Downpour

I sat on a stool at the counter, staring at the fridge. I had the hiccups; I’d had them for five minutes now. I was contemplating on whether or not I wanted a chocolate pie that was in the freezer, or a cake that I had baked last week.

I was just about three months into my pregnancy, and I was starting to show. My jeans were getting tighter, so I settled for sweats instead. I wore a baggy t-shirt and slippers as well. I was craving sweets. It wasn’t the oddest thing I’d craved, that would have had to be the pickles with whipped cream on top. Rain didn’t let me try it though, so I just had the pickles one bite, then whipped cream the next.

Speaking of Rain, she still didn’t know. She’d been sick a lot lately, probably some flu she couldn’t get rid of. I guess it was making her feel gross all over, because she was wearing hats a lot too. I felt bad for not letting Rain in on me being pregnant yet, but I didn’t know what exactly I’d tell her if she asked who the father was.

Should I just come out and say it was Tayden? Or should I just shrug my shoulders? Ignoring the question all together. It was thoughts like those that kept me from spilling the beans to her sooner.

Tayden had been ignoring me since I told him the news too, so I didn’t want Rain to end up doing the same thing. I knew she was suspicious as to why Tayden and I weren’t as close as we used to be, but she never questioned it. So thankfully I didn’t have to lie about that.

I suddenly shot up. I was going to have both. I cut a piece of each and put them in the same plate. I grabbed a fork and took a piece of each in my mouth. I groaned in delight and stuffed my face with another bite.

“What are you doing?” I jumped at the sound of his voice behind me. Tayden stood there, saying the first words to me in what felt like forever. He had a goofy grin on his face and he was sweating up a storm. He’d been going off running a lot lately. I figured he was stressed because of me.

With my mouth still full of food I answered, “Eating cake.” Except it sounded nothing like that, it sounded more along the lines of “eeng ake.” He laughed and pulled a water bottle out the fridge.

“Shouldn’t you be eating healthy?” he pointed towards my stomach. I raised my eyebrow, I’d been reading pregnancy books ever since I told him. I told him he should read bits and pieces so he wasn’t totally clueless, but he didn’t seem to care.

“The doc said the baby won’t start getting some of my food for another two weeks or so. But I have been trying to eat healthy. I’ve just been craving chocolate all day, and I figured one indulgence wouldn’t hurt.”

He downed his bottle of water and placed it in the cubby hole I had for the rest of them, then turned to look at me leaning against the counter. “Baylin, we have to tell Rain. I need to tell my parents, you need to tell yours. We can’t exactly keep this a secret from her for much longer…” I looked down at my growing tummy. It was only slightly bigger, not yet noticeable to anyone but me. When I first told Tayden I was starting to show, he simply looked at my belly, looked me in the eyes, then turned and walked away. Not a word said to me.

“Can’t we wait a little longer? I know you feel bad keeping secrets. I do too, but please? For me? I’m not that much bigger, am I?” I stood sideways, pulling my shirt up to reval my stomach. It was then that Rain and Patrick walked through the door.

Rain was spending a lot of time with him lately, almost enough to where I considered him her boyfriend even though she didn’t like the label. She stopped when she saw me with my shirt up. I flung my shirt down so fast I’m surprised I didn’t rip it.

“Are you asking Tayden if he thinks your fat? Because Baylin you’re the farthest thing from, and that’s kind of weird. Plus, he wouldn’t say yes. He’s too much of a sweetheart for that.” She walked up to him, pinching his cheek. He brushed her hands off and looked away embarrassed.

“Uhh. I wasn’t! I was, um, uh, asking him something else.” My mind raced to find things that I could say.

“Which was?” Patrick had walked to Tayden and after some random guy hand shake they turned their attention back to us.

“I was thinking, that maybe I could get a tattoo here,” I gestured to down my side, “And I wanted Tayden’s opinion. To know if guys would maybe think that was, um, hot.” I faked a bright smile at Rain and she seemed to buy it, pulling her hat down over her head.

“Oh, well what kind of tattoo? I could go with you if you’d like.” Shit.

“Well it was just an idea, I don’t know if I actually want to do it. Which is why I was getting an opinion. Right Tayden?” I smiled brightly at him, trying not to give away that my chest was hurting my heart was beating so fast.

“Exactly.” Tayden smiled, shook Patrick’s hand again and walked out the room. I pointed to him before silently following.

“Tayden, wait!” I followed after him before grabbing his elbow. He stopped and took a deep breath before turning towards me. “Tayden we have to be on the same page with this. I can’t do this alone. We need to start figuring out what to do…” I trailed off, running my fingers over my belly. Tayden suddenly got down on his knees, and kissed my belly. I was shocked to say the least.

