Page 55 of Best Friends
My cheeks heat and my heart aches with affection. But instead of responding in kind, I give my usual smirk. “You’rea needy son of a bitch, Malcolm. I don’t know why I keep you around.”
His chuckle is warm. “You should stop lying to yourself, C. I keep telling you, I’m the best thing that’s ever happened to you.”
I open my mouth to give him one of my smart-ass comebacks, but instead I say softly, “Yeah, you are, Malcolm.”
Chapter Eleven
The pregnancy test sits on my bathroom counter like a tiny white bomb, waiting to explode our world into something completely different. Malcolm paces behind me in the small space, his nervous energy filling the room with an almost electric tension.
“How long has it been?” he asks for the third time in two minutes.
I check my phone again, my hands trembling slightly. “One minute, thirty seconds.” My voice comes out rougher than I intended. “We still have another minute and a half.”
He stops pacing and comes to stand behind me, his chest pressed against my back. His hands settle on my shoulders, warm and solid, and immediately some of the tension in my body starts to ease. This close, his scent wraps around me like a security blanket, and I lean back into his warmth.
“Whatever it says,” he murmurs against the back of my neck, his breath sending shivers down my spine, “it’s fine.”
I nod, not trusting my voice. My reflection stares back at me from the mirror above the sink—pale, wide-eyed. Malcolm’s reflection appears over my shoulder, his blue eyes meeting mine in the glass. There’s love there, and worry, and something that might be hope.
“Are you scared?” I whisper.
His arms tighten around me. “Terrified,” he admits. “But also... God, C., I keep thinking about what it would be like. A baby. Our baby.”
My heart does something complicated in my chest, a mixture of panic and longing that makes it hard to breathe. “We haven’t been a couple very long,” I say, voicing the fear that’s been eating at me since I started feeling nauseous last week. “What if we’re not ready? What if—”
“Hey.” He turns me around in his arms, his hands cupping my face gently. “We’ve known each other our whole lives. We’ve been best friends forever. The romantic part might be new, but us? We’re solid.”
I search his face, looking for any sign of doubt, but all I see is Malcolm—steady, reliable Malcolm. “You really believe that?”
“I know it,” he says firmly. “And if you’re pregnant, I don’t want you to worry about when after the baby comes either. I know you still want to work and I support that a hundred percent. We’ll hire childcare, okay? My mom also said she’d love to babysit anytime we need her.”
“Thank god or your mom. Mine is so far away and she’s not the best with kids anyway.”
“We’ve got it covered. We can have everything we want, C. No limits.” He kisses the tip of my nose affectionately. “So long as we’re together, I feel kind of unstoppable.”
Despite my nerves, I laugh. “How come you’re so sure everything will be great?”
He shrugs. “I’ve always felt that when I’m with you. Even when we were kids.”
I smile but then the timer on my phone goes off, and we both freeze. The sound seems impossibly loud in the small bathroom, echoing off the tile walls. My heart starts hammering against my ribs, and I can feel Malcolm’s pulse quickening where his wrists rest against my neck.
“Okay,” I breathe, turning off the alarm. “I… I guess we should look at the test result now.”
“Absolutely.”
But neither of us moves. We stand there, wrapped around each other, both staring at the test like it’s a grenade.
“On three?” Malcolm suggests.
“On three.”
“One...”
My palms are sweating, and I wipe them on my jeans.
“Two...”
Malcolm’s grip on me tightens.
