by Keelan Storm
Isabel wondered if she would be forgiven and knew she deserved it if Annie decided to stay mad for a while. But she did have the best sister.
“So, how was it?”
“Amazing!” she gushed, relieved to see Annie’s forgiving grin. “Tucker and I just click. It’s so intense. It’s…it’s…delicious,” she decided, her toes curling just thinking about it. “He definitely knows what he’s doing.”
Annie grimaced, holding up a hand. “Okay, that’s all I need to know about Tucker and sex.”
Isabel laughed. “I sucked it up when you talked about Jet.”
“Touché…but seriously, how far along do you think you are? I mean if you are pregnant.”
“About two months.”
“Two months?! You and Tucker have only been together for two months. You think you got pregnant your first time?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s when it happened.”
“Why?”
“Because that was the only time we didn’t use protection.”
“What?! You didn’t use?!” she shrieked, scrambling up from the floor. “I’ll be right back,” she sputtered angrily as she stormed her way out of the restroom.
Isabel jumped up to go after her. No good could come from Annie being pissed with that news, but she didn’t make it two steps towards the door before there was a wrenching feeling in her stomach, and she had to drop down in front of the toilet once again.
14
Confirmation
Annie was seething on her way back to the table, thoughts of disbelief running through her head as she considered all the things she wanted to do and say to her sister’s stupid boyfriend.
“This can’t be happening! What were they thinking? Izzy knows better! I’m going to kill Tucker if it’s true!” She hoped for his sake that Izzy was wrong because her imagination was already getting creative…
Jet was still shoving nachos into his mouth, but Tucker was staring when she stormed up, his brow crinkled with worry and confusion, but his compassion did nothing to help his case.
“How could he be so stupid?!” Annie fumed when she reached him. Her hand flew up and whacked him against his upper arm. “Are you an idiot?!”
Jet’s eyes widened, and he dropped the nacho he was holding.
“Ow! Hey! What was that for?” Tucker asked, leaning away from her.
“It’s not li’e he could ‘ave gone in ‘ere wit’ ‘er,” Jet argued for Tucker, his mouth still overflowing with food.
Tables nearby started to stare, and not wanting or needing an audience, she forced herself to lower her voice, but none could miss the anger still seeping through. “I need to talk to you outside.”
“Annie, what’s the matter? Is Izzy okay?” Tucker pressed, refusing to move.
“Outside, Tucker…now…” she said through her teeth. “Doesn’t he know how close I am to blowing up in his face in front of all these people?!”
Knowing from experience when to not mess with Annie, Tucker stood. They weaved between tables and pushed past a couple coming through the door to follow the path around the building. Annie was determined to find a place with little to no audience before she stopped. Tucker followed, not saying anything, still looking irritatingly confused when she turned to glare at him, her hands clenching into fists at her sides.
“Annie, will you please tell me what’s going on?” he finally asked.
“I can’t believe you!”
“What? What did I do?”
“What did you do?!” she screamed. Her hand flew up and whacked him hard in the arm repeatedly as she yelled, “You had sex with my sister! Unprotected sex with her, you idiot!”
Tucker faltered, rubbing his arm. “She told you? Crap, no wonder she didn’t want you to know we were having sex already. She must have known you would freak out,” he said half to her and half to himself.
“That’s not what I’m freaking out about, Tucker! Fine, okay, have sex with my sister. I don’t care as long as you love her…and use protection!” she added, whacking his arm again.
Tucker set his jaw, his patience starting to ebb. “Annie, unless you can give me a good reason why you’re this mad, you need to stop hitting me. My sex life with Izzy is our business. We were careless once. That’s it. Do I need to swear to never have unprotected sex ever again or something?”
“It would be a start, but that won’t help the situation you’re in now.” She hoped he would figure it out without her having to say it. Sure enough, it didn’t take long before he started to pale.
“No, you’re just messing with me, right? She’s not…”
Annie nodded, her eyebrows raised with a silent ‘yep.’ “She just figured it out in the bathroom after she finished puking her guts out.”
“But that was only one time,” he said shakily. “She probably just ate some bad nachos.”
“Oh, come on, Tucker! We were all eating the same nachos, and she’s the only one of us who got remotely sick. Think about it. She’s been saying she’s been feeling bad for weeks now, she’s tired a lot, she’s been getting dizzy spells, and now she’s throwing up!”
His head shook vehemently, hands grasping at the back of his neck as he fought the connections trying to form. “She caught that cold from Leo…”
“She hasn’t had a normal period since that time.”
Her words sealing his fate, Tucker’s mouth opened and closed repeatedly, yet he couldn’t form any words as his eyes stared blankly ahead. Annie felt her first twinge of concern as her friend fell into his state of shock.
Jet came around the corner then, holding the folder of forgotten brochures and Izzy’s purse. “Hey, I guessed that y’all weren’t going to eat anymore, so I went ahead and paid. Is Izzy going to come meet us outside when she’s done?”
Tucker still stared blankly ahead, unhearing, and motionless when Jet made it to Annie’s side. “What’s the matter? Is Izzy okay?” he asked, his concern flaring at his friend’s abnormal stance.