But that’s when I heard it; a cough from behind me. I turned around so fast I almost knocked Tayden to his feet. Patrick was standing there alone, looking between us utterly confused. Tayden stood up.

“Uh, it’s not what you think.” He just stared at us.

“Are you two an item?” I snorted, and Tayden glanced at me sideways. We had been together sexually, but I guess that wasn’t so far off.

“No.” Tayden said, shooting a look at me. “Look, it’ll all make sense later. But you can’t tell Rain what you saw. Promise?”

“Yeah, okay.” Patrick looked at us and gave us a small smile before walking off. I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding in. Suddenly there was a heavy feeling in my gut, and I knew exactly what it was. It was dread, because I was bringing more and more people into my web of lies.



I pulled the popcorn out of the microwave and sat down on the couch, flipping through the channels trying to find a movie or TV show to watch. The show I usually watched was currently in between seasons. I groaned as I got higher and higher. Was there seriously nothing on?

I got up to go see what was in the DVD case, which happened to be right next to the bathroom. I could hear what sounded like a person puking inside. I knocked on the door lightly. “Rain? Is that you? Are you okay?” I heard the toilet flush before the door opened slightly and her head peeked out. She looked paler than normal.

“I’m okay.” She smiled before walking into the living room, flipping through the channels. I scanned the DVD case before a hand reached around me and pulled out an action movie.

“I think it’s my turn to pick.” I yanked the DVD case out of his hand before returning it.

“No. I want to watch a something else. Oh! My Sister’s Keeper.” I walked away, but not before noticing Tayden’s eyes go wide. “Flip it to the DVD player. We’re watching a movie together.” She did as she was told, before stealing my bowl and eating some of my popcorn.

I snuggled up to my best friend, and when she noticed which movie it was she went stiff. “You know. I don’t feel like watching a movie tonight anymore. I think I’ll just go to bed and sleep. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, yeah? Tell Tayden I said goodnight when you see him.” She rushed off to her room, leaving me there completely clueless as to what was going on. I shrugged it off and continued to watch my movie.

When the saddest part came up, Tayden sat down. I side glanced at him before hugging a pillow to my chest, wiping the tears from my eyes. As he watched the movie I could have sworn I saw tears in his eyes at certain parts. Sure Tayden was a sweetheart, but he wasn’t a softy. What was up with everyone lately?

Picking at the dark blue blanket on my lap as the credits rolled; I kept glancing at Tayden. He simply picked up the remote and flipped it back to the TV, before finding something sport related to watch. I wanted to ask him something. Something I was sure he was going to turn down, but I knew I didn’t want to do it alone.

“What Bay? You’re creeping me out.” He chuckled and I leaned my head on the pillow, staring at him.

“If I ask you something…you promise not to get mad?” he nodded. “When I go tell my parents…will you come with me?” His face went blank, and I almost wished I would have stuck with my gut and not asked him a single thing. I knew this would happen. I’d just have to face the facts and tell my parents on my own. I was nineteen, which was old enough to be able to do things on my own. Facing my fears being one of them.

He looked around the room, staring at random objects before turning back to me. He looked down at the floor as he spoke. “Okay.”

It was so low I barely heard it. It was just above a whisper. But if I’d heard correctly I’d be extremely happy. He groaned and got up, coming sit with me on the couch. He was so close I could smell his soap mixed with the scents he always smelled like. I wanted to just bury my face in his chest and never move again.

“Did you-“

“I did. I said okay. But you have to come with me to tell mine. They’re gonna flip out. It’d be nice having someone on my side there.” I placed my hand on his leg, and he put his on top of mine, lacing our fingers together.

I wanted to kiss him in that moment, and I’m pretty sure he would have kissed back. But the moment was gone just as soon as it had appeared. It was the sound of something falling and crashing onto the ground. We shot up.

“Rain?” If she was having another seizure attack I didn’t know how I’d handle it. I couldn’t handle my best friend being sick with the flu, much less seizures. She hadn’t answered Tayden’s call, so we rushed around, finally hearing clanging in the bathroom.

I put my hand on the knob first, before pushing it open. The first thing I saw was Rain. It was apparent she had just gotten out of the shower. The floor was soaking wet, as was her hair. She had probably just slipped and fell, I was happy it wasn’t a seizure.

But that’s when I noticed something in the sink. I pushed in the room and looked down, then back up to meet her eyes. There was a wad of hair on top of the drain, I looked between Rain and Tayden, they both looked guilty. Of what I didn’t quite know yet.

“Rain…what’s going on?”