Hit and Miss: Ace Style

He was gone for only about ten minutes and She spent it drinking a lot of water and pacing his nice hotel room. It was mostly decked out in typical floral prints with fake-brass plating on every metal thing, with fake, dark wood in all the furniture. She didn’tnotice any of it.

Pregnant. How could she be so stupid? She couldn’t be in this mess. Especially with him. She had a career that needed her undivided attention and so did he…

Him. He had so much ahead of him.

She couldn’t believe just a week or so ago she had met him, had watched him wreck her team. She couldn’t believe he’d broken down her walls, too. He was different. She didn’t know if she liked that or not.

“Lennox? I’m back.”

She didn’t say anything to him, just took the bag he was carrying and walked back into the bathroom. He didn’t have the nerve to do anything but watch her go. He ended up sitting on the bed, head in his hands, waiting.

Waiting.

-

She read the box and did as instructed. The waiting time was five minutes, and it was one of those tests that actually said ‘pregnant’ or ‘not pregnant’ on it. No misreading it.

Five minutes, she thought.

Spent waiting.

-

Spent waiting together. She decided to put him out of his unknown and went to wait with him out on the bed.

“How long.”

“Five minutes. My phone’s set.”

“You alright?”

“Not really, you?”

“Not at all.”

Their tones of voice were bland and they never stopped looking at the wall in front of them. They sat a foot away from each other, but they could have been on separate continents.

She had never felt so alone.

He had never felt five minutes go on for so long.

They both jumped when her phone’s alarm started going off. The looks on their faces betrayed what they were thinking and the words they couldn’t and wouldn’t say. Neither moved towards the bathroom. Instead, Tim grabbed Lennox up in a hug and together they slowly moved into the bathroom.

“Timmy, I just want you to know that if it’s positive I don’t expect or need you to take care of us. You have a lot on your plate and I can take care of everything. You can just do your thing and we’ll kinda have a Tug McGraw arrangement.”

“I’d never give up the chance to be in my first-born’s life. It wouldn’t even be ‘taking care of’ or whatever. It’d be parenting. It’s not about what’s right, either. It’s about doing what you want to do. I want to be the father of this child, no matter what. Hell, I’ll move you out to California or find a way to move out here or something. Anything. Just always know that I’ll be here, even if you don’t want me.”

“I…Let’s just look at the test before we make any serious life-altering decisions.”

That was a low blow. He had poured his heart out for her and she just brushed it off.

“No, Lennox, listen to me. Even if…even if we aren’t becoming parents together I still want to be around you. You’re amazing.”

“I just, I don’t know. Let’s go look at the test.”

They walked into the bathroom with her leading and him hot on her heals.

Trying to postpone the inevitable, Lennox grabbed her phone and turned off the alarm, and then turned off her phone all together. No need to be interrupted.
She went for the test first but he grabbed it before she could even think about looking at it.

The look on his face, it scared her. He was happy. Scared, but happy. She didn’t know what to make of it. Timmy could be happy either way and she just didn’t know him well enough to know which for sure. That scared her more than his expression. She didn’t know him and she might be having his baby. Something in his eyes told her that they’d have conflicting emotions about this whole situation…

“Len, please don’t cry. That’s all I ask from you, is that you don’t cry.”

That made her tear up, but from anger. She didn’t know who he thought he was but this
was her body and she could do whatever she damn well pleased with it.

“Just give me the fucking test, Tim.”

Pregnant.