The Hook-up

Chapter 59

A few days later Bruno walked toward the living room of his house the way he usually did after Lauren left the house for work, groggy and half-awake he heard the TV on and saw legs on the sofa. "Lauren?" he asked trying to put together the pieces still not fully awake.

She lifted her head up buried in a sweater and t-shirt. "Yeah?" she asked him.

"Why are you home?" he asked sitting down next to her.

"I don't feel good." She told him sniffing her nose taking some Kleenex from the floor.

"Aww. My girlfriend is sick." He said dramatically standing up. "Let me take care of her." He said sweetly kissing her head. "Lay down, baby girl. I gotchu."

"Okay." She said throwing her head back closing her eyes coughing a little.

"Laur?" he asked taking some tea to her. "Here.." he sat across from her. "It's hot." He handed the tea to her watching her take a sip.

"Tea is good...but I'm so siccckkk..." she whined.

"Just go back to sleep, boo. I'll be right there...." He said pointing to the loft area of the house where he would write. She nodded her head closing her eyes.

"Feel better." He said sweetly walking away.

"Oh godddd." She moaned taking a look at her tablet on the floor near her work bag. She moaned taking a hold of the tablet starting to work a little from home. She started to type the mass e-mails that would go out to thousands of subscribers hearing Bruno singing something to himself tapping his pencil loudly.

"Stop listening, Elle!" he yelled at her flirtatiously.

"I'm not!" she yelled hoarsely coughing at the same time. "Owww." She moaned again feeling her chest pull a little suddenly feeling like she was going to puke. She got up quickly tripping over some things before sliding into the bathroom puking right as her butt hit the floor. She pushed her long hair off her shoulder reaching for a hair tie sitting on the counter putting it up in a bun hearing Bruno's foot steps behind her.

"You're pregnant." He told her handing her a test from upstairs. "Take it again."

"I'm not." She said turning to look at him. "I can't be."

"Laur....just take the damn test again." He said pushing it closer to her while she remained on the floor. "Wait...." She held her hand up puking again. He leaned down rubbing her back. He kissed her head standing up leaving the test on the counter. What the fuck. He thought to himself. He walked toward the loft before deciding to walk out of the house knowing that he would get really angry. He walked toward the pool seeing one of Lauren's shoes from a few weeks ago on the side of the pool. He leaned down picking it up throwing it as hard as he could toward the house hitting a window. "Damnit!" he shouted staring at the fence on the other side of the yard. He sat there smoking almost the whole pack of cigarettes hearing the door crack open a little but no voice. He knew she was standing behind him with a positive pregnancy test. She slid down next to him taking the cigarette out of his hand.

"You can't smoke around a baby." She said bursting into tears waiting for his response.

He reached over to her hand holding onto it lightly while she they both stared out at the same nothingness in the distance.

"What are we going to do?" he asked her. "What are we going to do?" he asked again. "I have so much....and you have so much...."

"I don't even know, Bruno. I don't know." She said through both their tears.

"I can't do it, Lauren." He said standing up walking toward the door. "I just can't do it."

"Bruno!" she jumped up grasping onto his arm. "This isn't an option! You're doing it!"

"What if it's not mine?" he asked her.

"What if it's not yours? Shit! Fuck you!" she exclaimed running toward her pile of things taking a hold of her keys and phone. "Don't call me." She said tearfully waiting for him to run after her only to hear the door slam behind her.