Won't Go Slowly

Part 12

A part of you wondered if you'd somehow be able to sense if you were pregnant. You wondered if you'd feel different in some way, or if you'd just somehow now

Moreso, though you were expecting yourself to completely second-guess yourself the whole time, whether you were really more tired than usual, or were your boobs really tender? You really didn't think you would get pregnant on the first try, so you tried to mentally prepare yourself to try not read into every little thing your body may or may not have been doing.

It had only been three days, but so far it seemed to be working.

You had also wondered if you should have maybe told Tyler ahead of time to not ask you if you felt pregnant or anything, but he seemed to key into it himself. The only difference was that he seemed to ask you 'how are you?' or 'how's it going?' rather than 'what's up?', although the question seemed to be all-encompassing rather that prodding, like he only wanted to check in with you.

You were sitting on your couch, folding some laundry, when you heard a quick knock at your door, followed by a key in the lock. "Tyler?" you asked, even though the knock didn't really sound like his, and he seemed to apparently not even bother to knock, just letting himself in.

However, it was your sister who appeared, coming around the corner. "Hey."

"Hi," you smiled, standing up to give her a hug, "I didn't know you were coming."

"Yeah," she said, walking over to sit on your couch after she'd hugged you hello, picking up a towel from the laundry basket, and starting to fold it. "Hey, I'm really sorry I told Dad."

"That's okay," you said, automatically, and Nicole frowned.

"No, it's not," she said, "I mean, I didn't do it on purpose. But still, that's not fair. It was your news to share."

"Yeah," you said hesitantly, grounding out the word. Because it was true, of course, but it wasn't like you actually had any news to share just yet.

"He...he'll..." Nicole started, finally finishing folding that towel and adding it to the stack you had at the end of your couch, trying to gather her words. "He's just old-fashioned."

You scoffed, because there was absolutely nothing 'old-fashioned' in your mind about getting divorced. And maybe there was something 'old-fashioned' about letting your childrens' mother raise them on your own, only showing up for special events like birthdays and Christmas, trying to win you back with the extravagant gifts, whatever happened to be the "hot" thing that year, advertised on the Nickelodeon channel. When, really, you didn't want those Super Soakers or that 'Don't Wake Daddy' game unless he was going to play along with you, just like the kids in the commercials.

"Well, he needs to grow up," you said harshly, because you were just done with the excuses. And Nicole gave you a look like she wanted to tell you he would, but you both knew that he hadn't changed, and he wasn't about to start now.

You were both quiet for a moment, living in that unspoken communication that sisters sometimes had, until she smiled at you. "Well, I think 'Auntie Nicole' sounds pretty good, just saying."

And you smiled, because your younger sister wasn't the best at heart-to-hearts, but you knew this was her way of letting you know she'd be there. While she was so much more free-spirited that you were, the opposite of the way that you'd naturally had always felt tied down to responsibilities, whether it was studying for a test or getting your chores done on time, you'd knew she'd be a pretty fun aunt.

"Did you...start?" she asked, and you could see the quick glance at your belly.

"Yeah," you answered, "A few days ago. It's too soon to tell anything."