You don’t see again until the next week. It’s not like she’s been hiding from you. If anything, you’ve been trying to stay off her radar. You can’t hide forever though.
When she finally runs into you, she has a very distracted look on her face.
“Where have you been lately? I’ve been trying to find you the last few days.”
You try to give her some vague excuse but she ignores you, interrupting you mid-sentence.
“We really need to talk. It’s important. Meet me out back in a few minutes.”
---------
It doesn’t take long for you to get to the meeting place, and, since it’s the middle of the day, it’s completely devoid of other people. As ten minutes pass and she still hasn’t shown, you begin to have paranoid thoughts.
“Why isn’t she here yet? Is she even coming? I wonder if she is still pissed at me? I wonder why she picked such a secluded spot to meet? I wonder if she’s arranged someone else to meet with me?”
As you search the horizon for imaginary hit-men, you fail to notice her walk up right behind you.
“I’m glad you showed up,” says with a forced smile, “I have something important to tell you.”
She is dead silent for a moment and only continues after you encourage her.
“I found out a few days ago that I’m pregnant.”
You try to assure her that you’ll support whatever decision she makes, but she cuts you off again mid-sentence.
“There’s more. I know I shouldn’t have gotten mad at you like I did. I knew it was a dangerous idea, but I wanted it just as much as you did, so I chose not to use my better judgment.”
Wow, you think to yourself, you hadn’t expected her to say that. Once again you try to console her, but once again she cuts you off.
“I’m not done yet. I’m scared, because Jeff and I always used protection, but I just found out from one of the guys on the football team, who is a good friend of Jeff, that, apparently, the last time we had sex the condom broke, and he just decided not to tell me.”
At first you’re not sure what to make of what she just told you. While this could be something that concerns her, who is the father of her child shouldn’t be that big of a problem, if she is planning on having an abortion.
It takes you several minutes before your line of thought leads you to an insight.
“Are you telling me this, because you don’t want to get an abortion?” you ask her, sure that the logic leads to that conclusion, but still unwilling to believe it.
“I’m not sure. If I knew it were Jeff’s baby, I’d probably have already gone down to the clinic, but since it might yours…,” she trails off as she begins to cry.
“Since it might be mine?” you ask, completely unsure what she is trying to tell you.
“I don’t want to be a single mother, but if the child is ours – both yours and mine – I would want to keep it.”
“Uh, … what?” is all you can say in response to her.
“We’ve been friends for a long time, and I’ve always thought that if there ever was something between us, someday we could make it last. It’s not that long until we graduate, and I always imagined you would be a great a father, and I don’t really want an abortion. I’m scared,” she tells you as she wraps herself around you and begins to cry heavily into your shoulder.
She just laid a lot on you, and it seems clear she desperately wants your input. Whatever you tell her will likely sway her one way or the other. |