Her alarm buzzes softly besides her as the late morning sunlight slips through the curtains, bathing the entire bedroom in a warm, pink glow. Lauren stretches happily into the thick pillows. She is heading to the studio today to hopefully finalize some songs - maybe singles. Finally, she'll get a chance to focus on her music, something that truly erases her mind of all the pain or anxiety she feels in daily life. It's the perfect stress reliever. Today is going to be a chill day, just sweatpants and good music.
There might be three more days until Friday, but that doesn't mean she can't turn this Tuesday around and make the most of it.
Lauren climbs out of her bed, stepping over a lazy Jameson and she heads straight to the bathroom to rid herself of this strong morning breath. Her routine starts as soon as she picks up a hot pink toothbrush and gets to scrubbing. Everything is normal, up until her elbow knocks something over, and it lands with a clank in her porcelain sink. And then suddenly, her toothbrush comes to an abrupt halt inside her mouth.
A blue pill case, marked with sleek white letters for every day of the week, sits under the dripping faucet. Normally, there are a few multi-colored pills resting inside each section. But this morning calls for a different story.
There are no pills inside. The case is completely empty.
Lauren almost chokes on the foamy toothpaste as she spits out minty whips into the sink. Her heart starts beating a mile a minute as she puts two-and-two together. "Oh no. This can't be happening."
The singer has been on birth control since she was a teenager, and in eight years, she's probably forgotten to take the pills maybe five times. For someone is usually a very forgetful person, this is the one thing she's always made sure she's taken care of, even back in the day when she didn't even have a boyfriend. So what happened? She clearly hasn't taken them in a few days. Lauren starts to ponder up a thousand different excuses as to what has had her distracted enough to forget something so important, but it doesn't take long for her to realize the source of this problem...
Fucking Jermaine.
Lauren sprints out of the bathroom, forehead breaking out in a cold sweat, stomach dropped to the floor. The air in the room is suddenly too thick and she feels drunk, like her vision is already blurring. Laur stumbles over to the bed, grabs her phone lightning quick and opens up the calendar app. It's the 3rd of the month, the beginning, meaning that her cycle should be here today. But, oh wait, it's not! It's boarding a plane now about to head on a vacation for nine months.
The naturalista reaches out on the side of the wall to steady herself. She might be pregnant! Lauren has been having sex with more than one man, and not to mention two famous men. She's a cheater, and this possible baby will probably break up Lauren and Chance's relationship, and a marriage.
Jermaine definitely did not use protection the other night; the whole process went rather fast, as both of them had been waiting for that moment for a long time now, but even though some of it was a blur, Lauren is 100% he didn't.
"Hey girl!"
Lauren spins around to find Kaya leaning in the bedroom doorway with a bright smile and smoothies in hand. However, upon seeing her best friend's strained facial expression, Kaya frowns as well, instantly noticing that something is up.
"Um, you look - sick, Laur. Are you okay?"
Lauren thinks about lying as a natural reaction, but then she remembers exactly who she is dealing with. It's Kaya Johnson, the chick who can read people better than any English scholar. K has lived a pretty interesting life, and through all her years, she's become ten times better at picking up on things most people can't even see. Essentially, there is no other option than to tell the truth.
So Lauren just kind of blurts it out. "I-I think I might be - pregnant."
Kaya's eyes widen to the size of tea plates as she inhales deeply in shock. For a second, Laur thinks she might drop the fruity concoctions. A chilling silence falls over the room when the assistant truly realizes what she's been told. Lauren swallows the lump in her throat, so afraid of rejection, so afraid that her friend will leave her on her own during all of this. Kaya has vocalized that she hasn't always approved of Lauren's choices, so this one will probably suffer the same treatment.
"You're not sure though, right? I mean, you could just be late?" Kaya offers after a beat, hurrying over to her friend.
Lauren runs her hand through her hair furiously. "Well, yes, but I haven't taken my pill in a few days. And, well, uh, you know, that I've been ha - "
Kaya cuts her off before she can even finish that sentence. The socialite really, really can't stand Chancelor, and does not need to hear about Lauren's sexual relations with that fool. "Okay, okay. Well, I'm going to the drugstore. I'll get you a pregnancy test."
The singer nearly leaps out of her skin when she hears the idea. Lauren grabs Kaya and shakes her roughly as the assistant hikes up her purse on her shoulder, ready to exit the apartment.
Laur freaks, "No, no, no, no, Kaya! Are you crazy? You can't buy one! The tabloids will jump to you buying it for me, and then if not, they will think you're pregnant, and Beau will lose his mind! And, oh my gosh, Chance. Oh God, and my momma!"
The purple headed goddess scrunches up her face at Lauren's panicky response. She holds her hands up in surrender and sets her purse back down on the chair to appease her best friend's wild emotions. Meanwhile, Lauren chews on her bottom lip feverishly, walking back and forth across the fuzzy carpet.
"Well, girl, you wouldn't happen to have a few extra pregnancy tests lying around would you? That's what I thought," Kaya acknowledges, and she's so right. The only way to know the truth is to get that test. But the question is, who is going to buy it?
