Louise woke to the sound of Linda belting out a song Gene had composed earlier this month. Something about tacos or whatever. She could hear Gene pressing away at his keyboard, most likely oblivious to the poor quality of their mother's voice. Her father was probably ignoring the ruckus. Instead, putting all his focus into perfectly flipping a burger. He may even be providing a high pitched voice for the spatula - a habit that Louise found herself doing more and more, especially when learning to drive. And Tina, who was usually away at University, learning to become a journalist, was probably up, having been awake for hours, writing down sappy love stories in her notebook - an activity that she denied continuing past her teenage years, but was quite clearly lying. And then there was Logan, who Louise wasn't really sure about. Maybe he was doing push ups, which would explain why he was so toned. Or maybe he was returning from a late night "hang out" with some female friend. Or, possibly, he was lying in bed like Louise. Listening to the noises of everyone around him, and just soaking in the feeling of utter security that came with observing Belcher family members.
But never mind that, she thought, swinging her feet onto the floor and lifting herself up - a crack coming from her stiff spin. She stretched out her arms, before slipping on a tee shirt, torn up jeans, and her usual pink hat. Hopping about on one foot, she pulled on a sneaker, grabbed a piece of toast that her mother was preparing within the kitchen, and headed downstairs - listing everything she had to do today in her head. She rushed past her father, who was behind the grill, and Logan, who was mopping away behind the cash register. Seconds before she could push open the front door, she heard her father call her name. Turning, she found Bob's head poking out of the pickup window.
"Louise, where do you think you're going? It's Saturday. This is usually when we're at our busiest. You need to stay and help out!"
"Dad, I've got things to do."
"What things?"
"Things. Just have Logan do my stuff."
The two looked to Logan, who, completely space out, was numbly staring at the sud covered floor.
"Logan?" Louise called. Sleepily, he lifted his head. But, oddly, when his eyes met hers, they immediately averted, and he grunted in response.
"You don't mind taking my shift, do you? Nobody orders stuff this early in the morning."
"Nope." He said.
"Fine. But don't take to long." Bob said before going back to grilling.
After making sure Bob was focused on his cooking, Louise quietly sat down on the stool closest to Logan.
"Wow, Logan. You didn't even complain at my slackness. What kind of drugs have you been doing?" She said, snidely.
"Nothing." Logan responded, not even looking up from his cleaning. Louise's eyes widened, shocked by his lack of a witty remark in response to her own snideness. More seriously, she asked, "Uh, you feeling okay, Logan?"
"Yes. I'm fine."
"Are you sure? Because you seem kinda-"
"Look, I'm just kinda tired because you were jabbering so much yesterday that I couldn't even take a nap." Logan said this so loudly and so sharply, that even Bob had paused in his cooking to listen in on whatever was going on. Louise's face felt hot, and a tingle went down her spine as the embarrassment of being put in her place in front of Bob took over her. And then she just felt annoyed, and slightly betrayed, that Logan was belittling her honesty to him - making it seem as if she was just whining to him about some silly drama in her life.
"Um, whatever." She said before rushing out the restaurant, not turning back to see Logan, all color from his face draining once he realized what he had done, smack his forehead into the broom handle out of frustration at himself.
Still fuming slightly over Logan's snappiness, Louise brazenly pulled open Teddie's garage door without even asking him for permission. She excused such impoliteness by saying that Teddie would most likely be asleep right now, so there was no point in waking him up for something she could do herself. Within the garage, she searched amongst the piles of car parts and tools before spotting a stray bike, which she picked up and rode out of the musky garage.
After spending an hour or so riding through busy streets with a printed map held up to her eyes, Louise manage to park by a Planned Parenthood building. Quickly, she entered, not wanting to be spotted by anyone on the outside.
Louise was planning on getting an IUD planted in her long before this whole situation with Hunter happened, but had honestly been avoiding it due to the possibility of there being pain during the procedure. But now that she was to be having sex in a matter of days, she had decided to grit her teeth, stop acting like such a baby, and get it over with.
At the counter was a somber looking teenager with headphones in. Louise stood before the counter for a few minutes before the girl finally looked up from her iPhone, and, as if slightly annoyed, pulled out a clipboard and gave it to her. She sat down and began to fill out the papers, giving herself the name of "Shea V. Yerbush". Briefly, she pulled out the $200 in her pocket, just to make sure it hadn't fallen out while she was riding down her. Louise let out a long exhale, a tingling in her gut strengthening when she thought of what it would be like to be sitting in the cold procedure room, with no hands to hold.
Honestly, Linda would've most likely loved to join Louise during her IUD procedure. And though she would've denied it, Louise would've been glad that her mother was there to comfort her. But she knew that getting birth control right after she had just broken up with Rudy wouldn't make sense, and Linda, being the nosy person she is, would most likely get the truth out of Tina, meaning she would then now about both Louise's gambling and her debt to Hunter as well. As much as she loathed the pervert, she didn't want him to be murdered by her protective Mama. So here she was, cold and alone, getting a procedure that could either be entirely painless, or more excruciating than childbirth.
Louise was lead into a cold looking room with faded, aero blue walls and a white procedure chair by a blonde nurse who informed her the doctor would be in shortly. Louise rested on down on the chair, trying to calm her rapidly beating heart. Despite her previous insistence to get this whole thing over with, Louise didn't actually think they were going to do the procedure today. She expected blood tests and hours of talking. But here she was, in the same situation she was always getting herself into. She overplayed her hand, and now she was paying for it.
Louise practically jolted when a doctor entered the room. She was wiry thin and blonde, with tall stilettos and thick glasses. She let out the usual introduction that doctors give: saying their name, repeating what was going to be done in this room, and asking how their patient was doing today. But when she finally looked up from her clipboard after hearing no response from her patient, she found Louise lying stiffly, trying to swallow down her tears. A sympathetic smile formed on her lips, and she took Louise's hand in her own.
"Everything's going to be fine." She mused, soothingly.
But nothing was fine. At least, not for Louise. Because her boyfriend was never in love with her. Because he had left her for her best friend, who was getting the happy ending that Louise wanted, and, frankly, felt that she deserved. Because she was going to be losing her virginity, not to the boy she loved, but to some fat fuck - who was maybe making Louise pay for all the pain she had caused on so many other kids with all her debts and dares. Because deep down, in her core, Louise feared that this was punishment - possibly from a higher being. All of this, the betrayal, the sex, the pain. It was because of karma, and Louise had to pay up.
