Someone To Love

Baby Be Mine

All of the color bleeds from Cruise's face. He staggers a moment until Dr. Beefcake shoves some smelling salts under his nose and perks him back to startled attention.

"You'd better take a seat, buddy." Dr. Gaines tries shoving Cruise in a chair but he resists the effort.

"I'm fine, really."

The doctor nods and leaves the room, sealing the door behind him.

A rail of panic rips through me, and suddenly I want to be anywhere but in this over-bright room with, of all people, the unsuspecting father of my surprise pregnancy.

"Pregnant?" His brows dip into a sharp V, and it makes him look undeniably provocative. Although, I'm pretty sure now's not a good time to drool over his astonishing good looks, especially since committing a felony or two against me is clearly still on the table.

"You're going think this is funny." I open my mouth to tell him all about my egregious oversight at the free clinic then remember his seventeen-year-old sister is tangled in that web as well. Speaking of which, I'm thrilled Dr. Muscles didn't remember me from his rotation at said free clinic.

"I'm going to think what's funny?" He tilts his head because he so knows it's not.

"Oh, um... you see..." Fuck. Fuckity, fuck, fuck, fuck. This isn't going to end well. Cruise is going to explode when he finds out I couldn't figure out how to use a simple birth control pill. "I..." Words dam up in my throat, and I hesitate in spewing out a sea of lies.

"Kenny..." His forehead wrinkles, with deep concern. Cruise pulls me in. He wraps his arms around my waist with a strong, hearty embrace. "Is this what you thought I would hate you for?" He huffs a laugh. "I could never hate you. And something like this - you didn't do anything wrong." He pulls back, and his lips twist as he considers this. "Besides, you can't be pregnant. You're on the pill." His face swells with relief. "All that puking messed with your brain. You must have forgot."

My mouth opens to correct him, and nothing but air comes out.

"You're not on the pill?" He says it pressured, his face flooding with panic.

God, he's going to think I'm a liar - that I'm one of those girls who feels the need to fill a void in her life by "planning" a pregnancy. Right about now he's probably thinking that whole virgin thing was a ruse, too.

"Kenny? What's going on? Talk to me." He's got a frightened look on his face that suggests he just realized he's been drilling without hardware.

The nurse comes in and instructs me to follow her - so I do.

When I finally make my way back to the tiny white room, Cruise has long since defected. I bet he's clearing all my crap out of his house right this minute - ransacking his wallet for the receipt on that coat he bought.

I should have known it would be my own stupidity that would ruin things between the two of us and not some fictitious inclination in him to "cheat." If anything, that night at the restaurant proved Cruise doesn't give a rat's ass about other girls. That waitress could have qualified as a bona fide supermodel on seven different planets. You could see the invitation she was giving him, plain as the boob job wedging out of her blouse. But it was me Cruise hauled to the back. It was me he thrust all of his affection into until I thought my spine would snap from the pressure - me he pleasured until I gave a heated scream. Now, the only one screaming will be Cruise as he runs the other way when he sees me coming.

Face it. We're over. And now we're going to have a baby of all things to remind us both for the next eighteen years what a complete idiot I am.

My brother, Morgan, was an accident. My dad hung out just long enough to produce me then made a beeline for the state line before I hit preschool. That would paint a rosy picture for Cruise and me. I would give anything to have him love me with that body just one more time.