Due Date

“I don’t know. Firstly, they went away right after graduation, so I didn’t see or talk to them for three weeks.”

“Didn’t they call or text? After that you think they would have contacted you to make sure you were all right.”

“Yes, of course they sent texts. I still have them. But I didn’t know what to say to them, so I didn’t reply, unless a few emojis count.”

“Emojis, huh... well, that depends.”

I started to feel better already, even though I hadn’t told Kelly half of it. I guess sometimes you needed a friend to listen and offer an independent point of view.

“So that was my second mistake. I probably should have struck up a conversation by text with them. Instead, I convinced myself that it was just a one-night stand, and they weren’t interested in me because they didn’t bombard me with messages. When the real reason for minimal messages was because I said nothing to them.”

“Wait. What did their messages say?”

I pulled my phone from my pocket. And there were new messages from Noah and Brandon—I didn’t read them.

Nothing from Ry or Sam. They’d already learned that I don’t reply.

“Okay, here are the messages from Ryan. He sent me something every day while he was away. Each day just one message. Some days it was a photo of him alone or him and Sam. Other days it was an emoji or a photo of a scene, but without people in it.” As we scrolled to the day after the threesome, he’d typed in a few heartfelt messages.

I had a Gr8 time last night. I hope you did too.

Later that day another came in.

We are leaving early tomorrow, but I’d love to meet up today.

And the day after that.

I’m sorry I missed you. We’re on route to the sea. C U when we get back.

And the next day, there was a lovely picture of the twins—shirts off—on the beach. They had their arms around each other’s shoulders; the wind blowing through their hair, and the white foam of breaking waves was visible behind them—clearly a good day for surfing.

Thought you might like a pic to remember us by.

And only after that message did I finally send any kind of reply. I felt embarrassed when I looked at it—a mere single thumbs up emoji.

“Grace, what is wrong with you? The hottest guy on the planet seems to be interested in you, and you don’t reply to his messages for days. He must have figured you weren’t interested.”

“Well, I can see that now. At the time, I was confused and embarrassed, and I didn’t know what to say.”

“Why embarrassed? Did you do something out of character? Did you film it and put it on Pornhub?”

I laughed at the ridiculous suggestion. “No, Kelly! No, I was embarrassed because that was my first time, and I behaved like a slut with two guys.”

Kelly patted me on the shoulder. “Oh, bless. You mean you acted as if you enjoyed it. You had orgasms. And they did too.”

“Yes. Exactly that, Kelly. I couldn’t talk about it on the phone.”

“You can’t even talk about it now, can you?”

“Okay. I’m changing the subject and pulling up the messages from Sam.” I closed down the messages from Ry.

Kelly held out her hand. “If they are as sweet as what Ryan sent, then I won’t know whether to scream, cry, or damn well slap you how only a best friend can.”

“Oh, Kelly. There’s so much more to tell. Like I have a new BFF. If a hot dude can be a BFF?”

She put her hands on her hips. “Pray tell; who is after my post?”

“Noah Jones, you know, from school.”

“Of course, bright kid. Christian, math, funny, geek, right?”

“Yep.”

“And he’s also hot and handsome, let’s not forget that. So, Grace, you are filling your life with desirable men? It’s not all bad. Noah for your geeky but hot BFF. The twins for sultry nights. I’m sure they’ll forgive you for not replying, and you have plenty of opportunities to make it up to them.”

“Kelly, Noah doesn’t want to be my BFF. He wants to be my BF, as in boyfriend. And so does his extremely lovely older brother.”

“That hot hippie? What’s his name?”

“Brandon.”

“Yeah, Brandon. I... jeez, I see the problem. Who do you choose?”

“Oh, Kelly, darling. I haven’t told you about the problem yet. I’m pregnant.”

That totally shut her up for a whole round minute.

“Jesus, Grace. Who’s the father? And when?”

“I don’t know. One of the twins. Graduation night. It’s still the only time I ever did it, Kelly.” And the floodgates opened. Tears started rolling down my face as if someone had turned on the faucet behind my eyes. “Only one time,” I sobbed. “They tell you it only takes one time. And I can tell you that’s true.”

“Oh, Grace.” She put her arms around me again.