The New Normal

Chapter Thirty Five

A week and a half later, Kimberly and were walking the aisles of Shoppers Drug Mart, looking for the aisle with the pregnancy products. Finally, we rounded the corner that we presumed would possess what were looking for when both Kimberly and I smacked into two bodies.

"Christ," Kimberly whined and her eyes widened at who was in front of her, "Seth?"

I looked at the person in front of me. "Tyler?"

Simultaneously, both of the boys smiled and said, "Hey."

Seth, however, was the first to speak out of the two. "You shouldn't be doing this alone, babe. Please let me be with you when you take the test."

My eyes widened at his words and so did Kimberly's. "Seth, that's um, kind of you but I really don't want you to see me pee on a stick."

Tyler started to chuckle and I smacked him on the chest so he stopped and covered it with a cough.

"Alright," Seth responded. "Can I at least be outside of the bathroom?"

Kimberly thought to herself for a moment and nodded her head. "I suppose."

We all turned our direction to the pregnancy aisle and I pulled Tyler to the side. "What are you doing here and how did he know we were here?"

Tyler sucked in a breath. "Well... Kimberly has been kind of distant since it happened so I told him if I saw her come to your place, I'd let him know. When she came over and I saw both of you guess driving away, I let Seth know and he assumed this was where you guys would go."

"Well played, Hale, well played," I nodded my head, impressed with Tyler's snooping abilities. "Thank you, though. I think it would be good for Kimberly if Seth is there."

Tyler scratched his head as we both watched Kimberly and Seth trying to figure out which test to buy. "I hope so."

Twenty minutes later, we arrived at my house. Tyler was beside Seth outside of my bathroom, both of them pacing back and forth. Meanwhile, I stood by the door just in case Kimberly needed help with anything.

Seth stopped pacing and looked at the door. "Babe, are you okay?"

I heard my friend let out a loud sigh. "Seth, if you ask me if I am okay one more time, I am never having sex with you again."

Looking upset, Seth continued to pace and Tyler clapped his friend on the shoulder. "To be fair, this is the fifth time you asked her that in the span of a minute."

I shot Seth a sympathetic look. "Don't take it too personally, she's just really stressed and it probably doesn't help there's three of us hovering outside of the bathroom while she pees."

"Thank you!" Kimberly chimed in through the door.

The toilet flushed and I could hear the faucet turn on as she washed her hands. A few seconds later, the door swung open and she beelined for my bed. "Tell me when the five minutes are up and tell me what the tests say, I don't want to move from this bed. That way, if I faint, I'm already laying down."

No one dared to respond or even talk until the five minutes passed. When Kimberly's timer went off. I went to walk in the bathroom to fulfill Kimberly's request, but then she followed me in and locked the door on the boys. Her eyes filled with tears, not daring to look at the counter. "What if I am pregnant, what do I do?"

"Breathe, K," I said as calmly as possible. "Let's not freak out before knowing the answer, okay? Everything will be okay."

Kimberly nodded as tears streamed down her face. "If I am not pregnant, I will go back to church with my family, God as my witness."

"Sounds good, K," I laughed. Grabbing her hand, I led her to the bathtub and sat her down on the side as I went to the counter and read the box to understand what meant pregnant and what didn't. I looked from the box to the three tests on the counter in front of me. "Alright, it looks like yo-"

Kimberly jumped up from the tub. "Oh my God, I'm pregnant, aren't I?"

"Um, no," I held the negative test and gestured to the other two on the counter. "They're all negative."

Kimberly looked between the tests to me and burst out into tears. "Oh thank, Jesus!"

At that same moment, the bathroom door burst open, breaking off of the hinges. Seth stood in the entryway and Tyler was behind him, holding his hands up in surrender. "I told him not to do it."

Seth rushed over to Kimberly and saw the negative tests in her hands as she cried. "It's okay, we can always have kids later on in life, babe."

Kimberly stopped crying and looked up at her boyfriend, completely bewildered. "I'm not crying because I'm not pregnant you moron, I'm crying because I'm relieved. Do you know what my parents would have done if I was?"

"Oh," Seth responded lamely. He brought Kimberly in for a hug and kissed her temple. "I just want you to know I would have been there for you every step of the way. I love you so much."

"I love you too," Kimberly cried into his shoulder.

From behind me, Tyler put his hand on my shoulder and with his other pointed to my room and mouthed, "We should give them some privacy."

I nodded my head and let out a sigh once we entered my room. "That was crazy."

"Yeah, no kidding," Tyler responded, shaking his head as if he couldn't believe this happened to his friend. "At least things worked out in their favor."

"Thank God," I said, pacing around my room. "Kimberly was saying in the store if she was pregnant she was going to murder Seth."

Tyler let out a chuckle but went quiet fairly quick. He sat on my bed and patted the empty spot beside of him. He looked worried and it left me feeling unsettled. "Tyler, what's wrong?"

"It's just with everything that happened between Seth and Kimberly, it had me worried that you would feel rushed to have sex," he said but quickly added, "I'm not saying Seth rushed her or anything because I know that wasn't the case and I know we haven't even had our first date but with my, uh, history with women, I didn't want you to feel pressured or rushed to do anything."

"Tyler I-"

"I just want to make it perfectly clear that I intend to go about us on only your terms, that way I know you're happy and comfortable," Tyler looked at me intensely with his green eyes. "I don't ever want to disrespect or hurt you like Blake and Brody did."

"Thank you," I said quietly. I placed my hand on the back of his neck, pulling him close to me and kissed him softly on the lips. "For everything, Tyler."

He rested his forehead on mine and we smiled at each other until I saw movement from the corner of my eye and I turned to see Seth and Kimberly coming out of the bathroom, I point from the busted door to Seth. "You're going to fix that, right?"