Sideways

Chapter 44 Catherine Material Girl

Catherine

i-True Blue

February 1986

"This cannot be happening," Catherine says as she pushes herself back, reaches up, and flushes the toilet she had vomited into. "This cannot be happening; my father is going to kill me."

She lifts her hands off the cool tile floor and stands, smoothing out her blue denim pants. After pulling open the stall door, she walked over to the mirror and looked over her milky and pale complexion. She stands in front of the bathroom sink, running her fingers along the smooth, cool metal of the faucet. Looking into the mirror, she sees the tiredness in her appearance.

Needing to freshen up, she turns on the faucet and splashes cold water onto her face, instantly feeling better. Looking back at her reflection, she noticed a rosy hue returning to her cheeks. Lowering her hands, she reaches for the hair tie on her wrist. With purposeful movements, she removes it and runs her fingers through her long, thick, black hair. Gathering it together, she ties it up neatly into a ponytail.

As the bathroom door swings open behind her, a beautiful Black woman dressed in snug blue jeans cinched with a sleek black leather belt strides in with her arms wrapped in a cozy, long-sleeved pink sweater. Her short, bold, flaming red hair adds an extra touch of fierceness to her look.

"Myers is going to have a fit when he sees you left his class like that," Laurie says, her strong Brooklyn accent unmistakable.

"I have more important things to worry about, Laurie. I'm late, and I think I just had morning sickness." Catherine's voice trembles as she speaks, torn between the excitement of a potential pregnancy and the worry of how it would affect her already chaotic life.

Laurie's mouth forms a perfect O shape, showing her surprise and concern. Her brown eyes widened in shock as she looked at Catherine's reflection in the mirror. "Oh, fuck." She pauses for a beat, thinking, "Okay, here is what we are going to do; I'll head back to the classroom and grab your stuff. If Myers says anything, I will tell him you need to head to the nurse. Then, we will head to the closest drug store, grab a pregnancy test, or five, and then head back to our apartment so you can take the test."

"If you see HIM..." Catherine says.

"I'm not telling that jackass boyfriend of yours anything," Laurie says, her arms folded tightly across her chest, a determined look on her face.

"He's going to freak when he finds out."

"Stop jumping to the worst-case scenario. You don't even know that you are preggers yet. If you are, you have options."

Catherine shakes her head as her hands tremble and nervously fixes her clothes again. Taking a deep breath before standing tall. "I can't do that," she says softly, shaking her head, her mind already made up. She knows, technically, she has options, but that is not who she is. "I may not be ready for this, but if I am pregnant, I'm keeping the baby."

"Are you sure?" Laurie's voice trembles with worry, her eyes darting back and forth between Caterine's back and her reflection as she awaits a response, and all she gets is a soft shaking of Catherine's head.

"You could ... I would take you... Wesley and I would take care of you..." Laurie stammers out, trying to be supportive and not push.

Catherine vigorously shakes her head from side to side, her long ponytail swaying with each movement as she expresses her enthusiastic disagreement. "My body, my choice. I may not want this right now. I'm almost twenty-one years old, and I want to get my degree. I want to do things with my life. But that doesn't mean I don't want to be a mother. If I am pregnant, it will be hard, but I will find a way to make it work."