Saudi is beautiful but Kika and I make sure to stay close to our hotel area for convenience and safety nonetheless. After a quick Google search when we landed, we found that there was a mall in the hotel zone and we cabbed here ten minutes ago. There were drug stores nearby the hotel, but apparently, Kika shared her location with Pierre, so we opted to go to the drug store in the Saudi mall instead in case Pierre checked it.
"Can we shop first?" Kika asked as we walked in the automatic front doors. The Air conditioning greeted us and I breathed a sigh of relief at the reprieve.
"Don't you want to know if?" my question trails off.
She lets out a tense breath. "Yes, but I'm also super nervous to find out and feel like putting it off for at least an hour or two. Retail therapy is what I need right now."
I shrug. "Understandable. Where to first then? You pick."
The two of us wandered around the shops for what felt like forever but we ended up having a good time. I had forgotten what it was like to spend time with Kika alone. Or just have girl time in general. It seemed that always there were guys around. We talked about everything. I left out the recent news on my father, but I told her more about Lando. Particularly more of the details that Charles and Pierre had begged me to leave out last week on Charle's yacht.
"I understand why you're still in love with him, you two sounded perfect for each other."
I cleared my throat. "I'm not," Kika shot me a flat look that silenced my denial. I sighed. "It sucks you know, to love someone that hates you."
"I don't think Lando hates you."
"Do I need to remind you of some of the things he's called me?"
She cringed. "No definitely not. I just think that he wouldn't have offered you to stay with him if he hated you entirely, and I think Lando also has enough power within McLaren that if he really wanted you gone, you would be."
I let the conversation die and Kika didn't seem to mind as she led us into another few shops. The conversation shifted more toward normal life. How Pierre and her moving in together was going well. How my work with the mechanics had been successful. And then eventually somehow she ended up pestering me to tell her how 'big' Lando was which I consequently denied telling her multiple times before she eventually gave up.
I bought some more pyjamas because I usually didn't sleep in anything and being that I am sharing a room with Lando now, I needed to be able to cover up. Kika ends up buying a new pair of heels. She justified the expensive shoes by commenting and saying 'Every girl needs at least one pair of heels in every colour'. I didn't disagree. It was pretty hard to argue fashion advice with a model.
We planned to get the test and head back to Kika and Pierre's hotel room so she could take it while Pierre was out playing a paddle game with Charles. So I glanced down at my phone to see the time. Charles' contact popped up on my screen with a text saying he and Pierre were going out and the time they would be back to go to dinner. I sent back a quick text telling him to have fun and turned to Kika.
She was looking down at her phone with an anxious frown on her face. I imagine Pierre just texted her something similar.
"Drug store?" I quietly questioned. Kika looked up at me and quickly nodded, grabbing my hand. Kika's five bags and my single bag filled the space between us. Together we walked to the small drug store in the mall. It didn't take us long to find the right test. Kika grabbed multiple and it took us no time at all to buy them, stash them in a bag and exit the store.
I hailed a cab outside of the mall in the hot desert air and Kika and I climbed in, welcoming the little air conditioning the vehicle provided. Kika gave the man the address to her and Pierre's hotel which turned out to be right beside the Hilton where I was staying. Which was convenient. I wouldn't have to call a cab to my hotel I could just walk. Once we arrived we paid the cab driver and walked inside. The elevator ride was quiet, save for some awkward music and Kika bit her nails more.
"You okay?" I ask, breaking the silence.
"I'm so nervous, what if it's positive?"
I softly smile at my friend. "Then you tell Pierre. He loves you and will support you no matter what."
"You think so?"
"I'll kick his ass if he doesn't"
Kika laughs and I smile at the fact I was able to make her anxiety ebb even a little. The doors to the elevator open and we walk down the hallway to find Kika and Pierre's hotel room. When we do, Kika swipes her card and swings the door open, dumping her shopping bags onto the bed in the room. The space is more than nice, with a view over the city and a large ensuite bathroom. I put down my bag beside Kika's and she digs through the drugstore one. Once she grabs the tests I stuff the packaging for the tests to the bottom of my bags in case the boys randomly come back or Pierre sees the packaging in the garbage can before Kika can tell him.
Kika takes a deep breath, staring at the two pregnancy tests in her hand. She glances at me and I jokingly give her two thumbs up. What is friendship without the odd pregnancy scare support session? Slowly, she walks into the bathroom and shuts the door. I waited nervously for Kika to finish in the bathroom and sat on the edge of the bed. I watched my phone light up with a few emails and I ignored them. The world could wait for a few moments. I hear the toilet flush and the water for the sink run before the bathroom door swings open again and Kika steps out.
