Curls [H.S. A.U.]

Curls: Chapter 14

Arabella

My left hand weights ten pounds heavier than my right.

Oh joy!

It's simple and I love it. Harry knows what I like and I don't think I could find someone better suited for me than my curly headed fiancé.

"Arabella?" A soft voice calls from behind me. I set down the garmet I was examining to turn around. "Arabella Pérez?"

I gasp, my hands cupping my glossed lips. Big mistake, I know. "Amanda Yelger?"

Amanda Yelger, also known as my childhood best friend. She moved to Idaho our sophomore year of high school and we lost all contact. Her boyfriend moved with her and last I heard they married at seventeen.

And here she stands, completely pregnant. Full term looking.

"You look--!"

"No, look at--!"

"Wow," we both settle with. I pull the woman into a hug, her pregnant stomach rubbing against in the oddest of ways.

She shakes her head in astonishment. "Last I saw you we were fifteen and madly in love with Ashton Kutcher. Now look at you: engaged and pregnant!"

I laugh at her compliment, about to reply with a similar one, until all of her words sunk in. I freeze, my mouth open and my finger in the air. A small gasp of air escapes my mouth. "Huh?"

She looks taken back. "Oh, I'm sorry. You aren't engaged? Married already?"

I shake my head. "Go back to the pregnant thing," I demand. "I mean, why would you say that?" I chuckle nervously. Pregnancy is scary. Why would I want to be pregnant now? My career is hitting its peak. I have everything I could ever want.

A baby right now wouldn't do anything but shit all over my dreams.

Amanda raises an eyebrow. "You're clearly pregnant, three months you look. Look, you have the glow and the acne."

I look at her pocket mirror. Yeah, I've broken out in the last month but I thought it was because my period was about to start.

"How is this possible? Harry proposed three months ago, we had sex three days later, and my implant--."

My implant.

It's fucking spoiled.

I never renewed-- oh shit.

"Hey, stop breathing so heavily," Amanda snaps. Same old girl, always the one to 'lovingly yell'. Poor child, he or she is going to be stuck with her as a mother.

My eyes bug out of my socket. "I thought I was bloated from all the Chipotle I've been eating lately!" I pull my tank top up a bit to expose the small pouch of fat under my belly button. Amanda smiles.

"I remember being that small. No symptoms?"

I shake my head no. Oh my God, my twenty first birthday is coming up and I drank yesterday. I drank while pregnant.

Oh my God he's going to come out with down syndrome because I drank wine. Harry will never want to marry me knowing I gave our child down syndrome!

Harry. . .

We agreed on a long engagement because of work. What if he thinks I want a long engagement because I knew I was pregnant all along?

Oh my God.

"Relax," Mandy snaps again. She holds her underbelly and glares at me. "Stop acting like it's the end of the world. This is 2016, pregnant while engaged is not the worst thing ever. You could be on Jerry Springer fighting your boyfriend's baby mama."

"I'm Hispanic!" I panick. "Hispanic girls don't get pregnant unwed! My mami is going to kill me!"

Okay maybe she wont. But Roberto, Jesus, Alfonso, and Jamie will. They think I'm still a virgin.

What am I going to tell them?

Mandy snorts. "Latinas get pregnant like bunnies."

I playfully shove her. I collect my things and toss back anything unpaid for. Amanda follows me through the mall until I reach the bathroom. We enter the handicap stall.

She snorts as I pull out a pregnancy test. "What? My mother gave it to me when Harry proposed. I didn't think I'd need to use one for at least five more years."

So we wait. Suddenly my left hand is as light as air when I pick up the test after four minutes. And then my right hand is too heavy and something falls.

Positive.

It was positive.

The thing falling? Yeah, that's me.