“Joey! I’m pregnant!” I yell out, the words piercing through the room full of leather and glass. What little dust there is, freezes in the air surrounding us, as Joey stiffens, his hand stopping dead for one, two, three beats before he slowly—so very slowly—withdraws it and himself from around me.
“What did you just say?” He cocks his head to the side, those dark brows pulling together.
“I’m pregnant, Joey.” I give him a small, anxious smile, knowing what a shock it is to hear the news.
“Pregnant,” he repeats. His tone holds a note of that stupefied expression and something else. Something I’ve never heard from him before. “Are you sure? Did you go to the doctor?”
“I did.” I nod, trapping my lower lip with my teeth, and pull out the ultrasound picture from the pocket of my hoodie.
Joey briefly looks down before his eyes find mine. He does that at least five more times before all air wooshes out of him and he slumps back against the couch, lifting his arms over his face.
“How…how did that even…we always used a condom.”
“I guess one of those times it didn’t work,” I say in almost a whisper.
“I guess it didn’t.” He sits up again, throwing his arms out. “Fuck!” he spits out with zero humor. The word angry and frustrated as he runs his fingers through his hair, tugging on it.
That’s what I heard in his tone earlier and the small smile I had on my face freezes for a split second before vanishing completely.
“So, what’s the plan? You’re not having it, right? You have that crazy audition happening this Friday, don’t you? If your doctor doesn’t have an appointment this week, I can ask ours. Actually…” he adds before going for his phone in his pocket. “I’ll call him right now. We’ll get this taken care of in the morning. Don’t worry.”
Lightning flashes across the sky behind him and a few seconds later thunder follows. Only this time it’s not rocking the ground around me. It’s shaking my heart awake.
Worry? Why should I worry? Worry is the last feeling on my mind before he mentioned it. I was nervous, anxious but mostly so inexplicably excited and…happy. I was happy.
Since the moment I heard my baby’s heart beating, I was happy. He’s ours. Yet now, that last word doesn’t feel right on my tongue.Oursdoesn’t feel right.
Joey is already looking through his contacts list when I interrupt him. “Actually, I’m keeping him.”
He freezes, slowly lifting his frantic eyes to meet mine and I watch his throat bob with a nervous swallow before frantic turns into something else. “What did you just say?” The words leave him in a low whisper.
“I’m not having an abortion.”
For a moment, he just watched me, his chest heaving underneath that dark Henley.
“Please, tell me this is your idea of a sick joke, Rory.” Joey grits his teeth, the phone in his hand, cracking from the pressure.
This is not happening. It’s not. He’s just shocked. That’s all. Right?
But with each quiet question my breaths pick up as the rain pounds harder and harder against the glass as if trying to break through it but only manages to leave wet streaks across it and my hand covers my stomach.
“I-I know this is a shock. Trust me, it was for me as well, but now that I’ve had some time to think about it, it’s not the end of the world.” I swallow hard as his eyes darken. “We talked about having a family and kids one day. It’s just happening a bit sooner than anticipated.”
Joey’s eye twitches, his nostrils flare with a deep inhale and his tongue peeks out, the tip running across the bottom lip in the most disturbing way. Like it’s tasting blood on it.
“Don’t worry! I’ll quit skating. I’ll stay with the baby so you can finish your school. It can all work out.”
“It can all work out…it can all work out?Oh my GOD! Are you fucking serious right now? You’re getting an abortion, Aurora! That’s it! There is no other plan!”
“But…but you said you wanted kids! When we talked about it before, you said you wanted kids!”
“Oh, fucking hell, Aurora! You didn’t seriously think I meant I want them with you now, did you?” A physical punch would hurt less than his words, laced with disgust he was aiming my way as he grabs the back of his neck, almost tearing at the dark strands of hair there.
“But we’re…together. You…you told me you loved me. I love you! So I—”
“Fucking hell, Aurora! I tell every girl that same shit. Whatever it takes to get what I want. I thought you understood what this is and isn’t! You didn’t seriously think we were going to get married and all that shit—” Abruptly, he stops and then as fast as that lightning outside, his dark gaze snaps to me.
“Wait a second,” Joey draws out slowly. “You didthison purpose didn’t you?”
