Page 24 of Castle's Cards

We wait while names are called into the exam rooms. Despite having an appointment, we still wait for an hour before a nurse comes out for us.

“Isabella Hughes?” she calls, looking around the room. Izzy jumps up and follows her into the back hallway. I trail behind them.

“Please step on the scale,” the nurse points with her pen. Izzy hops on and a number blinks across the screen which the nurse writes down. It feels like a million little tasks go by before we’re sitting in the tiny room, Izzy on the exam table.

“Addy? I’m nervous,” she whispers, looking at me.

“It’s okay, Iz. I’m here for you.”

Knocking sounds on the door before the doctor comes in, a smiling blonde with big, straight white teeth.

“Hello, Isabella. My name is Dr. Kirkpatrick. How can I help you today?” She sits across from Izzy.

Izzy looks at me nervously, but I give her a nod of encouragement.

“Well, I just started– I mean, I’ve been… I had sex!” Izzy blurts out, her cheeks turning pink. To Doctor Kirkpatrick’s credit, she handles it gracefully, simply nodding before addressing the situation.

“All right. Do you need a pregnancy test?”

“We used a condom. I just want to explore birth control options. So I can be safe.”

I nod proudly at Izzy.

“First, we’ll administer a pregnancy test to make sure that nothing has happened so far. Then we can talk about options. Do you know if you want the pill, the patch, or the shot?”

Izzy’s eyes widen and she looks at me. The doctor chuckles.

“Don’t worry, we will go over the pro’s and con’s of each one. Let’s get you to the bathroom and ready to go.”

Izzy follows the doctor out of the room.

“I’mreallyglad I'm not pregnant. You were starting to freak me out with all your ‘money’ and ‘baby’ talks,” Izzy says, tucking her hair behind her ears as we approach the stoplight in front of her school.

“How do you feel about being on the pill?”

I feel a little guilty about basically forcing her to get on birth control. But it’s not like she gave me a choice -- I couldn’t let her get pregnant.

“Honestly? I feel okay about it. It will be great for me and Nate, since we won’t have to worry about getting pregnant or anything like that.”

This statement piques my attention.

“Nate. Is he the boy that was at the apartment the other night?”

Izzy blushes furiously as we pull into the school parking lot.

“Um, yep. Nate.”

“Oh, okay. Nate. I’m sure he’s a nice boy, but I need to meet him before you spend any more time with him. So invite him over for dinner, say… Friday night?”

“You know, Addy, I think he might be busy…” Izzy stutters. I smile brightly.

“Well, if he has the time to sneak in on Wednesday then he definitely has time to come to dinner on Friday.”

“Whatever, fine!” Izzy opens the door and steps out.

“Oh, Izzy?” I call out, peeking at her through the window. I hear her sigh before she leans back into the car.

“Yeah?”

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