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I was just waking up when Wick’s sister Darcy surprised me by calling my cell phone.
“Good news,” she answered perkily. “Your test results came back. You’re all clear and good to go again.”
“What?” I asked, blinking in shock, springing out of bed to pace my room. “You got them back already?”
“Yep.” She sounded smug. “I might’ve pulled some strings to expedite the process. But, hey, I just scored some lab geek overtime pay by making him work on a weekend. So… Go me, huh?”
I laughed. “Well, thank you. You didn’t have to rush it that fast, but you have no idea how much this relieves my mind.”
“I figured it might. You’re a friend of Wick’s, though, and he’s never asked me for help like this before, so I was actually secretly thrilled to feel important to him. Sadly, however, I’m going to have to deliver his bad news to him next.”
“His…” Smile dropping, I blinked, gaping blindly ahead as her words echoed through my ear. “You mean… His test results didn’t come out so positive?”
I knew it probably wasn’t kosher to ask about another person’s medical privacy, but the words had just blurted out of me unchecked. I suddenly felt shaky, worried about him but also a little hurt and betrayed. He’d made it sound as if he was so safe and protected and that he wasn’t even that promiscuous. Had that all been a lie?
Sitting on the corner of my bed, I pressed my hand to my stomach, my head spinning. I didn’t want to learn I’d been suckered by another liar.
On the phone, his sister clucked her tongue. “Yeah,” she reported solemnly. “His pregnancy test came up negative, and I was so looking forward to becoming an aunt too.”
I blinked. Then frowned.
Wait. What?
Then I snorted out a laugh. “You seriously gave him a pregnancy test?”
“Yep.” Voice filling with glee, she told me, “I’ve always wanted to do one on a guy, you know, just because. So I took my chance with Wick. But it was negative and boring, and now my curiosity to give a guy a pregnancy test is appeased and dead. So, yep, my stupid brother just killed one of my dreams.”
“Did you actually expect it to be positive?” I asked, still chortling as I realized all his other tests must’ve been okay if she was teasing about male pregnancy.
“Well, it would’ve been more exciting if it had been positive,” Darcy muttered.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “That would’ve definitely been interesting.”
We talked a few minutes longer before hanging up. It was a nice conversation and actually prompted me to stop hiding in my room, where I shuffled to the living room and watched some TV while eating a bowl of microwavable mac and cheese. Every once in a while, I heard Wick moving around in the back of the apartment, but he never made an appearance in the front room where I was.
When evening came, I turned off the television and sighed. I had homework but I couldn’t seem to motivate myself into starting it. My stomach growled. I should really go buy some of my own groceries so I could stop mooching off Wick. He didn’t seem to mind, but he also stocked his place with some really boring, nutritious food. The Cocoa Pebbles cereal and mac and cheese were about as junk food as he got.
When I stood up from the couch to go raid the kitchen, for maybe an apple or glass of cold milk, a distant boom, sort of like a clap of thunder but way more condensed, rattled the window panes. Frowning, I crossed the room to the window and glanced out into the street. I knew it had come from further away, but maybe I could see something in the distance, like a mushroom cloud, or shit… Lights from the football stadium three blocks away.
As close as I leaned toward the window, I could finally hear the cheering and see the glowing movement of the jumbotron screen as it played a celebratory video, congratulating the team for scoring.
The boom must’ve been a cannon blast, which they set off every time we made a touchdown.
I guess Topher wasn’t too broken up about our split. Sounded like he’d just thrown a six-point pass. I sniffed bitterly, only to bite my lip and realize this was the first home game I’d missed since I was a freshman. Topher had always made a huge production about making sure I made it to as many of his games as I could. I wondered if he knew I wasn’t there tonight.
Curiosity getting the best of me, I turned on the television and scanned through channels until I found the game.
“Well, thank goodness the defense took care of that touchdown,” one announcer was saying, “because the offense sure isn’t pulling its weight tonight.”
The camera panned down to the sidelines, where they showed Topher ripping off his helmet to yell at one of his wide receivers, because whoops, I guess he wasn’t doing all that well in his game after all—not that I was snickering about that…much.
When they zoomed in close enough to show his expression, however, I gasped because a huge bruise shadowed his left eye.”
“Well, maybe that’s why Nicholl isn’t throwing well today,” one of the announcers mused aloud. “With that shiner, his eye must be so swollen shut, he can't even see.”
Oh Lord, no. What in the world had Cress, Beau, and Fox done to him? I hadn’t really thought my cousins would go after him when they had announced that was exactly why they were in town. But, wow. Someone had definitely gotten their hands on Topher.
Who else could it have been?
