The Adventures of James Dean.

10.

I left the room so she could talk to the doctor. They said something about an internal ultrasound to investigate the bleeding so I high tailed it out of there. The doctor pulled out some big ol' dildo shaped thing and smothered it in gel. Even I didn't find it appropriate to stick around and watch that go down. As I left the room, Jen grabbed my arm. Of course she was there, she wouldn't miss this for the world. The 'I told you so,' moment that she would revel in for the rest of her days. And taunt me about for the rest of mine.

She'd enjoy this moment. Me? Not so much.

'How is she?' Jen passed me a cup of joe, and I blew the steam off the top, welcoming the drink. It was good to see her. I braced myself for the interrogation, and answered her question.

'She seems okay. A little shaken I guess, but okay.'

'And the baby?'

'Yeah.....okay too....and moving like crazy....'

There was an uncomfortable silence, like something wasn't being said. I'd been a douche, staying out of contact with her for so long, I think the last time we talked properly was the night I passed out on the bathroom floor. The night I impregnanted beret bitch as I had then dubbed her. Seemed a little cold now, but she still wasn't exactly my favourite person. Room mate or not. Now, Kennedy was ten weeks pregnant and the space between Jen and I was inordinately larger than it'd ever been before. A kind of distance forged by her resentment towards me. A resentment that must have been festering for a whole lot longer than just one night. It felt like resentment, anyway.

Call it twin intuition.

As I took another sip of coffee, I caught sight of something glimmering on Jen's hand. At first I thought it was just a trick of the light, the streaming sun streaking through the windows at the end of the corridor. But it wasn't. Jen was wearing a rock on her wedding finger, the size of a small country. I'm not kidding, if someone got into a fight with Jen she could easily knock them out in one blow.

It was some gem.

'Fuck Jen! You're engaged?'

Her cheeks reddened, and she shoved the hand inside her pocket, as if trying to throw me off the scent. I didn't know why she was being coy, I mean just like every girl she'd always wanted this. And the ring was impressive, the kinda thing other women might flash around.

'I uh.....' She paused, clearing her throat, and not quite meeting my eyes. 'Luc and I, we got engaged about a month ago....'

'Oh my God!' I came towards her, arms outstretched, ready to squeeze my marginally younger sister and congratulate her on the news I honestly never thought I'd hear. Like I said, she was the two week curse girl, calling me up and sobbing over a guy every few weeks. And now she was headed in the direction she'd always dreamed of. This was life altering news, I couldn't believe she hadn't called me.

As I embraced her, her body felt stoic and stiff, and eventually she patted me on the back. But it was nothing like the shows of affection in the past, I mean we weren't really huggers but this was one of those times when you just expected to connect with someone and share in their excitement. Well, normally I wouldn't give a shit if someone got engaged, friends, even extended family, but with Jen it was different. I wanted her to be happy, no matter what she thought went on in my head. She was my twin after all.

'Thanks.' She said, weakly, as I pulled away.

Something felt wrong here.

'Listen I'm calling Vince, we have to arrange a party, there's no way in hell I'm letting this pass without the whole shebang. Caterers and balloons and a free bar.....' Vince was an old high school friend, he owned a bar called The Pint Glass.