’s a chance our baby will be tall...” I said, trying to stop myself from staring as he screwed in the other light bulb.
Johnny smiled and moved his hands down, which, unfortunately, meant his shirt shifted back to its normal place and I lost my view. “Maybe. I mean what are you like four-foot-eleven?”
I scrunched my face and crossed my arms over my chest. “Ha-ha. Very funny. I’m five-foot-two, thank you.”
The smile broadened, bringing out his dimpled chin, and he wrapped his arms around my waist. “So we have a chance of our little swimmer being between five-foot-two and six-foot-five. Which could be good or bad, depending on if we have a boy or girl.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck, standing on my tippy-toes just to reach. “A short boy or a tall girl. Maybe they’ll be good at swimming to make up for their height.”
“Well, he will have both of our genes,” Johnny whispered, leaning in, his breath on my lips.
I met his mouth, closing my eyes and tasting his minty breath. I wondered if he was expecting this and had popped a few mints after dinner.
His kiss was soft and sweet, which was not what I wanted. So I deepened it and pressed my body flush with his, expecting more of a reaction than just the raging hard-on, but he kept his hands on my side and did nothing more than a kiss.
I broke our lips slightly to move my hands down and tug on his belt loops. “Come on. Let’s go watch that movie, or not. Whatever happens in my bedroom won’t be interrupted this time.”
I turned slightly, expecting him to follow, but his feet didn’t move. I slipped on the hardwood only to have him put an arm around my waist to catch me. “What the hell, Johnny?”
He sighed. “I mean maybe we can just stay out here for a while? Watch the movie in the living room on the couch?”
“If you want to have sex somewhere other than my bed, just tell me. Or tell me you don’t find your pregnant girlfriend attractive after she threw up. I did eat and drink a ton of water, but I can go brush my teeth. I can even shower. Oh, we can try shower sex! You wanted that the other day, but I’ve never done that. Guess it’s worth a try. We might need to clean the shower first. I thought I saw something black growing in there the other day.”
Johnny held up his hands. “Whoa, slow down.”
I raised an eyebrow, crossing my arms over my chest. “I’m slowing.”
He sighed then ran both of his hands down his face. “Don’t get me wrong. I want you, bad. But I have this baby app that gives me updates every day, and today, it said they start developing nerves at eight weeks, and that means they can feel things. You know? I mean what if our baby can feel all of that?”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m sure he can’t...I mean...he can’t, right?”
“I don’t honestly know. This is my first time for all of this too,” Johnny said with a sigh.
“Okay.” I nodded. “I have a doctor’s appointment on Wednesday. Why don’t you go with me, and we can ask the doctor these questions instead of asking an app?”
Johnny shook his head but smiled. “I’m totally not asking the doctor about our sex life.”
***
My appointment was at two after my classes.
Johnny knew my appointment time, yet there I was at 2:25, sitting in the waiting room by myself.
I stared at the other women in the waiting room, all very pregnant with their shirts stretched out so they barely even covered their belly buttons. Their half-closed eyes surrounded with dark circles as they sit slumped in the plastic waiting room chairs.
The one thing they all had in common, besides their tired faces, was their loving husbands by their side. Okay, maybe loving husband was a strong term since the husbands were staring at their phones instead of their half-awake wives.
The door opened to the doctor’s office area, and the women simultaneously woke up as if it was a new mommy alarm clock. They all stared at the nurse in her black scrubs with the tablet as if she was the beacon who would call them back.
“Sofie White,” she bellowed, and the other women sank back in their chairs, their husbands not even looking up from their phones.
I slowly got up, and before I could make it to the smiling nurse, my attention snapped behind me as the waiting room door flew open and I heard heavy breathing.
Johnny stood there in a blue warm-up suit with USA stitched on the breast pocket. The hood was still up, and he took it down to show his wet hair as he approached me. “Hey, sorry, I’m late. I lost track of time!”
“Mr. White?” the nurse asked, raising a meticulously shaped eyebrow.
“Oh, he’s not a White,” I said, waving my hands back and forth. “I mean he’s white but not...the mister.”
