Good Girl

On Saturday afternoon, they were at the mall again, this time with Tess. They relaxed at a small round table in the middle of the crowded food court, each sipping their preferred coffee drink. They’d gone to Victoria’s Secret together and tried on sexy lingerie, trying to find the perfect lingerie for Matt and Brian. Tess had dropped a good amount of money for the lingerie too, prompting Erin to yet again ask about her tips at Hooters and why she bought so much. Last time they checked, Tess was single.

They should have known though, that Tess was hiding something. They sat at the table and listened as Tess told them where she was getting the extra money from.

“So, let me get this straight,” Mallory said, taking a sip of her hazelnut iced coffee. “You date him and he gives you money to support yourself? Isn’t that like…prostitution?” Mallory didn’t mean for it to sound bad, and she hoped Tess wouldn’t take offense to her words.

“I think the term is sugar daddy,” Erin added.

“He’s not my sugar daddy; I hate that word. Sex isn’t a part of the relationship,” Tess explained. “But it’s always consensual. He’s a really good guy. I wish you could meet him.”

“I mean, if you’re happy and he’s paying your bills then go ahead,” Mallory shrugged. It wasn’t something she would be comfortable doing, but she respected Tess’s hustle.

“Why are you telling us all of this, Tess?” Erin asked.

It was no secret that although the three of them were best friends, Tess tended to keep her personal relationships private. Neither Erin nor Mallory had ever met any of the guys that Tess dated the entire time they’d known her. Tess was a naturally private person, and she didn’t like to put her business out there.

“Because,” Tess sat up straighter in her chair and leaned in, “I think I’m pregnant.”

“What?” Mallory’s eyes widened.

“Whoa…” Erin looked stunned.

“I don’t know if I am, but my period was supposed to come last week,” Tess admitted to them.

“If you are, who’s the father?” Erin wondered.

“I think it’s the guy I’m with now,” Tess confessed. “I mean, it is. There’s no one else.”

It was silent for a minute before Erin grabbed her things and stood up. She grabbed Tess by the wrist, pulling her to stand up. “Come on.”

“Where are we going?” Mallory asked, holding her drink and standing up too.

“There’s a Walgreens around the corner,” Erin told them, hinting what they were going there for without saying it out loud. “Right now, it’s a maybe but we’ve gotta find out asap.”


“My bladder is going to explode!” Tess groaned as the three of them inconspicuously slipped into the single bathroom of McDonald’s.

Mallory closed and turned the lock on the door to make sure no one could come in. Tess crossed her legs uncomfortably, trying to prevent from having an accident. Erin had forced Tess to drink two bottles of water in under three minutes to get her to use the bathroom.

“You are the worst med assistant ever,” Tess accused, rocking back and forth.

“Well, you can’t pee yet. We need that,” Erin told her, taking the pink box from her purse. She opened the box, taking out a white stick. She flipped the box over to read the directions.

“You’re reading the directions?” Mallory questioned. “All you do is pee on it, right?”

“I don’t know,” Erin shrugged. “I’ve never done this before. We didn’t do store brand pregnancy tests at the office. We always went through the technical process.”

Mallory was as clueless as could be. She’d never taken a pregnancy test, ever. She thought that Erin would know being that she went to medical school and interned at a gynecologist’s office. Erin had switched some time ago to being a nurse’s aide and worked with disabled senior citizens at their homes.

“You’re going to make me pee on myself,” Tess whined, holding her hand between her legs.

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic,” Erin said, seemingly getting a kick out of Tess’s suffering. She held the thin white stick out to Tess, pointing at a spot on the end of the stick. “Here. Pee directly on it and don’t drop it in the toilet.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Tess unzipped her tight, dark jeans before pulling them down with her underwear. She took the stick from Erin, squatting over the toilet and holding the stick underneath her. Tess let out a satisfied sigh as she relieved herself.

Tess was Mallory’s best friend and they all had the same parts, but Mallory couldn’t help but feel a bit awkward watching her friend pee. She looked down at the floor while Erin watched Tess like a hawk, making sure she was doing it correctly.

There were two heavy knocks at the door before the door knob jiggled.

“Someone’s in here!” Erin and Mallory shouted in unison, hearing someone apologize from the other side.

“This is so unsanitary,” Tess complained, finishing up. “I’m taking a fucking pregnancy test in the McDonald’s bathroom.”

“This is an emergency,” Erin told her, snatching the stick from her and laying it on a paper towel on the counter of the sink.

Mallory started the timer on her phone, counting down the minutes until Tess would get her answer. She wondered what Tess was going to do if it was positive. Tess definitely wasn’t ready to be a mother.

“You’ve never taken one, right?” Tess asked Mallory after she flushed the toilet and washed her hands.

“What?” Mallory asked. “A pregnancy test?”

Tess nodded, her gray eyes staring into Mallory’s hazel ones.

“Nope,” Mallory shook her head. “Never had to.”

“I always thought you’d be the first,” Tess shrugged. “I mean, I don’t know if I am yet, so maybe you’ll still be the first.”

“Matt and I aren’t really ready for kids,” Mallory said. It wasn’t that they didn’t want children, it’s just that they didn’t have the time at the moment. Mallory was focused on her position at work, and Matt was focused on the music. They’d talked about it before, but they always came to the same conclusion; they just weren’t ready yet.

“Of course you guys are ready,” Tess laughed, patting Mallory on the shoulder.

Mallory’s phone soon signaled that time was up, and the results were in.

“You guys look at it first,” Tess told her friends.

Erin held the stick under the light, examining it. Mallory peered over Erin’s shoulder, looking at the little blue sign.

“It’s negative,” Erin informed Tess.

“It is?” Tess asked. She looked at the test, giving a sigh of relief. “It’s negative!”

“Yup,” Erin nodded. She was about to toss it into the trash when Tess stopped her.

“Don’t throw it out,” Tess said and Erin raised an eyebrow at her. “Not here, at least. I don’t want people to find a used pregnancy test in the bathroom of McDonald’s. That’s gross.”

Mallory was going to ask Tess why she really cared. No one would know that it was hers except for the three of them. She watched Tess wrap the test in a paper towel and shove it back into the box it came in, stuffing the box into her purse.

The three of them each washed their hands before stepping back out into the loud fast food restaurant. It was silent, neither of them wanting to speak about what just happened in case anyone overheard.

Tess patted her stomach and smiled when they got back outside to the warm weather. “It might have been cool, you know.”

“What?” Mallory asked, turning her head towards Tess.

“To have a baby,” Tess clarified. “I think it’d be cool to have a little girl.”

“We don’t need any more of you around,” Erin said, somewhat bitterly.

Mallory glanced at Erin, not sure if she was joking or serious. Tess turned to Erin with a scowl, her lips pressed in a straight line. Shots had just been fired, and Mallory didn’t know why.