The nervous pounding in Jessi's chest slowed. Kyle was lying in the bed next to her, his arm wrapped around his body. He was quiet as he listened. Finally, Jessi's breathing evened out and her body relaxed. Kyle slowly moved off the bed and walked to the door, closing it quietly behind him as he left her room so he wouldn't wake her.
"Hey, is everything okay?" Nicole, who was walking through the hall back toward the kitchen, asked Kyle. Kyle paused. He hated lying to his parents, but he had gotten good at it. If Jessi didn't want them to know, then Kyle would respect her wishes.
"I guess she hasn't been feeling well this week," he explained. Nicole narrowed her eyes.
"But you two never get sick," she said thoughtfully. Kyle shrugged.
"Not usually, but I guess it can happen," he said.
"That's true," Nicole agreed. "I'll make her some hot tea."
"That's okay," Kyle said quickly. "She's sleeping now, I don't think she wants to be bothered."
"In the morning then," she replied with a warm smile. Kyle smiled back. He loved how unconditionally loving and caring Nicole was. He loved how much she tried to make Jessi feel loved, considering the girl's questionable past.
"Sounds good," Kyle said. "I'm actually pretty tired too, I think I'm going to go to bed now. Good night!"
"Good night, Kyle," Nicole said and carried on her way into the kitchen. Kyle quickly walked down the hallway and into his bedroom, closing the door. He took in a deep breath and began to pace around his room. Why hadn't they been more careful? What was the family going to think? How were they going to tell them? What was the school going to think?
Questions were racing through Kyle's head so fast that the room began to spin. He got into his tub and sat down, unable to stop his mind from racing. The main question going through his mind was, 'What do I do next?' The next question, which worried him even more, was, 'What is Jessi going to do?'
Soon enough, Kyle decided to call Lori. He had to tell someone. He was at a complete loss, and Lori always seemed to be full of wisdom for tricky social situations. Pulling out his phone, he dialed her number and waited as it began ringing. It rang, and rang, and rang some more. Kyle was just about to hang up and try again later when he heard Lori's voice from the other end.
"Heyyy Kyle! Whatsup?!" she yelled into his ear. Kyle had to move the phone away from his ear for a second. Her shout along with the extremely loud background noise made it hard to hear.
"Hi Lori, where are you?" Kyle asked.
"Ohhh, just hanging out with Mark, Hillary and Declan," she responded, not shouting quite so loud this time.
"And about 200 other people, it sounds like," Kyle chuckled. "Are you drunk?"
"Not yet, but I'm working on it," Lori answered. "What's up? You sound like something's bothering you."
"I need to talk to you," Kyle said.
"Okay, that's what we're doing," Lori replied jokingly.
"No, like- in person," Kyle explained. "It's not something I can really talk about over the phone, but I need your help."
"Sure, yeah, that's fine," Lori said. Kyle could hear Mark say muttering in the background, causing Lori to laugh distractedly. He figured he would let her go.
"What are you doing tomorrow?" he asked.
"Nothing is planned yet," Lori answered.
"Do you mind if I come visit you for lunch?"
"Sure!" Lori replied. "But maybe a late lunch because it's Friday night and I'll probably sleep in until like noon tomorrow." Kyle chuckled.
"That sounds fine, thank you," he said.
"Good night!" Lori said.
"Night," Kyle ended the call and sat back in his tub.
Needless to say, Kyle didn't get much sleep that night and woke up extra groggy. He slumped into the kitchen for breakfast, hair a mess and a dazed look in his eyes. Upon entering the kitchen, he noticed Jessi and Nicole sitting in the breakfast nook.
"Good morning, Kyle," Nicole said, chipper as ever, until she realized how tired he still looked. "Or not... didn't sleep well last night?" Jessi and Kyle's eyes met, and Jessi's narrowed. She had a mug of hot tea sitting in front of her.
"I guess not," Kyle responded.
