Bi The Time

Chapter 8: But

Marcy was lying in bed, her stomach tossing and turning. She had felt off, dizzy and nauseous for the past few weeks. She had done everything to settle her stomach but nothing seemed to work, at this point, there was only one thing she thought it could be. Panic clawed at her chest, could she really be pregnant? The thought terrified her, she wasn't ready for a baby, she wanted to go to university next year, and she wanted to become a clinical child psychologist.

"Marcy? You in there?" Derek's voice filtered through the door, "I brought you some soup, I heard you haven't been feeling well."

"Uh, just a minute!" she called out, her voice trembling as she thought about how she was going to Derek. Avoiding him had become her new routine, a dance of missed calls and vague texts. Derek deserved the truth, but how could she tell him when she wasn't sure herself? She had been avoiding buying a test, not wanting to confirm the truth.

Derek waited outside her bedroom, waiting patiently to see Marcy's familiar brown locks. When she finally appeared, her forced smile was all too obvious, and he knew something was wrong but didn't understand why she wasn't talking to him about it.

"Hey," he greeted, putting his arm around her. "How are you feeling? I know you haven't been yourself for a while, is everything ok?"

Marcy took a deep breath, her hands trembling. "Well... Remember when we... you know, I have kind of been feeling off ever since."

His heart skipped, and his arm slid off of her shoulder, sliding down her arm and covering her trembling hands with his own. "I am so sorry, you know if I did anything you weren't comfortable with or if you really weren't ready for it I totally understand. let's talk about it?"

"No you didn't do anything wrong but we didn't use protection and..." she whispered, the words hanging between them like a dark cloud.

"Oh shit!" Derek exhaled slowly, processing the news. "Are you sure? You know no matter what I am here for you."

Her eyes welled up with tears, relief mingling with fear. "I haven't taken a test yet but I have no idea what else it could be."

"Hey, let's not jump to conclusions then," he said with a reassuring smile, he squeezed her hand. "We'll get a test and see what it says, then we can make a plan."

"Ok," Marcy agreed, feeling relieved she wouldn't have to do this alone.

Derek kissed her on the forehead before looking into her eyes, "Let's go get that test, I love you."

They rushed to the pharmacy together, the brisk November air chilling them as they went. They emerged with the test and headed back to Marcy's, where Derek paced outside the bathroom while Marcy took it.

Minutes later Marcy emerged to an awaiting Derek. "Negative," she breathed out, the word sent a wave of relief through both of them. "It's negative, Derek."

"Are you serious?" His voice cracked with elation.

"Dead serious!" She waved the test in the air, the single line clearly visible.

Laughter bubbled up within them, as they were released from their anxiety. They hugged each other as all their stress from the past few hours slipped away.

"Let's never do this again," Derek said, grinning. "What do you say we celebrate with some ice cream and Kardashians?"

"Sounds perfect," Marcy replied, her spirits lifting as they made their way to the downstairs living room.

---

Meanwhile downtown, the sweet scent of freshly baked chocolate cookies wafted through the air as Rodney pushed open the door to the Cookie Bar, a quaint little shop nestled in the heart of downtown Strathroy. The bell above the door tinkled softly, announcing his arrival. Hoping to drown his feelings with baked goods, Rodney beelined for the counter. A gourmet cookie, he reasoned, was something he deserved since he knew Derek was over at his house but wanted nothing to do with him. The thought stung as he surveyed his options.