Kiss Me and I Bleed

The couple of weeks I had with Mike went by really fast. We spent it mostly in bed together, but he also wanted to have the house ready before he left. He also wanted to be there when I had my second ultrasound, so I scheduled that as soon as possible. I had only seen Tony a couple times during those two weeks, and I had seen Stephanie and Morgan even less. I probably should have talked to those two earlier, but I was mostly concerned in spending time with Mike before he left and also I was a little pissed that they didn’t believe me when I told them that nothing was going on between me and Tony. The night before my doctor visit me, and Mike were laying in bed, and I was feeling a little nervous and excited. I could tell that Mike was even more nervous and excited than I was because this would be his first time seeing the baby’s heartbeat. “Are you going Tony going to be there?” Mike asked. I didn’t even think about asking Tony if he wanted to come. I know it was wrong, and I felt a little bad but I really didn’t want to have to see Tony.
“No.” I answered.
Mike sat up, and looked at me without saying anything at first. “You shouldn’t do that.” He replied.
I sat up too, and said “And why not because of that bastard my two best friends aren’t talking to me, and why are you so concerned with him being there or not?” I said.
“Because I could be the one in his position right now, and I know I would be hurt if I was left out. I was a little hurt when I wasn’t there for the first one, but that was my fault because I know I told you that I didn’t want to talk to you.” He said.
“But I just want it to be you and me there. He can go to the next one.” I said.
“No Nicole. You have to call him or text him now or I’ll do it myself.” He replied handing my phone. I already knew I had lost that battle so I grabbed the phone. I still didn’t want to talk to Tony so I texted him instead. I was hoping that maybe his phone would be off and he wouldn’t get the message, but he did and it didn’t take him long to reply and saying he would be there.
“Are you happy now? He’s coming.” I said, and stuck my tongue out at Mike. He nodded and did the same.
“You did the right thing. Until we figure out who the dad is he has the right to be there.” He said. I laid down and looked up at Mike.
“Why are you so nice?” I asked.
“Shut up I’m not nice all the time. I bite sometimes.” He replied, and he leaned down in kissed me. I attempted to take off my shirt, but Mike stopped me. “Please don’t start because once we start I wont be able to stop, and we need to wake up early tomorrow.”
“We’ll get up in time I promise. It won’t take long.” I said. I went back to what I was doing, and managed to get my shirt off, and like he said before he wasn’t able to stop himself, and I was wrong we went at it longer than I thought we would. We ended up only getting a few good hours of sleep, and were both exhausted the next morning. I was a little annoyed watching Angela enjoying a cup of coffee, and I could tell she knew. “This isn’t fair.” I said.
“What isn’t fair? you’re the one who choose to have unprotected sex. Mommy always told us to be safe, and lets guess which one of us listened.” She replied.
“I did listen to Mommy I don’t know I guess I messed a couple of times.” I replied.
“Who did you mess up with the most?” She asked smiling which only made me even more annoyed.
“I don’t know. I mean I think probably Mike but I’ve had sex the most considering when I got pregnant. I don’t know Angie, and I’m actually kind of scared to find out.” I answered.
“Isn’t there like a thing you can get when your still pregnant?” She asked.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I asked.
“I don’t know the doctor do some kind of medical sciencey shit and get the baby’s DNA and then compare it with the potential father’s, and then boom you know who the father is.” She answered.
“I don’t know about that, but I guess I could ask the doctor about it.” I replied. Angela took another sip of her coffee, and just sat there for a moment.
“So is Tony going to be there?” She asked.
“I don’t know I guess he is. That’s what he told me last night.” I answered I had been able to kind of forget about him for a moment, and I got a little nervous every time I knew that we would probably be seeing each other. The last time we went to an ultrasound made me realize that I still had some kind of feelings for him, and I didn’t know what it would feel like this time. I didn’t want to just ignore him, but it would also be really awkward for both of them to be in there.
“It’ll be fine. You’re not responsible for making sure that they’re comfortable. You’re there to make sure your baby is alright, and its all about you and the baby. This is your day.” Angela said.
“Thanks.” I said. She got up and walked back in the room that she was sharing with Jaime.
“You ready to go?” Mike asked walking out the bathroom.
“Not really, but we have an appointment so let’s just get it over with.” I answered. When we got there the first thing I noticed was Tony’s truck. He was standing outside the truck and was doing something with his phone. He looked up when he noticed us coming. Suddenly I didn’t want to get out the car.
“It’ll be fine.” Mike said, and I trusted Mike so I got out.
“Hey.” Tony said when we got out. It was directed at both of us, but Tony was looking at me. I saw that he still looked sad, and even though I really didn’t want to talk to him I knew I had to. I didn’t want to be alone with him though. Me and Mike both said hey, and we walked in together. We were on time so a nurse walked me us into a room with an ultrasound. I laid down on the bed, and Mike and Tony sat in the chair that where to the right of me. They both looked as nervous as I felt. We didn’t wait that long, and eventually a different nurse walked in.
“Hello, I’m Grace and I’ll be your nurse for the next several weeks. Dr. Noelle will be here shortly but while we wait I need to get some information from you.” She said. I nodded, and Grace pulled out a clip board with papers on it. I noticed that she didn’t look that old to be a nurse probably about Angela’s age. “Ok first thing Age and Birthday?” She said.
