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I glanced between her and the tampon in her hand, giving her a strange look.“No, why?”
Charlie shrugged.”Usually we’re on the same cycle. I guess you’re a bit off now, huh?”
I groan now, remembering how my heart dropped to my stomach as I realized my period hadn’t come at all. I don’t even think it came in May, which now explains why I was so sick during the May Art Market. On my way home last night, I stopped into a drug store and picked up a pregnancy test, which now sits on the sink, face down. This can’t be happening to me. I’m on the fucking pill.
Rachel, that only works like 98% of the time, I remind myself. Tilting my head back, I gaze up at the bright light, wondering what I will do if it turns out to be positive. How do I tell the bros? Whose could it be? I shake my head and return to my pacing. I’m getting ahead of myself. I don’t even know yet if it’s positive. There are so many reasons why I missed a period. I might have been stressed, my diet has changed a bit. Crap, I could even have cancer. There are loads of reasons. I don’t have to be pregnant.
“Rachel! Come on!” Hunter shouts.
“Jesus Christ, Hunter,” Lucas shouts, “give her a break. She could be shitting.”
“You do realize, if I don’t leave in the next two minutes, I will be late.”
“They won’t fire you,” comes Seth’s casual voice. “They’ll lose like half their clientele if they do.”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Hunter asks, sounding even more irritated.
“It means, the girls think you’re hot,” Seth says. I can picture him waggling his eyebrows.
Hunter’s sigh seeps in through the door and I hear his footsteps growing closer. I run to the door, quickly locking it before he can open it and see what the hold-up is. “Rachel, are you feeling okay? Do you want to take a raincheck?”
I have been looking forward to this all week. Since Lucas has been writing more, Jason has been working me to the bone, making me take all the previous late and early shifts Lucas now refuses to do. I haven’t been able to go swimming since the spring semester ended and I’m desperate to get my tan on.
“I’m just making sure I packed up all my toiletries,” I call, wincing at the quiver in my voice.
“I’m sure you did.” Hunter sounds so worried. I feel like an asshole for making him wait. “Besides, you can have a look when you get back. We’re not moving until tomorrow.”
I stifle a groan. For someone who once got tackled as a career choice, he‘s very astute. Tonight is our last night in the brohouse, or bro apartment that is. Our new home will be the official ‘brohouse’ and I’m so excited for the extra space, and for Hunter to live with us once again.
Will the house be big enough for six? I wonder with a grimace.
“Just one more minute,” I shout at the door, returning to the test still resting on the sink.
“Oh, my God, Rachel,” Hunter grumbles, his footsteps becoming distant.
I snatch the test and hold it close to my heart, breathing in deeply. Closing my eyes, I count to ten, telling myself whatever it is, I will get through it. Being pregnant isn’t the end of the world. It’s just a whole new world to navigate, one with sleepless nights and diaper changes; one with pushing a watermelon out of my vagina, possibly ripping it all the way to—
Okay, enough, I don’t need to think about all the negatives. Children are cute. They bring magic to the world. Besides, I might not even be pregnant. I could be stressing about nothing. And if I am pregnant, the bros will support me… right?
Oh, just get it done and over with Rachel, I tell myself while taking another deep breath. “Okay,” I whisper, “on the count of three. One.”
My hand tightens on the test.
“Two.”
My eyes clamp tighter. I don’t know if I will be able to open them, to look down.
“Three.”
I open my eyes one at a time and look down, my hands shaking as I see the results. I blink once, twice, my mouth opening and closing as shock fills me. Things are about to get very different around here.
