'Till Hell Freezes Over (BWWM)

'Till Hell Freezes Over | 2

A comfortable silence filled the van as Toni and Charlie lay next to each other naked while riding out the euphoria of their climax. They stared at the roof, roaming in their thoughts about life and each other.

Typically, after having a roll in the sheets with a stranger, both would be dressed and ready to go. But it was their connection that made them want to lay there forever and just be.

Feeling something poke his back, Charlie reaches under him and pulls out a stick of strawberry chapstick.

"Sorry," Toni takes it. "My lips get dry in the middle of the night."

"I knew I tasted strawberry. Coffee aside, of course," grinned Charlie, making her smile. "You don't do this often, you said?"

Toni shakes her head, "No, it's kind of a once-in-a-blue-moon type thing. I'm really a loner at heart."

"How come?"

She shrugs, "life is more peaceful that way."

"Are you happy? Being alone?"

Toni turns her head to look at him, "Is anybody really happy?"

"I feel like I should have the answer to that," Charlie kept his gaze on the roof. "I'm thirty-five, and I still ask myself what the fuck am I doing?"

Toni studied his pensive countenance. She didn't mind that he was older than her, and she appreciated his honesty about not having it all together.

"Do you have a family?"

"Nah, I don't really have the time." Charlie looks at her, "do you want a family?"

"I think about it every now and again, but honestly?"

He nods attentively.

"I have a runaway complex. I don't think I'd last five minutes in a committed relationship and especially not as a mother."

"How old are you?"

"Legal, don't worry," she makes him laugh. "I'm twenty-six."

"Oh, well, you have time to change your mind about a family."

"Yeah," Toni shrugged. "I don't think I will, but you never know where life will take you."

"Yeah," Charlie found himself enamored in her brown eyes for what felt like the hundredth time since they met.

There was something about Toni that made him feel safe to be vulnerable, even if he hadn't shared much about himself.

Due to his career, he didn't have the luxury of being open with people, women especially. He had to be careful.

Just as he leaned in to kiss her, his phone rang.

"Shit."

"You could always ignore it," suggested Tony, having contemplated kissing him herself.

"I know, but I have a trip I'm leaving for tomorrow. It could be an emergency." Charlie gets up, mooning Toni. She tilts her head to the side, taking in his nudeness.

Thirty-five, where?

Charlie slips on his boxers before taking his phone out of his jeans. He stands straight, hitting his head against the roof as he answers the call.

"Yeah?" he groaned, rubbing his head.

"Sorry," Toni mouths, clinging the sheets to her body as she sat up.

"Oh shit," Charlie holds the bridge of his nose. "Okay, I'm in San Francisco, but I'll get there as soon as I can."

Toni giggled, hearing the person on the phone ask him what the "hell" he was doing in San Francisco.

"Don't worry about it. I'll be there as soon as I can. Bye," Charlie hung up the phone and started getting dressed. "I'm sorry to skip out, but I have some business to take care of back in LA."

"It's fine," Toni waves her hand nonchalantly. "Technically, your thirty minutes was up a long time ago."

"Right," he snickers.

"Plus, I still have work to do."

It grew quiet as he got dressed.

"This was fun, though," Toni couldn't stand the thick silence of unspoken feelings.

"Yeah," Charlie picks up his boots instead of putting them on. He was already walking on eggshells, trying not to bump into anything and break it. "I needed this."

Toni nods, giving a close-lipped smile. Oddly, she didn't want him to go and even considered asking for his number.

"I'll let myself out."

Little did she know, he was contemplating the same thing.

Charlie stops in his tracks, turning around, "hey?"

"Yeah?" Toni answered more eagerly than she attended.

Charlie thought for a long moment and shook his head at himself. "It was nice meeting you."

Toni's shoulders deflated, "yeah, you too."

When he's gone, she plumps back on the bed with a heavy sigh.

________

Six weeks later

Toni impatiently tapped her foot on the iridescent white floor of Wal-Mart. She nervously peeked to the side at what seemed like a thousand people in front of her. They were also waiting for self-checkout.

A stranger casually locks eyes with her, and she quickly hides behind the heavyset man in front of her. She hangs her head low, tightening her grip around the pregnancy test in her grasp.

Toni hid the box in her chest, like a child trying to hide something from their parents.

It was probably her nerves, but she felt like all eyes were on her; like everybody knew that there was a possibility she got pregnant by a stranger that she barely knew.

Charlie stayed on her mind for a few days after they got together. But like all of her hook-ups became a distant thought - a memory even.

He slowly but surely began invading Toni's thoughts when she fell sick and didn't get better. For three days straight, she could barely make it out of bed, and the only reason she did was to puke. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't shake off fatigue or nausea.

As much as she hated to even entertain the thought of being pregnant, she noticed that she missed her period.

Unless being sick was the reason mother nature didn't visit her. It was a big possibility that she was one of the rare percent of people who used protection and still got pregnant.

After days of questioning her life decisions, she'd finally found the courage and energy to get out of bed.

Now, there she was, standing in a long line at a Walmart in Dallas, Texas, wearing plaid pajama pants, an oversized Nightmare Before Christmas t-shirt, and flip-flops.

Deep down, she already knew what was wrong with her, and still, she fought against the scary reality.

Toni swallowed the tears threatening to spill from her tired brown eyes. She couldn't break down just yet; not in the middle of Walmart and definitely not without knowing if she was pregnant or not.

Toni nearly ran to an empty cashier and was done with her purchase in a matter of seconds. She quickly headed to the bathroom, locked herself in the cleanest stall, put down a toilet seat cover, and sat down with her pants and underwear at her ankles.

Ignoring the pounding of her heart in her ears, she ripped open the box. Though she had never taken a pregnancy test before, it was pretty explanatory.

Toni peed on the end of the stick, capped it, and sat there staring at the countdown icon. Her throat went dry, her mind raced, and her grip was so tight on the test that her hands were shaking.

In only a minute, the word Pregnant appeared.