Dawson's P.O.V.:
4 Months later:
I was still with my parents, still writing my novel, and still avoiding my issues with Jared. He had tried countless times to text, left voicemail concerned about where I was, if I was okay. Part of me felt bad about not answering, but the other part said he didn't deserve a response. He had hurt me, more than I imagined.
Today, I hoped to leave a little piece of him behind. My friend Marie was taking me shopping for a double date with her and her girlfriend. She had set me up with a colleague of hers that she thought would be a perfect fit. I was supposed to meet her downtown around 4, so in about an hour.
I quickly took a shower and dressed in some jeans and a black, multi-layered tulle top. Then I headed to the store, and met up with her there.
When I saw her, I waved to her, and she lit up. She did a little skip run towards me and hugged me so tight. We hadn't seen each other since we left for college, so it was about time we met up.
"Oh Dawson! I'm so happy to see you!" She says, still hugging me.
"I can't believe you still live here! I thought you wanted to go to California again?" I ask, pulling away. I kept my hands on her shoulders.
She shook her head and grabbed my hand. Marie had always been very physically affectionate towards her friends, and especially towards me. We had been best friends since 7th grade, we relied on each other so much during high school. We had become inseparable. "I decided to stay here and just open a coffee shop, because this town obviously needs one." She laughs as we look around. Every block had at least two coffee shops, each, though, had their own flair.
As we wandered the stores, Marie told me about her time after high school, how she traveled a bit but then settled back home. Now, when she heard I was in town, she just couldn't help but meet and catch up.
"So I hear that you haven't had the best of luck with guys?" She says, grabbing a dress and handing it to me to try on.
I grab it and shrug, "I guess not, but, I'm really over it. I'll just have dogs for the rest of my life, at least they won't cheat. "
Marie giggles a bit and hands me a shirt and one for herself, "That is not a lie."
I laugh and step into the fitting rooms. As I undress, I look in the mirror and see little pink lighting bolts on my sides, "Oh hell no."
"What's wrong? Are you okay?" Marie says as she walks up to the curtain.
"I have stretch marks and my fat grew." I say, poking a prodding my sides.
I feel Marie hit my arm with all her might, and I stumble across the fitting room. "Shut up! You're a grown ass woman! Of course you'll have stretch marks."
"But its different. I don' t-" I couldn't finish before Marie barged in and started assessing me herself.
She looks at my tummy and turns me around. She presses on my stomach and looks up at me, "Did you have your period this month?"
I knit my eyebrows and think about it for a second. I hadn't had my period for a long while now, almost 7 months. I didn't put much thought into that, mostly because I had other things going on. "Oh shit. " I whisper under my breath.
Marie's eyes grow to the size of watermelons as she stands up and looks me in the eyes. "You're pregnant. "
"Shhhh!" I spit, grabbing my shirt off the ground. I slip it on and grab the clothes I was going to try on. Marie follows, smiling ear to ear. "I can't be."
"Who's is it?" She asks as we sit down outside on the steps.
"I'm not pregnant, there's no way." I say, grabbing my keys.
Marie, again, follows me to my car.
"Where are we going?" She asks as I start to drive.
"The store, because now I'm freaking out!" I anxiously say.
Marie pats my knee and keeps her gaze on me, "Its okay. Everything will work out."
I shake my head as I pull into the drug store. Looking at her, I try not to scream as I say, "I can't be pregnant with a guy who I loved so fucking much but left me without saying a word."
I stumble out of the car and leave Marie in there. She doesn't follow this time, which I later feel bad for. As the main doors open, I head to the pregnancy tests and grab 2 boxes, each with 4 tests. I then rush to the register, pay for them, then rush back to the car.
"We can go to my apartment if you need. Its closer than your parent's house." Marie says, looking at me. She seemed hurt that I barked at her, that I wouldn't let her help, that It was me in this situation.
I drop the tests and pull her into a hug. She hugs me so tight as if she tried to put all the pieces together. "I believe you can do this, buddy." I haven't heard that since graduation, which made me hug her even tighter.
After a few seconds we let go and she gave me directions to her apartment. We were there in a few minutes, luckily, because the stress was nipping at me. It was like a little termite, eating away at the structures of my brain.
She unlocked the door and showed me the way to the bathroom. I thanked her as she took my things. I locked the bathroom door and did what I had to do for the pee sticks. I did 7, so that I could have tie breaker out of the eight.
I washed my hands, set them on the sink's edge, and opened the door. Marie was sitting on the couch and turned her head towards me. She seemed almost as anxious as I was.
"5 minutes. " I whisper, walking over to the couch and joining her. She nodded, grabbing my hand and smiling at me. I grabbed my phone and set a timer.
We waited for the time to pass. It was the longest 5 minutes of my life, but when the timer screamed at me, I felt my heart stop. Marie pushed me up and towards the bathroom to check. I poked the door open and saw the little fuckers on the sink.
I picked one up and my heart sank: positive.
I threw it in the trash and picked up the next: negative.
The next: positive.
And the next: positive
and the next: positive
and the next: negative
then the final one: positive.
I threw them all away and walked out of the bathroom in complete shock. Marie tip toed up to me and hugged me.
"I'm pregnant."
