Hello! So this month's song is by Rob Thomas and it's called Ever the Same. Here's the video if you're interested:
I purposefully didn't watch the video because as soon as I heard this song I didn't see a romance relationship at all. I instantly flashed to the piece I've been working on with two best friends. Tessa is going through some intense shit and her best friend Kenyatta is right there for her. Here's the beginning and I hope you like it.
She stared at the two small lines in
confusion. It wasn’t possible. Couldn’t be. And, yet, here was the evidence.
Again. She looked around the bathroom at all the other little sticks and they
all said the same thing. She was pregnant.
Feeling light-headed, Tessa put her head
between her knees and concentrated on breathing. Just breathing. As she did,
her mind whirled. How? When? She was fairly confident if she’d been sexually
active she would have known. Sex wasn’t something a girl forgot, even shitty
sex. Tessa knew, with certainty, she hadn’t had sex in at least eight months.
Even then, the sex hadn’t been great, but still it had happened. Nothing since,
though, not since Brad. Gads, he’d been a real self-centered jerk. Get off,
roll off and fall asleep. That had been Brad. They’d used a condom and she was
on the pill. Once again, that was eight months ago. She wasn’t eight months
pregnant.
Tessa sat up trying to figure out when her
last period had been. June? July? Shaking her head, she went out to her bedroom
and dug in her purse for the organizer that went everywhere with her. Her
friends laughed at her for writing down every single event, no matter how
trivial, on the pages, but she’d never missed an appointment, birthday or
celebration. Tessa was organized. Scarily so, her best friend Kenyatta had
declared.
Flipping backwards, she studied each week
until she found her last period. It was a little over two months ago. Two
months. How had she missed it? Okay, yeah it wasn’t hard since she was no
longer on the pill, per her doctor’s instructions, and her period was hit and
miss at best. So, once again, the question went back to how.
Divine intervention? She almost burst out
laughing at that. She couldn’t imagine any god looking down and thinking she’d
be a perfect mother. Okay, maybe Loki. Hey, if it was Tom Hiddleston she might
think about it. Since that wasn’t possible, at least she highly doubted it,
something had to have happened. What though?
“Tessa?”
She started and looked up to find Kenyatta
standing at her bedroom door. Glancing at the clock, she realized it was well
after five. She’d gotten nothing done and the day was almost over. Okay, she’d
taken ten pregnancy tests and came to the realization she was pregnant, but
beyond that nothing else.
“Tessa? What’s wrong?”
“I think I’m pregnant.”
The words hung in the air. Hearing them
said out loud, Tessa’s palms started sweating and her heart pounding. She was
having trouble swallowing and sweat was starting to sweat. A lot. Freaking out.
She was freaking out. She sat on her bed and once again, put her head between
her knees and concentrated on breathing. Yep, passing out would be bad. She
couldn’t pass out.
“You’re what?”
Her best friend’s voice sounds as though
it were coming through a tube. Since, Tess knew that couldn’t really be
happening she continued to concentrate on breathing. Can’t pass out, she kept
repeating. Wouldn’t help anything if she did.
A cool cloth covered her neck and an arm
hugged her tight. Yep, no matter what, she could always count on her best
friend. Neither had much family, or at least family they claimed. So, freshmen
year of college they had decided to be each other’s family. And, it had stuck.
Now, nearly ten years later, Tessa knew she had someone she could count on one
hundred percent.
Kenyatta pulled Tessa to sit up and put
her arm around her.
“Okay, now, tell me again what’s going
on.”
“I’m pregnant.”
“I saw all the tests in your bathroom.”
“Yep, and they all came out positive.”
“How? And don’t be a smart ass. I know you
haven’t been dating and, unless you’ve been going out on booty calls that I
don’t know about, you aren’t seeing anyone.”
“Nope, no booty calls.” Tessa agreed. “I,
truly, have no clue. Now isn’t that something? I don’t know how I’m pregnant. I
just know all the tests say I am.”
“Why did you even think you were?” she
asked.
Tessa shrugged. “I’m not sure. I started
getting sick, my breasts are tender, of course no period, and I’m really tired.
And, I just feel different. Does that make sense?” At her best friend’s nod,
she went on. “Okay, so I went onto one of those doctor websites—”
Kenyatta rolled her eyes and shook her
head.
“Tessa, what have I told you about that?
Did I not forbid you to go on any of those? You know you always think you have
the plague or some weird disease that you couldn’t have in a million years.”
“Not every time,” she argued. “The one
time I diagnosed myself with pneumonia with it.”
Kenyatta stared at her and Tessa huffed
out a breath.
“Whatever, so I went on and it said I might
be pregnant. I wanted to rule that impossibility out, but it didn’t. I failed
the pregnancy test.”
“Yeah, I saw, like eight times.”
“Ten. I took ten of them.”
Her best friend nodded. “Okay, so we’re
ruling out divine interference.”
“Yeah, I already came to that conclusion.”
The two women looked at one another and
smiled. It was so awesome to have someone who understood her. No matter what.
Now go and check out what Bronwyn, Jessica, Kris, Paige, Deelylah, and Siobhan came up with.
I have to laugh. When I found out I was pregnant with Corwin, I insisted that my mom bring me tests from Rite Aid because the Meijer ones were broken. I feel Tessa's feels. Nice job and yay for more writing!
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, I'd be all about the "how" too. Great flash, Gwendolyn.
ReplyDeleteOkay.... I'm hooked now. That was kinda mean to leave us there. Write faster, girl. Really enjoyed it!!!! Keep going. I'm so happy you're writing again.
ReplyDeleteSee, this is so frustrating! I have to go with "divine intervention" at this point because . . . well, what other option did you leave us with? :D Good job. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteAck you're killing me! I need to know what happened! And what happens. Mooooore please?
ReplyDeleteLOVE LOVE LOVE. Though I have all the questions now, but I'm assuming I'll get the answers to those....right??? :) HUGS
ReplyDeleteI really love the connection between Kenyatta and Tessa. And...like everyone else, I WANT MOOORRREEE!!!! Excellent job, Gwen! <3
ReplyDelete