A Year Of Hope

Jane decided she was going to be single for a while.

She announced this next morning after her hook up. She was done with hook ups too. She said she was still hung up on someone, and she was going to get over them first, because it wasn't fair to her romantic partners to date someone else. 

She also found out the next morning that Sam and I had broken up, to which she found this news more heartbreaking than finding out Carlie was  cheating on her.

"No no no! You guys can't break up! You're literally perfect for eachother! Please tell me you're joking."

"We are not," I said with a smirk.

"But it's good, we're still pals," Sam said with a chuckle, and I chucked back, but Jane did not find this amusing.

Nobody said it, but I could tell all of us enjoyed the normalcy again. My relationship with Sam, looking back, had been strained and awkward. Now her and talked and chat again like how we used to when we were friends. It also felt nice to have Jane back.

A little over two weeks after that night, Jane and I decided to go to a sushi place after work. It was October at this point, and Jane's birthday in two weeks. This was told to me by Sam. Jane did not like to make a big deal about her birthday.

 Jane, I discovered, loved sushi, and insisted on ordering her favorite roll for me to try. It was a shrimp tempura roll with cucumber and avocado, rolled into rice which was covered in roe, with a teriyaki and yum yum sauce drizzled over it. I was glad I had allowed her to pick it for me over my typical sushi choice,  spicy tuna. The flavor was immaculate.

"That was amazing.. I'm considering getting another roll," I  said, and looked at Jane. She had a wide eyed look, staring at her plate with her hand over her mouth. She had turned pale and almost looked green. "Are... you okay dude?"

"No... no I think I need to use the restroom." She said, and quickly got up and scurried to the restroom.

I sat there for five minutes, then ten. I decided I should go and check on her. I left $60 under my cup, which was more than enough to cover the bill and the tip, and went to the bathroom. I knocked on the women's bathroom door before opening it. "Is anyone else in here?" I received no response, so I entered. I went to the final stall, where Jane sat on her knees, her head leaning on the toilet seat. The inside of the bowl was filled with vomit.

"I think the shrimp was bad..." she said weakly.

I helped Jane up to her feet, and allowed her to put most of her weight on me as I lead her out of the bathroom. "I think you have a bug... I feel fine."

"Yeah, maybe that's true."

I ended up carrying her to my car. I had to put her down twice along the way so she could vomit again, but all that came out was bile.

I allowed her to lay in the backseat as I drove us home.

"Could this be PMSing? Or maybe your period?" I asked as I drove. "I know you and Sam linked up, and she started a few days ago."

"No, Cai, PMSing doesn't cause you to puke," she snapped. I didn't take offense seeing as she probably felt like shit. Then she shot up from laying down. "Cai, I need you to take me to the drug store."

"Is everything alright."

"No, no it's not." Jane said.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Just drive please!" she said with an annoyed tone.

I sat in silence, but I changed out route to go to the drug store. 

"Want me to go in for you?" I asked her.

"No, I think I can handle it," she said, and she left the car. She seemed weak. Typically she ran everywhere she went, but this time she walked feebly. After ten minutes she walked out with a grocery bag and a gallon of filtered water, and sat in the front seat. She threw the bag on the floor and I saw there were four pregnancy tests, the expensive kind that digitally displayed either "Pregnant" or "Not Pregnant".