Brinley’s head was slightly tilted and she had an odd look on her face. I wasn’t sure what was going on.
“What’s that look for?”
“Oh nothing, I was just thinking. I’m going to run to the store for the right stuff and I’ll be back in a few, hang tight,” she told me as she ran out the door.
I thought about moving but it didn’t happen. Paxton came in, concerned, to check on me. Before I could even talk myself into making my way out of the bathroom, Brinley was back with a grocery bag in hand.
She shut the door and placed the bag on the counter. Pulling a box out of the sack and thrusting it to me, she said, “Don’t say no. I have a hunch.”
Taking the package from her hand, I gasped. “What in the world, Brin?”
“I know you already did the deed with Paxton, you told me. But when was the last time you had your period? Are your boobs sore? We already know you’re puking first thing in the morning.”
I shook my head and looked at her like she was crazy.
“First of all I had my period…” I stopped trying to remember when that was.Shit.
I looked up to Brinley and she was waiting expectantly.
“It doesn’t matter. I’m on birth control so it’s not possible.” I said the words but knew it wasn’t foolproof.
“Honey, we all know that’s not a hundred percent guarantee and you were just sick not that long ago. That can cause some hiccups sometimes with how it works. You were vomiting then too, so maybe you were not keeping your pills down.”
My belly rolled for a completely different reason then. “I’m sure I just have the flu,” I rushed to say. But something in my sour gut was telling me that my friend may have figured out something I hadn’t. Looking down at the box gripped in my hands, I sighed, and then looked back at Brin.
“Take it and find out,” she told me. “I’ll be right here and no matter what, everything will be okay.”
She couldn’t know that. People were after me and Paxton and I had just confessed our love to one another, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t flip out if the stick showed two pink lines.
Hell, I will flip out.
There wasn’t anything else I could do. I knew I needed to find out. So with the door closed, Brinley right there with me, I’d peed on that stick and we waited.
It was the longest few minutes of my life.
When Brinley’s phone went off signaling that the time had come, I took a deep breath and picked up the stick.
“I’m pregnant,” I murmured. My heart started pounding like a stampede of wild horses.
Brinley put her arm around my shoulders and hugged me.
A tear slipped slowly down my face. I had wanted a baby so bad, long ago, but gave up ever thinking that would happen for me. Thomas had lied about wanting children and I never imagined I would ever be in a relationship again when I ran for my life.
Within minutes I was sobbing.
“Shh, I promised it would be okay,” Brin said.
“I h-have always w-wanted a b-baby.” That was all I got out. I couldn’t breathe. Brinley waited me out, whispering encouraging words.
Once my cries slowed I was able to speak again.
“What am I going to do, Brin?” My body shivered with the aftershock of my breakdown. “Someone is trying to hurt me. What if they hurt the baby?”
“We’re all going to protect you, sweetheart. It will somehow be okay.”
I felt as though I might throw up again. Brinley handed me some saltine crackers and a club soda. We sat there on the floor in silence for a few minutes as I tried to get some of it down.
“What if I lose Paxton? How am I ever going to tell him?” I asked her. She didn’t get to answer.
