Page 43 of Accidental Baby For My Brother’s Best Friend

“Girls youknow, huh?” I snicker. “In the biblical way, I take it.”

Axel grins and I roll my eyes as he hands me the test.

The box is pink and white and the instructions are simple enough—pee on the stick and in five minutes it will have two lines if you’re pregnant and one line if you’re not.

“So, I’m praying for one line,” I mutter, and Axel nods.

“Unless…” he starts, and I shake my head.

“No way. I’m not pregnant, this is gonna be fine. I just caught a bug because I haven’t been sleeping well.”

“Okay,” Axel says, as if he thinks I’m crazy, and before my blood starts to boil I go to the bathroom and take the test, sitting the capped text on the back of the toilet before exiting the room.

As I exit, a sense of calm comes over me. Women have pregnancy scares all the time, right? Susie, my best friend from high school, had a few when we were young, even, but everything turned out okay.

Axel juggles his leg anxiously and I want to push him off the end of my bed, but I don’t. He seems almost as anxious as I am, as if this is his problem too, and while I appreciate the support, I find it strange. I mean, I know he’s kind of a womanizer, or was before this whole situation with his ex-wife, but how many scares could he possibly have had with girls he was only with a few nights? I wonder if he’s ever had a scare with his ex-wife, but every time I mention that situation, Axel gets all mopey, so I keep my mouth shut.

I jump when the timer goes off on my phone and walk calmly to the bathroom. Picking up the test, I clearly detect one line in the test area, so the test isn’t faulty, good. And oneveryfaint blue line in the results area. I don’t make a sound, just start to shake the test and Axel grabs my arm, knowing by my blank face what the results are.

“It’s not an Etch-a-Sketch, Gem,” he cracks, and I laugh a little hysterically before I burst into tears.

After I calm down (relatively, since my life is coming apart at the seams), Axel sits me down on the edge of the bed.

“What are you going to do?”

I worry my bottom lip between my teeth. “I don’t…I don’t know.”

“I mean, are you going to…” Axel trails off as if he doesn’t want to say it, and in fact, I’m not sure I’ve made that decision yet until I find myself nodding.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m gonna keep her. I just don’t know if I’m going to tell him.”

“It’s…it’s Locke’s, right?” Axel asks hesitantly, and this time, Idopush him off the bed.

“Of course, it is!” I snap, and then help him off the floor in a half-assed apology. “You won’t say anything, will you?”

Axel looks offended. “Of course not.”

I wipe at my wet face. My eyes and cheeks feel puffy and I lean my head against Axel’s chest. “Thank you for being my friend.”

Axel rubs soothing circles on my back and I take in a deep, shaky breath, pulling away and plopping down on the bed.

“Now get out of my room so I can contemplate all my many, many mistakes.”

Axel chuckles, heading to the door, and I sit up.

“Wait!” He looks back, concerned.

“Give me the bag with the vanilla Oreos in it.”

---