Empathy (a Shoey fanfic)

Telling Shane

~Lisa's POV~

Sometimes, I wish that I was able to tell what other people are feeling without being able to see them. It would be nice to know if Joey's angry before I open the door, but I have no idea. It might be safer to just stay in here.

"Come on, open the door. You can't stay locked in the bathroom forever," he stated, knocking on the door again. I hate when he does that, even if I know he's right. It isn't fair to use people's thoughts against them.

"Stop doing that; it's annoying," I replied, hoping that it wasn't obvious that I was just trying to put off opening the door for as long as humanly possible. But then again, this is Joey we're talking about; it's probably obvious to him.

"I'm just being rational, unlike someone else here. Now open the freaking door already."

After a moment of internal struggling, I got off of the floor and walked toward the door. it took me another few seconds for me to work up the courage to actually open it, fearing what I would see when I did. He's probably angry. I would be if I were in his place.

When I actually did pull the door open, I couldn't read his expression. I don't know whether to be relieved or terrified because he might be mad but he isn't showing it.

"Okay, before we say anything else, I have to know; are you mad at me? I can't tell by looking at your face, and it's terrifying."

Before actually getting around to responding, he just stood there for a moment, staring at me like I was a psycho with a third eye on my forehead, which did not ease my nerves. At all. "No... Why? Do I have a reason to be mad at you?" he asked, furrowing his brow in confusion.

"I would think so."

"Really? And what might that reason be?" I'm not sure if I'm just being paranoid, but it seems to me that the more I asked, the madder he became. Maybe I should have just left the issue alone.

"Um..." I took a second to think about whether or not I should tell him and decided to bite the bullet. "I'm pregnant with your boyfriend's baby."

"Yeah, I know." That earned him a deer-in-the-headlights look from me, because if I were in his place, I would be fucking pissed. "I still don't see why you think I should be mad."

"Because you two are in a relationship, and I'm his ex, and I'm having his baby!"

"Yeah, thanks for the recap. Now, what's your point?"

I don't think I'll ever understand this guy. "How are you not angry right now?"

"I'm not angry because I knew that you were pregnant before Shane and I even started dating," he stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"WHAT?! How? Why didn't you tell me?!"

"A couple reasons. One: I didn't want to ruin the surprise, and two: you wouldn't have believed me even if I did tell you, so why even bother?" Put that way, it did make sense. I probably would have slapped him if he had said something. "And that would have been a pleasant conversation for me," he chuckled, "'Hey Lisa, you don't know this yet, but you're pregnant, and I know this because I want to puke whenever I'm around you!'"

"The sarcasm was not necessary."I swear, this guy is a mind reader, and it's starting to piss me off.

"Aaanyway, now comes the fun part," he smiled and did this weird shimmy thing that only Joey would do.

I had this growing feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach, "And what's that?" I asked, already having an idea of what he was going to say.

"You, my friend, get to tell Shane now," he stated, grinning.