"And you're absolutely sure you want to know?" Kevin asked.
"Yes, I am absolutely sure, come on admit it, you're dying to know too" she said to him.
"Yeah I guess I do" he said when the door opened.
"Hello again" her doctor said coming into the room with a chart in her hand.
"Hey doc" Kevin said to her.
"How are we?" she asked, washing her hands at the small sink.
"Just great" Kellie said "So um...do you think we would be able to find out the sex of the baby today?" she asked hopefully.
"We can if you want" she said drying her hands off.
"Oh, yes, we talked it over and we want to know" Kellie said to her.
"Okay, well let's get started, lye back for me please" the doctor said as Kellie lied back on the table.
She squirted a jelly onto her growing stomach and picked up the transducer, putting it on her. "Okay, everything's looking good so far, she said, let's just take a look here" she said moving the transducer around "ah, there we have it...it's a boy" she said.
"Really?" Kellie asked happily as she sat up.
"Really, and don't worry he's right on schedule, very strong and very healthy keep up the good work" the doctor said.
"We're having a boy!" she said to Kevin happily as he looked down at her, he kissed her forehead as they stared at the monitor screen.
"So...Kyle?" he asked.
She looked up at him and smiled "Kyle" she said as he kissed her head.
The next morning, Vicki's alarm sounded once again, it continued it ring out as Vicki sat hunched over the toilet in her bathroom, retching. She reached up pulling the lever flushing it. She held her head in her hands, reaching up to the sink and pulling herself up. She leaned against it, turning the faucet on and letting the water run, her eyes grew wide as she dodged back to the floor and heaved once more.
"See there it is right there" Kellie said pointing to the sonogram picture.
"Oh my god, congratulations!" Christina said hugging her.
"I'm having a little boy, my son" Kellie gushed to her.
"I'm so happy for you Kel" Christina said to her.
"So? What name did you pick? You never told me" Christina asked her.
"Kyle" Kellie said to her "Kyle Michael Richardson" she said.
"I like it" Christina said to her "Kevin, Kellie and Kyle" she said.
"See? How cute is that?" Kellie asked.
"Too cute" Christina said to her.
"What about you? What names did you pick?" Kellie asked.
"well we haven't really gotten into girls' names yet but we have one for a boy...Harrison" Christina said.
"Harrison?" Kellie asked "Oh god, your fifth grade Harrison Ford obsession" she groaned.
"It was not an obsession" Christina said in defense.
"Yes it was" Kellie said.
"Okay fine, is it my fault he's so cute?" Christina asked, she stood up from the kitchen table "Whoa...ooh" she said putting her hand on her stomach.
"You okay?" Kellie asked.
"Oh my god...I think he's kicking" Christina said in astonishment.
"Sometimes it's just indigestion" Kellie said to her.
"No, here, feel" Christina said taking Kellie's hand and pressing it to her stomach.
Kellie smiled "Feels great doesn't it?" she asked.
"It feels amazing" Christina said to her, she laughed as it continued "Well hello to you too" she said.
Vicki sat in an antique white rocking chair on the balcony just outside her bedroom, her legs curled up underneath her. She sat in a trance like state, just staring blankly ahead. A cool summer wind blew softly across her face as voices resonated in her mind.
"I've missed you you know" Brian's voice echoed in her brain.
"Did I go somewhere?" she asked.
"You know what I mean" he said.
She sighed and rested her head in her hands, she then quickly covered her mouth and ran frantically back inside, slamming the bathroom door shut behind her. Sounds of retching and heaving came from the bathroom, she filled up a cup of water to flush her mouth out and spit it into the sink. Bits and pieces of that night kept coming to her, the passion, the kissing, the water raining over them in the shower, the steam rising up over the curtain, but one thing was always missing. She picked up the phone from its cradle and began to punch in a number.
"Em? Hey, I'm glad you're home, listen I really need someone to talk to and it's too personal to do over the phone, do you think you can come over?" she asked.
She sat on her bed in shock when she heard footsteps on the stairs.
"Hey" Emily said coming into Vicki's room.
"Hey, thanks for coming" Vicki said shutting the door.
"Yeah no problem, you okay?" Emily asked.
"Uh...I don't think so" Vicki said "I keep thinking back to the night of the Poison concert" she said.
"Well from what you told me it was pretty memorable" Emily said to her "Vicki, what's wrong?" she asked.
"Em...I think I might be pregnant" Vicki said nervously.
"Oh my god" Emily said "Okay let's sit" she said sitting on the bed with Vicki. "Now what makes you so sure you might be...you know?" Emily asked.
"I've been going through it over and over in my brain" Vicki said.
"Okay and?" Emily asked her.
"I don't remember using anything" Vicki said.
"Which time?" Emily asked.
"Any of them" Vicki said to her.
"Well did you feel anything?" Emily asked.
"No... I don't know" Vicki said "I've been throwing up for the past three days straight" she said.
"That could be anything, that doesn't mean you're pregnant” Emily said.