"Aw, well at least it's Saturday. You can relax all day if you want to," Nicole said. "Josh is still sleeping... he stayed up until three in the morning playing G-Force with Andy."
"I was actually planning on having lunch with Lori at UDub today, if that's alright with you," Kyle informed Nicole. Jessi was still staring him down, and narrowed her eyebrows when he spoke of visiting Lori.
"No, that's fine!" Nicole said happily. "I think she'd love a visit from you."
Kyle nodded and shuffled about in the kitchen in order to pour himself a bowl of cereal. He sat down at the table between Jessi and Nicole. Jessi was sipping at her tea and Nicole was scratching down on a crossword puzzle in the newspaper. He looked at the plate in front of Jessi, noticing a half-eaten piece of toast with jelly on it.
"Is that all you're having?" Kyle asked with concern in his voice as he munched on his cereal.
"I had two pieces, thank you, Doctor Kyle," Jessi muttered through gritted teeth. Everyone was quiet, and Kyle was hyper-aware of the beating heart in Jessi's womb. Finally, Jessi spoke again. "So, you're going to see Lori today?"
"Yes," Kyle responded.
"Why?"
"Because I need to talk to her about something."
"You need to talk to her about something," Jessi repeated, nodding her head. Her eyes were locked on Kyle. She glared at him until he finished eating, making him feel a little uneasy. As soon as he finished, she nodded for him to come into her room. Kyle grabbed his bowl and her plate and took them to the sink before following her.
"Did you just decide to ignore everything we talked about last night?" she said, crossing her arms.
"No," Kyle said.
"Kyle! This is serious!" Jessi responded.
"I know it is," Kyle said frustratedly, trying not to raise his voice. "That's why I need to talk to Lori- she always knows what to do."
"She's never been in this situation before," Jessi stated.
"No," Kyle agreed. "But she has been in public school her entire life whereas we've only been in school for 3 years. She'll at least have something to say." Jessi looked away and grinded her teeth, arms still crossed.
"Fine," she said. Kyle sighed with relief. "But I'm coming with you."
The first part of the car ride both Jessi and Kyle were silent.
"How long have you known?" Kyle asked, breaking the silence.
"Pretty much as soon as it happened," Jessi answered. "I knew something was different right away... and when I was late I had my suspicions. But-" she stopped, peering out the window she took in a breath and sighed. "But when I first felt the heartbeat I knew for sure."
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Kyle asked.
"I was scared," Jessi admitted. Kyle was surprised. He rarely heard Jessi admit to being scared. "I am scared. " Kyle put his hand on her leg.
"I am too," he said. "But we're going to figure it out, okay?" Jessi nodded.
As Kyle expected, Lori was late getting to the cafe for lunch. She came strolling in at 1:15, sunglasses on and large circles under her eyes. Declan followed behind.
"Great," Jessi said, rolling her eyes.
"Don't worry, Declan kept my secrets for the longest time. If there's anyone we can trust, it's him," Kyle reassured her. He grinned as Lori sat down across from him and ordered a coffee.
"Hey, Kyle, I feel like I haven't seen you in forever!" Declan said, taking a seat next to Lori.
"Not so loud," Lori said, taking off her shades.
"Hi Lori," Kyle said happily. He hadn't realized how much he missed Lori since she'd been away at school. She didn't visit home very often. "It's good to see you up and moving," he said.
"Barely," she said, taking the coffee the server handed her and took a rather large sip. "This should help, though." Declan chuckled. "Hey Jessi!"
"Hey," Jessi said.
"So what is it that you wanted to talk about?" asked Lori.
Kyle had gone over the conversation in his head over and over a hundred times before. Why was it so hard to tell her now? Jessi's arms were crossed again as she glared at Kyle. He fidgeted in his seat.
"You have to promise you won't tell anyone, including our family," Kyle told Declan and Lori.
"Sure, we promise," Declan said. Lori nodded in agreement. Kyle sighed.
