14-
He got back to the house just after five. Mark went to his apartment and took a shower before heading to the house for supper. And walking in to Darcy and Glen arguing.
It only took a minute to figure out that it was about school, so Mark didn't have to worry it had to do with him. Darcy only had a week to sign up for summer classes, leaving her virtually no time for a break. Now when Glen pressed for her to take a break, Mark didn't hear the tones of a neglected lover. He heard genuine concern that Darcy was burning her candle at both ends.
Mark and Darcy exchanged looks. Hers was warm exasperation, as this was a debate she had heard quite a few times.
"What's two months?" Glen was asking when Mark walked in.
"Two more classes." Darcy pointed out. "I'm already behind. I should have already started clinicals. But no. I'm still slogging through chemistry and biology."
"If you insist on doing summer school, then you need to quit the diner."
"Quit the diner? Are you nuts?"
"Obviously." Glen said, helping himself to the plate of grilled chicken he'd put on the table. "One or the other. Not both. You'll wear yourself too thin."
"I am not going to quit my job. I can't rely on you for everything."
"You can. You just don't want to."
Mark fixed his plate, listening but not joining in. He felt he would just be in the way.
Darcy huffed an annoyed breath. "You have no idea how hard it is to just accept help, do you?"
"No. I don't apparently." Glen looked at her earnestly. "Darcy I'm only thinking about what's best for you. Remember last summer? Remember how you were gone for 16 hours a day and spent your weekends either reading textbooks or sleeping, nothing else?"
"Small price to pay to get done."
"Big price to pay when you don't have to pay it." Glen set his chin. Mark hadn't known him long but recognized it for what it was – he was not going to budge on this part of his argument. "Sign up for your summer classes. Go full time. The diner will be there in the fall."
Darcy looked at him with a frown on her face. "Don't go using that 'daddy' tone with me."
"It's not a tone. It's your option. I'd sooner you went to school full time and got that degree. It's more important than worrying about your pride. And you can pay me back. Keep a tab. I've told you a hundred times…"
"More like a thousand." Darcy said sarcastically.
"And now it's a thousand and one." Glen shook his head. "Deal with it."
"I'm serious. I can handle both."
"Of course you can. It doesn't mean you should."
Darcy's noise of annoyance had Mark biting back a smile. He figured he'd better keep his thoughts on it to himself. He just happened to agree with Glen. She didn't need to work herself to death just to prove she was better than her mother, that her rough start didn't have a hold on her. Any fool could see she was light years away from where she'd come from.
"So far we've only been play-fighting. I am serious about this, Darcy. One or the other. You won't be able to work at the diner when you start clinicals anyway. And if you go full time this summer you could be in clinicals in September. And done in six months instead of a year."
"I hate it when you bring logic into it." Darcy grumbled. She morosely took a bite of her chicken and looked at Glen, who was watching her expectantly. "I'll think about it, all right? Geez."
"Please do." Glen smiled broadly. He seemed to notice for the first time that Mark had joined them. "And how was your day?"
Mark smirked. "Not half as exciting as yours, apparently."
"I slept all day." Glen picked up his fork. There was a knock at the front door. Darcy excused herself to answer it before either of the men could. The sound of female voices drifted for a moment before there was the sound of footsteps heading upstairs. Glen tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. "Sounded like Ava."
Mark nodded, not that he'd know. He barely knew the woman. He went back to eating his dinner, glad when Glen turned the conversation toward work at the garage. It was a subject Mark was comfortable with.
~~!~~
"You are going to have to slow down." Darcy finally said, watching Ava pace around her room.
"I can't. I'm freaking out."
It was the first time Darcy had ever seen her friend in such a state. Usually Ava was calm and cool, even when she was angry. This wasn't anger though.
"Ok." Darcy watched her pace another circuit around the bed. She waited her out, giving her a minute to continue ranting.
When Ava paused for breath she finally looked at Darcy and made a face. "Oh my god. I'm going on and on like an idiot and you're sitting there looking like the cat that ate the canary. You did it, didn't you?"
"Did what?"
"Don't try that shit with me. You might as well take out a billboard." Ava grinned. "How was it?"
Darcy shrugged, seriously wishing her friend wasn't so attuned to that kind of thing. To be honest, she was sore. Not that she was going to complain. It hadn't hurt until that morning, but she'd gotten through it. All she had wanted when she got home was an hour long soak in hot water and some relaxation. Instead Glen had started in on her overdoing things.
"Don't try to change the subject. You're wearing a hole in my carpet. What's going on?"
Ava pushed her red hair back from her face and blew out a breath. "I'm late."
"Late for what?"
"Late. Late! You know. Period. My cycle. My monthly…"
"And?"
"Ok. I realize that you're new to this whole sex thing, but generally speaking when you miss a period…"
"You didn't say you missed one. You just said you were late." Darcy said with a raised eyebrow. "How late?"
