November 30th 2020

Chapter 335
Their Story of Positivity

Today

The very important part was that she'd made it… mostly. There was that tiny bit of time where she felt like she'd removed herself from direct involvement with what she did, so that she skipped directly from busting into that bathroom to then sitting there, kinda shaky, definitely clammy, but at the same time relieved that the earlier feeling had left her. If she was very lucky, it would not make a comeback.

"Mrs. Friar? Are you okay?"

She paused. She did not remember having shut the stall door, but she had. Also, she recognized the voice as being that of Khalil Russell. Of all the things she might have thought in that moment, the one thing that came was how she didn't even know if this was the girls' room or the boys'. She looked around the enclosed space, and she was almost certain this had to be the boys'. Well, this just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?

"Mrs. Friar?" the boy asked again, and now she could see his sneakers, standing in the next stall over and moving about, like maybe he was debating crouching and looking to make sure she hadn't passed out or anything.

"Y-Yeah… Present…" she gave a limp wave of her hand before thinking how he – thankfully – couldn't see her. "Did you… Did you tell Mrs. Anderson to watch the class?"

"I did, yeah. But then you looked like you might be sick, so I came to find you. I forgot to take the pass," he added, as an afterthought.

"I'll write you a note," she groaned, reaching to grab some paper from the dispenser. Khalil walked out of the stall, and a moment later she could hear water running. After it stopped, he returned, and he passed her a few hand towels he'd run under cold water. "Thank you," she took them gladly. She was not aware that he had gone away and returned until his hand appeared again, this time with a sports bottle.

"It's clean from this morning, I just filled it with water." As crappy as she felt, this made her smile, and she took the bottle, with well-earned thanks. "I can get the nurse."

"No, no, that won't be necessary. Just go back to class, I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Wouldn't feel right to leave you like this, Mrs. Friar," Khalil spoke after a second, and a very slight pause on the end made her chuckle.

"You almost called me ma'am and changed your mind, didn't you?" she asked.

"Yes, Mrs. Friar." He wasn't going to leave so long as she could go, too, she could tell.

"This is going to sound weird, but you really remind me of my husband when we were your age…"

"That's good, right?" Khalil asked, sounding like he was smiling.

"Coming from me, no higher compliment. I call him Huckleberry," she told him, and he laughed.

Later, she'd figure out she would have been in the bathroom about fifteen minutes before she returned to class, Khalil at her side. The last few of those minutes had been out of the stall, as she'd gotten up and walked out of there, heading to the mirror to try and do her best in looking as she'd done earlier. By the end, the best she could say was that she mostly got it right. Meanwhile, she had her vest on her arm as she went back, as she'd noticed the unfortunate stain and had to do her best to rinse it off without making things worse.

Returning to class, she could only imagine what the rest of the class had been thinking. They were smart enough to connect some dots as to what had pulled her out of here, and the last thing she needed was gossip. Whatever they did or didn't think though, the class had greeted her return almost as though they'd made a pact to pretend as though nothing had happened, and she'd simply stepped away. She was very thankful for that, and in a way entirely unrelated to the incident itself, she was also thankful for what happened at the end of the period, as the class emptied out.

"Are you okay, Mrs. Friar?" Rochelle came up to her, and she looked so wholly focused on the moment, like she had no mind of 'I should go, I might be late for my next class,' which so often acted like some rocket boosters at her back as soon as class ended. If she ever had to stay back a minute, she'd look like she was stalling her rockets' take-off just by standing still, and the second she was clear to go… It was the most still and open she'd ever seen her be. And it made Maya so very happy.

"I am, yes. I might put a sign about no gym clothes in here from now on, but I'm good. Thank you for asking." Rochelle nodded and smiled, and finally she went on her way.

The rest of the day had been spent with one singular thought ruling her mind, either right up front in her extended break after the freshmen's class, or hanging back up on its throne as she taught her last period of the day, with the juniors. As far as she could tell, there hadn't been much talk of her mad dash, if any. No questions, no funny looks… So, she left the school at long last, bound for the drugstore. She felt a lot better by now, though she'd feel even better than that once she found out the answer to The Question. I swear, if this is another false alarm, I am going to eat my hand.

She'd bought two, after having spent way too much time trying to pick 'the very best two' out of the available types, like she was in a casino, placing bets. After she got back in her minivan and turned for home, it felt like her mind was completely empty, incapable to commit to a thought except those tests. She had done this enough times by now, but like the last time her mind immediately went to her husband. Lucas had to be there with her, they had to find out together.

