Page 54 of Thick & Thin

I tossed my blanket back and stood from my bed. “Devin, I’m nineteen. What were you doing when you were nineteen, huh?”

“This isn’t about me!” he exploded, jumping from my bed. “This is about my little sister, whose future is now fucking ruined. College, Jenny. You were there. You were about to change the world. And now …” he paused and shook his head.

“And now, what?”

He chuckled; the sound eviler than anything I had heard in my life. “His name. I want his fucking name.”

“Why? What will you do?”

“I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll drive to Texas and rip his fucking balls off. That’s what!”

Texas?

I didn’t even think about everyone believing I’d gone to school and got knocked up. An idea formed in my mind.

I couldn’t tell him Josh was the one. Josh had already been through so much, and it wasn’t technically his fault. I told him I was on the pill, and I was. I was the one to climb on top of him, not the other way around.

This was my fault.

I didn’t want Josh to find out this way. I didn’t want anyone to find out this way, but it was happening, and if I could do anything to keep Devin from going to Josh’s house and breaking even more bones, then I would.

“I can’t give you his name.”

“What do mean, you can’t give me his name?”

“I can’t give you his name because I don’t remember it.”

Devin’s eyes grew wide, his mouth curling up in disgust.

“Excuse me? You’re trying to tell me you fucked some random dude, and you didn’t even know his fucking name?” he yelled, telling the entire house for me. “That’s not like you, Jenny. Try again!”

Tears pressed at my eyes, threatening to spill.

The crying thing was for the birds. I had never cried or felt the need to cry so much in my fucking life.

Stupid pregnancy hormones.

“It’s the truth,” I whispered, suddenly feeling exhausted as if I hadn’t slept at all the night before.

“Explain right fucking now.”

“I went to a party with my dormmate. I wasn’t thinking, and I was homesick. So, I drank a lot. The next thing I know, I woke up next to some guy. I didn’t wake him. I got up, dressed, and left.”

“You don’t know the father?”

“No.”

His face was fire red, his nostrils flaring with his heated breaths. If I didn’t know Devin, I would be scared to death, but he would never put his hands on me. Especially knowing I was pregnant.

The word pregnant rang through my mind, pinging against the nerve endings until I felt like my head was going to pop. Then my stomach flipped, and nausea began to turn. I covered my mouth and gagged before I took off toward the bathroom. I barely made it to the toilet before I threw up everything from the day before.

I heaved, clutching the sides of the cool toilet bowl until nothing was left. I felt a cold washcloth slip across the back of my neck and looked up to find Lilly smiling nervously down at me.

“What’s wrong with her?” I heard my dad ask behind Lilly.

“She’s lost her fucking mind, that’s what’s wrong with her,” Devin replied.

“It’s morning sickness. Can you guys please give us a minute?”

---