"I'm pregnant."
My words died in the noisy waiting room. Bryan stood there frozen and wordless.
His unresponsive demeanour was making me more and more anxious with each passing second of silence.
"Bryan," I called his name. The anxiety his giving was making me anxious. I could almost feel that brunch work it's way up my throat as my anxiety encourages it.
"Is..." he finally peeps, "Is it...mine?" He pulls a not so impressed face when he asks.
Suddenly the vomit I felt creeping up my throat makes it out of me and onto his shoes and the floor.
"Fuck," I hear him whisper under his throat. "Oh dear," I hear the nurse say before she hurries to my aid.
"Oh my sweetie, are you okay?" She asks as she hunches over to comfort me. "Let's move you to a comfortable seat and get you a bucket," she guides me to a waiting away from Bryan and the mess.
"Agnus! Please clean that up, love!" She yells out to another nurse across the room. She leave and disappears behind the counter and returns with a barf bag and a handful of tissues. "Thank you," I say as I accept her help.
I look back to Bryan and notices his walking my way seeming to have sort of cleaned off the mess I made on his shoes.
"Let me take you home," he not-so-warmly offered without even meeting my eyes.
I took a minute to calm my nerves and let the entire reality of this situation sink in.
"Don't worry about it. I'll do fine on my own," I harshly answered as I made my way out of the hospital.
I'll do fine on my own.
My phone rang just as I was about to pull it out to order a ride back to the diner.
'Bryce'
It took me a moment to answer the phone. Today was my supposed sick day off. I wonder what could be the problem.
"Hey," I tried to should cheerful but failed.
"It's about passed lunch time but I'm taking a lunch break. Wanna join? That is... if you're feeling better," he said.
"Uhm, I'm just coming from the doctor right now. I'm sure...I check in when I leave here," I told.
"Cool. What's the doctor's diagnosis?" He asked.
"What?" I answered a little thrown off.
"The diagnosis. Will you live to see another day?" He asked with a warm and funny tone.
"Oh yeah. Definitely. It was a small stomach bug but I'll live," I let out a small sheepish chuckle.
"Okay then. Hope to see you back and ready for action soon, partner," he said before we ended the call.
"Tommy," Bryan called out from behind me just as he walks out the hospital. "What? Bryan, what?" My irritation veiled through.
"We need to talk," he said with a no-bullshit tone.
"Yeah, actually. We do," my toned came off a lot more snappy than I anticipated.
"Woah. There's really no need to be so snappy with me right now. This is as unsettling for me too," I furrowed my eyebrows but decided to take a breath to calm down when I noticed the bystanders were eyeing us.
"Not here," I said in a more calm voice.
We headed to his car and drove back to the diner where he parked next to my car.
He switched the engine and let out a heavy breath before turning to face me.
"You're pregnant," he says and I pinch the bridge between my eyes as I nod. "I believe so, yes," I sigh.
"This...this is...a mess," he says. "Are...are you keeping it?" He asks catching off guard.
His question makes me furrow my eyebrows.
"Abortion never crossed my mind because it isn't an option," I defended. "Not to mention, why would I give my baby away to some strangers as if I don't have most of my like in tact?"
"Sounds like you're keeping it," he said.
"Of course I am. Although you don't seem too keen to hear that," I narrowed my eyes at him.
"That's because I'm not," he snapped back which made me jerk my head back in surprise. "I don't want that child. I've got too much going on to have a baby right now. I don't want this," he gestures to my stomach.
"Okay," I calmly said.
"Okay?" He looks at me confused. "What does that mean?"
"It means okay. Bryan you have fully expressed how much you don't want this baby. You don't want the baby? Okay, you don't have a baby. But me? Me on the other, I gonna do me and that means have this baby and raise it with or without you. I won't force shit on you, Bryan. You're a grown man that is fully capable of making his own decisions. You choose not to be the baby's life? That's your decision, but my our life carries on without you," I rant out. By the end of my speech I'm practically panting.
"No one knows about this," he deadpans.
"Of course. Why would a noble neurologist want a woman walking around town with a baby she claims to be his that he doesn't support?" I sarcastically answer before opening the door to leave.
"We're not done here," he demanded.
"Fuck. You," I said before closing the door and entering my own car.
I fired up my engine and flipped him off before he says or do anything else and drove off to my house.
"Fuck him," I let out. "I don't need him. We don't need him. He can go fuck himself for all I care," I tried to mask my hurt with anger.
But I can't lie. Not to myself because at the end of the day I know the truth. And truth is, it hurts like a mother–
The tears come blinding me involuntarily.
"Fuck," I sniffed as I pulled into a side parking. I can't drive like this. I pulled out my phone and called the one person I knew would come to my rescue. The one person who's always rescued me, no questions asked for as long as I can remember.
The phone rang once before she answered.
"Mom..." my voiced wobbled as I tried to hold back a loud sob.
"Where are you?" She strictly asked and I told her. She hung up the phone before telling me she'd be here before I knew it.
I sat in the silence of my car. Suddenly I couldn't cry anymore but I still couldn't drive because somewhere between calling my mom and waiting here my anxiety reached a serious stage where I was shaking, more severely in my hands.
It felt like a minute until my mom gently knocked on my passenger window.
As if my eyes had been closed I opened them and unlocked the car. She came to my driver side to help me out to the passenger.
A moment later she fired the car up and drove us to my house. When we got there she helped me into the house and settled onto the couch with a warm blanket and camomile tea to calm the nerves.
"Thank you," I finally spoke for the first time. "Don't. I'm your mother, taking care of you is not my job but my passion. I hate to see my babies in pain," she said as she set down a warm grilled cheese sandwich in front of me.
Surprisingly this didn't make me nauseous at all. Suddenly I was famished like I hadn't eaten for days.
"Wanna talk about it?" She asked as I devoured the cheesy bread.
I finished off the sandwich and took a sip of the water she left for me on the coffee table.
"Where do I start?" Tears welled in my eyes. I felt so emotional right, I couldn't control it anymore.
"Take a deep breath, sweetie," my mother direct with a soothing voice.
I took a deep breath and let it out.
"Well..." my voice wobbled as I told my mother what happened starting from going out with my friends to having a one nightstand with Bryan who is my partner's best friend/roommate and how he was so nice earlier on but completely became someone different when I uttered the two most life changing words known to a man, "I'm pregnant," I ended there.
"Well...that's good news!" She said before engulfing me a crushing bear hug.
"I guess but Bryan didn't have the same thoughts as you," I continued. She pulled back and sat back down on the couch. "He doesn't want the baby. Said that he's got too much going on and can't have a baby right now," I tried to recall his exact words.
"Oh..." was my mother's response.
"Yeah. Oh," I repeated.
"What an asshole," her voice was calm but so murderous at the same time. "Tell me about it," I sniffed.
"Well...Fuck. Him."
"That's what I said," I retorted and she chuckled.
"Baby, now I see why you were mumbled like you were. That's not what you want to hear from the guy who's impregnated you but if he doesn't want the child we can't force him. He doesn't want it, okay. Now, we move on and raise this baby together. I hope you didn't think you were going to do this all by yourself, did you?" Her words warm my heart.
"Sweetie, it takes a village to raise a baby. You were blessed with a big one because that little munchkin has so many people back them and their mother," she hugged me.
"I love you so much, mom."