Gin and Juice

“You look like shit. Go back to bed,” Kale stated as I walked into the kitchen. It had been four months since Kale and I moved to New York. It was so much better than Cali. It actually had snow, and seasons, and I absolutely loved how I didn’t have to crank up the AC in the summertime.

I just glared at him and took my daily dose of caffeine from the coffee pot.

“I’m serious. Go back to bed!”

“Can’t, I have several important meetings today, not to mention that routine I have to finalize for that new musical.”

He shook his head, grabbed my shoulders, and steered me back towards my bedroom. “I’ll take them, don’t worry.”

Before I could protest, I had an intense urge to empty my stomach and ran to the commode.

“Ok, that’s definitely not normal. Do you want to go to a doctor?” He asked, holding back my hair.

“No, Kale, but I think I’ll take you up on that sleep offer.”

“That a girl. Just stay in bed and I’ll be back here during lunch to check up on you.” He pulled the covers over my body and kissed my temple. “I’ll send Kyle over if you want,” he offered, speaking of my boyfriend of two months.

“No, I’m sure it’ll pass. Bring me Chinese for lunch?”

“You’re insane. Good bye.”

~*~

“Hey, Gorgeous.” His soft, melodic voice woke me up.

I opened my eyes to be greeted by his sparkling emeralds. “Hey, you.” I replied, rolling onto my back so that he could sit on the bed. “What time is it?”

“Almost 11. How are you doing?” His warm hand shot to my forehead.

“I’m fine…actually, I feel great,” I said, worming my way out from under his hand and getting up on the other side of the bed. A sudden pain shot through my head and my abdomen.

“Danni?” he asked at my pain-ridden face. “Honey, are you okay?”

The pain slowly eased away, but didn’t completely leave. “I’m fine, baby. Guess I moved a little too fast or something.”

“I’m taking you to the doctor. You’re still hurting, and don’t lie to me,” he stated strongly, jumping over the bed and lifting me up with little ease.

“I’m fine, Kyle! I seriously am!”

~*~

Two grueling hours later at the hospital after much protest on my part, I finally submitted into letting Kyle take me to Urgent care. I did all the usual tests and now I was just waiting on my results.

“Are you positive you’re not pregnant?”

I glared at him. “I finished two days ago. Do you want me to dig through the damn dumpster so you can see my tampons?”

He held up his hands in defense. “That’s not necessary. I was just making sure.”

“Hello, Ms. Patterson,” my doctor greeted me. “Congratulations, you’re pregnant!”

My hand snatched out with lightning speed and grabbed Kyle’s shirt. I gave him a you better not fucking leave me look. “I can’t be. I just had my period a few days ago.”

The doctor shrugged as a nurse wheeled in an Ultra Sound machine. She plugged in a few things and left the room again. “Some women don’t miss the first few month’s periods. Ok, I’m going to pour this gel on you and we can see how far along you are.” The gel was really cold. Like, Arctic cold. “Whoa, let me go get a second opinion.” She quickly got up and left the room.

I looked over at Kyle and we shared odd looks. “What was that about?”

He looked at the screen where an image was frozen on the screen. He grabbed my hand and began rubbing it soothingly. “I don’t know, but that baby looks way too mature to be only a month.”

I tried locking eyes with him, too stunned to really talk.

“Ms. Patterson, this is Dr. Glasser. He’s an expert in neo-natology.”

The older doctor took a seat by me and rubbed the wand over the gelled area. “You’re right, she’s six months along.”

My mouth fell open. Kyle stiffened his hold on me.

“Would you like to know the sex of your baby?”

“Sure,” it tumbled out before I could process what he was telling me.

“It’s a girl. See?” he pointed to a random dot on the screen. “Now, because she is so small, I want you on complete bed rest for the rest of your term. If you take birth control, stop immediately. Do you smoke regularly?”

“No, I quit a long time ago.” The only good thing that came out of Brian and my relationship.

“Good. And have you drank in the past six months?”

“Only a few times.”

He made a clucking noise at me. “Well, since you didn’t know, I’ll let it slide. Don’t drink anymore until the baby is off of breast milk. We’ll test her for alcohol related syndromes when the time comes, but I wouldn’t worry too much.”

“What are the risks that she has them? I mean, my parents drank, snorted, swallowed, and shot up all the drugs she could when she was pregnant with me and I turned out perfectly well. What are the chances that I passed it on to her?”

He bit his lip and looked down to his hands that were folded neatly in his lap. “I honestly don’t know. Just, rest and try not to stress about it. And, son, keep a good eye on her. For all of your sakes.”

“I will, doctor, thank you.” All of us shook hands and they sent me on my way.

~*~

“So?” I asked as Kyle drove me home. The silence was too deafening and I couldn’t stand it anymore.

“So what?” Kyle asked back, taking my hand in his.

“What does this mean? For us?”

“I don’t know yet. I mean, we both got this huge bombshell dropped on us…and we’ve only been going out for two months. Give me time?”

“Yea, I think that’s best.” He pulled up behind Kale’s Civic. “Thanks, for everything.”

He smiled sympathetically over at me. “You’re welcome. Do you want me to call you or do you want to call me tonight?”

“Neither. I think it will be easier if I just spend the rest of the day with Kale. He can help sort me out. No offense.”

“None taken. Goodnight, beautiful. Take it easy.”

“I will. Night.”

He pecked my lips before I had the dance to slide out of the car.