Page 3 of Their End Game

“What it say?” Ja’vari nervously asked, pacing the room.

“Damn, boy, she just walked back in the room with it. Give her a chance.” Santia barely looked up from her phone.

The three of us were in my room, and I was panicking, as I’d just taken a pregnancy test. Ja’vari and I had lost our virginity to each other a year ago, and up until two months ago, we had been extra careful. We were only sixteen and seventeen, in high school, living with our parents. I was jobless, and Ja’vari made minimum wage at Polo Lauren Factory Store. We couldn’t take care of us let alone a baby.

“Anything yet?” He never stopped walking.

Santia giggled. “You gonna walk the soles off them Jordans and burn a hole in the carpet, you keep moving.”

“Nothing’s funny, Santia,” I snapped. Santia didn’t mean any harm, since she just always had jokes, but right now wasn’t the time.

“Okay, okay.” She held up her hand and halted her giggles. “For real, what does it say, friend?” Her tone was low.

Standing there holding it upside down wouldn’t give me the answer, so I shrugged and flipped it over, my hands shaking as my eyes dropped. “No way.” My voice was low. The blue plus sign on the Clearblue pregnancy test couldn’t go unnoticed from a mile away.

Ja’vari stopped mid-step, foot still in the air, and Santia stood, her eyes doubling in size. It was so quiet in the room that everybody’s fast heartbeats could be heard, sounding like a stampede of horses on a racetrack. “What does it say?” Santia questioned lowly, almost like she was afraid to ask.

Shaking my head, my ponytail rocked from side to side, and tears fell swiftly. Sniffling, I finally raised my eyes, meeting Ja’vari’s and Santia’s anxious ones. “It’s positive.”

Ja’vari kind of still stood, standing stonelike; Santia, on the other hand, moved in quickly, grasping my shaking hands, stopping them from shaking. Santia and I were the same age with only four more separating us, making her the oldest. The difference wasn’t significant, but she made sure to remind me every chance she got that I was the youngest. “It will be okay.” She gave me a comforting smile. Santia said it would be okay, but how could something like this ever be okay? On one hand, I’d abort the unborn child and forever feel empty and guilty, or I’d accept that Ja’vari and I hadn’t been careful, and we’d become teen parents and another statistic.

“How?” My voice cracked.

Santia looked defeated, but that didn’t stop her from being the supportive friend she’d always been. “Honestly, Radiance, I don’t even know. Either way, I am right behind you every step of the way,” she reassured, wrapping her arms around me.

Sittingin the middle of Ja’vari and Santia in the uncomfortable, armless chairs, my heart beat rapidly, and my left leg shook beyond my control. It had been four long days since getting the positive pregnancy test result, and my nerves hadn’t gathered since. My eyes bounced around the Planned Parenthood clinic at the multiple encouraging posters. I hated I was here, but after sleepless nights, talks with Ja’vari, and comforting words from Santia, it was best.

When I first delivered the news, Ja’vari was stuck and had no words, but once he snapped back, he was all in. It wasn’t an easy decision, but we had come to terms with the fact that there was no way we were ready to be parents at such a young age.

Feeling Ja’vari’s hand on my leg, I looked down at it, and he wanted me to place mine in his. Smiling, I did. We were two kids who had fallen in love and made a mistake. “I love you.” He raised our hands to his lips, mine facing them, before he kissed them.

Tears burned my eyes. I did love Ja’vari, and I saw myself spending the rest of my life with him, so had we been years older and married, I would have loved to have his baby. The timing just wasn’t right. “I love you too, Ja’vari.”

Ja’vari parted his lips to speak, but the words never came, as the nurse interrupted him. “Radiance Marshall?”

I was already nervous, but once my name was called, my brain went into overdrive, and the beating of my heartincreased instantly. Ja’vari stood after releasing my hand as if they’d called him. When he noticed I hadn’t moved, he grabbed my hand again, helping me up, but it was not that I needed it. Preparing to take a step, I stopped, looking over at Santia. She offered a smile, and I could see many emotions in her eyes. “I’ll be here when you get back, friend.” The smile never wavered.

I smiled and nodded. Ja’vari would be there to hold my hand, but Santia… She was my emotional support even when not physically present. Once I stepped over the threshold and the door closed behind me, I knew there was no turning back.

“Hey?” Santia summoned me in a soft tone, pulling me from a memory that I’d buried so deep, ironically almost ten years to the day. I lifted my head just a bit, so our eyes could meet, but didn’t speak. “We got this.” If I didn’t know anything else, I knew Santia was going to stand ten toes down for me, as I would her.

I’d heard her and believed her, but I wasn’t sure if I was the one that had it as she implied.

4

Ja’vari:

“Mr. St. Clair, great catch today on that system error,” a coworker of mine, Alan, said as he gathered his items from the table. I’d been in Seoul, South Korea, for almost two weeks, and I’d settled into my position at my job with ease. I worked with a company that did multiple high-end jobs, but at the moment, we were creating a system that would prevent hackers that had been breeching systems lately. During the board meeting, I noticed a few areas that would make it simple for a hacker who really knew their stuff to get in.

“’Preciate that, man.” I grabbed up my things, stuffing them in my messenger bag. It was the middle of the day, so I was preparing for my break. Alan, another guy named Johnson, a female named Vanessa who had come aboard yesterday, and I were the only Americans in the office. The rest were Korean.

“You headed to lunch with us?” he asked, already headed for the door.

Most times, I’d head out to lunch with them, but today, I didn’t really have an appetite, and when that happened, I’d hit the gym in the building. “Nah, man, not today. I’m gonna hang back.”

“A’ight, catch you after.”

My response was a head nod as I headed for the door.

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