"Em I'm not stupid, I've just seen four of my friends go through this in the past six months" Vicki said to her. "That's why I asked you over here...I need you to do me a favor" she said.
"Well yeah sure, anything" Emily said to her.
"I need you to go and get me a home pregnancy test" Vicki said.
"Me?!" Emily asked.
"Em, please?" Vicki pleaded.
"You are the only person I would do this for" Emily said to her.
"Thank you so much" Vicki said hugging her.
"Course" Emily said to her "I'll be right back" she said leaving.
Vicki bit her nails as she paced her living room, waiting for Emily to come back "Oh thank god" she said relieved as the door opened and Emily came inside.
"You ready?" Emily asked handing over a plain paper bag.
Vicki sighed "I guess" she said taking the bag, they headed upstairs and went into her room. "You bought three?" Vicki asked pulling three boxes out of the bag.
"Well yeah, one test is not going to be accurate, you want to be sure don't you?" Emily asked.
"Yeah, I guess" Vicki said taking them all and going into the bathroom.
"Well?" Emily asked as the door opened and Vicki stepped out.
"It takes a couple minutes" Vicki said to her, she then sat next to Emily at the edge of her bed.
"You okay?" Emily asked putting her hand on Vicki's back.
"I'm petrified" Vicki said to her.
"If it does turn out to be positive...what are you going to do?" Emily asked concerned.
"I don't know, I don't know, I just can't believe this is happening" Vicki said hiding her face in her hands.
"It's going to be okay" Emily said wrapping her arm around Vicki's shoulders "You have options."
"I know" Vicki said to her.
"And whatever you decide I'll be here for you" Emily said reassuringly.
"Thanks Em" Vicki said smiling at her.
"Course" Emily said.
"I just wish I could say the same for my boyfriend and my mother" Vicki said to her "She's going to hate me" she said sadly.
"Of course she won't" Emily said.
"Em, my mother basically thinks I'm perfect, I mean what am I? I'm a straight A student, I make honor roll every semester, I don't get into trouble..." Vicki said to her.
"No one's perfect, she knows this and she knows you're human, you make mistakes like everyone else...trust me there's no such thing as a perfect human being" Emily said to her.
Vicki looked back at the clock on her nightstand "It's time" Vicki said standing up and going into the bathroom. They all lied on the sink counter lined up in a row, three small plus signs staring back at her. "Oh god" she said tearfully.
"It's okay" Emily said holding her tightly as she sobbed "You'll be okay" Emily said trying to soothe her.
The weather became hotter, the summer was still in it's prime, 4th of July was approaching fast. Jason was packing everyone up into a van. Vicki's overnight bag sat on her bed along with another bag. She came out of the bathroom and wiped her mouth with a tissue and took a drink of water, she picked up her bags and went downstairs.
"Hey there she is" Brian said upon seeing her come out of her house.
"Hey" she said locking the front door.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm just tired that's all" she said.
"You can sleep in the van" he said kissing her forehead "I'll get your bags" he said picking them up.
"We ready?" Jason asked "Alright let’s go" he said climbing into the van everyone before driving off.
“Here we are” Jason said as they got to his house “Welcome to paradise” he said opening the front door.
“Wow, Jason, this is actually nice” Ariel said as they looked around.
“Course it is, would I ever lie to you?” everyone stared at him “On purpose?” they continued to stare at him “Alright stop it!” he said annoyed.
Music blared, fire rose up into the dark night sky. Everyone gathered on the back deck and lounged around the pool, Brian looked up at the sky at the bright stars shining down on them. He took a drink from his bottle watching the smoke reach the darkness, Jason squirted more accelerator into the fire pit, the fire roaring in return.
"Okay that's enough Smokey" Brian said taking the bottle from him.
"Hey Em! Want to hurry it up with those marshmallows?!" Jason yelled.
"Shut up Jason!" she yelled back at him, he flinched.
"Women" Jason groaned.
"Well what do you expect when you talk to her like that?" Brian asked.
"Wow, nice fire" Chris said coming outside and standing near the fire pit "Hey" he said to Brian "What's wrong with Vicki?" he asked.
"Yeah she's been acting weird lately" Jason said to Brian.
"No I mean did you guys have like a fight or something?" Chris asked
"No... why?" Brian asked.
"Okay we got graham crackers and chocolate" Emily said setting them on a bench.
"I was coming down the hall and I heard her crying in your room" Chris said to Brian.
"What? She was crying?" Brian asked.
"That's what it sounded like to me" Chris said to him.
Emily looked at him nervously, he noticed and turned his attention to her.
"Em...what's going on?" he asked.
"Nothing" Emily said picking up a bag of marshmallows.
"Em if there's something wrong with Vicki you need to tell me" he said to her.
"Look if Vicki needs to tell you anything she will okay?" Emily said to him.
"What does that mean?" he asked.
"Just go talk to your girlfriend" Emily said to him, he set his drink down and went into the house.
