Behind The Scenes

33. Jo

Last night we fell asleep on the sofa and didn't have dinner because we were already full of popcorn.
My phone rings, I left it on the counter yesterday. "Hero, move your arm, I have to answer the phone," I try to free myself from his embrace, but I can't, he sleeps heavily. "Hero!"
"Mhm, what is it?" he complains.
"I have to get up, take your arm off, come on."
He takes his arm away of my waist and I can finally get up.
I'm going to get the phone. It was my sister. She took a pregnancy test last year... I remember it as if it were yesterday. She was afraid, her boyfriend at the time didn't want children, he had no serious intentions with her. A short time later they broke up and in the end she wasn't pregnant. Luckily.
I'll call her back. After a few rings she answers.
"Kath!"
"Jo, how are you? Hero, you two... how are you doing?"
"Er, well..." How do I tell you I might be pregnant?
"Sure? Yesterday I called you and he answered saying you couldn't talk, everything okay?" she asks worriedly.
"Yes, really, don't worry," I assure her.
"Thank god."
"Listen... I have a question for you," I bite a little cuticle on my lip.
"Tell me."
"After how many days do you normally take a... pregnancy test?"
She chokes on her own saliva, it always happens when she is shocked.
"What?"
"Yeah... a pregnancy test... Don't tell anyone please, I have to be sure first."
"Wait, so... you and Hero... I mean, you understand."
"Yes, that's right," I laugh nervously. "Now answer my question? Please."
"After 8-10 days usually, or wait for your period."
"It finished a few days ago, before... doing it, of course."
"But did you take the pill?"
"Yes, this morning."
"And when have you..."
"Saturday evening."
"Okay, then go to the pharmacy and buy a Clearblue. Do you know how to tell if it's positive or negative?"
"Mhm... yes. When there are two colored lines on one side it's positive, when there is only one on the other it's negative." So far I am informed.
"Well, and do you know how to do it?"
"Yes, I put the urine in a container and then immerse that part... I don't know what it's called, I wait 5 minutes to be sure and I can read the result."
"Exactly, very good. But are you sick?"
"This morning, terrible. For now I feel good, but it is unpredictable. I feel like in the pre-menstrual days, you know how I am every time."
"Bad."
"Yes."
"You look calm, anyway. Don't you worry that you might be pregnant? Even if it is very unlikely."
"No, not at all."
"But you know that you and Hero will have to support the baby... he's your son."
"Of course, I'm not afraid of this. Hero said he would be delighted to have a child with me, it was always his dream to become a father. We're 21, I know, but if that happens it won't be a problem for either of us. We have a house, Kath!" oh my, maybe I hadn't informed her of this yet.
"How do you have a home? How do you pay for it?"
"We divide. We both have a bank account, we'll do it. The work is enough, you know that too. We have interviews in the coming months, we would be paid well."
"I'm so happy for you, really."
I smile, one sister must always support the other. "Why? It's nothing special, it's enough for us to know that we love each other, we don't need anything else," I am sincere when I say it.
"We're talking on the phone and yet I know you're smiling and your eyes sparkle when you talk about him."
My eyes fill with tears and when they fall on my cheeks I immediately wipe them off with my sleeve. I sniff.
Kathrine chuckles. "I miss you so much Jo. When are you coming back?"
"I don't know, I would like to come with Hero, he's never been to Australia and he told me that he would like it very much. We have to plan the trip, but I assure you that I'll come to see you very soon!" I miss her so much too.
"Great, Mom and Dad want to meet him," she chuckles. "But I'm sure they will love him."
"I hope. Kath, we fight, badly sometimes, but when the situation is normal I'm so happy with him."
"Do you have serious intentions then?"
"Honestly... I think so," I grin when I think about it.
"Okay, I have to go. I missed talking to you. I love you."
"Me too, bye," and I cut off the call.
When I turn to the sofa, Hero is lying on his stomach looking at me with a sleeping smile on his face.
"Good morning," I say heading towards him and sit on the sofa.
He turns around and sits up to kiss me. "Are you really happy with me?"
He overheard the call...
"Did you hear the whole call?" I roll my eyes smiling.
"No, only the last part, but anyway. Answer my question: are you really happy with me?"
"Despite everything, yes. And you?"
"Obviously. I have never felt like this, with you I have felt things that I had never tried before. A physical attraction so strong that sometimes I feel like a magnet when I'm with you..."
"Me too," I whisper as he continues to speak.
"And I found out what feelings are, the true feelings. Love, Jo, and the feeling I get when my heart starts to race and the butterflies start flying into my stomach is wonderful. I love you so much you can't even imagine it."
God, how much I love him.
He chuckles. "Shit, I always make you cry," and he wipes a tear from me with his thumb.
I smile moved. "Yes, but this time I'm smiling. We are a beautiful thing, I don't care how much others believe it, but we have to believe it first. I believe it."
"Me too."
He takes my face in his hands and kisses me with transport. I love him, I love him to death.