"Two weeks."
"That's not bad. You can be late for about a thousand reasons."
"Ok. I would love to believe that. Except I have this!" She tugged a white stick out of her back pocket and tossed it toward Darcy. Darcy picked it up gingerly, making a face.
"Lovely. Throwing pee-covered things on someone else's bed." She looked at the result window and raised an eyebrow. No questioning what it said. It wasn't the one-line, two-line test. It actually said 'pregnant' in the result window in plain black letters.
"Oh man."
"I can't breathe." Ava finally sat down on the end of Darcy's bed.
"Ava…"
"What am I gonna do?"
"What do you mean?" Darcy thought that was the obvious part.
"I've been careful. I never wanted a kid! Can you picture that? Me with a kid?" Ava visibly shuddered. "I can't."
"I can." Darcy smiled and handed Ava her pregnancy test back. "What happened? Get a little too caught up in a moment?"
"No. No! Ugh…I don't know. I've been taking my pills. I always take my pills."
"Nothing is one hundred percent."
"Yeah tell me about it." Ava sniffled. Darcy frowned at her. She'd known her for years, and had never once seen her close to crying. "I can't tell him."
"You're crazy. Why not?"
"Are you kidding?" Ava sniffled again. "What if I decide not to keep it? Do you know what that'll do to Glen?"
Darcy could only blink in response. "But…Ava…"
"I had to tell somebody. I feel like I'm going to lose my mind." Ava angrily wiped her eyes.
"Ok. How about this? Don't tell anybody else. Make an appointment to get a real pregnancy test with Doc Richards. A blood test just to be sure. Then you can decide what to do."
"No way I'm going to Doc Richards. Glen would find out before I could get out of the parking lot."
"Doc Richards wouldn't call Glen."
"He has ways of finding stuff out though. You know how people in town are about him."
"Then go out of town."
"Go with me."
"I can't. I have to work."
"Darcy…please. I don't ask you for much…" At that, Darcy sorted. Ava continued as if she hadn't heard. "Just this one thing. Please?"
Darcy sighed. "Your boyfriend was wanting me to quit my job anyway."
"Oh yeah?" Ava sniffled and smiled half-heartedly.
"If I quit because of you then you'll have to have the kid. And then I can be its live-in nanny or something." Darcy reached on her bedside table and found a package of Kleenex she kept handy. "Here. Clean yourself up. If Glen knows you're here, you know he'll expect to see you. He's been gone a few days." She eyed her friend and tried to hide her worry.
It took another ten minutes to get Ava into a reasonably normal state. She put on a brave face and went downstairs to say hi to the men. Darcy decided she wasn't hungry enough to return to her half-eaten dinner. She went into her bathroom and locked the door, then ran a tub full of water as hot as she could stand. She wasn't going to attempt to study, she wasn't going to go swimming. She was going to have her bubble-filled soak and then curl up with a book and contemplate the things that had happened the day before.
She was even considering going out to Mark's to spend the night again but wasn't sure she was quite up to another night of attention. At least…not just yet. She had a lot to think about, not just things between herself and Mark. She definitely had no complaints there. And he seemed happier. It made her feel good that she could take a little of the credit for that.
Darcy leaned back in the hot water and laid a damp cloth over her eyes. She hated to admit that Glen had a point. If she wasn't working, she could take on a full class load. She'd have more time to study, and she could conceivably be ready for the next phase of her education before the trees changed colors in the fall. She had no doubt she could do it. She just hated having to rely on Glen's generosity. No matter how many times he offered, or insisted, she couldn't help but feel like she was taking advantage of him.
And she had known just by glancing at Mark that Mark would take up Glen's side. It was a rare moment when she'd been able to read him clearly and she had seen exactly what he'd thought – that she was pushing herself too hard. But she wasn't. Sure she got tired but who didn't? A lot of people had it worse.
But she'd promised Ava that she'd go with her the next day. And maybe she could stop by the school and see about signing up for those extra classes. Two birds, one stone. She smiled and relaxed. It was short-lived. Because she realized that in less than a year she would be ready to find a job as a nurse, making decent money for the first time in her life, able to live on her own. And she would have to go away to do that. She couldn't see working for Doc Richards – he had a nurse, a battleaxe of a woman named Norma who apparently had been a fixture around town since it was developed. The nearest medical facilities were at the college, and that was a forty minute drive. It was one thing to go to school there – another to have to face that kind of commute every day.
The thought of leaving left her cold. She was comfortable here. Some of the people were annoying but asking for everyone to be perfect was asking way too much. Every town had their problems. But these people were known. Darcy felt a cold ball of ice in her stomach at the thought of moving to a larger town, even a city. At first it had been all she wanted. Now she wasn't so sure.