The Second Time's the Charm

Chapter Nine

It had been two weeks since Justin left for basic. He had since called and given me his address, in a voicemail so that I could write it down better. They were timed for that first phone call. Once I was sure I got the address correctly, I had taken it to his mom and dad. Then I sent it to Alex and Sam. Every morning I wrote Justin a letter or two and mailed them before 10am, when the mail was grabbed from the boxes and taken to be sent. Sending Justin his letters was a very strict part of my routine. Then I usually went for a walk or run before going home to shower and meet Justin's mom at work. Halfway through one of my runs I had to run to a nearby bathroom to throw up. Nausea punched me in the gut out of the blue. I cut my run short and walked to my car, driving home. I couldn't even make it up to my bathroom in time, I had to throw up in our downstairs bathroom. Sam was supposed to be coming over to help mow the lawn, since my dad was getting busy at work. I was curled up on the downstairs bathroom floor when I heard Sam come in.

"Hello? Anyone home? Katie?" He called walking down the hallway to the bathroom. When he saw me on the floor, he ran in worried. "Are you okay? Do you need me to call anyone?" He said, pulling his phone out.

"No, I'm fine. Can you get me some water? I think I'm just dehydrated. I need to call Kelly and tell her I most likely won't make it in." I tried to pull myself up to sit, but nausea hit me again and I started throwing up again. Sam rushed over and grabbed my hair out of my face. When I was done he ran to grab me a water. "Thank you. I was on a run and this just hit me. Do you think you can help me to my room please? I just need to lay down and try to sleep." Sam grabbed me and carried me to my bedroom. I felt too sick and tired to even care to be embarrassed. I just wanted my bed and to stop feeling nauseous. As he passed my calendar I had hung up shortly after Justin left to count down the days the realization slapped me. I still hadn't gotten my period. "Shit."

"What? Are you okay?" Sam said, looking around to see what caused me to freak. "What's wrong?" I couldn't even answer him. There was no way. Then I remembered staying in the hotel with Justin. I felt my palm hit my face. I had to be crazy. There was no way. This had to all be from stress. It's just stress.

"Do you think you can do something for me? And please keep it between us?" I asked him, closing my eyes. There was no way. It was all stress, nothing else. He just nodded. "I need you to get me pregnancy tests. Get me a bunch. I need to make sure I'm not losing my mind. I'm just stressed. This is all stress." I watched his mouth drop. "Please, Sam? Do it as discreetly as you can. I don't need anyone freaking out over nothing." I gave him my debit card. He took it and walked out of the room without saying a word. I was running to the bathroom to throw up again before I could even worry about his reaction. When he came back I was still laying on my bathroom floor. He gave me the bag from the drug store down the road and my water bottle. I took it all from him and shut the door. I quickly took as many tests as my pee would allow. I drank more water and took the rest of the tests. I laid them across the sink and the bathtub. I curled up on the floor and waited. I didn't even wait to set a timer. I just laid there begging for it to all be stress. Begging anyone who was listening. When I stood up twenty minutes later to look at the tests, I nearly fainted. When I fell into the bathroom door, Sam was knocking asking if I was okay. All I could do was open the door so he could see for himself. He came in and looked at them all. Then he looked at me, tears were starting to pour down my face. Every test was positive. I was pregnant.

"Hey it's okay. Listen you'll be okay. You can tell Justin and work it all out. Please don't cry." He said, pulling me into a hug. He started rubbing my back, moving his hand in small circles.

"I can't tell anyone right now. I need to go to the doctor. Can you keep this between us? I don't need anyone telling Justin and him worrying. I'll figure it all out. He needs to focus on his training. I'll focus on everything here. Okay?" I asked, pulling away and looking at Sam. "Promise me that you won't say anything to anyone. Please?" I begged him. He hesitated, thinking hard. I knew it must have been hard for him to keep this from his friend.

"Fine. I promise. You need to get to a doctor though." He walked out of the bathroom and sat in my desk chair.

"I'll call my usual OB. She'll have to keep everything private now that I'm 18. Can you take me to my appointments? I'll lie to everyone and say we're doing stuff for Justin or something. I can't have anyone know right now. And I can't do this alone. I need someone. Sam?" I went over to stand in front of him, poking him to make sure he was still alive.

"I won't let you do this alone, Katie. Just please call a doctor. They can confirm everything and give you more information. We'll handle this from there okay?" I nodded, moving slowly to lay on my bed.

"Go do what you need to for my dad. I'll call and make an appointment. Don't forget to keep this between us. Justin doesn't need to be worrying about me. He needs to focus. Once he knows I'll tell everyone else. If I am really pregnant, I won't be showing for a while. I can hide it until then. Just please keep this between us."

"I promise, Katie. Don't worry." He said, leaving my bedroom.