Annie turned to Jet, ready to explain, certain she would have to, with Tucker stunned to silence, when she heard her friend’s normally bass like tone emit a hoarse whisper.
“Izzy thinks she’s pregnant.”
Jet’s eyes grew wide, and he looked at Annie to have her confirm or deny the remark. She gave him a look that said ‘I’m afraid so.’ He turned back to his distressed friend. “Dude, I didn’t even know that you guys were having sex.”
“Oh my God, really?” Annie rolled her eyes. “Babe, that is not the issue here. My sister could be pregnant,” she hissed. She turned back to Tucker and shook his shoulders to break his trance. He looked back at the face that was so much like his girl’s as Annie spouted off directions.
“Look, we need to find out for sure. I’m going to go back inside to take care of Izzy. You and Jet are going to go and get a test,” she instructed, jabbing Tucker’s chest with her finger.
“A test?” Jet repeated.
“We’re going to do what?” was Tucker’s response.
“You’re going to go get a test while I take care of my sister and your possibly knocked up girlfriend.” Was she stuttering or something? She thought the instructions were pretty simple.
“And what? Have her take a test here in a restaurant where someone might walk in? Or should we take it back to my place or your house where our parents could see it and freak out?” he asked, lacing his retort thick with sarcasm.
“My mom got called into work, and Tyler’s over at Jet’s playing with Chris. We’ll just have to make sure we take out the trash before anyone comes home,” Annie proclaimed, already starting to walk off. “Now get your butt’s in the truck, and go get that test. Izzy and I will be waiting for you when you get back.”
* * *
The two friends pulled out of the parking lot minutes later to run the simple, yet terrifying, errand the irate twin had given them. Jet drove, knowing he would have been shit behind the wheel if it
were him in his friend’s position. Tucker moved restlessly in the passenger seat, cracking his knuckles, gripping his neck, tapping his fingers against his seat, and then his legs as his toes tapped at the empty soda bottles on the floorboard.
Tucker needed a distraction. “Dude, I still can’t believe you and Izzy had sex,” Jet commented casually as he turned at a light.
“I can’t believe this might be happening,” Tucker replied quietly, swallowing hard; he looked to his friend, silently begging for a lifeline.
“Look,” Jet offered, trying to sound reasonable and keep his friend sane. “This could be nothing. We’re worrying before we even know anything.”
Tucker nodded, greedy for the chance to doubt. If Izzy was pregnant, life as he knew it was over.
“So, how was it?” Jet asked, going for a different distraction when Tucker seemed to calm. He watched as the worry shifted into awe.
“It was unbelievable, man, mind-blowing… Being with her is nothing like with other girls. Would you believe she likes to take charge?”
“Yeah?” Jet asked, honestly surprised.
Tucker nodded. “She can get wild. It’s so hot.”
“Izzy wild in bed? Who knew?” Jet thought as he rolled the idea around in his head. “Good for you, man,” he said as they turned into the parking lot. He pulled into the first open spot he could see. Cutting the engine, he reached for the door.
“I don’t think I can do it, man.”
Tucker looked frozen, his fingers white-knuckling his thighs. “Sure you can,” Jet encouraged. “I know it’s humiliating to be buying one of those test things, but Annie’s going to have our asses if we don’t do it and get back soon.”
“I know that, but it’s not about the humiliation. If I go in there and buy one of those, it could confirm everything.”
For the first time since he had heard the news, he realized how completely terrified his friend must be. “Buying a test isn’t going to change what’s already there or isn’t there. What’s done is done.”
“I know.”
“Well, come on then. Let’s go get this over with before we have to face the wrath of Annie.”
Tucker took in a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah, alright, let’s go.”
It seemed to Tucker as if their walk to the pharmaceutical section was going way too fast. Each step sounded in his ears, the people around them, and the voice on the intercom becoming background noise as they drew closer and closer to the dreadful test.
“Over here,” he vaguely heard Jet say from his side.
He followed his friend into the aisle and froze. Fertility tests, ovulation tests, and the cruelest joke of all time…an enormous section of condoms right below a huge selection of pregnancy tests stared back at them, mocking him.
He heard Jet scoff under his breath. What was his friend thinking? This was anything but funny. “What?”
“Nothing,” Jet said, picking up a box of condoms. “It’s just kind of ironic, is all. One little box of these could’ve solved your whole problem.”
Tucker scowled, not needing the reminder of his stupidity. “Come on, man, put that back.” Now that they were back here, all he wanted to do was get out as fast as possible.
“Yeah, they won’t do you much good now, will they?” Jet commented before placing the box back on the shelf. “Assuming y’all are…you know.”
They turned their attention back to the selection of tests they were supposed to choose from. “How could there possibly be so many different tests to find out if someone is…pregnant?” Tucker thought as he looked over the boxes, feeling completely overwhelmed. “This errand was not meant for a guy.”
Jet seemed to notice Tucker’s confusion and grabbed one from the shelf. “This one says over ninety-nine percent correct. I don’t think you’ll get much better than that; let’s go.”
“Yes, let’s go before someone sees us.” If anyone from school saw them buying one of these tests, it would be all over the place before they even reached homeroom on Monday.
