My hands were trembling as I drove back to the Mascara office. Evan’s parting comment had totally blown my mind. I mean, I always knew I’d need to tell my family about the pregnancy, but I didn’t realize that it would be so soon. And until now, I hadn’t even thought about telling my entire family that I’m pregnant without knowing who the father is. Of course, there’s not a chance in the world that I’d ever tell my parents that the baby isn’t Evan’s before I’m 100% sure, but I don’t think I can keep this from my siblings. Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. I pulled the car over on the side of the road to hyperventilate a little. After taking twenty or thirty immensely deep breaths, I got back onto the street and continued my shaky drive back to the office.
“Date with the boyfriend, huh?”
“What?” I asked, shaking myself out of my mind. I hadn’t even realized until the question snapped me out of my daydream, but I was already exiting the elevator and numbly walking to my desk. I looked over to see Jenna staring back at me, a small smirk dancing on her lips.
“You’re half an hour late,” she clarified with a wink. I smiled and shrugged back at her, not really wanting to have a conversation. Closing the distance between my cubicle and me, I collapsed into my chair and flipped on the computer monitor. I mindlessly browsed through Google as my brain raced with possible outcomes of the confession I had to make the next day. I don’t know why Evan wants to tell everyone so soon. I mean, he only found out I was pregnant a couple weeks ago. Shouldn’t we wait a while to make sure it wasn’t a false positive or something? I suddenly felt my cell phone vibrating in my pocket, and quickly opened it to find another text from my brother.
“hey u’ll be there tomorrow right?”
I didn’t reply immediately, instead thinking of ways to get out of the family dinner he was referring to. Almost as quickly as I started, I ceased my brain and decided that I need to go. I’m being way too over-dramatic about this whole situation. I tried to think of it from Evan’s point of view. We’re going to have a baby, and we need to spread this joy with everyone we love. Suddenly, I just… calmed down. I don’t know how or why or where it came from, but I’m actually excited to give my family the news. Well, I’m excited about telling my dad and my siblings. In the back of my mind, I still know that my mother is going to kill me when she finds out, but I just pushed that thought aside and replied to Max.
“of course. somewhat looking forward to it.”
I closed my phone and attempted to get back to work, but the vibration began again and I flipped it open to read the next message.
“thank god. mom just called asking if ivy was coming so tomorrow i have to tell them we broke up. i need u there to say what a bad couple we were.” I laughed and sent him a “no problem!” in response. I know just how well Mom’s going to take that blow. Max is kind of… a player. Not so negatively like the word describes, but he’s like Jenna in the way that he’s never without a girlfriend and only stays with them for a few weeks. And then every time he told our mom they were over, she went off about how he “lost another one.” Man, she is going to tear him down about Ivy.
Ivy Parker was my brother’s latest girlfriend. They broke up a couple of weeks ago because, like he said, they were totally awful together. However, we all thought that it was going to end in a completely different way. Max and I hang out with a lot of the same people, and Ivy was brought into our group three or four months ago. She and Max instantly took a platonic liking to each other, forming many inside jokes and going on friendly lunch dates. The rest of us were getting sick of their “will they won’t they” attitude and convinced Max to ask her out on a real date. They went out a couple of times and he told me that he didn’t hate it, which is a huge compliment from him. Ivy got really cute and high-schoolish about the whole thing, constantly giggling whenever he was around and telling the rest of the girls what a great date he was. After a while, Max asked her to be his girlfriend, and everything fell apart. They’re both really great people, but have two completely different ideas about relationships that totally clash. He thought that their relationship status would let them act the same way they had been for months, but include a lot more making out. And she wanted him to buckle down and be serious more often than not. So for weeks they only went out on “dates” if the rest of us tagged along, and fought the entire time. Eventually, I convinced Max to end it, and he took my advice shortly after our conversation. He was a little nervous that the group would kick him out for being the “dumper,“ but I reassured him that our friends love me, and since he’s my brother, he instantly got the in. However, Ivy wasn’t ready to give up her new friends, and just stayed with us. This always made Max uncomfortable when we hung out, but the rest of us, Ivy included, weren’t too concerned. Things weren’t awkward at all, as they should be when two strong members of your circle of friends break up. She constantly referenced inside jokes with Max like she used to, but he just nervously laughed along and changed the subject. I think he believes that she’s depressed and constantly broken up about the end of their relationship, but she probably couldn’t care less. It was just time for their dating phase to end, and she seems to realize that a lot better than my brother does.
With the flashback finished playing in my mind, I turned my full attention to my weight loss story. The article is supposed to be due tomorrow, and even though I know Jenna nor Angie would mind if I was a couple days late, I definitely would. I pride myself on always getting my work done ahead of time, and if I need to take even a few minutes later than the deadline to finish, I feel awful and like I haven’t done my job. For the next four to five hours, I focused on my piece and absolutely nothing else. I even skipped daily gossip with Jenna, which she was not too happy about. I asked her, not taking my eyes off the screen, whether she would like me to chat with her for an hour or so, or get my article completed on schedule. And she, of course, replied, “Uh, daily gossip! Come on, who else is going to talk to me about Corbin’s new lover?” That instantly got my mind racing and my throat dying to ask for the news, but I somehow managed to push it aside and tell her no thanks. She walked away with a huff, but I hardly noticed as my fingers were racing against the keyboard. After writing, and rewriting, and re-rewriting my article, I’m pretty satisfied with it. I printed off a copy and placed it in Angie’s “in” box before running out to my car. I’m dying for some dinner, but I already told Evan I’d be in full work-mode all night long, so I just grabbed some drive-through on the way home.
Tonight’s the night I finally get to witness that oh-so hot sword fighting scene.
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