Maureen Johnson was a reasonably smart woman. She went to college at age 17 and graduated with a 4.0 by the time she was 20. But how in the world she ended up in this situation was far beyond her.

Ten days after the tragic even took place was the morning she was supposed to start her period. Her period ran like clockwork since the day she first got it in 8th grade. So when she got up on the morning of May 6th with no blood in her panties, it was the first sign something was wrong. Sign two came a few hours later when making herself a sandwich. She started to cut up a ripe tomato and the smell wafted up to her. She got a quick and sudden urge to puke. Running into the bathroom she flung herself onto the cool porcelain. "Shit" she wiped her mouth with a sheet of toilet paper, getting up to brush her teeth.

She dumped the plastic bag out into the sink, eight pregnancy tests feel into the white bowl. She had gone to the drugstore down the street and bought one of every test on the shelf and ran out as quickly as she could. She read the instruction to all of them, they were all pretty much the same. She did them and set the timer to the longest one and sat down on the edge of the bathtub. Maureen picked up one box and read the back.

The most accurate pregnancy test on the market. This test can tell you from the early date of one week after conception. For every time you need to know soon. The test will show you a simple result of Pregnant or Not Pregnant. Simple.

The egg timer rang and Maureen jumped. She really didn't want to look, but she felt it was useless to avoid, she had to find out sometime. She picked up the first one, the one from the box. 'Pregnant' the second 'Pink', 'Yes', 'Pink', 'Smilie Face', 'Pregnant', 'Pink', 'Plus sign', all positive.

"Damn" she slid down on the wall across from the sink. "What am I going to do?" she said out loud, holding her head in her hands.

Maureen's Johnson's girl friend, Joanne Jefferson, was called by her family to Maine. Her brother's wife had had a baby, Joanne's new nephew. She would be gone for two weeks exactly. That would be two weeks Maureen would be left to her own devices. Maureen couldn't cook, at all, so she decided to walk down to the café on the corner by their building.

When she walked in they almost turned her away, but when she pulled out a few twenty dollar bills from her cleavage in front of the male host, they let her in. She was wearing a tight red tee-shirt, a short black skirt and tall black stiletto boots, not the usual clothes or the regular patrons.

The waiter led her to a table near a window, took her jacket, and gave her a menu. She glanced over it, and ordered a turkey burger, fires, and a coke. He left and she picked up the book she had brought with her, found her place a continued to read. But a few minutes later, a thunk signaled someone had sat down across from her. When she lowered her eyes, she couldn't quite comprehend what she saw.

Benjamin Coffin III had sat down across from her, grinning. "Um?" she said, at a loss for real words. "Hello to you to Maureen. I saw you sitting down over here, from the window, and I thought I'd say hello." She gave him a half smile. Why was he sitting down here, bugging her? She and her friends had been blocking, at least trying to, him from their life. He was sneaky and had been nudging his way in bit by bit. He had almost gotten Mimi, paying for her rehab and everything, but she still had a cold hatred for him.

"How's Muffy?" she said going back to her book. He pulled it down and looked her strait in the eyes. "How's Joanne?" he asked. She wanted to slap him, talking to her like that. But she also wanted to jump him from across the table. Despite the hatred she was supposed to have for him, she couldn't deny he was good looking, actually sexy.

The stared at each other for a while, until he stood up. "Come with me" he grabbed her hand and pulled her up from the seat. "Why?" she asked, although she followed him.

"To cut the sexual tension." Her pulled her out of the restaurant.