Dark Eyed Dreamers

Two months and twenty-three days. Eighty-four days. Twelve weeks. 2016 hours. 120,960 minutes. 7,257,600 seconds.

No matter which way I said it, it all meant the same thing, our last summer spent together was slowly but surely drifting by. It was the last summer before Reagan, Mikayla, and I all headed off to different schools to begin our college educations. It was the last summer that Alex, Jack, Zack, and Rian would spend at home before their first big tour. Most importantly, it was the last eighty-four days I would be with Zack before we would mutually break-up; not wanting to tie the other one down.

After two months and twenty-three days, eighty-four days, twelve weeks, 2016 hours, 120,960 minutes, or 7,257,600 seconds our last summer spent together will end. No more listening to Alex and Jack’s ridiculous stories, no more waking up to find Reagan dancing through the hallway, no more calling Rian whenever I needed advice, no more of Mikayla’s movie nights where we’d stay up all night watching Disney movies, and no more Zack. I didn’t want to think about the last one, I wanted to enjoy the summer we had ahead of us.

With only eighty-four days left of the last summer I’d spend with my boyfriend and my best friends, the morning was spent fishing Mikayla’s head out of the toilet.

“Ew!” Reagan shrieked covering her eyes as she sleepily wandered into the bathroom. I shot a glare in my sister’s direction. The last thing Mikayla needed at that point was to feel embarrassed about getting sick.

“You’re okay. You probably just ate something that upset your stomach last night.” I tired to keep myself from gaging on the scent of my best friend’s vomit as I comforted her.

“No.” Mikayla whined with her forehead resting on the seat of the toilet.

“No?” Reagan asked from her spot, sitting on the bathroom counter. Reagan’s blue eyes shot to me full of question. I shrugged my shoulders. Maybe she was actually sick, like stomach virus sick. In which case, she would be dead if I caught it.

“No.” Mikayla said finally reaching to flush the toilet. “I’ve been throwing up every morning for the past week.” she wiped her mouth with a piece of toilet paper then flushed that as well. I looked away from Mikayla and back to my twin, the polar opposite of my reflection, my murky green eyes met her blue ones instantly. I can only imagine my eyes held the same ‘oh shit’ as Reagan’s eyes.

“I think that-I think I might be-I think I might be pregnant.” the words fell from Mikayla’s mouth almost as fast as the tears rolled down her face.

Reagan was fast to jump down onto the bathroom floor and hug Mikayla. Reagan was the one hugging her, telling her that it might be a false alarm, telling her she’d okay, telling her we’d be here for her. I, on the other hand, sat on the lip of the bathtub trying to process how Mikayla could be pregnant. She was a virgin as far as I knew. I never saw her drink, she was totally against drinking, so that ruled out a drunken mistake. Was she drugged? Was she raped?

“Who?” was the only word that slipped out of my jumbled mind and fell off my lips.

“I don’t know!” Mikayla cried into Reagan’s shoulder.

“How can you not know?” I pushed. There was something Mikayla hadn’t told us. I’m not one to pry into other people’s personal lives, but Mikayla was our best friend and she hadn’t even told us that she had sex. I thought that was a rule, when you finally have sex that you tell your two best friends.

“Brae!” Reagan hissed at me. I was being a bad friend, I was yelling at Mikayla in her moment of weakness. I bit my lip and looked back to Mikayla. “I’m sorry. I blew things out of porportion.”

“No, it’s okay. You should be mad at me, both of you. I did something stupid and I was afraid to tell you.”

“You should never be afraid to tell us anything, Mikayla. We’re your best friends, we love you no matter what.” Reagan smoothed down spray pieces of Mikayla’s light brown hair. “When you’re ready to tell us, we’ll be here.”

Mikayla took a deep breath. “It had to be two months ago. You guys went to visit your grandparents. I was at home and I was bored. Rian called me, he invited me to go to a party with him and the rest of the guys.” I knew where this was going. I had to resist the urge to shake my head. “Everyone was drunk, there wasn’t one sober person in that house. I was sitting outside and Jack stumbled out. You know Jack, you know how he can convince anyone of anything.”

I took a deep breath, as she filled in the blanks. “I can’t remember anything from that night. I’m pregnant and I don’t know who the father is!” Mikayla cried. I felt undescribably awful for my outburst. I did know Jack, I knew he was capable of getting whatever he wanted with a pout and those big brown eyes.

“You might not be pregnant. There could be something completely different going on here.” Reagan spoke looking hopeful. “What we need to do is get you tested, we’ll go from there.” Mikayla nodded tearfully.

“Right, so Braelyn go to Rite-Aid and get a test.” Reagan said helping Mikayla off the floor.

“Me? Why do I have to get it?” I couldn’t help but think of my former classmates who held jobs at Rite-Aid. I didn’t want them to think that I was the one who needed the test. I didn’t want to be the center of rumors that held absolutely no truth.

“Because you have a boyfriend that you’ve been dating for two and a half years. I don’t have a boyfriend. Think about all the scandals! People will think I’m a skank!”

“Fine.” I admitted defeat.

When I had imagined how that summer would be I never pictured that twelve hours into the it I’d standing in the middle of Rite-Aid staring dumbfounded at all the different pregnancy tests.