My Life Would Suck Without You

The Results

Ariana was curiously silent as she and Frankie stared down at the white plastic stick which lay on her bathroom countertop.

"Well", announced Frankie, solemnly, "I guess that settles it."

"I want to take another test." Ariana's voice was eerily calm.

"Ari ..." He was trying to not sound patronizing, but it was difficult and he was sure he was failing. "That was the last one and they all said the same thing..." He tilted his head in the direction of the edge of the bathtub where, aligned in a neat row, sat six other plastic sticks, each one a slightly different design.

There were the E.P.T Certainty 1-Step Pregnancy Test, Clearblue Easy Digital Pregnancy Test, and First Response Gold Digital Pregnancy Test ... all with digital readout. Then, there was the E.P.T Pregnancy Test, the Fact Plus One-Step Pregnancy Test, and the Clearblue Easy Results Pregnancy Test with the + or - indicator. And on the countertop, there sat the tried and true First Response Early Result Pregnancy Test with the classic blue line. All of them reported the same results - Ariana was pregnant.

She sank down onto the closed toilet seat, dropped her head into her hands and moaned. "No, no, and fuck no! It's not possible. I can't be pregnant, Frankie. I don't want children; I've never wanted children and the thought that something could be growing inside of me, makes me ill."

"That's probably just morning sickness."

"Shut up, Frankie! Those tests are wrong ... all seven of them ... I can't be pregnant."

Frankie watched her thoughtfully before commenting. "Okay, Ariana, that's called denial; it's usually followed soon after by anger."

Ariana's head snapped up. "Shit! I'm going to kill that son of a ..." She was up and out of the room before Frankie could blink and he followed quickly after her. She'd made it all the way to elevator before he caught up.

"Ariana ... please, wait. Talk to me."

Before she could say anything, the elevator doors opened to reveal that same old lady with her ardent basset hound. Ariana, then, turned her anger to the stranger. "Why are you always here?!"

The old lady looked genuinely frightened, as did the dog who was cowered behind his mistress as the doors grateful shut, leaving them alone.

Frankie grabbed onto both of Ariana's shoulders and turned her toward him. "Ariana, look at me!", he demanded. "We're going back to your apartment and I'm going to make you a calming cup of chamomile tea and we're going to talk about this, okay?"

Ariana's eyes had glazed over and she nodded mutely and allowed him to lead her back inside.

Five minutes later, Frankie placed the warm mug of tea in front of his sister and sat down across from her. "Okay, Ariana. Talk to me. Who are you sleeping with? And why do you want to kill him?"

"I'm not sleeping with anyone. I-It was a one-night stand. I already told you about him, Frankie." She was starting to sound angry again, but at least she was talking to him and not cursing him.

"Oh my God! Do you mean Jai Brooks?"

"Of course, I mean Jai Brooks. I don't sleep around casually; you know that."

"Alright, alright. You're right. You don't sleep around ... often. But you do do it enough to know to take precautions."

"That's why I'm going to kill him!" Then, she told Frankie ... the rest of the story. She didn't hold anything back, even including Jai's desire to have a baby with his then-wife, Ivy, and him telling her that he couldn't father children.