"That's what I said the last time, too," she muttered to herself, walking into the house. She had her own bag, and then the plastic bag holding her vest. The boxes were in her school bag, the better to keep their presence a secret if anyone was inside.

But she was alone. No Lucas, no Sam, just dogs crowding around her feet. When they dashed away almost all at once, she was convinced they had gotten a whiff of her vest.

"I know, right?" she sighed. First things first, she went and tossed it in the washing machine and got it started.

Climbing back upstairs though, she was back with the eternal trouble of wanting to find out what the tests would say but also wanting to hold off, to wait for Lucas to be here with her.

"Because that worked so well the last time…"

She had to do something, to occupy herself, distract herself, but then just telling herself this… She knew that was pointless, that she'd flit around like a hummingbird, from task to task, but she'd never find anything to hold her attention long enough. She couldn't help herself. The longer it remained a possibility, even unconfirmed, it would begin to sit and take hold in her, this idea that she could actually have a little start of a person inside her, a person who would be half her and half Lucas. How could it not unnerve her to not know, to have to wait?

The next thing she knew, she was upstairs, in the bathroom, opening the boxes, laying out their contents. She would take the tests, but she wouldn't look at them. That was the new plan. This was better, wasn't it? If she had to do this when Lucas would be there with her, she'd probably be unable to pee or something, and it would be awkward. Right now, it was just her, it would be fine, and the hard part would be over by the time Lucas came home.

So, she took the tests, and when she was done she set the sticks next to the sink, washed her hands once again, and walked back down the stairs to get her bag. She'd just take out her laptop, look into a few things for her mother's party at the theater, or she'd put together a few names for her to contact regarding Helena Zimmerman and basketball. She'd already taken a few quick notes on her phone…

… which, for some reason, she had left in the bathroom.

She genuinely considered just leaving it in there and working from memory, as though the bathroom was off-limits until after Lucas came home. But then what if he called or wrote her on his way home? With an overly exasperated sigh, Maya returned to the bathroom, looking so intent on grabbing her phone and leaving immediately, not even glancing in the direction of those sticks.

Probably, if she hadn't done that, she wouldn't have inadvertently knocked them off the edge of the sink and send them clattering to the ground. It made her jump, surprised. Cursing under her breath, she held to the sink as she crouched to go and grab the sticks, hopefully not seeing anything.

"And somehow this isn't the most ridiculous part of my day," she groaned, right before letting out a few more curses in earnest. She'd accidentally sent them sliding further away. "Are we really going to do this?" she frowned, looking down to find…

When she'd get to this part of the story that night, she would be stood in the middle of the living room, re-enacting the whole scene so Lucas might be able to picture her, crouched in a little ball, clinging to the sink's edge above her head, in the exact moment she learned she was pregnant. She spared him the part where she immediately lost grip and thumped down, her butt at least hitting the carpet in front of the sink instead of the tiled floor.

Much as she'd tried not to look, and oh how she had tried very, very hard, it had been inevitable, as she spotted the sticks on the floor in one second and then saw what the first one said, the word as clear as ever. The drop to the carpet had knocked the immediate shock out of her and she'd crawled the small distance to collect one and then both of the tests, looking at them in turn now, finding no point to obscure the second's result. They were both positive, while she sat there, mouth gaping, eyes fluttering.

"Oh…" she breathed, her hand moving to cover her mouth but then, unsure what she'd touched at this point, her arm took up the task, and breathed into the hairs on her forearm, which were all standing at attention right now, amid a field of goosebumps. There was a rumble of tears seeking to bloom, and right then she took a deep breath, to try and hold them in. Not yet, not…

Right then, she heard the dogs barking. Lucas… He's home…

It was a scramble to stand up, pick up everything she'd left lying around, and leave the bathroom. What was she going to do? What… Surprise him… Oh, she liked this. It was no point to mourn the finding out together part, because getting to spring it on him, coming up with something clever… and cute… and memorable… That was possibly even better. Thinking fast, she hid the bag with the empty boxes and everything else at the bottom of the trash before darting out into the hall. Her first instinct carried her up to the attic. Once there, she didn't actually know what to do, but then…

"Hello?" Lucas' voice called up.

Without thinking, she opened a drawer on her desk and pushed the little bundle at the back before closing it again and climbing down. Lucas was calling again.

"Up here, hang on!"

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners