Please be tumors.
Just get it over with. The longer I stared at the box, paralyzed with fear, the longer I had to wait for an answer.
"You got this," I murmured, psyching myself up as best I could as I ripped the box and pulled the package free.
The chances were slim toalmostnone that I was pregnant as I maneuvered the stick beneath the stream to soak the tip. I peed on my hand a little, but that was the least of my worries.
I carefully replaced the cap and set my watch for three minutes—the longest three minutes of my life, but whatever. Instead of spending money on making electronic doo-dads for these tests, they ought to spend more money on making faster result times.
Danielle knocked impatiently. "Well? What's the verdict?"
I peered at my watch. "One more minute," I said.
"Good grief. I feel myself aging. This is taking forever."
"Tell me about it," I agreed sourly.
But when my watch alarm finally dinged, I froze. I couldn't bring myself to look. That window held my future. My life would change forever — or maybe it wouldn't. Because there was a chance I wasn't pregnant at all.
"It has to have been a minute by now!"
"Okay!" I yelled back, grabbing the test with shaking fingers. I stared at the result window. What did it mean? Where did the directions go? I swiveled around, searching for the insert that came in the box. I fished the box out of the trash and pulled the insert. I reread the instructions twice.
Two solid lines in the result window mean pregnant; one solid line means not pregnant.
Simple enough.
I grabbed the pen again — and promptly threw it into the bathtub with a shriek.
"Starlie?"
No. Nooo. Noooooooo!
"Starlie! I'm coming in!"
Danielle saw my look and then searched for the test, only to find it in the bathtub. She retrieved it, holding it gingerly with a quizzical expression. "What does two lines mean?"
"Take a guess."
"Um, pregnant?" She guessed.
"Yep."
I couldn't feel my toes. Was that a pregnant thing? Should that happen already? Maybe I was having a stroke.
I would welcome that scenario.
Danielle knelt beside me, patting my knee awkwardly. "Well, that sucks. So…is it too late for Plan B?"
I swung my gaze to Danielle, slowly registering. I shook my head. "It's definitely too late for that."
"What about…" she danced around the elephant in the bathroom.
I shook my head. I didn't know. I didn't know anything right now. All I knew was that Cason Alexander's super sperm had managed to sneak through that tiny window of opportunity to change a slim chance to a bulls eye, and WHAM-BAM, I was knocked up.
I swallowed. "Yeah."
I needed to talk to Darby. Danielle was great, but she wasn't my bestie, and I needed either a slap upside the head or a giant cry-fest.