"She's pregnant, Nay," Jenna whispered.
And that's when the world came crashing down.
"To lose someone you love is to alter your life forever."
Jeanette Winterson
All Naya was doing was cleaning the kitchen. She was wiping some post-Easter mess off the granite counters; there was always a mess. The holidays had been fun—her whole family came to her house for the first Easter ever. Usually all of the kids met at their mom's house and their dad either showed up or didn't- most of the time the latter. But he had come this time, probably because he wouldn't have to deal with the shattered memories of the house they all once used to coexist in together. But in the end, Easter was nice; she'd missed the sincerity and relaxed position of her nuclear family, minus the drama that came with famous children, show business jobs, away football games, and fashion shows that no one ever seemed to be able to get to. The peace and quiet of just these four people was what she needed after the trials and tribulations of the past year. Even though her parents were divorced, she knew they got along for the kids—but Naya would even go so far to say she still thought they loved each other. Mychal just said she was wishfully thinking. But she argued, why else would they play-fight, flirting about who's the funnier person? Why else would they laugh too hard at each other's jokes? Why else would they offer each other more wine, shyly, like new lovers? They spilled that wine. She had been scrubbing endlessly at the stain the wine left. She had only put the now nasty rag down for a second before the phone was ringing. She was almost grateful for the excuse to quit scrubbing. Naya stepped away from the counter, running a little towards the hall phone. Caller ID said it was Jenna.
"Jen- what's up?" It was late. She shouldn't have been calling so late.
Something was wrong.
"Naya, hey. How are you? Are you doing good? Have a good Easter?"
God, she was nervous. Jenna was never nervous over the phone.
Something was really wrong.
"What's wrong, Jenna? Is everything okay?"
There was hesitation on the other end—"eh"s and "uh"s from the end of the line that showed a delayed answer to a question that Naya already knew the answer to. The answer was no. Everything was certainly not okay.
There was a sharp breath. A sigh.
"Jenna, if there's something wrong, tell me. Let me help."
"No one told you, did they?"
No one told her something. No one told her because her phone has been off for four days. Four days ago, she couldn't handle the sea of information flooding her phone, the tweets, the manager, the producers, the agents, the friends just calling to talk. It was too much, so cut the phone off—her cell, the house phones, everything. She used the holiday with her family as an excuse, but really she just wanted some quiet. She turned her phone off and curled up on the couch, in the middle of the too big love seat, and who the hell really needs a love seat when love sucks so much, and GOD why does "The Notebook" have to rip her heart out so much? Naya ate all the foods her producers encouraged her not to—pasta, ice cream, chocolate, chips, fried chicken—everything she LOVED, but knew would cause her legs some damage. She didn't work out either. Too bad she didn't care.
But now, four days after the world stopped for just a little while, there was something she didn't know that she should have. Something Jenna knew and was checking in on Naya about. Something Jenna wasn't expecting to have to tell Naya because she assumed Naya already knew. But this something made Naya's heart stop in her chest, made her chest feel like rocks were dropping into her gut.
Jenna hadn't even told her yet, and she could easily die.
"What is it? What happened?"
"Didn't someone call? Lea? Dianna?"
"Why would someone call? Jen, what happened?"
Jenna took a deep breath, and Naya's panic grew. She never should have turned the damned phone back on.
But she did.
And Jenna told her the last thing she wanted to hear.
"She's pregnant, Nay," Jenna whispered.
Jenna didn't have to specify who the "she" indicated.
There was only one person who could be pregnant that it would matter if Naya knew or not.
Heather.
Naya let the phone fall lightly out of her hands onto the counter.
She held onto the counter; her knuckles were white.
She didn't hear Jenna trying to get her to answer whatever she was asking on the line.
She bent down a little, her butt touching the floor with her knees hitting her chin.
The tears fell lightly at first, but then harder.
And that's when the world came crashing down.