* * *
Isabel placed the cap back onto the little white stick and shakily set it down on the bathroom counter. She still couldn’t believe that this was how she was spending her Saturday afternoon. What was going to happen if that stick said ‘pregnant’? She tried to imagine herself with a belly, a baby growing inside her. The idea just didn’t seem to fit. She was still in high school. She had classes and dance, and an audition. At least she did.
Suddenly, she couldn’t stay in that room any longer. Not when that stick just lay there, about to tell her whether or not her future was going to be irrevocably changed before she even reached eighteen. She looked in the mirror and ran her fingers through her long, dark hair. She pulled the front strands behind her ears, trying to compose herself before she walked out into her bedroom, where her friends, and possibly the father of her child, were waiting.
When she stepped out, all three of them looked up at her expectantly.
“It’s not ready,” she explained. “I just…” she shrugged. Annie and Jet gave her sympathetic looks, going back to sit on the end of her sister’s bed. Tucker sat on the edge of her purple comforter, his head ducked to stare at the floor. She shifted nervously, unsure how he felt until he reached a hand out for her.
She breathed out, taking her spot next to him to lean against his strong shoulder. She breathed in his scent, that smell that was simply…him, calming her as they waited.
“So what’s going to happen if you’re pregnant?” Annie asked.
Tucker remained quiet. She understood why. Even those few short moments where she had tried to think anywhere into the future, past any point of here and now, felt unreal. “I don’t know,” she said quietly.
As the silence ticked on, Isabel realized that these were the longest three minutes of her entire life, her and Tucker’s entire futures hanging in the air around them. If they had thought dating had changed their friendship, a baby would send it into another reality all together.
“Time’s up, guys,” Jet said quietly.
Isabel’s stomach swooped, suddenly feeling as though those minutes had flown past at lightning speed. Her breaths quickened, and she began to feel sick with nerves until Tucker gave her leg a comforting squeeze.
“You ready, love?” he asked her, his voice just as quiet and far away as when she had answered Annie only a few second-like minutes ago.
No. She wasn’t ready, and she knew he wasn’t either, but she had to do it. They had to know.
She nodded. All four friends got up and headed to the twins’ attached bathroom. She stopped when they got to the doorway, her breath catching in her chest, terrified.
“Do you want me to look?” Tucker asked her, uncertain.
She nodded at him again. Her voice didn’t seem to want to work just now.
She watched as Tucker walked slowly up to the counter and picked up the ominous stick. Annie and Jet’s bodies were tense around her. The suspense built while they waited for Tucker to deliver the results. Butterflies swarmed her stomach, but these weren’t the happy kind. These were jittery and shaking just as much as she seemed to be.
Tucker swallowed hard as he gazed down. His hands were no longer shaking, but they seemed unnaturally still.
“Why isn’t he saying anything?” “Tuck?” Isabel whispered, her voice never before so timid. “Am I?”
He gave one weak nod. Annie and Jet groaned.
She leaned over to look, and as soon as her eyes read the screen, her hand flew to her stomach. Waves of mixed emotions washed through her: fear, excitement, happiness, panic, but more than anything…love.
“Izzy, are you okay?” Annie asked as Jet took the stick from Tucker’s hand.
Isabel nodded. She was getting good at nodding today. She could not have been better or worse than she was at that moment.
She looked up to see Tucker still standing there, his eyes wide and his hands resting ner
vously at his sides as though he didn’t have any idea what to do with them.
“Tuck?” she whispered tentatively. She was worried that he might be going into shock…again, from what Annie had told her.
“I need to get out of here…we need to get out of here,” he said, rushing out of the bathroom and grabbing hold of her wrist to pull her alongside him.
“And go where?” she asked, surprised at his sudden reaction.
“Anywhere…”
* * *
They sat in silence as Tucker drove. He was still waiting for his thoughts to calm down enough so that he could talk to her. He could tell she wasn’t freaking out as much as he was, and he had no clue why. It was driving him crazy on top of everything else.
Could this really be happening? That damn stick sure said it was. What in the hell were they going to do about this? How were they going to tell their parents? Everything was going to change, and it was making him sick. What was he, what were they, supposed to do with a baby?
Fate, God’s plan, they were both the same in his book, had brought him and his friends together, had given him Izzy. It was the only explanation for four lifelong best friends to pair off, meant for each other. Things like that didn’t just happen by chance. He was sure of it. What he wasn’t sure of was how would this baby affect all that?
He hadn’t even told Izzy what he had felt that night that they were first together. “What a stupid thing not to tell her,” he thought as he left Bentonville’s city limits, not sure where he was going, just driving. He hadn’t wanted to scare her away back then and wasn’t sure what she’d think even now, but he suddenly needed to let her know how he felt about them.
Maybe she would think that he was crazy. Maybe she would think he was just saying it because they now knew she was pregnant. “Or maybe she feels the same way…” that hopeful part of him added.
“Izzy?”
“Oh, thank goodness. I was beginning to think you were never going to talk.”
He grinned, tempted to chuckle. “No, I plan to talk. Hell, we really need to talk, but first, I have something I need to tell you.”
