Julie put Anna down and patted her on the behind to signal her to head back into the living room, then she straightened and looked at Matt.
"Are you pregnant?" he asked bluntly.
"I don't know," she responded honestly. "I haven't had time to take a test, and I didn't even think about it until this morning when—”
"We used condoms," he said quietly, cutting her off.
"Yeah. Except for the one time," she added.
She heard him mutter a curse under his breath. "One time. That's fucking brilliant."
Julie frowned, but before she could say anything he continued, "Well, you need to take a test, then if you are we need to figure out who the father is."
Her frown deepened and she said, "Now wait just a minute, I'm not a whore, I don't need to go on Maury. If I'm pregnant, it's definitely yours—I haven't been with Jack in ages."
"That's not what he said."
"We didn't have sex," Julie said lowly, her eyes narrowing. "He was talking about something else, and he was trying to cause trouble anyway, so why would you listen to him? If I'm pregnant, it is absolutely by you, and you can make me take as many paternity tests as you want, 'cause they'll all say the same thing."
"Fuck," he said, running his hand through his hair.
It was all so romantic, she thought sarcastically.
"Can we just calm down here?" she suggested. "I'm probably not. I'm probably stressed out 'cause of finals and every—”
"We're getting you a test. I'm going to the store right now."
"You're supposed to take them in the morning for the best results," she argued.
"I'll buy two; you're taking one as soon as I can possibly get it back here, so go drink a glass of water or something. I'll be back."
And just like that, he was gone.
And he was being a bastard.
Maybe he would come around, she reasoned feebly.
Probably not, she thought more realistically as she watched Emma enter the room, her eyes narrowed venomously in Julie's direction.
Since Emma usually avoided talking to Julie, she was surprised when Emma walked right over to her and stared at her for a couple seconds.
Julie swallowed, forcing herself to maintain eye contact.
Normally Emma was unjust in being a bitch to her, but in that moment, Julie couldn’t blame her, so she braced herself to have her ass handed to her.
Then, unexpectedly, Emma smirked. "Boy, did you fuck up."
With that cryptic statement, Emma made her way upstairs, leaving Julie and Anna downstairs to wait for whatever was coming next.
---
When Matt returned with the little white plastic bag and handed it to Julie, shoving her toward the bathroom with little warmth, Julie knew that regardless of the result of that little stick, things were never going to be the same.
Emma seemed to know. She hadn't said anything, but it was as if there was some sort of unspoken understanding floating between Emma and Matt, some kind of, "What do we do with her?" without actually admitting anything had happened.
It was awkward, and even though she hadn’t gotten into the predicament on her own, Julie had the very distinct feeling that she was the bad guy.
Although she was careful not to show it, Julie was a little nervous herself. She was only a sophomore in college—kids hadn't been in the plan for at least another 7 to 8 years, and at that time pregnancy was supposed to be a plan.