*****
The nightmares continued for several days. I woke up screaming each time, and each time Tria held me in her arms until I fell back asleep again. I was exhausted and nearly lost my next fight, which seemed to snap me out of it.
Tria never asked what the dreams were about.
Days later, I slopped a bit more drywall paste on the wall and tried to even out the edges around the repaired hole which may or may not have resembled the size of my fist. Leaning back a bit, I admired my handiwork, which wasn’t great, but it would at least keep the landlord from birthing a litter of kittens on the floor if he happened to see it.
There were a couple of pieces of sandpaper near my feet, but the smell from the kitchen convinced me to save the rest of the job for later. When I came out of the bedroom, Tria was humming and scooping something spicy smelling from the stove onto plates. I still got hard every time I saw her cooking in the kitchen, and this evening was no different.
I sneaked up behind her and kissed the side of her neck, making her smile. She set everything on the table but didn’t really say much while we ate. The food was far too good for me to worry about conversation, but I knew something was up as soon as she finally did speak.
“Um…Liam?”
“Yeah?” I polished off the last of the Cajun rice and beans and leaned back in my chair.
“You still have that money, right? The money from my last check?”
“Yeah,” I replied. “I was going to put it toward rent. Since the smackdown night was a bust on Tuesday, we’re a little short.”
“Could we, um…could we spare fifty dollars?”
I eyed her, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Other than for grocery shopping and once for books, Tria never asked for money for anything, and fifty was a lot more than we could really spare. Besides, I had just said we were short.
“Not really,” I said. “I mean, I have it now, and I could probably make rent without it, but something else would have to give. Do I want to know why?”
Tria turned the same color as a tomato, and I had to press a bit more to get her to tell me. She shoved her hand down inside Pooh’s Honey Pouch and fumbled around for a day and a half while images of the purse over her head with honey dripping around her face popped into my brain. Eventually she found and pulled out a piece of paper.
“I went to the, um…the health center on campus,” she said, still pink and not meeting my eyes. “I thought it would be…you know…a good idea.”
“A good idea for what?” I asked, thoroughly confused. “Are you sick?”
“I feel fine,” she said quickly. “It’s just…I was talking to Nikki about us, you know?”
“Okay…” I let my voice trail off, wondering just what the fuck she was talking about and why she was being so obtuse. I knew she and Nikki had talked on the phone a couple of times, but I didn’t know about what. I figured it had been more about Nikki and Brandon’s constant fucking. “So?”
“So…” She paused and took a deep breath. She turned her head so she was looking out the window. “I figure it’s only a matter of time…and I did a little cost comparison…”
She continued to look out the window and fiddle with her fingers until I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Tria, what the hell are you talking about?”
She glanced back at me and then looked down at the ground.
“Birth control,” she said quietly. “The exam is thirty dollars, and it’s five dollars a month for the pills. That would last me the rest of the semester, which is a lot cheaper than condoms.”
I was never one to shock easily, but I was pretty sure my jaw hit the coffee table.
Chapter 9—Embrace the Patience
“You…um…you…”
I couldn’t get a coherent sentence out. It just wasn’t going to happen.
“Well,” Tria said shyly, “I figured it was inevitable, and it was probably a good idea to go ahead and get, um, protected beforehand, right?”
“Um…yeah. Sure. Right.” I could only babble.
The only word I heard was inevitable.