Emerging from the bathroom with two tests in her hands she begins to pace. At this point, I don't know how she has any fingernails left. She looks on the verge of crying but it hasn't even been a minute yet. The brings out the capped tests and places them upside down on the floor and sits down on the carpet cross-legged in front of me. I move to the floor beside her and lean my head on my shoulder. Kika flips her phone so I can see the timer going on the screen. There are two minutes left.
She lets out a shaky breath. "What do I do if it's positive?" She asks again.
"You aren't there yet Ki."
"I know but- I've always wanted kids, but my job and Pierre's racing. How could we do it?"
"Kelly and Max both parent P," I suggest. "You know, I don't know if you and Pierre have ever talked about it or not, but Pierre has always wanted kids too." Her eyes widen, a bit of hope sparking in them.
"Really?"
"Yep, him and Charles both. I think they were trading baby names before either of them were even eighteen."
Kika laughs, her shoulders shifting with the movement. "I had no idea. Do you remember any of the names Pierre liked?"
I shook my head. "No, but I'm sure he has a list somewhere in his phone."
Kika laughs again and I laugh with her. "Does Alex know Charles wants kids?"
"Oh yeah, but she does too. Honestly, it's just a matter of time with those two. I think Charles might be jealous of you and Pierre if you think that test says what you think it says."
Kika smiles but it falters as the timer goes off on her phone. Her hands shake slightly as she turns off the timer and places her phone down. She takes a deep breath and flips both tests at the same time.
Both tests say the same thing.
Positive.
Kika's instantly crying but I think it's happy tears because she's laughing. I wrap my arms around her and she warps hers around me. I can't help but laugh and cry with her.
"I'm gonna be a mom." Kika happily says.
For a long while we sit on the floor hugging each other. Kika takes the other tests we bought just to make sure but they all say the same thing. We sit together for a long time talking about everything and anything until Kika gets a text from Pierre that he and Charles are coming back to the hotel.
"Are you going to tell him when he gets back?" I ask. Kika's nervousness had transitioned into pure excitement.
"I think so, I don't think I can keep it from him."
I hug her again. "Okay, then I'm going to go so you two can be alone. Tell me how it goes okay?"
She nods. "I will."
With one final hug, I leave her alone in the room, taking my bag of pyjamas with me.
***
Lando is in the hotel room already when I check-in and unfortunately the room doesn't have two bedrooms to separate us. When I unlocked the door and entered the room I looked over it wall to wall, hoping there was some kind of divider or hidden room but there was nothing. This room is smaller than the one in Bahrain, with two queen beds only separated by a nightstand.
Lando is lying on one of the beds half asleep but he perks up when I walk into the room. I don't say anything, not wanting to get insulted again like this morning. It was getting late and with the travel and all the excitement with Kika, I was exhausted. I didn't care if Lando was in the room. I was showering, then going to bed.
My suitcase is in the corner of the room from where the front desk dropped it off for me and I move toward it, placing my bag full of pyjamas on the empty bed. The bag falls over but I leave it. Instead, I roll my suitcase over closer to the closet and unzip it. I search and find my bathroom bag and a change of clothes and pull them both out when I hear a hitch of breath behind me. I look back and see Lando staring at the toppled-over contents of my shopping bag. The empty pregnancy test packaging that's thrown itself all over the floor between our beds.
"Are- Dev are you?" Lando asks shocked.
Quickly I spin to face him. "No! gosh no. Those aren't mine."
Lando doesn't seem the slightest bit convinced, his face still a mask of shock, and something else I can't place. "Who- I didn't know you were dating, I- I heard you throwing up all night last night, I thought you were sick."
"I was sick, but I'm not pregnant. Genuinely Lando, the tests weren't for me." He raises an eyebrow and picks his jaw up off his lap, shooting me a look as if to say go on. "I can't tell you who they were for Lando, it's like breaking girl code to tell other people when the girl hasn't told her partner yet."
"So you don't- I mean, you're not."
"No, I'm not pregnant Lando." I turn back to my suitcase to grab a hoodie. "I can't be pregnant when the last person I had sex with was you." The words come out before I can stop them and I slam my hand over my mouth. Shit. That was not something I ever planned on admitting to Lando.
"What." His voice is a low whisper.
"Nevermind, the tests aren't mine. Forget it." Before he can say anything else I dartup and seal myself in the safety of the bathroom. I make sure the door is locked before I strip and climb into the cold water cursing repeatedly at myself.