Break Noses, Not Hearts • andrei svechnikov

XVII

I haven't been feeling the best for the last few weeks.

It's now March, and I've started to notice some discerning things. A few of these things are that I'm constantly urinating and that I'm experiencing flu-like symptoms. As far as I know, there isn't a high risk for the flu in the Raleigh area, but maybe I had contracted it somehow or someway.

The biggest concern I have among the symptoms of pregnancy is that I missed my February menstrual cycle. Like I've mentioned before, I take birth control to regulate my irregular periods and ever since I started taking it since I was fifteen, I've only had a few instances where it came late or never at all. Eventually I'd rebound back the next month, so that eliminated all the other possibilities of being conceived.

While Andrei and I were shopping for groceries at Target (he'd been a little more protective of me since I told him I was sick), I stepped aside and told him I needed to go to the bathroom. Of course, he didn't think anything of it since I told him I've had to use the bathroom at least five times a day, but this time he looked at me with concern.

"Kennedy, do you need to see the doctor?" he asked me as he put the box of Bunches O' Oats cereal in the red cart.

I shook my head. "No, I've just been drinking a lot of water," I told him.

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? You've been this way since the middle of February," he said as he moved the cart down the aisle.

"I'm trying to lose weight by drinking lots of water, Andrei. I need to use the bathroom," I responded as I started to dance around like a little kid begging their mom to let them use the bathroom.

"Okay, okay!" he exclaimed as he threw his hands into the air. "Sorry. I'll be waiting right here."

I beamed and ran down the aisle and out into the main walkways of the store.

He's so gullible. I thought as I found my way over to the health section.

I made my way down the aisle with the menstrual necessities like tampons and pads. I'd find the pregnancy tests, and so I took two just to be sure I wasn't going crazy.

"What are you doing?"

I looked to my side and felt my heart drop. Andrei was standing there in concerned confusion as I was inherently and awkwardly putting the tests back on the shelf.

"What are you doing? I thought you were going to stay in the cereal aisle," I asked him as I quickly grabbed a box of regular flow Tampax tampons and threw it into the cart.

"Why were you grabbing that?" he responded.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm a woman. I have something called a uterus. I shed my lining every month for a baby it was prepared for. You wouldn't understand. You're a man," I said.

He frowned. "No, I was talking about the pregnancy tests," he firmly clarified.

My face instantly felt warm to the touch. My cheeks reddened as I kept on staring at him with awkward silence building between us.

He sighed. "Is there something you're not telling me?" he asked me after he made his way around the cart and stood by me. He towered over me by the filled shelves of pads and tampons, causing me to only fall more.

I stayed silent. I'd been caught, and we both knew it.

He took another deep breath and sighed again. "Eight dollars?" he questioned as he took the box of Clearblue tests I'd taken off the shelf before he caught me.

I gulped.

He took it off the shelf and tossed it into the cart.

"You have some explaining to do when we get home," he said. "Did you even need to use the bathroom?"