The two women sit around for a while, debating just how they should approach this predicament. They think about scheduling a doctor's appoinment, but decide that it might take a little too long to get results, and she can't hide from the paparzzi at the doctor's office. Next, Kaya suggests an elaborate disguise to go inside the store with, but again, there is not enough time for them dress up. The deliberation is reaching its ten minute or so when suddenly Kaya's face lights up with a great idea.
"That's it! Let's call Day."
Lauren pauses heavily. "Day? Kaya, why the fuck would he have a pregnancy test?"
The assistant grunts angrily in response, and ultimately ignores her stupid ass friend. Kaya hurries over to her purse again and snatches her up phone, calling up the stylist in no time. After a short explanation and plentiful bribe, Daniel is all on board and will be over in 20 minutes tops, ready to help out a friend in need. Still, Lauren does not entirely agree with the idea.
"I don't know. I mean, everyone knows he's gay, let's be honest. How strange would it look if he walked out of the store with a pregnancy test? They'll now it's for me," Lauren cries.
Then suddenly, the unlocked front door flies open and Daniel comes rushing into the bedroom out of breath, wearing his finest leather and skinny jeans. He carries a crumpled plastic bag containing the home test and ice cream, a worried expression etched on his smooth face.
The stylist rambles on as he begins unboxing the kit. "Okay, so I had to pay some lady in the parking lot to go inside and buy this for me. Met her at the gas station about a block over, and shit felt like a drug deal. Anyways, Laur, baby. Are you okay?"
Lauren pushes a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Yeah. Kinda, I guess. Thank you so much, Day."
"Of course, sweetie. Any time. Well, hopefully not any time soon. Like, maybe you should try and not get pregnant."
The young adults stand around the bed nervously, unsure what to do and how to react to the situation at hand. In all honesty out of the two females in the group, nobody would've guessed that it's be Lauren who needed a pregnancy test first.
"I need to get this off of my chest," the singer says to her friends cautiously. "If I'm pregnant, just tell my mom I've moved to Guam and I'll be back in about a year with my adopted African baby."
While Daniel starts cackling viciously, Kaya rolls her eyes to the back of her head. "Bitch just pee on the stick already!"
Lauren snatches the plastic from her best friend angrily and stomps into the bathroom. She reads the instructions carefully and takes a seat on the cold toilet. Now all she can do is wait for nature to take its course, and let the pee flow.
The whole house is silent. No TV, no music, not even the crunching sounds of chips in Kaya's hungry mouth. These five minutes are worse than microwave minutes, worse than the end of the school year ticks on the clock. There might be another life growing inside of Lauren, and she has no idea who the father is. Her boyfriend, her lover, the immature party-goer, or the man with severe commitment issues? That already sounds like some cheesy Lifetime movie script.
Her life doesn't necessarily flash before her eyes, but the other night's events do. She thinks about how if they'd stopped for just a moment, none of this would be happening; the raw passion must've been too overwhelming. If time travel were possible, Lauren would go back even further than that night at the club with J, back to when all she ever had to really worry about was finishing homework, not a goddamn baby in her stomach.
Day and Kaya wait patiently for the test to work its magic in the bathroom while Lauren heads into the kitchen for some water. She leans against the breakfast counter, defeated. She has no idea why she isn't crying right now (maybe I am a sociopath or something) but it is more than likely because she is so lost, her body doesn't know what to do. Is she the baby moms to J. Cole's kid?
But all of a sudden to her left, the assistant and stylist emerge out of the bedroom, waving the pregnancy stick about in the air, smiles carved deep in their faces.
"Lauren, look! You're not pregnant! See?"
And lo and behold, Kaya is right. The white stick reads one horizontal blue stripe, indicating that Lauren in fact will not be a mother anytime soon.
The singer collapses onto the couch, head in her hands, hot tears pricking the backs of her eyes. All types of feelings come rushing over her at once - relief, confusion, anger. She's got no one to blame but herself for this scare. It's not that Lauren doesn't want children, but that she is not ready at this point in time. Just not with Chancelor, not when she's only put out one album, and in a way, because she's not married. The air has to feel right in order for her to have a baby, and right now, it could never feel so wrong. She isn't ready for motherhood, as she's still behaving too much like a child herself.
"It's okay, Lauren. Everything is fine. You were just late." Kaya soothes her distraught friend.
"Can you imagine if I was going to be a mother?"
"I can't even imagine you cheating on a test let alone raise a kid."
Day comes over to the two girls and offers them supportive, celebratory pints of ice cream. The trio sits around on the cozy furniture as the tensions die down, and the rest of the day still looks promising, well at least for the most part. Lauren kind of wants to call Jermaine and tell him what's happened in hopes that it will change the way they go about these encounters. But then again, there is some immense feeling of satisfaction of having Jermaine back by her side after so long away. Lauren thinks, as long as there are no more pregnancy scares and their secret is kept safe, she is willing to take the risk.
Hey, at least now Laré can go to sleep more soundly tonight knowing that she didn't make that one line from "Trouble" come true.