“18 and my birthday is August 13.” I answered. I blushed when I said. That I felt so young still, and I was already having my first baby. “I bet I’m the youngest patient you’ve ever had.” I said nervously. Grace shook her head.
“Nope, the youngest patient me and Noelle have seen was fourteen.” She said and smiled at me. It made me feel a little better, but even though I didn’t know the poor girl I felt bad for her. “Ok height and how much did you weigh the last time you weighed yourself?” She asked looking back down at her clipboard.
“I’m like 5”2 and I think I weighed like 120.” I answered.
Grace looked up and laughed. “You’re not my youngest patient, but I think you’re definitely my shortest.” She said. At that Mike laughed out loud, and I turned red. Even Tony was smiling.
“Ok step up on the scale, and I’ll measure you.” She said. I did what she said, and watched her move the weights around. “You are now 5”2 and around 125 pounds. Congratulations on gaining those first couple of pounds soon you won‘t be able to fit a single thing in your closet. You can sit back down. I’ll be right back with Noelle.” She said. I went back to where I was sitting, and Grace left the room. It was really quite except for the random beep from one of the machines. I was grateful that Grace and Noelle didn’t take so long.
“Hi I’m Dr. Noelle, but you can just call me Noelle.” She said. She looked down at all the stuff Grace had filled out on the paper. “So you’re Nicole the mother obviously. Now who are these two young men?” She said looking at Mike and Tony.
“I’m Tony.” Tony answered.
“And I’m Mike.” Mike said. “And we’re not really sure which one of us is the father of the baby.”
“Ah now I see why it feels so tense in here. At least you all were able to put your feelings aside for the baby.” She said.
“Umm my sister said there was some kind of thing you could do to see who the father is before the baby is born.” I said.
Noelle looked back down at the clipboard and nodded. “There is but I see that the you almost had a miscarriage, and the procedure is pretty high risk by itself. So if you want to do that we would have to make sure the baby was perfectly healthy.” She said. Mike, Tony, and I all nodded. “So are you ready to take a look at that baby?” She asked. We all nodded again. And she went and I pulled my shirt up. By now you would have been able to see that I was pregnant if you knew that I was pregnant in the first place, and everyday when I looked in the mirror I tried picturing myself looking like Leslie. She would be due in a few weeks and she was huge. Noelle squirted the blue cold stuff on my tummy, and turned on the machine. She then started to rub the thing that looked like a mouse to me over my lower tummy. I was shocked by what I saw. It still didn’t really look like the baby I would hold but it was more than what I had seen before. I could make out a head, arms, legs, hands, feet, fingers, and toes even though they were connected. The baby looked kind of like an alien to me, but I was stunned by what I saw. I looked at Mike and Tony and they were just as stunned. Like the last time I could see the little heart beat, and it did sound stronger than before. Like I did the last time I started to cry, and Grace handed me tissues. “Do you want pictures?” Noelle asked. I nodded, and then Grace started pushing buttons, and then left the room.
“When will be able to know if the baby is a boy or a girl?” Mike asked. I know seeing the baby had made this even more real for him, and made him want the baby even more.
“Very soon!” She answered. “I would say you’re about 12 weeks so in a few more weeks we should be able to tell. Anything else I can answer.”
“Is it getting stronger.” Tony asked.
“Yes the baby is getting really better compared to what I saw from the other doctor. If you take your vitamins, get plenty of rest, and eat right your baby could be strong enough to do a DNA test, but we would have to wait until its almost time for you to give birth. I also would highly recommend waiting until the baby is born to find out because it’ll almost be time for you to give birth anyway when I’ll be able to do it, and the procedure is pretty risky.” She answered.
“What would be the risks?” I asked.
“It could stress the baby’s heart or lungs, and the one I most fear is premature birth. The lungs and heart are one of the last things to form and we want them to have as much time to develop as we can give them. So, its up to you Nicole if you want to wait or not.” She answered. I first looked at Mike and Tony, and I knew they wanted the same thing I did. I really wanted to figure this out as soon as possible, but I knew we were all willing to wait until it was safe to do it.
“We can wait.” said. Noelle nodded and Grace walked in with folder with several pictures of the baby.
“Is there anything else I can do for you?” She asked. All three of us shook our heads. “Well I’ll be seeing ya’ll in a couple of weeks.” She said and her and Grace left the room. I got up from the bed, and we followed them out. When we got back to the parking lot I stopped myself from getting in the car with Mike. I just needed to get it over with.
“Mike I’ll meet you back at the apartment. I need to talk to Tony.” I said. Tony looked up in surprise and I saw a flicker of hope flash through his eyes.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Mike asked.
“No I’m not, but I just need to get it over with before ya’ll leave again.” I said honestly. Mike nodded and kissed me before he got in the car and drove off. Tony was already in the truck waiting. I got in, and our hands accidentally touched. I quickly pulled it away because I hated the way I still felt electric shock whenever I touched him. “We need to talk.” I said.
“Fuck Nicole we always need to talk. For some bullshit reason.” Tony said, and started the car and pulled out the parking lot.