May 1st (7:15 AM)
Positive. Positive. Linnie glared down at the light blue plus sign in front of him, as he felt another wave of nausea hit him all of the sudden. He felt his thin body shake slightly as the room spun around him, forcing him to sloppily throw his head into the toilet water. Linnie gagged and choke but nothing came up as the smell of last night's steak and beans still haunted his breath. He rubbed his temples as Linnie felt like his head was stabbing him, punishing him of last week's "events", as he rubbed his stomach up and down with his free hand, noticing a very small but noticeable bump near his waste.
"Linnie! I'm not going to tell your dumbass again! Get me a fucking pill, before I come over there and smack the shit outta ya! Do you want me to have a hangover?", his wife, Nora, screamed as slammed cabinets and the TV blared from the living room. Linnie sighed as he got up and flushed the toilet, opening up their medicine cabinet to search through the sea of orange pill bottles that resided. Without much warning however, the TV suddenly shut off and Nora's footsteps echoed as she made her way towards the bathroom; Linnie pocketing his test result quickly.
"Linnie! What the hell is taking you so damn long? When I tell you to do something, you do it!", Nora screamed, her face scowling at the sight of Linnie's unkempt, green hair, and flushed, strawberry-shaded face, his reading glasses askew, "What the hell's the matter with you? You look like shit."
"I know, I'm sorry Nora. I-I just..well I hadn't been.."
"Oh, save the bullshit excuses, Linnie! I didn't come here for them!", Nora shoved Linnie out of the way, as she picked through the orange ocean in the medicine cabinet, picking up one in the back row, and popping a pill that came out of it, "Ugh..men..can't follow simple instructions."
"Nora please, I-I just needed a minute."
"For once, will you stop thinking about your own damn needs? You always seem to think the world revolves around you, don't you Linnie! How about instead of whining and complaining like a little bitch, you pretty yourself up and get the chores done while I'm out? I have to work late tonight again, so I expect you to have them all completed by the time I'm back.", Nora snarled as she finished getting dressed, slamming the suitcase on top of her bed, on the right side of the bedroom.
"O-Of course, dear. I-I..uhm well…I know how busy you've been lately and..", Linnie stuttered, watching as his wife finished throwing papers into her briefcase, "Actually um…before you go dear…c-can I ask your something? Please?"
"Fine, but only because I don't want you calling me during my shift! What do you want?", Nora asked, though she still kept focusing on shutting her briefcase.
"Um…well…"
"Spit it out! I don't have all damn day!"
"I-I was just wondering if um...how would you feel if…hypothetically speaking of course…well, do you remember last week when we um…slept together for the first time in a while?"
"Yeah, course I do! The hell's that got to do with anything?", Nora asked, before she heard her watch start beeping, "Shit! We'll talk about this later. You better not forget those chores now."
"O-Oh of course, dear. Um, have a good day..I love-", Linnie couldn't finish his sentence as the front door slammed shut, leaving Linnie to sink to his knees and sigh, with nothing but the bubbles in his stomach and the light blue, plus sign left to keep him company.
May 23rd (6:43 PM)
"Daddy? What's that in your shirt?", Linnie's youngest son, Cosmo, asked, noticing a small bump on Linnie's lime green sweater. Linnie smiled gently as he placed the last dinner plates on the table, before taking a seat himself, holding out an arm as Cosmo grabbed the fork off his napkin.
"Now now dear, you know the rule. We have to way for mommy to get back, remember?", Linnie asked softly, smiling as Cosmo pouted and put the fork down. "It's nothing sweetie. I-I think this is an old sweater anyways."
"I thought Aunt Daisy got you that for your birthday last week?", his daughter, Chelsea, asked as she sat next to him, making Linnie squirm in his seat.
"Yes well…uh..y-you know how careless I can be sometimes, haha. I probably just used the wrong laundry mode and shrunk the sweater. I-I guess I just didn't have enough coffee that day.", Linnie laughed, though his mind still traced on that blue plus sign. His broken-record thoughts played endlessly, trying to figure out how to make the announcement. Was it even the right time to make it? Before he could wander off any further, Linnie heard another slam from the front door; Nora throwing her briefcase on the couch as she made her way towards the dinner table.
"Linnie, I-", Nora growled before he sat down at her table, looking at the table with disgust, "What the hell is this? I don't remember Taco Tuesday suddenly getting cancelled. Where the hell are the tacos? And where's my goddamn beer?"
"W-we…um.."
"Oh, don't tell me! We ran out?", Nora yelled, as Linnie shrunk in his seat, his body shaking once more.
"I'm sorry, dear. I-I just didn't have time. See, I-um..well I wanted to try out this new recipe since I had stopped vomited. My mom used to make it for me all the time-"
"Did I tell you I wanted fucking Swedish meatballs?"
"N-No dear, but I just thought..", Linnie stuttered before he suddenly felt his face being lit on fire, as Nora smashed her plate of meatballs onto his face, the plate falling down onto the floor and smashing into a million pieces. Before he had a minute to process, Linnie also felt his sweater being pulled towards Nora, a raging fire burning behind her cyan eyes as she lowered her voice to a mere mutter.
"Listen here you ungrateful bastard. After working my ass off all fucking week to provide for you and the little fuckers sitting next to us, the least you could do is make sure my arrival is comfortable for me. It's not that fucking hard to get off your ass for 5 minutes to go to the damn store, or order a damn delivery. Now next time, if you're gonna make whatever the hell you feel like for, at the very least, have the goddamn decency to make sure I have what I need."
"B-But Nora..I-I really don't think you should have that much in front of the kids-", SLAP!
"Did I ask for a fucking opinion? No! Now, clean this shit up! Maybe it'll help you lose some of that extra weight you seemed to be putting on, recently.", Nora growled, as Linnie almost instantly got out of his seat, his stomach hanging out slightly, "Heh, damn. Maybe it's a good thing you didn't make those tacos. The rate you fucking eat, those calories aren't packing up and leaving any time soon."
"Mom, it's the sweater. It's not him. Chill out.", Darren said, as Nora slammed her fist on the table and snapped her head to glare at her oldest.
"I don't give a damn what it is! Now eat your food before it gets shoved down your throat! And everything better be gone by the time the bar closes tonight. I don't need leftovers of this bullshit rotting up my fridge."
After the door has slammed shut once more, the talking that had once filled the kitchen ceased, replaced by only slow, nail-biting, chewing and small sips from the water glasses Linnie had given everyone. The clock ticked as if a bomb was about to explode, and the small clinks of plates and forks softened as the Swedish Meatball dish started to taste like a frozen wasteland, water dripping off the noodles. Linnie ended up having to throw the meal away and make the kids peanut butter and jelly sandwiches before sending them off to bed for the evening, constantly studying the bump that poked out slightly when he looked down at his children. As he lied down in bed that evening, he kept tracing his fingers over it as he kept thinking about his test, and what he was going to say to her.