Love, Mom

Prologue

Lily's life had started with a little blue cross.

Well, of course, that wasn't quite true, it had instead started when two strangers decided to have a arguably bad intercourse atop a tower in New York.

Sixteen years and a few months later, she found herself like this, walking down the street drinking a whole bottle of blueberry juice. Not her fault she loved it.

Lily wasn't the easily comfortable type. That was why she had a hard time putting up with the stares of passers-by as she brought the galon of juice to her lips. Maybe they were surprised by her long white tulle dress, too, but that was just a detail. This very morning, Lily had decided to wear her wedding dress, unearthed in a thrift store. It always helped her feel better. She would bitterly regret this decision later.

Lily stopped in front of the convenience store, took a sip of the juice. She glanced defiantly at the storefront that read 'Walmart', wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, and walked inside.

The young girl browsed the shelves, passing between the shelves, avoiding the customers, grabbed a random package of Oreos, and strolled thoughtfully through the store, galon in hand. She stopped in front of the display dedicated to pregnancy, between shampoos and hygienic pads.

Lily sighed, leaned forward, holding her galon and her packet of biscuits as best she could. She deciphered the inscriptions on the boxes, hesitated for a few long seconds before picking up five at random, taking them all in her arms. She walked absently to the register, her dress trailing behind her.

The cashier gave her a long disapproving look, looking her up and down before announcing the price as Lily rocked from one foot to the other. She paid without a word, muttered a thank you before heading to the bathroom, the packages in her arms.

The toilet smelled bad and a kind of slush full of water wet the floor. Lily rushed into a cubicle and dropped her packages to the floor, holding her skirt in one hand. She crouched down to read the instructions for use, inspecting them one after the other. Finally, when she felt satisfied - or too impatient -, she opened the boxes with feverish movements, took out the plastic sticks, which she examined without understanding.

Finally, irritated, she decided to proceed at random, peeing on the sticks without knowing if it was the right process. She put them next to each other on the top of the toilet. Then she pulled her dress up onto her knees and sat on her heels, her bottle of juice in her hand.

Lily tossed a strand of tangled blonde hair out of sight, tightened the laces of her boots. She wasn't the type to panic, she knew how to keep her cool. That didn't stop her from being terribly insecure, but she clung to the facts.

And the facts were that she had missed her period last month.

Lily hadn't worried about it at first. She had told herself that it was only a small transient hormonal imbalance, she was waiting to see next month if things didn't go back to how they were before. She should have had her next period three days ago. Lily hadn't thought of it until she suddenly started craving pickles. And God knew how much she hated pickles.

That was why she had put on her wedding dress, grabbed her bottle of blueberry juice, and went to lock herself up with her pregnancy tests. To get an answer.

Lily took another sip of juice, checked her phone. Only two more minutes.

She knew they were going to be negative. She was worried about nothing. Besides, it would be absurd for them to be positive. That was not planned. It did not fit into her plans for the future. So that couldn't happen. The contingencies were too heavy for her to face.

Lily was pulled from her thoughts by the ringing of her phone, which she hastened to turn off. She put down her bottle of juice, stood up as best she could, holding her skirt in one hand, and approached the toilet.

All tests, without exception, were positive.