AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ella rolls over and off the bed, which makes the mattress slip from its box spring. If she’s aware of it, she doesn’t care. Zigzagging through the small room with its university-issued four-drawer dresser, tidy desk, and orange chair, she looks like a drunken sailor on rough seas.
“You okay there?” Laughing at her movements, I wait for the coffee grounds to steep.
“I’m fine.” The bathroom door slams, and I realize she still hasn’t answered my question about why she’s up so early. I can’t think of the last time she’s gotten out of bed without me making a lot more noise to wake her.
While I wait for the coffee, I check on my wine in the closet. The latest batch sits in the fermentation bucket under a cloth. It’s only been nine days, and I need to wait a bit longer because there’s no froth yet on the top. That means it hasn’t finished, and if I take it out now, there will probably be sediment in the wine, which is the sign of a very amateur winemaker.
I’m no amateur.
I’ll check it again tomorrow and see if it’s ready to strain. Then, the real waiting begins while it goes through a much longer fermentation process. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
For now, I need to extract my sister from the bathroom so I can get ready for work.
“Ella.” I pound on the door and get no response. “Come on, I need to go.”
The bathroom door opens a crack, and she peeks through. “What?”
“I told you, I need to get going. Your class doesn’t start until eight. You have time.”
She flings the door open and sweeps into the room. Now she looks fully awake, hair tied back with a shoelace, face pink and freshly washed. In her hand, she holds a pink stick that I recognize all too well. My eyes go wide, and I lean forward to peer at it, nervous about what I’ll see.
“It’s too soon. I don’t know anything yet.” She seems calm. Wide awake but calm. She moves gracefully through the room and sits on the edge of the bed. The mattress slips to the floor, but she doesn’t seem to notice.
“Are you okay?” I don’t ask for details. Details don’t matter as long as she’s okay.
She nods. “But that’s why I wanted to get up before you left this morning. I need you to do this with me. If I’m preggo, I don’t want to freak out alone.”
“Of course not. I’m here.” I plop down on the sunken mattress. She scoots closer to me and puts her head on my shoulder. Wrapping an arm around her, I feel like I did when we were kids. The eight-year age difference was enough to make me feel like a parent to her when our parents died and I got custody of Ella.
We wait together, intentionally not looking at the pink stick, which Ella has placed on the orange chair.
“Coffee’s probably ready. You want a cup?” I ask.
She smirks and nods. When I get up to pour it, she stretches out on the bed. “You were going to lecture me about saving four dollars and drinking this, weren’t you?”
“Um, yeah. But now I can lecture you about something else entirely. Are you on birth control?”
“You know I am.”
“And?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know. Sometimes I take it later in the day, but I’m good about it. Trust me, I’m not looking to be a mom.”
“Now, or ever?”
She rolls her eyes. “Now.”
I hold out my hand with a cup of coffee right as a timer sounds on her phone. Ella sits up, takes the coffee, and leans over to reach for the pregnancy test. She holds it in her fist, not looking at it. “Ready?”
I nod. “Whatever it says, you know I’m here for you, right?”
“I know. Thank you.” Ella takes a big breath and closes her eyes. She sits there for so long that I start to worry she’s fallen asleep. But then her eyes pop open, and she opens her hand. Leaning toward her, I look at the tiny plus sign on the test.
My heart starts pounding, thinking about the implications for Ella. Does she want this? Can she handle it? Can I support her and a baby?
Then I look at her.
She nods. “Okay. I had a feeling. Okay.” Her breathing quickens a little, and tears well in the corners of her eyes.
