5

“What’s the worst thing you can imagine happening to either of us right now?”

“Being pregnant.”

I said nothing.

She was the first person I was telling, and I was only telling her because Emily was the kind of girl you felt comfortable telling your secrets to. And that was weird, because it wasn’t like she was particularly close-mouthed or anything. In fact, she was honest to a fault. I knew she was honest to a fault, and I didn’t know her that well.


She was the first person I was telling that I was pregnant.

We had been joking around in his dorm room, and I say joking around because it wasn’t messing around, but then it became messing around, and then we started doing it sometimes, but I guess we were never really a real couple. But that was fine with me, because I was sort of busy, and I’d never been the romantic sort anyway.

“So you’re pregnant?” We were turning onto the parkway. My hometown was on the way to Emily’s hometown, and because I knew her from my British Lit class, she offered me rides when she was spending a weekend home. I’d never said yes before.

“Yep.” I popped my lips on the P.

She inhaled and exhaled slowly. “So, what’re you going to do about that?” She made it sound like I’d forgotten a math assignment at home, not like I was brewing a child in my stomach.

I shrugged. If I wasn’t super cavalier, I was going to get upset. “I don’t really know.”

We were at a red light; Emily turned to look at me full on. “I don’t know either,” she pointed out. “And even if I did, I couldn’t tell you.”

I had secretly been hoping that she’d tell me. She was the kind of girl who had all the answers. “I know.”

The light turned green and we started forward again. “Well at least that’s something.”