There's a Playground

A grin slowly grew on my face as I walked down the halls with Max at my side. We had much of the same classes, now that we had entered into a new semester and had both managed to pull a few strings in the counseling department.

It was February now, and it was Valentine’s Day. Max and I had been dating for six months, and I couldn’t believe how well everything had been going. Escape the Fate was getting more and more big in the local music scene and it was really great seeing everyone so incredibly happy. Craig and Gab were still dating, and were really happy together. Ronnie and Skye were still together, and she had pretty much moved in with me after my mom learned what my friend had been going through.

We made our way through the halls to the cafeteria, talking about really random things. “Hey, Wendy?” Craig’s voice made me pause in something I was saying and look up as the short boy walked over to Max and I.

“Hey Craig, what’s up?”

“Have you seen Gabby anywhere?” he sounded really worried and I shook my head.

“Shit. She went to the bathroom in class and I haven’t seen her since…”

“I’ll go check it out for you, Craig.” I looked over at Max after I said that, leaning over to kiss his cheek before pulling away from him. He frowned at me quietly. “I’ll be back in like, five minutes, Maxie. Chill the fuck out.”

“Meh…” he whined, pulling me forward to kiss him quickly before letting me go once again. “Fine. I love you.”

“Love you, too, Max.” With that, I turned away from him and Craig and began making my way alone back through the halls to the various bathrooms around the school.

Gab wasn’t in the firs two that I looked into, and by the time that I’d gotten to the bathroom in the English wing of the school, I was starting to think that she’d gone off to the cafeteria. But…if that had happened, I probably would have gotten a text from someone, right? I thought so, but…apparently not…

Sighing, I walked in, sighing in relief as I saw Gabby sitting on the floor and leaning against one of the walls not lined with stalls or sinks. “Oh, there you are, Gab! Everything okay? Craig’s worried about you,” I told her as I walked over to her. She looked up at me and frowned, shaking her head. It was then that I noticed her make up running. She had been crying…

“Woah, what’s wrong?” I asked, frowning as I crouched down in front of her. I couldn’t believe that she was actually sitting on the floor of this bathroom. Sure, it was one of the cleaner ones in the entire school but all the same? It was disgusting. Then again, I had a complete aversion for public restrooms and tended to not use one if I could help it at all costs.

She just shook her head and burrowed her face into her knees. She began shaking and I could hear her ragged breathing as she started to cry again. Oh great. I was going to have to touch the disgusting floor of the bathroom if I was going to be able to comfort her properly. Sighing, I slipped my bag from over my shoulder and set it beside me as I leaned forward and grabbed her, pulling her into a hug as I sat on my knees.

This was so gross…

“I…I thought that I was…I was just…” she continued to sob as she moved her arms from around her knees to around me. I sighed and rubbed small circles on her back.

“It’s okay, sweetie. Just calm down.” She pulled away from me and wiped away the tears on her face. I sighed, stood, and grabbed some shitty one-ply toilet paper from one of the empty stalls. I was really glad that we were alone in this bathroom right now. I don’t think that I’d get a confession from her about what was going on if it was more than just me and her. And I also don’t think that Gab would be in here crying if she wasn’t alone.

“Thank you…” she told me when I gave her the glob of make-shift tissue. She continued to sniff a few more times before looking up at me and opening her mouth to speak. My phone began buzzing and I looked down to see that I had a text from Max.

Wendy ;;
Everything okay?
Have you found her?
Craig’s freaking the fuck out…
;; Max

I smiled and quickly began typing up a reply text.

Maxie ;;
Yeah, everything’s okay
I found her, don’t worry.
I don’t know when I’ll be back, though.
Love you.
<3 Wendy

I hit send before I stuffed the phone back into my pocket. Gab sniffled a few more times before she blew her nose. I got another text, but I ignored it as Gab opened her mouth to speak.

“Well…Craig and I um…” she blushed and I felt my heart quicken with nervousness at what she was implying. I honestly didn’t need to know about the sex life of two of my friends. If that was what she was talking about, anyway… “Well…God this is embarrassing…” she choked out with a little bit of nervous laughter. I could only imagine how embarrassing it was to tell me this. And I was almost positive that I knew what was going on.

“I get it, Gab. You don’t have to tell me that you guys have been…um…yeah…” I could feel myself blush as I spoke. I scrunched my face up slightly as I reached a hand back to scratch at the back of my head and tug at my dark brown hair for a little bit.

“Um…okay. Well, I…we used protection and everything but…it…” Tears filled her eyes again and my heart dropped into my stomach as she continued to speak. “I was on birth control and everything, Wendy! I swear!” She didn’t have to defend herself, I believed her. I didn’t think either of them had any intentions of not doing things without taking precautions to what I think she was telling me… “But…it…I don’t…think it worked…”

Again, my heart sunk into my stomach. Oh god…this couldn’t be good…

“You…are you…pregnant?” I asked her, not really wanting to believe it myself. How could that…well, alright, so I understood how it could happen. I understood that perfectly well, but that didn’t mean that I was going to be able to completely process it.

Gab just nodded quietly and dabbed at her eyes again.

“Fuck. Does Craig know?” At that, her eyes went wide and she shook her head fervently. I had a feeling that she hadn’t told anyone.

“No…I took the tests last night…”

“And they were positive?” I asked for clarification. She just looked at me like I was an idiot for asking such an obvious question. She nodded gravely and ran a hand through her short hair. She’d recently cut all her black locks off, leaving it at an A-line cut that framed her face in a cute way.

“How far along, do you think?”

“A month, at least. I’m late for my period and I thought it was just because I’ve lost some weight. But…no…” she sighed and burrowed her face into the palms of her hands. I sighed, reaching over to rub small circles on her back again.

“It’ll be okay, Gab. Just look at the positives, okay? You’ll be a great mom, and you don’t even have to keep it if you’re worried that you won’t be!”

“I’m keeping it…” she told me gravely, watching me. I could see the small sparkle of happiness in her eyes. I wondered if it was just the stress of the situation that kept her upset. Probably…

“And you love Craig and he loves you. It’s not like either of you won’t be there for it or each other. You can both get through this, Gab. I promise. She sighed and nodded, moving to stand to her feet.

“I’m sorry I’m such a girl…” she told me as I stood to my feet as well. I shook my head and smiled as I pulled her into a hug. I still found it strange that she was so much shorter than me. She was just barely over five feet, and there I was at five-six. It was just weird to have someone so much shorter than me.

“Don’t worry about it, Gab. I’d be freaking out if I was in your situation, too…” Gab nodded at me before pulling away and gathering her things up and off the floor. I washed my hands quickly before following her out the bathroom door and down to the cafeteria.