Page 59 of Baby By my Best Friend's Daddy

“Look, whether you get a test or not, it won’t change anything if you’re pregnant, you’ll just know. It’s better to be informed than deal with this, not knowing what’s around the bend, right?”

I scowled at Celine. “I don’t like it when you’re wise and caring. Being a bitch looks better on you.”

“I wear many hats, my friend. Right now, you need a voice of reason. I’ll be a bitch again tomorrow.”

I smiled wanly.

“You can’t run from this, so we’re facing it head-on. Bull and horns or however it goes.”

I sighed and nodded. Celine was right. I hated it, but I had to face the facts, whatever they may be.

When we got in her Maserati, she eyed me dubiously.

“If you throw up in my car, I’m making you walk home.”

I laughed. “I wouldn’t dream of ruining one of your three cars.”

“Are you saying I’m spoiled?”

I didn’t answer, and she rolled her eyes. “Let’s get this show on the road, Beck. We’re going to figure out this shit. It’s probably fine, and you’re just throwing up because you’rereallyupset.”

“That’s probably it,” I said dully and looked out of the window when Celine tore out the gate and sped down the road like a demon. If I’d even considered throwing up in her car, I was too busy fearing for my life with her driving skills to think about hurling my guts out.

We stopped at the store and going through the motions of finding the pregnancy test made me dizzy. The pregnancy tests were wedged between the condoms and diapers, a depressing timeline of what happened when things didn’t work out as planned.

“Take one of these, too,” Celine said. “And one of those.” She pointed to different brands.

“Three?”

“So you’re sure. Ever heard of false positives? We don’t want you to get worked up for no reason. That way, we’re sure.”

I nodded, letting Celine take the lead.

Celine paid for the tests. I didn’t even fight her on it. I watched the cashier’s face, trying to read what he thought of the situation. Did he know this wasn’t planned? How many women came through here a day looking for pregnancy tests? How many bought condoms, for that matter? Or diapers? He didn’t bat an eye when he bagged the tests for us, and when I took it from him, he told me to have a nice day as if he was on autopilot. Maybe he didn’t know much about how many women bought what because he just didn’t care.

We drove back to Celine’s place. On the way, my phone rang. Landon’s name flashed on the caller ID.

“I can’t talk to him right now,” I said.

“Then don’t.”

“But what if it’s important?”

“Fuck him,” Celine said. “You’re busy right now. You can deal with him and his bullshit later.”

I wanted to defend Landon. It was my first reaction… until I thought about how he’d asked me to leave rather than face the trouble with me by his side. Whatever. I was busy, like Celine said.

I had much bigger things to worry about right now.

When we stopped at the house, Celine gave me a bottle of water from the fridge.

“It won’t make you feel sick like my coffee does, and it will make you pee.”

She was right. I had nothing in my stomach and no reason to go to the bathroom.

I walked to the bedroom with her, and she put on a reality show. We sat on her bed, and I drank my water while we watched. If I wasn’t drinking water so I could pee on a stick and see if I was pregnant, today would have been the perfect Saturday, hanging out with a friend in the lap of luxury.

I couldn’t focus on the storyline. I didn’t want to look at my phone when one message after the other came through, all from Landon.

---