Ring. Ring. Ring.
The shrill sound of a cell phone pierced the quiet garage. He pulled his phone from his pocket, his annoyance visible. But the moment he read the caller ID, every muscle in his body went rigid.
"I have to take this," he muttered, stepping away from me. "Yeah? What? I'll be right there."
He hung up, his jaw clenched tight. He looked at me, a flash of genuine regret in his eyes. "I'm sorry. It's an emergency. I have to go."
"Wait!" I called out, wrapping my jacket around my trembling shoulders.
But he was already sprinting toward a sleek black car. The engine roared to life, and he sped out of the garage, leaving me completely alone.
I slid down the concrete wall, tears finally pricking my eyes. As I reached down to fix my skirt, my fingers brushed against something hard on the ground.
I picked it up. It was a unique, heavy silver cufflink with an intricate, custom engraving. He must have dropped it in his rush. I squeezed the cold metal in my palm, a silent reminder of the most reckless night of my life.
Three Weeks Later.
I woke up gasping, my body drenched in cold sweat.
"What the hell?" I muttered, sitting up and pushing my hair out of my face. My stomach rolled violently, and I barely made it to the trash can before emptying the meager contents of my stomach.
"Catherine, you look like a walking corpse," Melissa announced, dropping her heavy backpack onto the floor of my dorm room.
I groaned, leaning my forehead against the cool wall. "Thank you, Mel. You always know exactly what to say to make me feel beautiful."
"I'm serious!" Melissa walked over and pulled the blanket off my shivering body. "You've been throwing up for five days straight. You can barely keep water down, and you skipped your Advanced Economics class today. You never skip Economics."
"It's just a bad stomach bug," I muttered, pressing a hand to my rolling stomach. "Or food poisoning from cafeteria sushi."
"Cat," Melissa said slowly, her voice suddenly losing all its usual playful sarcasm. She sat on the edge of my bed, her eyes wide. "When was your last period?"
I froze. The room suddenly felt completely devoid of oxygen.
"No, no, no," I whispered in a shaky voice, my heart slamming wildly against my ribs. "No, Melissa. That's impossible."
"Is it?" she pressed, crossing her arms. "You told me about that guy at the masquerade club. The mysterious masked stranger. Did you use protection?"
My mouth went bone dry. I squeezed my eyes shut, the memory of that skin-on-skin heat in the dark parking garage flashing behind my eyelids. "I... I was so drunk, Mel. I was so heartbroken about Claude and Kelly. I wasn't thinking."
"Holy shit," Melissa breathed out. She jumped up from the bed. "Don't move. I am going to the pharmacy right now. Do not move a muscle!"
Twenty minutes later, Melissa barged back into the room holding a plastic bag. She shoved three different boxes of pregnancy tests into my hands.
"Go pee on these," she commanded. "All of them."
The cold tile felt good against my bare feet as I walked into the tiny bathroom. I followed the instructions, my hands shaking so badly I nearly dropped the plastic sticks. I set them on the edge of the sink and stared at myself in the mirror. I looked terrified.
"Are they done yet?" Melissa called through the door.
"I'm looking now," I choked out.
I took a massive breath, squeezed my eyes shut, and finally looked down at the counter.
Two pink lines. Two pink lines. A bright blue plus sign.
"Melissa," I sobbed, the walls of the bathroom completely closing in on me. I unlatched the door, the tests clattering into the sink.
Melissa rushed in, taking one look at the tests and wrapping her arms tightly around my shaking shoulders. "Oh, honey. Okay. Okay, don't panic. Home tests can have false positives. Get your coat. We are going to the hospital to get a blood test. We need to be absolutely sure."
The cab ride to the clinic was pure torture. I stared blankly out the window, praying to any goddess that would listen that this was just a horrible mistake.
But two hours later, I was sitting on a crinkly paper bed in a sterile examination room, listening to the doctor shatter my entire world.
"The blood test is definitive, Miss," the doctor said gently, looking down at his clipboard. "Your HCG levels are elevated. You are approximately four weeks pregnant. Congratulations."
"Congratulations?" I whispered, my voice completely hollow. "I... I don't even know his name."
Melissa gripped my hand tightly as we walked out of the hospital doors. The cold wind bit at my face, but I felt entirely numb.
