Page 38 of Perfect Chemistry

She was never the super clingy type, so this was definitely throwing up some red flags. I waited until I got into my car before giving her a call back. Driving toward my apartment in town, I dialed Jenny’s number. When she didn’t answer I left a brief message apologizing for not taking her call while I was with patients, and laid out what my schedule had been for the night.

If she called back, she called back. Otherwise, I would see her tomorrow when we had our next date. Could I call it dating? We’d been seeing each other off and on for nearly six months, after we hooked up that first night. We just didn’t label what we were.

She seemed down to earth, just stressed from the crazy shit we all dealt with in life. Who didn’t have their own stories of heartbreak? She knew all about my shit. We got along well enough and the sex wasn’t bad. Not to mention, she was super low on the drama scales.

As I pulled up outside my building, I thought I saw Jenny’s car leaving the parking lot. She hadn’t shown any signs of crazy over the last month, and I was hoping that she wasn’t going to end up like the stalker in high school.

I grabbed my bag from the back seat once I parked, and my phone rang as I walked into the building. I shifted everything in my hands and answered.

“Kai?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle a little, “Last time I checked. Sorry I couldn’t answer earlier, we were swamped at the clinic.” I explained as I reached my apartment.

“Shit! I completely forgot you had the clinic today. Oh my god, I am so sorry. You must think I am crazy,” she quickly apologized.

A part of me relaxed, realizing that it was just a mistake of scheduling, and kept talking as I sat on the sofa to talk. “It’s okay. I was worried something had happened, and you weren’t able to get a hold of me.”

She chuckled lightly, and I could hear her starting to relax. “I did need some help earlier, but it’s all- Well, things aren’t as dire as I thought they were.”

I furrowed my brows, because she sounded like she was speaking in riddles. “You okay, Jen?” I asked.

I listened to her sigh, and then there was a long moment of silence. “Not really,” she finally admitted. “Is it okay if I come over?”

I looked around my apartment, seeing what needed to be tidied up before she came over. It wasn’t bad, so I agreed. “Sure, I was just going to order a pizza tonight. Do you want anything in particular?”

“Cheese pizza?” she asked.

“Cheese pizza it is,” I agreed and hung up the call. I ordered the pizza while I walked around cleaning up the living room and then straightened up my bed. Not that I was hoping to get laid, but just in case we ended up in my room, it should look neat.

Jenny showed up five minutes after the pizza was delivered. We sat down on the sofa, a baseball game playing in the background and ate our food.

I waited until she was done eating before trying to pry any information out of her. When she wouldn’t eat any more, I cleaned up our plates, and put the leftovers in the fridge. Worst case, I would take a couple slices with me for lunch tomorrow.

“Alright, what’s going on?” I asked, sitting down next to her on the sofa.

She passed me a piece of paper, but refused to make eye contact with me. I didn’t know why I thought it was cute, but I chuckled, thinking of passing notes to girls I liked in school.

I leaned back and started to read over the sheet. It was discharge paperwork from the hospital. I felt like I was reading a foreign language, because my brain completely shut down at some point. Jenny finally spoke up and pulled me out of my stupor.

“Surprise! I’m pregnant.” Her voice sounded hoarse. She had to be fucking terrified, because I knew I was.

“I was not expecting that,” I admitted, tearing my eyes from the lab report to look at her. She looked nervous as hell, and on the verge of crying. “What do you want to do?” I asked.

I watched her face process my words. She went back and forth between red and white, like she was alternating between rage and fear, but she didn’t say anything. I kept talking instead.

“I’ll support whatever decision you make, Jenny. It is your body, and we haven’t known each other that long, but I will support you and the baby if that is what you’re worried about.”

Jenny burst into tears at that point. “I was so worried that you would hate me!”

I pulled her into my chest and hugged her. Fuck. We were having a kid!

“You aren’t mad at me?” she asked.

I couldn’t help but laugh a little. “I think we both messed this one up equally,” I admitted.

Jenny relaxed against me. “I don’t know what to do, Kai. I never wanted to be a single mom or raise a child in a broken household. It’s horrible,” she sniffled.

I couldn’t agree more. She said everything that had already rushed through my mind in the past two minutes. Neither of us were ready for this. Neither of us planned for this.

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