"You're going to have to talk to him eventually." Dina said, as she watched Amy reject Jonah's call yet again.
"What am I supposed to say? Oh hey,yeah I am pregnant and surprise! It's yours!" Amy rubbed her temples, sighing.
Dina crunched down on a carrot stick. "I mean, that sounds better than "I accidentally got knocked up by you that time that we had sex and it was broadcast worldwide because I ate three boxes of hormone laden snack cakes."
Amy placed her head in her hands. "Things were going so great for us."
"Who says they won't still? I could see ol' soft hands with a baby strapped across his chest in one of those fancy carrier shenanigans for men who are too weak to carry their own spawn."
Amy snorted. "He would be pretty cute toting around a mini him in a carrier."
"I bet Adam is happy to be off the hook."
"Oh Adam! I still have to tell Adam!" Amy groaned. "The only thing more awkward than calling your ex and telling him your pregnant, is calling your ex and telling him you're pregnant and it's not his."
Dina rolled her eyes. "I'm currently pregnant with Glenn Sturgis' child. Want to talk awkward? He sang 'Jesus loves me' to my belly in the middle of the produce section on Thursday."
Amy laughed. "You chose to carry their baby."
Dina playfully hit Amy. "and you chose to have sex with Jonah, thus getting impregnated with his child, Which is why you need to tell him!"
Amy shrugged. "I will. . . I just don't know how." She glanced at her phone. "I better go, my shift starts soon."
…
"Myrtle! Please stop caressing that lady's purse!" Amy shouted. She turned to the customer who mildly annoyed. "Maam I'm sorry. I . . ." she stopped mid sentence, as a wave of nausea rolled over her. "Will you excuse me please?" she muttered, and then took off towards the restroom. Her stomach churned, as she pushed open the door, barely making it into the stall before it overcame her. She sank to her knees, exhausted and dry heaving. "Stupid Jonah! Stupid me! We were so stupid! I didn't want a baby." she muttered out loud to herself. Her stomach rolled once again, and she clutched the toilet, throwing up once more.
There was a knock at the stall door. "Amy? Amy is that you?"
Amy straightened up, wiping her mouth. "Yeah, I'm ok." she croaked, panic setting in as she realized that she hadn't been alone.
Cheyanne timidly pushed open the door. "Are you sure? Do you need anything?" She peered in, her heavily made up eyes wide.
Amy forced a grin onto her face, resisting the urge to ask Cheyanne how much she had overheard. "Yeah, just some bad chinese food or something. You know how iffy that Panda express is over on Main."
Cheyanne shook her head. "Bo won't eat Chinese food. He's not really into anything Asian, except when he wants me to dress up in that Anime"
"CHEYANNE" Amy yelled. She swallowed hard. "Actually, some crackers might help."
"Crackers yeah! Right away." Cheyanne nodded. She ran out onto the sales floor to grab a box.
…
"This is crazy. You're being crazy." Jonah thought as he turned into the Cloud 9 parking lot. He had been trying to convince himself the whole drive over that he was overreacting and that Amy wasn't ignoring him. He dialed Amy's number one more time. Instead of ringing, it went straight to voicemail. "Hey it's Amy, leave a message."
Jonah pushed end, throwing his phone onto the seat.
He sighed. "This is crazy." he said looking at himself in the rearview mirror. "She's not ignoring you, she must have fell asleep last night, and now she's working. Get it together Jonah." He had repeated this for the past day, trying to ignore the gnawing feeling that something wasn't right in the pit of his stomach. He stepped out of his car, scanning the parking lot for Amy's car as he walked in.
"Hey I didn't know you were working today!" Cheyanne chirped.
Jonah smiled. "I. . I'm not. I just came in to see Amy."
Cheyanne gave him a confused look. "Amy went home sick. She left about two."
"Cheyanne Thompson what is taking so long?!" Bo's big booming voice called out, entering the automatic doors. "I thought you got off at four." He held Harmonica on his hip, the little girl wailing loudly.
Cheyanne wrinkled her nose. "No Bo, I said I got off at five. I told you to record the Kardashians at four."
"No you said four. We've been sitting outside in the car for thirty minutes." Bo retorted.
Cheyanne sighed. "No Bo I said. . ."
