He Is Mine

Chapter 2

It's almost three months since my last day in college; since that night. I was one of the lucky few to land a job straight after school. I work with a publishing firm and saying that I love my job is an understatement.

I leave the office on Friday evening in high spirits. I just want to go home and doze off on the couch or something. I'm super tired.

My phone vibrates as I unlock my door. I grin when I notice that it's Patricia. We don't see each other a lot nowadays.

Blame the tight schedules.

I answer the call with as much enthusiasm as I can gather.

"Tee... "

"I want to die." She groans from the other end and I'm automatically alarmed.

"Are you okay? What's happening?" I'm already stuffing my keys back into my bag.

"I'm dying, that's what is happening." She replies and groans again.

"Oh my God Tee. Where are you?"

"At my place. Just come over please, will you?"

"I'm on my way." I reply as I rush down the stairs.

Pat is normally fussy and that's exactly the problem. I can never tell when she's serious and when she's pulling my leg.

The drive to her place is relatively short and I'm at her door in no time. She stays in a condo courtesy of her rich parents.

"Come in." She calls loudly.

She's lying on the couch in the living room and I walk to her, my face etched with concern.

"Are you okay?" I ask while feeling her forehead for any signs of fever.

"Do I look okay to you? I'm dying!." She groans dramatically.

"What's wrong Pat?"

"It's the f*****g cramps. They're driving me crazy."

I stand up before rolling my eyes to infinity.

"Really? Is this what the alarm was all about?"

"Shut up Mia. Don't act like you don't freak out when you have those little fuckers."

Shit. I freeze.

Oh my God.

Patricia sits up, watching my reaction with a frown. "Mia, wait... do you even have them cramps nowadays? You don't complain..."

I slap my hand over my mouth before she's done talking. Bile is rising in my throat and I think I'm going to scream, or throw up.

Maybe both.

Pat makes a face at me.

"What the hell..."

I dump my bag on the couch before I run to the bathroom. I double over the toilet and I puke spectacularly into the bowl.

My head is reeling. What the hell?

I've been so occupied with my job that I never realized I was missing my periods. I try to think back to the last time I actually purchased a packet tampons but I can't recall anything.

"Are you okay?" Pat's concerned voice floats from somewhere behind me.

I stay quiet as my stomach heaves and I hold my hair in a make shift ponytail as I throw up all over again.

I pull myself to my feet then walk past her to the kitchen. She stands beside me as I fill a pitcher with water.

"If you don't start talking, I'll freak out and break stuff." She threatens and I snort.

"It's your stuff I guess."

She takes the pitcher from my hand and sets it on the counter.

"Tell me what is happening. Now!" She growls and I sigh deeply.

"You're going to be an aunt."

She bursts out laughing.

"I don't have siblings. The only person I have close to a sister is you and you're not pregnant." She stills for a moment. "Are you?"

I stay quiet. My mind is blank. I can't think.. I can't talk...I'm just numb.

"Are you pregnant?" She asks quietly and I nod.

"Are you sure?" She asks again and I shake my head.

She chews her lower lip for a moment, her cramps long forgotten.

"Stay right here. I'll be back in a minute."

She's out of the kitchen a second later and I wait until she's out of sight before I slide to the floor.

My legs are jelly like and I'm still too numb to make a single step.

I might be pregnant.

That alone is enough to make me go crazy. I mean, I just graduated from college, I am at the beginning of a promising career and I have no idea what I'd do with a baby.

Wait, the father.

Double crap.

That would be the guy I hooked up with that night, almost three months ago. I have been too busy with my new job to go around having s*x with strangers.

I'm not even sure whether I can recall his face. What was his name again?

I rake my brains for a while.

He never mentioned his name, did he?

I was too drunk to remember much but from the little that I recall, he distinctly asked me if I was on the pill and I lied about it.

It was entirely my fault.

Now I'm nursing a potential pregnancy; if at all it's true.

Patricia reenters the kitchen. She's breathing heavily and I guess that she made a run to wherever she's been.

She pushes a tiny package into my hand.

"Here, go pee on that." She commands and I look at the kit in my hand. It's going to determine my fate.

It's going to make or break my little haven, my comfort zone. I'm literally holding my entire future in that small package.

Pat pulls it from my hand just before I snap it into two.

"I get it girlfriend. I know how it feels to have a pregnancy scare. I've been there countless times.."

"Just shut up. This is not just a scare." I snap and she frowns.

"Did you test already?"

"No."

"Then do it."

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to burst my bubble. I don't want to find out that I'm pregnant. I want to keep my sanity a little bit longer."

"Okay, I have an idea."

"Yeah?"

"How about we go out tonight just one more time, have fun one last time then take that test after? A night out will take out the edge."

I ponder about that for a moment.

"Good idea."

She wraps her around me.

"Just in case you are pregnant, I'm going to be an aunt. I'll spoil that little brat silly and she'll be sassy and bitchy like me and ..."

I push her off me and she stumbles backward before she lands on her ass.

"b***h, what was that for?" She asks in surprise.

"Teaching you how to shut up." I walk out of the kitchen in a huff.

I rummage through Pat's closet for a dress, avoiding the body cons like plague. I know that my belly is still flat but still...

I can't believe that I might actually be pregnant.

Christ, why did I mess up?

I sit still as Patricia plucks my eyebrows. I really don't get this make-up fuss sometimes. The struggle is just too much.

She grins when she catches my scowl in the mirror.

"You're glowing girlfriend."

I roll my eyes and she makes a face at me.

"Where was I while you were getting laid?" She asks nonchalantly as she lines my eyes with eyeliner.

"I don't know. Getting drunk maybe."

"We're always together whenever I'm drinking. What are you hiding from me?"

"Nothing."

She wrings her nose then moves away from me.

"Now that we are keeping stuff from each other, I won't tell you about my current crush." She says while choosing a dress for herself.

"Your crushes are overrated girlfriend. No one wants to hear about that."

She beams at me. "This one is going to drive you crazy, trust me."

She picks a magazine from the dresser then moves to prop herself beside me.

"He is a billionaire, CEO at three international Telecommunication companies and an icon in the business world. Every sane girl would go for him. And here's the real deal.."

She pauses dramatically while hiding the front page from my prying eyes. Like I would ever have a crush on a billionaire.

"...he is the most eligible bachelor in the country right now. He is hotter than pepper and...."

"Oh shut up Pat. Show me the pic already."

"Promise not to drool on him."

"Fine."

She turns over the magazine, and I stare at the photo for a whole minute.