I Don't Need This Right Now

Once Alex and Jack left, Zack finally came out of the room. “Ri..” Zack says quietly. “Zack!” Rian’s face lights up. “Why did have to happen to us?” He asks Rian. “Why us? We didn’t do anything to deserve this.” Zack starts sobbing. “Zack, everything happens for a reason. I mean if you didn’t get pregnant we wouldn’t be together.” Rian puts his hand on Zack’s head. Zack knew Rian was right. But they still didn’t deserve losing their baby.

—

At two in the morning Jack wakes up to Alex shuffling out of bed. Again. He’s been throwing up all night and they both haven’t gotten any sleep. “Babe, you alright?” Jack asks Alex. “I think so. I think I might have a bug.” Alex knew that was a lie. He didn’t find a condom in the bathroom trash, the trash in his room, on the floor, in the hamper. It wasn’t anywhere. But Jack didn’t know at all. Alex flushes the toilet and grabs his pillow and a blanket. “I’m gonna sleep on the couch.” “You don’t have to.” Jack tells Alex. “Yeah, but one person sick is enough, you getting sick is much worse. Since you’re a whiny child when you’re sick.” “Fine.” Alex climbs down the stairs and tries to go to sleep. But his gut was bubbling. “Fuck.” He mumbles to himself. He gets up again and goes to the bathroom to throw up some more.

Later that morning Alex sits at the table with his bead buried in the crook of his elbow. “Hey, I gotta go. I have work this morning.” Jack tells Alex. “Fine. Go. Leave your dying boyfriend at home.” Alex says. “Okay bye!” Jack walks out the door. Truth is, he wasn’t going to work, he was going to get an engagement ring for Alex.

While Jack was out, Alex calls his good friend Stacey to come over. “Hey, what’s up.” She asks. “Stacey, I think I’m pregnant.” Alex tells her. “What?” “You heard me.” “Wow. Wait, why do you think you’re pregnant. Shouldn’t you know you’re pregnant?” Stacey asks. “The other night, the night after the house warming party, Jack and I had sex. But I was cleaning up and I didn’t see a condom wrapper anywhere. I’ve been throwing up for the past three days and I doubt it’s a bug. If it was the flu, I would have a fever. If it was food poisoning, I would feel more miserable than this.” “Fine. Let’s go to the pharmacy and get a pregnancy test.” Stacey grabs Alex’s hand and they go out to the car.

Jack gets to the ring center. “May I help you?” A sales clerk asks. “Uh, I’m looking for a ring for my boyfriend.” “Oh, well what exactly are you looking for?” She asks. Jack had absolutely no clue. “I honestly have no idea.” The sales lady smiles. “Well what would your price range be?” She asks him. Jack still had no idea what his range would be. “Uh, fifteen hundred dollars.” “Well that narrows it down, do you want gold or silver?” “Silver.” “Describe your boyfriend.” “If I would, you would fall in love with him too.” Jack tells her. “I have the perfect one for you.”

“So I just pee on a stick?” Alex asks. “Yup then you wait three minutes.” Alex was shaking. What if he was pregnant? Even though he had enough money to raise it he had no idea how to take care of it. Stacey leaves the bathroom to Alex and Alex takes the test and sets it on the bathroom sink. He asks Stacey to come back in the bathroom because he doesn’t really want to sit out in the living room and forget about it and have Jack come in and ask him about it. They sit for thirty seconds which felt like hours to Alex. “These will be the longest three minutes of my life.” Alex moans. “Trust me, if you are pregnant, one second of labor will feel like days.” After three minutes Alex picks up the test. He sees one purple plus. “Fuck.”