"Jessi's pregnant," he blurted out. There, he said it. Jessi remained unmoved but Lori choked on her coffee and Declan's mouth came open.
"You what?" Lori said, now turning her attention toward Jessi. Jessi shrugged and bit her lip. At this point the server came back with Kyle and Jessi's food, placing it in front of them, but neither were quite in the mood to eat anymore.
"Whoa," Declan said. "That was definitely a bomb dropped on my morning." He was now staring at Jessi curiously. "Well, who's the father?" Jessi quickly shot a look at Kyle, and he began to blush. Lori choked again.
"Are you guys trying to kill me?" she said, coughing up coffee out of her throat. Jessi cringed. "Kyle! Why didn't you tell us you guys were dating?"
"You are, dating, right?" Declan added.
"Of course," Kyle assured the two. "But Nicole and Stephen would never allow it since we're living under the same roof together."
"Well, yeah, I wonder why," Lori said sarcastically. "Oh wait..." Jessi scowled at Lori, clenching a fist under the table. She and Lori had been getting along relatively well recently, but Lori always managed to make comments that didn't make Jessi too happy.
"This isn't funny, Lori," Kyle pleaded.
"Sorry," she said.
"We don't know what to do," Kyle said.
"Well are you going to keep it?" Lori asked.
"I don't know," Jessi said quietly.
"How far along are you?" Declan asked. Kyle turned to Jessi, also wanting to know the answer.
"Six weeks and five days," she answered quickly.
"I mean, if you wanted, it's still early enough to get a safe abortion," Lori said, her voice hushed so other diners wouldn't hear. "That way nobody will ever have to know."
"That's true," Jessi said thoughtfully. Kyle stared at her desperately. Why would she want to kill the poor child?
"There has to be another way," he said.
"Adoption?" Lori suggested.
"Wait, hold up," Declan interrupted. "This is Kyle and Jessi! Just, take a second and think about this. With Kyle and Jessi's genetics, and intelligence, and the things they can do... can you imagine what a kid of their would be like?" Everyone was quiet.
"He has a point," Kyle said, turning to Jessi. She was quiet and contemplative.
"It's not that easy, Kyle," she said. "You're not the one who has to be a pregnant teenager walking around the school halls being laughed at and judged all the time. I've had enough of that for a lifetime, thank you." Kyle picked at his food. There were too many sides to the argument and so many options. This visit with Lori may have ended up a bit counter-productive.
"Aren't you going to eat?" Kyle asked Jessi. Lori and Declan now had their food, and Lori was looking up planned parenthood clinics for Jessi, while Declan pondered what kind of super-baby traits the child would have. Jessi looked at her now cold grilled cheese and took a bite off of the corner.
"Happy?" she asked. It did taste pretty good, so she continued to eat. This made Kyle feel a little better.
"Aww, Kyle's being all protective, how cute!" Lori said with a smile. Kyle gave her a look. He wasn't in the mood for jokes and neither was Jessi. After a while, Lori stopped looking up planned parenthood facilities and moved onto baby furniture, pointing out cute cribs and sets. Jessi was overwhelmed with the realization that she had to make an unfortunately tough decision.
"But think about it!" Lori said as they left the cafe, much less hungover than when she came into the cafe. "Aunt Lori! That has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"
"I think you need to let Kyle and Jessi figure out what they're going to do first before getting too far ahead of yourself, Lori," Declan told her.
"I know, I know... it's the girl in me, I can't help it," she said. Even Jessi giggled. "Just... if you guys decide to keep it- you need to tell mom sooner than later. She's going to be pissed either way, you might as well get it over with now."
"Thanks," Kyle said. "I appreciate you guys meeting with us. I guess we still have a lot of talking to do." He held open the car door for Jessi to step in.
"Keep me posted!" Lori said, waving goodbye. Kyle and Jessi waved back.
The ride home was completely silent as they both thought about what the next step was to be.