Obsessed with a Daddy

“Yeah, it seems that way,” he chuckled.

It didn’t seem like we were going to be able to have any dirty fun—not with my stomach trying to do somersaults for some reason. I was glad that Everette wasn’t upset by it. He suggested that I try some rice if I felt like I could stomach it later that evening, and possibly some antacid if I had any on hand. I didn’t but promised I would make a trip to the store to pick some up if it didn’t wasn’t cleared up by morning. I started feeling worse as we continued to talk and really just wanted to lay down. I stretched out on the bed and continued talking to him until my eyelids started getting heavy. Everette was tired too, so we agreed to try again the following night—and mark Chinese food off our list for a while.

I’ve never had any issues with Chinese food before—this is really strange. I think it hit me too quick to be food poisoning.

The next morning

I tossed and turned for a little while, even though my eyelids were heavy. I finally got sleep about two hours after I finished talking to Everette. I woke up a couple of times during the night, but I was able to get back to sleep without much difficulty. I slept until the sun was peeking through the clouds, which was way too early to be up on a day when I didn’t have to go to school—but my stomach had other plans. I jumped out of bed as soon as I realized my dinner from the previous night had no intention of staying down and made it to the sink before I threw up. I felt a little better after that, but not much. I quickly cleaned the sink, gargled with mouthwash, brushed my teeth, and went to the kitchen to see if I could find something that would settle my stomach.

I could really use a soda right now—I switched over to coffee, but I bet the fizz would be nice.

There was a soda machine in the common area of my dorm, so I grabbed my debit card and headed that way. Coke was always my go-to, but for some reason, I really wanted Sprite. That was a rather odd craving—the last time I had Sprite was in middle school. I decided to buy both. I wasn’t sure coffee would feel that good on my stomach, and I would need caffeine at some point. I popped the top on the Sprite as I walked back to my dorm room, and it did make my stomach feel less queasy. I spent an hour slowly sipping it, watching television and finally decided that I should shower. I had no desire to eat the leftover Chinese food, and I would have to get something to eat—I was feeling a little famished after purging the bile out of my stomach.

Maybe I’ll go to that cafe that serves brunch. That might be nice—I’ve been saying that I should try it, but I haven’t yet.

I took a shower, got dressed, and went to the bathroom to fix my hair. I didn’t have anyone to impress, so I combed it out, used the blow dryer, and tied it up in a ponytail. I wasn’t really in the mood to put on makeup, but I figured I should at least make something that resembled an attempt if I was going out in public. It was nowhere near perfect, but it was passable for someone that gave a damn about their appearance—that would have to do. I reached for my birth control like I had been doing every morning since my mother made me get it. I popped the pill out of the pack and was about to wash it down with a cup of water when my brain started connecting a few dots.

“Oh my god…” I stared at the pill in my hand.

/> Did I have morning sickness? No—there’s no way I could be pregnant. I’ve been on the pill since I was sixteen…

I put the pill down on the counter and ran to grab my laptop. It wasn’t going to tell me if I was pregnant, but it could at least tell me if I was crazy. My head started to spin as I thought about the odd craving I had for Sprite. I knew the pill wasn’t guaranteed to work, but it was supposed to be pretty much impossible to get pregnant while you were on it. My search told me that I was within the range for someone to experience morning sickness, but cravings normally didn’t start until later—but some people had them a lot earlier—there were even comments on the article from women who claimed they knew they were pregnant the moment they started craving weird stuff that they normally didn’t eat.

Maybe I’ve just got a stomach bug—that makes a lot more sense than being pregnant.

I had to know for sure, regardless. My periods had been practically nonexistent since I started taking the pill. The doctor said it was a side-effect, so I didn’t really think much about it. There were months when I had something very light, but normally I went through my week of placebo pills without a speck of blood. There hadn’t been any specks of blood since Everette left—I knew that for sure—which made me even more nervous. My stomach was twisted in a knot, so I decided not to even bother with brunch. I just needed to go to the drug store and grab a pregnancy test—maybe more than one just to be sure.

My parents are going to kill me if I’m pregnant—and oh god, Everette—what if he doesn’t want a baby? What if he thinks I lied to him about being on the pill? This has to be a bad dream!

My legs were wobbly when I got to the drug store. I grabbed two different pregnancy tests—both packs of three—and started walking towards the counter. I was still craving Sprite, so I picked up a two-liter and a cold can from the fridge. If nothing else, they would help me pee, because I fully intended to take every single test that I bought to make sure the result was real. My stomach stayed twisted in a tight knot as I checked out and walked to my car. If there really was a baby trying to grow in there, I knew one thing for certain—it hated Chinese food. I drove back to my dorm and broke every speed limit, but thankfully there were no cops on the road. I quickly ran to my dorm room and blew right past Dave, who tried to high five me—I still didn’t know why he seemed to want to high five everyone, but he always smelled like weed, so that was probably part of it.

The smell of weed makes me absolutely nauseous—it’s never bothered me before.

I stripped from the waist down, sat on the toilet, and started opening all of the pregnancy tests. I always wanted children—I just didn’t expect to have one before I graduated from college. Things were going so great with Everette, but I wasn’t sure if an unexpected pregnancy would derail the relationship as quickly as it began. As soon as I started peeing, I dipped the pregnancy tests into the stream. I managed to get four of them saturated with some stop-go action that didn’t feel that great. I didn’t have enough to get the last two, but I had guzzled a Sprite on the way home, so it wouldn’t take long.

“Come on—why do these things take so long…” I stared at the plastic and waited for something to appear.

The box said that a plus sign was good news—a plus sign meant I was pregnant. That wasn’t going to be good news for me. Apparently, the people who manufactured the pregnancy test didn’t make them for college girls that could be on the verge of losing everything. I stared at the first one—closed my eyes—opened them—closed them again—and then I saw a plus sign. I immediately put it on the counter and grabbed the next one—same result. The third and the fourth weren’t done yet, but I double fisted them while I waited—until two plus signs appeared. I was pregnant. The pill had completely failed me, and my life was about to change whether I liked it or not. I was pregnant with Everette’s baby.

“I’m screwed…” I dropped my head in my hands and started crying.

I have to figure out how I’m going to tell Everette—and my parents—which means I have to tell my parents about Everette. This isn’t a bad dream. This is a nightmare.

I spent part of the day crying, and the rest of it trying to figure out how I was going to handle the situation. Deep down, I believed that any child was a blessing, and I was definitely going to keep our baby, but its arrival was going to change my life—possibly both of our lives. It didn’t seem right to share the news during a Skype conversation or on the phone, so I decided that I would wait until I returned to Los Angeles to tell Everette he was going to be a father. That would give me time to process everything, work the details out in my head, and come up with a plan. I cared about Everette—he had stolen my heart—but I had to prepare for the reality of the situation. We hadn’t discussed children, or what it meant, and I didn’t know how he would react when I told him the news. I could hope for the best, but I needed to be prepared for the worst.

I don’t know if it is going to be a boy or girl that I welcome into this world, but I know two things for sure—they hate Chinese food, and they love Sprite.

Chapter Thirteen

Everette

“Hey, are you okay?” I leaned forward when the computer came on, and I saw Holly’s face. “You don’t look well—are you still sick?”

“Yeah, but it seems to be passing.” She nodded. “I think I just have a stomach bug or something.”

“Did you get antacid?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, no.” Holly shook her head back and forth. “I didn’t even think about that. I don’t really have heartburn or anything.”