Fe picked up and fingered the phone. She looked up at Mickey and sighed. Eventually the phone stopped vibrating and Fe sighed again.
"You know you'll have to talk to him sooner or later. Its better you do it sooner."
"Mickey, I can't. What if he doesn't want any part of the baby? What if he doesn't want any part of me?"
Mickey rubbed her hand reassuringly. "Don't live on what-ifs. Know exactly what you're doing before you do it."
At that moment, Mickey's own cell started going off. She pulled it out of her purse and looked at the number. It was her mom.
"Oh, crap. I'm so sorry Fe. I forgot. I promised my mom that I would take her to my Uncle Albert's because they're having some sort of family dinner and she doesn't want to go alone. You mind if I come back later tonight?"
Fe smiled softly at her wonderful friend. "Mick, don't worry. Go and try to have a good time. I'll see you tomorrow. Tell your mom I said hi."
Mickey looked unsure but gave her friend one last hug and gathered her things to leave. As she got to the door she stopped and turned. "Please think of him too in any decisions you make. And let me know if you need anything else tonight. I'll be over here in two seconds." She blew a kiss at Fe. "Bye babe."
With that she was gone. In the silence of the room, the pounding in Fe's head was like bombs going off, one after another. She hadn't realized that she had developed a splitting headache from crying. She stood on unsteady legs and walked to her closet to get something for her head. Right as she reached the first aid kit her dad insisted she take with her, she paused. Is this going to harm the baby? she thought and opted instead just to drink a little water instead. She had found in the past that sometimes just drinking something made the throbbing in her head subside. She grabbed a bottle out of her mini-fridge and turned to sit back on her bed. The thought of eating once again made her nauseous to her core. Suddenly she heard a loud pounding. This time it wasn't coming from her head. It was the door.
She thought it might've been Mickey, that she had forgotten something. She chuckled softly as she went and opened the door. "What'd you forget this time –"
"Joel." She was greeted by his green eyes full of concern and nervousness. He was chewing on his lip again. He stopped when he realized Fe was staring at it. He took a step forward to come in, a gesture that Fe didn't reciprocate.
"I'm sorry for coming here unexpectedly. It's just that I'm really worried about you. You rushed out of my dorm in a whirlwind. Please Fe tell me if something's wrong of if I did something wrong. I just want to make it right."
Fe felt sick to her stomach again but this time not from the baby. It was Joel's concern for her. He was the only guy that had every gotten to her the way that he did and he knew it. But it was something he had never used until not. They had never been in a situation like this before and neither of them knew how to handle it. But there was one thing Fe knew she had to say.
"I lied to you. The test was positive." She said it so quietly, it was almost a whisper.
The tightening in Joel's stomach that he had felt when Fe did the 100-yard dash out of his room returned. He had a feeling that she wasn't telling the truth because Fe had been so goofy all day up until she went to the bathroom in his room. She was even joking around about how ugly their kid together would be when they went to go pick up the test. And then, all of a sudden when she took the test and said it was "negative", she turned dark. Fe saw the sick look Joel had on his face and took a few steps back and opened the door wider to allow him to enter. He walked in, almost robotically and sat on her bed. Fe took a couple of deep breaths and closed the door as she went to sit with him.
Her dorm room was pretty tiny. It consisted of two desks, two beds, two closets and a mini-fridge. It was made of all steel and concrete. All that was missing was the gray bars. Joel usually teased Fe about it but understandably this time he was quiet. Fe put the bottle of water down, sat and took his hand.
"I'm sorry I lied to you. I just didn't know what to do at that moment. I didn't know how to deal. I mean, what are we going to do?"
Joel turned and looked at her softly. "You're going to have the baby and we'll be a family." He placed his hand on her stomach and held it there as if he was feeling invisible kicks. "The baby is a part of us. I want you and me to raise it together."
