St. James

CHAPTER 55

Two weeks passed since Brian and I made amends and things slid right back into normalcy...well, almost normalcy. I was still feeling sick on and off but I had been through one hell of an emotional upheaval since Jimmy's birthday and could not seem to get my eating habits back on track. Things I usually enjoyed eating had absolutely no taste to me anymore or actually made me turn up my nose at them. "Puppy girl I don't know what my issue is but it needs to go away pretty quick" I told Pinkly one more as I got her breakfast ready and pulled out my vitamins and birth control to take with my glass of orange juice.

I set Pinkly's food down and began taking my vitamins, one at a time till I reached my birth control and froze, all the blood draining from my face and the feeling of passing out threatened to consume me. "No, no, NO!" I yelled out frantically as I looked at my pill pack, I was due to take the last pill in my pack and realized I should have had my period almost a week ago now...and hadn't had it at all. "No... this isn't right...it's just because of stress that I haven't had my period. I should get it any time now...yea that's it" I muttered frantically to myself as I paced the kitchen while Pinkly ate her breakfast, completely unaware of my panicked mood. "That's it, I can't handle this. Pinkly I'll be right back!" I stated frantically and grabbed my keys, making sure to lock the door behind me. Since Brian had the car today I walked the short distance to the nearest Walgreens, making it there in just a few minutes with my fast paced walking. I made sure to grab a couple of unnecessary items and tossed them carelessly into the basket before heading over to the end aisle, my stomach rolling as I approached the pregnancy tests. "God is this really happening?" I muttered nervously to myself as I scanned the different kinds of tests before settling on a two pack...just in case I thought. I made my way up to the checkout clerk and set the basket down while flipping through a local newspaper.

Once everything was purchased and in a bag I made my way back to the condo, this time slowly as if by just dragging it out would delay the inevitable. I eventually made it back to the condo and opened the door right as the phone was ringing. I ran over and picked up on the fourth ring, my hello breathless and hurried. "Hey baby girl, where did I chase you from?" I heard Brian's happy voice coming back at me. I fell down into the couch and sighed heavily, willing myself to calm down "Oh...I had to run to the store for some things" I stated distractedly as the sounds of instruments in the background filled my ear. "Listen babe I might be late coming home. We're trying to get this last song cut and straightened out before the album is ready for release. Will you be ok?" he stated through the background noise. I looked over nervously at the bag with the contents half spilled out on the coffee table, the pregnancy tests just about completely out of the bag and sending up a red flag in my face. "Umm yea I guess so" I stated nervously as I chewed at my nail...something I never did. "Baby what's wrong?" I heard Brian ask with genuine concern in his voice. "Nothing...I just need you when you get home okay?" I said quietly as I heard the background noise dim considerably and a door snap shut. "Angel what's wrong? I can tell there's something bugging you. What's going on?" he asked carefully. "It's nothing Brian...just make sure you come home once you guys are done for the night...I can wait till then" I stated evenly, hoping my tone convinced him. Brian sighed heavily then lit up a cigarette before talking "I can tell something is amiss Callie...why won't you just tell me?" he stated after taking a long drag. "Because I want you to be able to concentrate on your music Brian. You guys have worked too hard and too long on this. I'm not going anywhere, we can talk when you get home. You better get back to it, I love you Brian" I stated softly then hung up before he had a chance to argue further.

I spent the next two hours aimlessly flipping through channels on the TV before finally settling on a Jim Carey comedy and dozing off into the corner of the couch, Pinkly curled up behind my knees. The evening sun lit up the living room of our condo as I slept on, somewhere in my subconscious I heard keys in the lock on the door and Pinkly jump up and run to the door but a huge part of me thought I was dreaming and stayed where I laid, curled up in a warm blanket. "Baby girl I'm home. Baby wake up" I heard Brian's warm, calming voice in my ear as he brushed a strand of hair away from my face. I slowly came to only to find Brian crouched down on the floor in front of me, a concerned look on his face despite his eyes being covered by sunglasses. "Brian please tell me you didn't come home early" I whispered softly as I slowly sat up and ruffled my hair. "Yea I did, so what? I got all my stuff done for the album. Now, what's going on?" he questioned as he sat up on the couch next to me, pulled his sunglasses off and pulled me into his side. Slowly I told him about how I've been feeling less than healthy and chalked it up to our little split up then I moved on to tell him about my pills and lack of menstrual flow before pulling the pregnancy test from the bag and handing it to him cautiously. I watched all sorts of emotions fly across Brian's face as he chewed on the corner of his lip worriedly before he handed the test back to me and kissed my temple softly.