Johnny put his hand out to the nurse. “Jonathan Laughlin, but you can call me Johnny.”
The nurse nodded then sucked in a deep breath and forced a smile. “Okay, you two, right this way.”
We followed the nurse through the door and down a small white hallway with different doors on each side.
“I thought you knew the appointment was at two,” I whispered.
“Yeah and it’s two thirty and we’re just now getting in so great timing,” Johnny whispered back way too enthusiastically.
I rolled my eyes and wanted to say something else, but the nurse opened the door to a dark room with a small screen and an exam chair with stirrups.
“Sofie, if you can undress from the waist down, underwear and pants, but you can keep your socks on if you want then cover up with this,” the nurse said, holding up a thin white sheet she picked up from the exam chair. “The tech will be in shortly.”
She then turned toward Johnny. “You can have a seat in the chair next to her if you’d like.”
With that, the nurse nodded one last time and then left the room, closing the door behind her and looking at us in silence.
“Well, I didn’t think the next time you saw me half-naked would be in here,” I muttered, kicking off my boots before sliding down my bright pink leggings.
“Do you want me to take my pants off too? Would that make you feel more comfortable?” Johnny asked, putting his hands on the waistband of his sweatpants.
I had just shimmied out of my panties when I looked at him and raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“I can take my pants off too. We could both sit here and have a no pants party,” he said, pulling his pants down, so his bright red little swim panties showed. I always thought they were all called Speedos, but in one of Johnny’s random tangents on swimming things, he informed me he wasn’t sponsored by Speedo, so that wasn’t what he wore. He didn’t tell me what to call those little trunks he wore, so I referred to them as swim panties in my head.
“Knock, knock, are you decent?” a high-pitched female voice said as she knocked before opening the door.
I quickly put the thin sheet over me and sat down but not before the tech got a full view of my lady bits and Johnny with his pants down.
Johnny quickly pulled his pants up then sat on the chair next to me and smiled at the redheaded tech. “Ready now!”
The tech smiled, sitting on a wheeled stool and put her hands on the keyboard in front of the small computer screen in front of her. “Okay, Mr. and Mrs. White?”
“Oh, it’s Miss...” Johnny put his hand on mine before I could finish.
“Johnny and Sofie is fine,” he said.
The tech nodded. “Okay, Sofie, we
currently have the date of your last period as December fifteenth; is that correct?”
I nodded. “Yeah. That’s right.”
The tech typed a few things on the computer then reached into a drawer under the computer screen, pulling out some gloves then a little rubbery thing that looked like a condom. A condom she put on a giant wand before she squirted it with a clear liquid. “Okay, Sofie, what we’re going to do is an internal ultrasound. I’m going to need you to lie back and put your legs in the stirrups.”
“Uh, okay.” I nodded, leaning back.
Before I had a chance to breathe in, the goopy wand was inside me. Filling me nothing like the vibrator I had in my nightstand or Johnny’s member, it just felt like a big goopy wand pushing against my cervix.
The tech pushed the wand one way then another, one hand on the wand and the other on the keyboard. “Okay, here we go.”
She moved the wand again and then pointed at the screen. “Do you see this here?” She pointed a hand at the screen and then typed a few things on the keyboard. A line came out, measuring the little gray blob swimming in a sea of black and then surrounded by more gray like a little dog in a pool on a beach. Or something. That was the best way I could describe it in my head, and it was probably because I’d spent a lot of time thinking of the baby as a swimmer.
“That little tadpole?” Johnny asked, inching forward in his chair.
The tech smiled, typing a few more things on the keyboard. “That little tadpole is your baby. If you look here,” she said, pointing at the circle thing at the top of the blob, “that’s the head then you can see where the spine is forming.”
She trailed down the length of the baby then pressed a few things on the keyboard and zoomed in on a little blinking thing in the center of the baby. “And you hear that?”
A whooshing sound like running water or a Jacuzzi jet filled the speakers of the computer. “That’s your baby’s heartbeat.”
I stared at the screen with the little swimming blob, fluttering along like she was a little backstroker, her heart beating as wildly as mine was as I stared at her on the screen.