What's Your Sign?

Nate was sure he heard incorrectly. "Pregnant?"

Ivy's voice on the other end of the phone was even softer than usual. "Mhm."

"How?"

He pictured her sweet smile teasing him. "You know how, Nathan."

"No, I mean how -- how does she know?" It still hadn't sunk in for him.

"She took a test, and it was positive."

"But those things aren't really reliable, are they?"

"She has other symptoms, too. There's no doubting it." Ivy was spitting out facts without any emotion. "She's pregnant with Jackson's baby."

Her lack of emotion in such an emotional situation worried him to no end. It didn't help with the guilt, either. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

Nate swallowed. "You're sure there isn't any chance at all that she --"

"Yes!"

"Okay, okay." He bit his tongue again, reminding himself to back off where necessary.

It was quiet for a while. Nate wondered what Ivy was doing at that moment. Lying across her bed? On the sofa? Was her skin still warm from her hot shower, or were her icy blue eyes droopy with exhaustion from her long day? Nate couldn't help wondering these things. It was so selfish.

"Are you doing anything right now?" She asked suddenly.

Nate shook his head, though she couldn't see. "No. Why?"

"I really need to get out of the house."

Nate did a double take as he checked the clock. "Ivy, it's almost eleven."

"I know, but I can't sleep, not now." She seemed to sense that Nate was already tucked up in his bed. "No, forget it. It's late, I'm sorry."

"I'll come see you." Nate said. "If that's what you want."

Ivy didn't speak.

"Is that what you want?"

"Nathan, you don't have to --"

"Great. I'll see you in ten minutes." He hung up before she had the chance to argue with him.

~oOo~

Ivy waited by her front door, hands tucked in her cozy coat pockets. She hoped she was quiet enough in sneaking downstairs. This wasn't a good time to disturb her mother.

Nina's pregnancy was perceived differently by Ivy and her mother. Ivy was happy, maybe even excited to see a piece of her brother live on. For some reason, her mother was indifferent and could care less about Nina or the baby.

Then again, Ivy was never extremely close to her mother. She and Jackson had always stuck together, especially when their father left them for another woman. Ivy didn't expect to agree with her mother then and didn't agree with her now.

Only this time, Jackson wasn't here to hold Ivy's hand through it all.

The beam of headlights washed over the windows and Ivy slipped outside unnoticed. The brisk chill in the air gave Ivy a jolt of energy.

She walked up to Nathan's car and waited for him to roll down the window.

"What's wrong?" He asked, peering through the darkness to see her face.

"Nothing." She replied, gazing up at the clear and starry night. "Would you mind going for a walk?"

Nathan chuckled like she was crazy. "You're kidding, right?"

Ivy stared at him, beginning to chew on her lip.

Nathan shut off his laughter like flipping a lightswitch. "Okay, sure." He rolled up the window and turned the keys in the ignition. The headlights blinked out.

Ivy stood back on the sidewalk until he climbed out of the car.

Nathan offered his elbow to her and she hooked her arm through his with a smile. They started walking and didn't speak until they passed three houses.

"Nathan," Ivy looked down at their feet stepping perfectly in sync.

"Yes, Ivy?"

She laughed a bit before she went on. "This may sound like a strange question, but...what's your sign?"

"Same as yours." He answered simply.

Her head jerked up at him. "Saggitarius?"

Nathan nodded once to confirm.

Ivy chewed her lip again. It wasn't uncommon to discuss signs and horoscopes, but it wasn't done very often and was usually only with those that were known very well. It stunned her that they shared the same sign.

"How did you know mine?" She asked.

Ivy watched the puffs of his breath in the cold air. "My horoscope calls you my sign mate." He explained. "I only assumed that's what it meant."

"So you just recently had a birthday, too...wait, I was in your horoscope?" Too many thoughts were swirling in her mind.

Nathan smirked at her. "Maybe. Was I in yours?"

Ivy remembered the horoscope that led her right to him and she bet that his was similar. She decided to play along. "Maybe."

"Hmm," Nathan pursed his lips in thought.

Ivy unfortunately thought of something else. "So the only reason you talked to me was because of your horoscope?"

"No," Nathan stopped walking, but their arms remained locked. "Well, my horoscope said that I was supposed to help in fufilling yours."

Ivy was teetering dangerously on a tight rope. "If it didn't force you to talk to me, would you have still done it?"

Nathan could tell she was ready to freak out. "Ivy, listen."

She frowned and slipped her arm out of his, but listened.

Nathan used the honest card that he played before. "You're absolutely right. If that horoscope didn't bring me to you then I probably would have missed out." Ivy started shaking her head, so he rushed to continue. "But the point is that it did."

Ivy wanted to believe his point more than anything, but the past few weeks still felt phony to her. 

She found solace in Nathan's desperate nature when he was on the verge of upsetting her. "God, who knows where I'd be right now without you. Please don't hate me, Ivy."

He sounded like a child pleading for sweets before dinner. "I couldn't hate you, Nathan."

Something ticked in his face. "Really?"

Ivy nodded. Not while you kiss me the way you do, Ivy added to herself. She felt her cheeks warm themselves in the cold.

The rosy color was like a neon sign that read 'kiss me' over her head. Nathan usually took things slowly and sensually -- something Ivy couldn't stand but also couldn't resist -- but now he dove right in and kissed her powerfully on the lips.

Ivy grabbed onto his forearms to keep her balance. She felt his fingers tie in her hair and she nearly lost the feeling in her knees.

It was to the point where Ivy's heightened body temperature made her shiver in the cold winter evening. 

"It's probably almost midnight," Nathan guessed with this breathless whisper that made Ivy's senses blur. 

By the time they made it back to Ivy's house it was after midnight. Ivy didn't care that they had school in the morning or that it was below freezing outside. Her head was clear thanks to Nathan Rice, and that was all that mattered.

Ivy wouldn't find out that her interpretation of her horoscope was backwards until the next day.