run of the mill.

7th

Pregnant.

The clear word read on the white stick as clear as day. It didn't elicit as much emotion as it was suppose to elicit at the discovery. There were other things to be thought about right them. There was no denying it; the three others that were splayed in the floor from the spilled trashcan said the same thing.

The TV was blaring in the bedroom and the vacuum could vaguely be heard through the wall as Rosario sucked up dust and residue in the living room. There was the faint sound of a faint buzzing that signified a plane flying a few thousand feet above their condo. And the blatant bright pink words glaring up from the pail white stick looking like a big neon sign for no reason. But then for a very clear reason. A very clear, nine month long, roughly forty pound, swollen ankle, painful bending, constant aching, almost unbearable reason.

Pregnant.

Pregnant.

Pregnant.

He didn't realize he had moved until he was standing in front of Beyonce, who was sitting on the bed with her legs folded underneath her while she made a phone call to the cleaners for a dress she wanted to wear to an event he had invited her to. Shawn looked at her with inquisitive eyes, trying to figure out what exactly what was going through her mind. He couldn't figure out why she wouldn't tell him. His mind wondered what she had been waiting on. This was such an important announcement to make, something so important to him. Why would she keep it from him for even a minute?

What the hell was going through her mind? Why would she keep something like this to herself? Why would she take the tests alone?

He didn't even realize that he was still holding the stick in his hand until he felt his fingers clutching it painfully. Shawn hid the small stick in his palm and looked at her as she hung up the phone and stared down at it thoughtfully. He had been home for about two hours, long enough for him to fall asleep in the living room and unwind until Rosario kicked him out, saying she needed to clean. That was when he went into the bedroom and kissed Beyonce on the lips while she watched 'The Secret Life of Bees'. Shawn had turned on the shower and went to retrieve another bottle of soap because he'd used the last of his that morning. He opened the cabinet under the sink and the trashcan that had been stuffed underneath there oddly fell out and spilled its secrets onto the tile.

That's when and how he found out that she was pregnant. She had taken the test, and then taken three more to be sure. Then she must have heard him come in or something because instead of running and telling him what she had discovered about her body, about their future, she attempted to hide the trashcan in the cabinet.

Why?

The whole time Beyonce had been in this room, watching TV and sitting there just smiling and acting like she was perfectly fine when she knew that she was pregnant and she hadn't said anything to him.

"Hey baby," she said when she noticed him. Behind his back the shower was running, probably warm enough for him to get in but it was the last thing on his mind. She smiled at him like everything was fine and Shawn gave her the benefit of the doubt. He was going to give her one more chance to approach him with the right information.

Shawn went to sit next to her, clutching the stick in his large hand, so as to hide it from her. Beyonce leaned into him comfortably and put her head on his shoulder. Shawn could smell the vanilla and raspberry shit in her hair and he sniffed it briefly. He loved that.

"Hey," he said touching her chin. Beyonce yawned and looked up at him lazily.

"Was up cutie?" she said, giggled as she used his own words on him. Shawn said that when she called his cell phone. "Ooooh I got jokes," she said playing around.