Page 119 of Isabela

“Yeah, but my periods have been really wonky lately,” Aria complains, her hand waving my concerns away. “I actually started looking up perimenopausal symptoms, because I thought that might be it.”

Aria is thirty-five. That’s definitely too early to be in perimenopause, right?

Swallowing hard, I take a shaky breath.

“Will you take a test with me?” I ask softly. “It could be nothing or it could…”

“Yes,” she says immediately. “Even if I know there’s no way I’m pregnant, I’ll take one in solidarity.”

Aria smiles a beautiful smile at me, taking my hand to tug me into getting up.

“I bought a million tests from Amazon when Gael and I were trying to get pregnant, let’s see if any of them are still good,” she says with a wink.

I don’t miss the tremble in her hand as she holds mine, and soon we’re walking quickly back into the house. The walls blur as we almost run through the living room, and then dash into my room with Gael and Aria.

I still have my own room, but I mostly keep clothes in it. They’re talking about remodeling to make their room bigger, so they can also extend the closet.

It’s amazing where a year has taken us. I finished school, and allowed Gael to pay for it. The company is flourishing now, but it wasn’t last August when tuition was due.

Aria drops to her knees as she digs underneath the bathroom sink, finding a box of pregnancy tests. Checking the date, she nods as she rips it open and stands.

“These are good,” Aria says breathlessly.

“Are you sure?” I whisper. “Not about the tests being good, but about doing this with me? I don’t want to put you through this if…”

“I’m sure,” she admits. “I have it firmly in my mind that it’s impossible. I probably won’t even look at the stick afterwards. I just don’t want you to do this alone. Ready?”

It should be weird to take a test together, but it isn’t. We each take a turn peeing on a stick, and then leave them upside down as we wash our hands. Aria sets the timer on her phone, making me realize how hard both of our hands are shaking. Wrapping my arms around her, we wait.

I swear it’s the longest two minutes of my life.

“Check yours,” Aria murmurs as the timer goes off. The front door opens, and she turns her head as Gael yells ‘hello’ as he walks in.

“Hey baby,” she calls back as I pick up the test. I stare at the two pink lines, blinking at them before I pick up the box.

Holy shit.

Breaths coming faster from excitement as my heart pounds, I glance at Aria’s test. I need to know.

“Sorry, baby,” I mutter, lifting her test up as I turn it.

“What?” Aria asks, turning back to me. “What did you do?”

Her voice is shrill, but I shake my head as I see the same pink lines. Gasping as tears run down my face, I show her.

“This is your test,” I sob. “Aria, look!”

“No,” she whispers, taking it from me. “Did you mix them up? This is impossible.”

“No, I didn’t mix them up. They both say pregnant,” I explain to her, showing her my test.

Bursting into tears, she hugs me, and as her knees fail her, we fall into a tangle of limbs onto the floor.

“What’s going on?” Gael asks from the doorway. He looks worried as he gazes down at us. We must appear a mess as we sob hysterically from the ground. “Are you two okay?”

“Yes,” I manage, hiccuping a sob. “We realized we both haven’t had a period…”

“So I told Isabela she should take a test, and I figured I’d take one in solidarity,” Aria says with a sheepish smile, as if it’s not a big fucking deal.

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