The Great Pretenders

Chapter 32

Matt's POV

I marched down the hallway pissed. I knew Lucy had a reason to be mad at me. Did I really have a reason to be mad at her? I don't know, but I was. I was furious. I made it halfway down the stairs before I remembered Zoey's words.

I turned around and went back upstairs to the bathroom Zoey and Matt shared. A damp towel from someone's shower was on the counter next to Lucy's yellow backpack. I felt guilty for looking in it without her permission but I did it anyway. Unzipping it quickly, I stopped and stared at the cellophane-wrapped box sitting right on the top.

I heard quick footsteps behind me. "What are you doing?" she said in a rush.

As my brain registered what I saw, the blood rushed in my head. I picked up the box and turned to her.

"Leave that alone!" she cried.

"You said you were on the pill." I accused harsher than I wanted.

"I am." She retorted.

I looked at her. She stared back, all big blue eyes and pale white skin. I held up the pregnancy test kit. "I'm guessing this doesn't belong to Zoey if it's in your bag."

She tried to give me her angry look but couldn't carry it off. Her eyelashes swept her cheeks as she looked down. "A week ago, l skipped a pill accidentally. I didn't think anything about it."

I could hear the blood rushing in my ears. "Are you saying skipping one pill could get you pregnant?"

"It's possible, I guess. My period was due this week, and I couldn't figure out why I wasn't getting it. Then I remembered what had happened with the pill."

I twisted the box in my hands. "You haven't opened it."

She ran her hands through her hair "I'm waiting till I get home and I'm alone."

"No. No you don't." I pulled her the rest of the way into the bathroom and shut the door with the flat of my hand. My fingers felt numb. "Today. Right now." I tore open the box.

She knew me well enough to know this was one fight she couldn't win. "Wait in the hall," she said.

"Please Luce," I said ripping open the box and two small packages popped up "What the hell?

She bent over picking them up "It's a two pack. Give me that." She said snatching the ripped box from my hand. "Get out."

I looked at her nervously but she just pointed to the hallway. "Go."

"Okay, okay," I said and she closed the door behind me. I paced back in front of the door until she let me back in.

As soon as the door opened, I rushed back in and looked down at the little test stick on the counter. She silently closed the door behind me. She sat on the edge of the bathtub, her arms wrapped around herself.

The directions said to wait three minutes. I marked the time off with my cellphone. As the minutes passed slowly, a dozen thoughts I couldn't sort out-didn't want to sort out-tumbled through my head.

"Isn't the time up yet?" she finally said breaking the silence.

I was sweating. I looked at the clock and nodded.

"You look," she said hoarsely.

I picked up the stick with clammy hands and studied it. Finally I lifted my eyes to meet hers. "You're not pregnant."

She nodded, expressionless. "Good. Now go away."

Zoey's POV

Matt rushed out of the back door without even so much of a word or even a glance back. That could only mean that he checked her backpack. What did I expect? I'm the one who told him too.

I made my way up the stairs and to the bedroom to find it empty. I tried the bathroom next and found her sitting on the edge of the bathtub with her head in her hands.

There was a pregnancy test sitting on the counter. I picked it up and examined it. "It's negative." I said a bit of happiness in my voice.

She didn't look up "That one is," she said through her hands.

"This one?" I asked curiously.

She cleared her throat and looked up at me "There were two."

"This one is negative." I repeated again, a little confused.

"Water," she explained as she held her hand out to me to show me the second test. "This one isn't."

I took it from her hand. She was right. A small pink plus was visible on the screen.

Damn.