He leaned forward to kiss the mother of his unborn child but Fe turned her face. "No, we can't do this Joel. My dad is going to freak out. What about us? What about school?"
"Your dad will understand it was an accident. Sure, he'll be mad at first. So will my parents. But they know we've known each other forever and we love one another. We'll be so good together. I'll work while you go to school and then we can switch. Fe, this can work if you'll let it."
Fe shook her head again. She stood up and sat opposite Joel on her roommate's bed. She looked him in those deep eyes and said tearfully," Joel, I'm going to have an abortion. It's the only way for us to have a semblance of a normal life." Tears flowed down the dark, flawless skin of her face. Joel could tell it was breaking her heart.
"Fe, I don't want just a "normal" life. I want a life with you, with our baby. Please don't do this."
Fe knew how she felt about him but she never knew he felt the same way. This was the closest he had ever been to telling her he loved her. But it didn't feel right, given the circumstances. Would he still feel the same without the baby in the picture? That was a question she couldn't answer and she wasn't really interested at that moment. She wanted instead to resolve this situation in the best way she knew.
Joel got on his knees in front of her. He got as close as humanly possible. He wanted her to look into his eyes and see what she was doing. "Fe, please, I'm begging you. Don't do that. Anything but that, please. If you want to give the baby up for adoption, it'll hurt but I'll accept it. But please, don't do this."
She shook her head again and buried her face in her hands. He had seen that before. That was something she did when she was most lost. He buried his face in her knees, the top of his head resting against her forehead. She could smell him, damn near taste him. He put his hand out and gently rubbed her stomach, and a shock went through Fe's system. She lifted his head up so she could look in his face once again. She kissed him.
It was soft, sensual, and meaningful. With that kiss, Fe was agreeing to Joel's wishes.
Joel woke up the next morning feeling like a car had just run over him. After leaving Fe's room the night before, he went out with a couple of his frat brothers and got more hammered then he had ever been in his whole life. Yesterday was a horrible day and he needed to forget every facet of it. He had passed out at the bar and the guys he had gone with had to carry his heavy ass back to his dorm. They basically just dumped him on his bed, not really concerned if he would be alright. Fortunately, Joel didn't need to get up and hurl during the night. He was sweating profusely because he was still wearing every stitch of clothing that he went out with and normally he slept in boxers or naked. He looked blindly over to the clock and read the numbers. 8:23 a.m. The sun seemed out for a vengeance against him because it was beaming so brightly in the room. He rolled out of bed to the floor to escape the beams thundering into his room. Maybe he moved to fast. Maybe he was just too drunk. Whatever it was, once he hit the floor, he passed out again.
"Joel, sweetie, are you okay?"
Joel felt a warm, soft hand caressing his face, checking all his vitals to make sure he was alive. His eyes opened to a hazy figure in front of him. A pale circle with brown fuzz on top smiled softly at him. It was Maggie, his sort of-not really girlfriend. Her sorority, Epsilon Iota Tau, was the sister sorority of his fraternity. They met a few months prior at a toga party. Joel thought she was cute and hopelessly optimistic and Maggie found him to be a treat on her arm. As one of the newest "Cherries", Maggie made a real name for herself by having the hottest Bear on her arm. She fell in love from the word "go" but Joel still saw her as a friend who was willing to spread. He hadn't expressed that thought to her because he knew if he did, he would break her mousy little heart. So, he said nothing and now only winced slightly when she introduced him to people as her boyfriend. As he stared at her, blinking over and over a thought ran through his head that made him cringe.
Maggie was supposed to be his date the night of the induction ceremony. But she was so sick that she could barely stand up. What if she had come and he had gotten her pregnant instead. She was little nuts so he knew that she would've used that baby to "keep them together" forever. The thought sent a visible shudder through him, bringing a slight sick feeling to his stomach. Maggie, lost in her own world, hadn't even noticed. She was just too happy to be in his room and comforting her "boo". Joel rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, clearing his throat in the process.