my body gently shook as I lowered it back onto the mattress. I couldn’t even shift my arm to reach for the covers. Kevin was sound asleep.
My dress lay two inches from the soiled garbage can, looking much more like crumpled newspaper than anything wearable.
Caddyshack was playing on the TV.
Eight weeks later…
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I woke up on the floor of my apartment in a fetal position, and then ran to the bathroom. I’m not sure if the puking was a result of the pregnancy, the beers, or the realization that I was carrying Kevin’s child. Once I peeled myself away from the arctic base of the toilet bowl, the first thing I did was throw the white test stick in the trash along with the First Response box, the receipt, and the Wal-Mart bag. Then I returned Jenna’s call from the night before. It was just about eleven o’clock in the morning.
“What’s up Syd?”
“Just about to hit the español again, sorry I had my phone off the hook last night so I could study.” My voice was fatigued.
“No worries, I called to see if you wanted to come over and watch Days with me, the big wedding is next week.”
Jenna and I, like most of our sorority sisters, were addicted to Days of Our Lives, and had been wildly anticipating the nuptials between Jack and Jennifer.
“You know something’s bound to go wrong,” she added.
“I think Andrea is going to record it so we can all get together and watch it at night,” I told her.
“Well, it starts in ten minutes, can you get your fat butt over here or not?” she asked.
As soon as she said fat, I began to think about my condition. I knew she was joking around, but had I already begun to gain weight? Had my physique changed noticeably since the Beta formal eight weeks ago?
“Hello?” she snapped when I didn’t answer immediately.
“Sorry, I can’t be there by eleven.”
She made a disappointed tsk sound. “So, what’s the plan for later, are we going to Joe’s for fifty cent shots?”
“Sure, I have a couple hours left of Spanish though, then I have to rewrite two pages of my Social Sciences paper, and then I’m good.”
Jenna let out a huge yawn. “Oh my, I better have a Diet Coke transfusion before we hit it later. I’ll come get you around nine o’clock.”
“What about dinner?” I asked.
“It’s dollar baskets of ranch cheese fries, too, so don’t you worry.”
“Much better, see you at nine.” I said nothing to her about my news and went into full-on sweep-it-under-the rug mode.
My books were exactly as I’d left them the night before, yet everything had changed. I struggled to remember what exactly triggered the whole turn of events the previous evening. How, sitting amidst my Spanish text books on the floor of my apartment, did it occur to me that I hadn’t had my period? One minute I’m in the throws of studying for finals, and the next minute, I’m the March Hare on a covert mission in search of a pregnancy test. But, as shocking as the results were, I really had more important things on my plate right then. Finals were the following week, and there was no need to add ‘college flunkie’ and ‘knocked-up co-ed’ to my list of attributes.
Jenna arrived just before nine o’clock and greeted me with a sub sandwich from Jimmy Johns and a bag of chips. “Thought we might need a little pick me up,” she said.
“Doritos,” I grinned. “My fave.”
“Only the best for you,” she tossed the food on my kitchen table.
Jenna was decked out in black satin shorts and a white tank top with an unbuttoned black vest over it. She also had on three-inch black strappy sandals, and an oversized black patented tote bag.
“Who are you hoping to run into?” I wondered.
“No one special, just want to go out with a bang on one of our last night’s around here.”
“Did you hear back from Scott Makin?”
“Maybe,” she smiled. Scott had called her after she stalked and berated him in Indianapolis at the Beta formal, and he
My dress lay two inches from the soiled garbage can, looking much more like crumpled newspaper than anything wearable.
Caddyshack was playing on the TV.
Eight weeks later…
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I woke up on the floor of my apartment in a fetal position, and then ran to the bathroom. I’m not sure if the puking was a result of the pregnancy, the beers, or the realization that I was carrying Kevin’s child. Once I peeled myself away from the arctic base of the toilet bowl, the first thing I did was throw the white test stick in the trash along with the First Response box, the receipt, and the Wal-Mart bag. Then I returned Jenna’s call from the night before. It was just about eleven o’clock in the morning.
“What’s up Syd?”
“Just about to hit the español again, sorry I had my phone off the hook last night so I could study.” My voice was fatigued.
“No worries, I called to see if you wanted to come over and watch Days with me, the big wedding is next week.”
Jenna and I, like most of our sorority sisters, were addicted to Days of Our Lives, and had been wildly anticipating the nuptials between Jack and Jennifer.
“You know something’s bound to go wrong,” she added.
“I think Andrea is going to record it so we can all get together and watch it at night,” I told her.
“Well, it starts in ten minutes, can you get your fat butt over here or not?” she asked.
As soon as she said fat, I began to think about my condition. I knew she was joking around, but had I already begun to gain weight? Had my physique changed noticeably since the Beta formal eight weeks ago?
“Hello?” she snapped when I didn’t answer immediately.
“Sorry, I can’t be there by eleven.”
She made a disappointed tsk sound. “So, what’s the plan for later, are we going to Joe’s for fifty cent shots?”
“Sure, I have a couple hours left of Spanish though, then I have to rewrite two pages of my Social Sciences paper, and then I’m good.”
Jenna let out a huge yawn. “Oh my, I better have a Diet Coke transfusion before we hit it later. I’ll come get you around nine o’clock.”
“What about dinner?” I asked.
“It’s dollar baskets of ranch cheese fries, too, so don’t you worry.”
“Much better, see you at nine.” I said nothing to her about my news and went into full-on sweep-it-under-the rug mode.
My books were exactly as I’d left them the night before, yet everything had changed. I struggled to remember what exactly triggered the whole turn of events the previous evening. How, sitting amidst my Spanish text books on the floor of my apartment, did it occur to me that I hadn’t had my period? One minute I’m in the throws of studying for finals, and the next minute, I’m the March Hare on a covert mission in search of a pregnancy test. But, as shocking as the results were, I really had more important things on my plate right then. Finals were the following week, and there was no need to add ‘college flunkie’ and ‘knocked-up co-ed’ to my list of attributes.
Jenna arrived just before nine o’clock and greeted me with a sub sandwich from Jimmy Johns and a bag of chips. “Thought we might need a little pick me up,” she said.
“Doritos,” I grinned. “My fave.”
“Only the best for you,” she tossed the food on my kitchen table.
Jenna was decked out in black satin shorts and a white tank top with an unbuttoned black vest over it. She also had on three-inch black strappy sandals, and an oversized black patented tote bag.
“Who are you hoping to run into?” I wondered.
“No one special, just want to go out with a bang on one of our last night’s around here.”
“Did you hear back from Scott Makin?”
“Maybe,” she smiled. Scott had called her after she stalked and berated him in Indianapolis at the Beta formal, and he
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