A Different Reality (Lasting Love)

Shock and Confusion

"You sure you're okay, Jen?" Lisa asks as we leave "We can wait if we need to."

"Yeah, I'm fine." I try to reassure myself as much as I am her "That's been happening for a few days now. Sometimes I just feel a little nauseous after I eat."

"But it's not normal to be throwing up, too." Court states clearly not believing me "You should go to the doctor or something. Get checked out."

"It's probably just the stomach bug. I took some medicine so I'll be fine now." I walk out to the car giving them no option but to follow me "Let's go shopping. I don't want this to ruin our day."

They get in the car eventually and we drive to our favorite mall. We all agree we want to look at clothing first, so we walk into a store.

"You should wear this, Court!" Lisa holds up the craziest dress she could find "It would be perfect for your date tonight."

"Yeah!" I agree with Lisa and hold up the matching hideous shoes that go with it "All of this together would be the best date outfit ever."

"I hate you two." She turns away from us laughing "Seriously, help me find something normal looking. I'd like to have more than one date with this guy."

"Fine. You're no fun." I start to go through the different dresses they have when I happen to smell the soft pretzels they are selling across from the store "Oh my God, guys! Do you smell that? Those smell awesome."

"Are you seriously hungry? After throwing up your whole lunch?" Lisa looks at me like I'm crazy "You need help."

"No. What I need is a pretzel." I start to walk away, but Courteney grabs my arm to stop me "What you need is to help me find my dress. I'll buy you the damn pretzel if you help."

Lisa and I glare at each other, noting how high maintenance Court has become since she's worried about this date, and get back to looking. I end up finding some different things that I'd like to wear, and put them to the side so Court doesn't see.

"What about this one?" She walks out in a blue curve hugging dress that ends above her knees "I think it would look really good with those red heels we saw."

Lisa nods her head agreeing with her "It's my favorite on you that we've seen so far."

"I think you should definitely get it." I hand her the shoes so we can see the whole outfit "All you need is a necklace and it's perfect."

"Okay, you pick." Court holds up two similar necklaces "I can't decide which is better."

I pick out the less bulky one, and Lisa agrees. Court ends up buying that whole outfit while Lisa and I look around a little bit more before paying for what we want. I ended up picking out some shoes to go along with the dresses that I hope Justin will like as much as I do.

"Do you still want your pretzel?" Lisa asks as we walk out "It's right over there." I tell them I do and we walk over. The smell starts to get even stronger and I can basically taste the pretzel already.

I get my pretzel and eat the whole thing as fast as possible. Court and Lisa stare at me like I'm crazy for doing this, and pull me to the side.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Court asks "You aren't hiding anything from us?"

"You know you can tell us anything, right?" Lisa adds.

"I'm not hiding anything, guys." I promise them "I've just been feeling a little weird lately."

"Are you pregnant?" Lisa blurts out "You've been vomiting almost every time you eat, and you smelled these pretzels from across the mall. That would really explain it."

"I don't know." I surprise even myself "I guess I could be. I just figured it was the stomach bug."

"Do you think you are?" Court asks "We can get you a test or something if you want."

"Yeah, let's do that." I start to feel uneasy thinking about all this "Just please don't tell Justin. If I am, I wanna tell him."

"Don't worry, we won't tell him."

We all leave the mall and pick up the test on the way to Courteney's house. Luckily, she lives alone so nobody else has to know.

"Here, take it. We'll wait out here for you." They hand me the test and I walk into the bathroom. I take the test and put it on the counter waiting for the result. I don't really expect it to be positive, but I also know that there's a chance it could be, and I don't really know how I'll feel if it is.

3 minutes finally pass and I pick up the test to look at it.

Negative.

I sigh of relief, knowing that I am not ready for a baby right now, and walk out to Court and Lisa to show them.

"Well that's good, right?" Court says comforting me "You wanted to wait for kids anyway."

"Yeah." I say grabbing my bag "I think I'm gonna go home. I had so much fun today, but I promised Justin I'd be home for dinner, and I kinda wanna talk to him."

"Okay," Lisa gets up as well "I should probably go too. You need to get ready for your date."

"Yeah!" Court says excitedly "Thanks so much for helping me pick everything out. I'll let you guys know how it goes."

I drive home and notice that Justin has every light off except for the one in his office. He never does that unless he's working on something.

"Hey, you working?" I walk up to the back of this chair wrapping my arms around him "I missed you today."

He turns around and picks me up "I actually just finished."