Page 59 of Friends Like This

As soon as I hang up, Aaron looks down at me.

My eyes go up to his. “Is Marisol upset that you’re with me?”

He shakes his head. “Nah. She knows we’re close. You didn’t mention to Davey that I’m with you.”

“I’m not exactly thinking straight.”

Except it did kinda cross my mind that he might be angry knowing I was telling him not to come, even though Aaron is here. Not necessarily because it’s Aaron, but because someone else outside of my family is here and it isn’t him. But Davey and I have only been together about a month. I like him a lot, but I don’t love him. If I want anyone with me today, it’s my sister and my person.

“Will you text everyone?” I ask Aaron. He nods and reaches for his phone again, and as he types, I somehow manage to fall asleep on his shoulder.

When we get to the hospital, Aaron helps me out of the car and into a waiting wheelchair. I’m lucky that it’s not overly busy and someone comes and calls me back almost right away. I’m truly surprised that they let all four of them come back with me, but our local hospital has always been pretty relaxed about that stuff.

The nurse comes in and gets my vitals and starts asking me lots of questions that I have a hard time answering because I’m in so much pain. Thank God for Sarah.

When was your last period?

Sarah knows.

When did the pain start?

Sarah knows.

When did I last eat?

Sarah knows.

When did I last have pain meds?

Sarah gave them to me, so she knows.

A doctor joins her and starts giving the nurse directions. “Let’s do an ultrasound. If that’s not conclusive, we can consider further scans and possibly a blood test. Likely an ovarian cyst. Let’s get a call into the OB on call. Oh, but before all that, let’s do a pregnancy test.”

The room becomes a vacuum. Noise stops. I’m not sure anyone is breathing.

Sarah knows I’m still a virgin. My parents don’t know that with certainty. Aaron is clearly uncertain about that as he looks down at me, but given our hands are intertwined and he’s looking at me curiously, the doctor and nurse now definitely think I could be pregnant.

“It could be an ectopic pregnancy,” the doctor says to my parents.

I’m horrified.

“I’m not pregnant!” I yell.

Sarah and Aaron both stifle laughs. Dad rubs his forehead. Mom blinks.

“I’ve never had sex. So unless immaculate conceptions are an emerging trend, it’s not that.”

Haven’t had any dreams or premonitions involving angels, so I think we could probably rule that one out too.

Unless it’s, like, the devil’s spawn or something. This seems like a way you might find out that you’re carrying the devil’s child.

The devil’s child?

What am I rambling about?

The pain must really be getting to me.

They look from me to my parents to Aaron and then our hands, still perfectly intertwined.

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