"What am I going to do, Mel?" I cried, the tears finally overflowing and streaming down my cheeks. "I'm still in college! I don't have a job! My boss fired me, my boyfriend cheated on me, and now I'm pregnant with a total stranger's baby!"
"You're going to be okay," Melissa promised, wiping my tears with her thumb. "You are strong, Catherine. But you cannot do this alone. You need to tell your parents."
"They'll kill me," I sobbed.
"They are your parents," Melissa insisted firmly. "They love you. Yes, they will be shocked. Yes, they might yell. But they will support you. Family supports family."
I took a shaky breath. She was right. I needed my family now more than ever.
That evening, I stood nervously outside my parents' suburban house. I clutched the straps of my purse so tightly my knuckles went white. Taking a deep breath, I pushed open the front door and walked inside.
"Mom? Dad?" I called out softly.
"In the living room, Catherine!" my mother's cheerful voice rang out.
I walked into the living room and stopped dead in my tracks. My heart sank.
My mother was sitting on the sofa, holding a delicate porcelain teacup, beaming from ear to ear. My father was flipping through a thick, glossy catalogue.
"Oh, Catherine, perfect timing!" my mother smiled brightly, patting the empty cushion beside her. "We were just hoping you'd drop by. We have the most wonderful news!"
I frowned, a knot of dread forming in my stomach. "What news?"
"Kelly and Claude were just here," my father announced proudly, not even looking up from his catalogue. "They came to formally apologize."
My blood ran ice cold. "Apologize? For sleeping together behind my back in the apartment I practically lived in?"
"Now, Catherine, don't use that bitter tone," my mother scolded gently, waving a dismissive hand. "Claude explained everything. It was a simple mistake. He said he was heavily intoxicated and that he has always harbored deep feelings for your sister. We have decided to forgive them."
"Forgive them?" I gasped, taking a step back as if she had physically struck me. "Mom, he was my boyfriend for three years! Kelly betrayed me! How can you just forgive them?"
"Because family is family!" my father barked, finally slamming the catalogue shut. I noticed then what it was—a wedding planner's brochure. "Claude is a good man from a wealthy family. He is marrying Kelly to salvage her reputation and do the honorable thing. We gave them our full blessing today. We even approved the wedding venue."
"You... you gave them your blessing?" I asked, my voice trembling with pure, unadulterated shock. "Just like that? You don't even care how much they destroyed me?"
"Stop being so dramatic," my mother sighed, rolling her eyes. "You need to let go of this jealousy, Catherine. Kelly is getting married. You will attend the wedding and you will smile. Now, why did you come over? Did you need money for textbooks again?"
The sheer unfairness of it all ripped through my chest like a jagged knife. They had forgiven Kelly instantly. They were actively celebrating her betrayal.
I looked down at my shaking hands, realizing how foolish I had been to think they would ever protect me.
"I didn't come for money," I said, my voice eerily quiet.
"Then what is it?" my father demanded impatiently.
I lifted my chin, staring right into his eyes. "I'm pregnant."
The words hung in the air like a bomb.
The room plunged into a deafening, horrifying silence. My mother dropped her teacup. It shattered against the hardwood floor, spilling hot tea everywhere.
All two pairs of eyes locked onto me with an intensity that made my knees weak. The living room suddenly felt twenty degrees colder.
"What did you just say?" my father whispered, his face turning an angry, violent shade of purple.
"I'm pregnant," I repeated, tears violently burning my eyes. "And I don't know who the father is."
"You... you slut!" my father roared. He leaped to his feet so fast the coffee table shook. "You dare stand in my house and judge your sister for finding true love, while you are out spreading your legs for strangers in the dirt?!"
"Dad, please!" I cried, stepping backward as his rage filled the room.
"Do not call me Dad!" he bellowed, pointing a furious finger at the front door. "You hypocrite! You bring a bastard child into this family? You bring this disgusting shame onto my roof on the exact same day we celebrate your sister's honorable engagement?!"
"You forgave Kelly!" I screamed, the tears blinding me completely. "Why can't you forgive me?!"
"Kelly is getting married!" my mother screeched, standing up with a look of absolute disgust on her face. "You are just a pregnant whore!"
The words hit me harder than a physical blow. The sting was unbearable, a suffocating, crushing weight that completely shattered the last remaining pieces of my heart.