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"Nothing, nothing at all. We should get going, right?" I push my phone away, not ready to deal with that message.
Tate eyes me with scrutiny but seems to realize that pushing the issue isn't going to help either of us. Instead, he nods, and we get into my car. Tate takes advantage of the dead time to give me pointers for the interview.
All day long, I go through the motions, putting on that confident, undefeated mask the public wants to see. But underneath it all, Ty’s words keep replaying in my mind. It feels final to me, no matter what she wrote. I shouldn't care. I'm Grayson fucking Walker, and she's just—the woman I've fallen in love with.
twenty-one
Tyley
I fumble with my phone, checking and rechecking the calendar app, counting back the days like an obsessive accountant. How can this be? My mind is racing a million miles a minute, and my heart is pounding so fast I'm certain it's going to explode right out of my chest. How could I have been so careless? I’ve always made sure my partners used a condom, but with Grayson, any semblance of rational thought slipped my mind.
Worse still, I didn’t even think back on this stupid, careless mistake until the consequences began knocking at my door.
The pregnancy test is face-down on the bathroom counter. If it was pointing up, I’d be checking on it every two seconds, and don’t they say a watched pot never boils?
"Please be negative, please be negative." I’m whispering, like saying it too loud would make it real, but it’s loud enough for Sarah to hear me through the door.
“What does it say?!”
“It’s only been thirty seconds,” I call back, screaming as if she’s a block away instead of just a thin layer of wood from where I’m sitting. “Don’t make me more nervous than I already am, please.”
“Sorry. You want the other two tests you bought?”
“Only if this one is positive.”
The kitchen timer dings with a sharp, abrasive alarm that only serves to exacerbate my anxiety, and I hide my face between my hands, unwilling to face the truth.
“And?”
“I can’t look!”
There’s a moment of silence. Then, in the sweetest tone I’ve ever heard her use, Sarah offers to do it for me.
“Fine,” I whisper. With one hand over my eyes, I crack the door open for her. It’s stupid, I know—I couldn’t see the result even if I stared at the back of the test—but I can’t help myself.
Silence, and then, more silence. I peek through my fingers and see Sarah standing there, staring at the used pregnancy test in her hand.
“Eww, I peed on that.”
I move up to my feet, half-expecting her to drop the device to the floor once she realizes what she’s touching. Sarah, however, doesn’t seem to mind. I guess shock overrides disgust any day of the week.
“What is it, Sarah? Is it positive? Negative? I don’t want to know, but I have to. Tell me already.”
Why am I asking her such a stupid question? I already know the answer just by looking at her face. I’m pregnant. I’m pregnant; this cannot be happening.
“I’m sorry, Ty,” she mumbles, turning the test around so that I can see those two lines. The bright pink against the white background leaves no room for interpretation. I cover my mouth with the palm of my hand, tears falling down my cheek with embarrassing suddenness. "It's going to be okay; we'll figure something out, I promise."
I shake my head, drying the tears with the back of my hand and trying to hold back the flood that’s threatening to follow soon after.
“No, don’t say that. It could be a false positive. I need to take all three before knowing for sure that it’s true.”
Sarah shoots me a worried look, furrowing her brows and rubbing the side of her neck. “I don’t think that’s how it works.”
“It’s not bulletproof,” I bite back, knowing how stupid and defensive I sound, but I need to grab onto the hope that maybe, just maybe, it was a defective model. “I’ll try again in a while. How long am I supposed to wait until I can take another one?”
“Two hours, but it says here you can use the same sample to test two different strips, you know.”
“I threw the sample in the toilet and flushed it already, so I guess we won’t know for sure for another three hours.”