Bo turned to Jonah. "Hey man hold her I gotta wiz." He hoisted Harmonica, still wailing, into Jonah's arms.
Jonah began to object, but Bo was too fast. He turned to Cheyanne, who was now busy, ringing up a customer's items. Jonah looked at the little girl, her face red and wet with tears, perplexed. "He. . . hey." he cooed. Harmonica glanced at him, and began to scream even louder. Jonah began to bounce her gently on his hip. He began to smooth her hair on the back of her head, it too, damp from the major fit she was throwing. "Hey now. Harmonica, shhh it's ok. Shhhh."
He began to rub the toddler's back in small circles. "Shhhhh, shhhhh." Harmonica's wails slowly subsided into a cry, and then into a small whimper. Jonah looked down at her, now peacefully sucking her thumb.
He smiled up at Cheyenne. "I. . . I did it."
Cheyanne smiled back at him. "Amy is so lucky you knocked her up. You're going to make a great dad."
His face twisted up. "Excuse me?"
Cheyanne gasped, covering her mouth. "I'm sorry, I. . .I overheard Amy in the bathroom, I. .. she said it was your baby. At least I thought. I must have misheard her. ."
His face drained of color, his eyes were frozen open, trying to process what Cheyanne was saying. "She said that baby was mine?"
Cheyanne winced. "Maybe I just heard her wrong?"
He handed Cheyanne Harmonica, and drew in a deep breath. "You said Amy's at home?"
Cheyanne nodded. Jonah turned and briskly walked out the door.
…
"Amy! Amy!" Jonah pounded hard on the door, until his knuckles were red and aching. "Amy I know you're home! I can hear the tv!"
He went to knock again when the door opened. Amy opened the door "What the heck Jonah?"
"What the heck Jonah? More like What the heck Amy! Jonah sneered, feeling his cheeks redden with confusion and anger. "Why does Cheyanne seem to think that you're pregnant with my baby?"
Amy's face fell.
Jonah ran his fingers through his hair. "Oh my God. Oh my God. I mean. . . Oh my God."
Amy held the door open. "Maybe you should come in?"
Amy sat down on the sofa, and motioned for Jonah to join her, but he shook his head, pacing around the coffee table instead. "Amy, Are you saying that this is my baby?"
Amy nodded.
Jonah drew in a sharp breath. "How? You were already. . . HOW?!"
"I wasn't pregnant when we had sex. Those stupid sugar loaves. . . they messed with my hormones. I. . . I'm only seven weeks pregnant. I got pregnant that night in the photo lab."
Jonah looked up at Amy, his eyes glistening with tears.. "I'm going to be a dad?"
Amy choked back tears. She wasn't much of a cryer but the pregnancy hormones and seeing Jonah's big happy tears had her on the verge of sobs. She shook her head slowly. "Yes".
A smile spread across Jonah's face, stretching from ear to ear. He ran to Amy, hugging her. "I know it's fast. . . but we. . . we made a baby."
Amy couldn't contain it any longer. The tears began to fall, sliding slowly down her face. Jonah pulled away, feeling the tears fall on his shirt.
"Amy? What's wrong?" The smile on his face disappeared.
Amy wiped her eyes with her shirt sleeve. "I don't want a baby."
Jonah's stomach twisted like a soft pretzel, into big, twisted knots. His chest felt heavy, his vision blurred. "You. . . you. . ."
"We just started dating." Amy muttered softly.
Jonah gazed up at her, the hurt burning in his eyes. "Were you going to get a. . .a. . and not tell me?"
"I just didn't want to lose you." Amy replied, her voice a mere whisper.
"So you were just going to get rid of our baby and not tell me? God Amy, I promised to stay with you when we thought this was Adam's baby. Why would you think I would leave you?"
Tears streamed down Amy's face. "Because you will. Not right now, but you One day. One day, you're going to wake up, and not want it, not want this relationship, but you're going to feel like you have to stay, because of the baby, and that's not good for any of us. It'll be just like how it was with me and Adam. You'll be stuck and I don't want that for you."
Jonah drew in a sharp breath. "I'm not Adam."
Amy walked solemnly to the door. "I think you should leave."
"Amy!" Jonah protested. "Amy let's talk."
Amy opened the door She turned towards the door, refusing to look at Jonah. "I think you should leave."