Jade awoke the next morning before the alarm with Beck wrapped around her. Not wanting to rouse her boyfriend, she thought back to the previous night.
"Jade, I'm so sorry," Beck apologized repeatedly.
"Beck, please, calm down," she consoled. "I'm not mad."
"But you could be pregnant!" he protested. "I'm not ready to be a dad!"
"We don't know yet," Jade tried to explain, becoming slightly frustrated. "I'm not necessarily pregnant."
"But you could be! I'm so sorry, Jade!"
The conversation had continued in circles like that until Beck was in tears and Jade pulled him close. She was scared-terrified is more like it-but she didn't want Beck to have to worry until they knew for certain. Besides, couples spend years trying for babies.
Beck's alarm rang, bringing Jade out of her thoughts. She climbed out of bed to go make a pot of coffee while Beck shut off the contraption.
"Good morning," Beck yawned.
"Morning," Jade deadpanned like every morning.
"I'm sorry," Beck began to apologize.
"Don't start," Jade snapped. "Just make something for us to eat and let's work on at least getting some of the script down before school."
"No showers?" Beck questioned.
Jade sighed in exasperation. "Fine. While you make breakfast, I'll shower. Then I'll start on the script and you can."
"Sounds good to me," Beck smiled, pulling his girlfriend close and kissing her softly. Jade melted into the embrace, laying her arms around his neck and returning the kiss. "I love you," he whispered.
"I know," Jade smiled. Beck loved that smile.
Before he could say another word, Jade escaped to grab clothing from his closet and then disappeared into the bathroom. Beck began making breakfast: scrambled eggs, hash browns, and sausage. So what if he liked to spoil his girlfriend?
Jade emerged from the bathroom with a towel on her head at the very moment that Beck put the meal on the table with a cup of coffee for Jade.
"Black with two sugars," Beck explained as he pulled out the chair for Jade to sit, "just the way you like it." He took the seat opposite her and began eating his own breakfast. After a few moments, he realized how quiet Jade was and looked up to see her quietly eating with a saddened look in her eyes. "What's wrong?"
Jade met his glance. "Will you still treat me like a queen even if I get fat and ugly?"
Beck smiled and leaned across the table to kiss his girlfriend. "You'll never be ugly, but yes. Even if you were fat and ugly, I would still treat you like a queen."
Jade smiled and shoved a sausage in her mouth.
Half an hour later, the couple climbed into Beck's truck and drove over to the school.
~
In Sikowitz's class, Jade found herself on-stage with Tori, acting out a scene where they were supposed to be sisters fighting over a cookie in several movie, television, or theater styles. Periodically, someone would call out a different style that they'd have to work with.
Eventually, Rex yelled "porno" and both girls froze to look at the puppet.
Sikowitz offered a counter-suggestion: "wrestling match."
Jade took the opportunity to leap forward and slam Tori to the floor roughly and sit on her stomach. "One. Two. Three. My cookie."
From his seat in the audience, Beck smiled. Jade could be so child-like sometimes.
"And, cut!" Sikowitz shouted. "I don't think we want this scene to go too much further or we may need a nurse. Brava Tori and Jade."
Tori stood and took a bow while Jade returned to her seat, uninterested in formalities.
~
Jade sat through the remainder of the day wondering whether she might be pregnant or not. She didn't feel any different.
After school, she met up with Beck and they went out for sushi at Nozu. Over dinner, they talked solely about the script they were working on. Thus far, they had described a girl running down a long alley and then being trapped at a dead end by two thugs. Then she looks upward and sees a little green light that vacuums her in.
After dinner, the couple returned to Beck's RV, where they curled up on his bed together and fell asleep.
~
On the first Saturday in December, Beck and Jade say in the RV. Beck craved In-N-Out Burger, but just the concept of food made Jade queasy.
"Your attempt at cooking last night made me sick!" she accused and held her stomach. "I've been queasy all day!"
Beck eyed up his girlfriend. "Well I'm perfectly healthy. I'm going to stop by the drug store. I'll be right back; I promise."
Jade watched out the window as Beck climbed into his truck and drove off toward town. Her stomach churned and she grabbed her abdomen, gagging but not puking.
Maybe Beck's stir-fry was a bad idea. Or Nozu's sushi? Or perhaps Festus' hamburger yesterday. That was probably it. Beck didn't have a burger and he was ok.
Running into the tiny bathroom, Jade bent over the toilet and spilled the meager contents of her body into it.
Once she was done, she flushed the toilet and brushed her teeth before laying out on Beck's bed. Just the smell of his cologne made her queasy.
"Damn food poisoning," she muttered.
Despite her nausea, Jade succumbed to unreasonable sleepiness and closed her eyes, dozing off.
When she reopened them, Beck sat on the couch intently watching the newest Star Wars movie.
"Episode IV was better," she groaned and rubbed her eyes. "How long was I out?"
"It's been at least an hour," Beck smiled, kissing the top of her head.
Jade wanted to protest his not waking her up, but the smell of his cologne made her ill and she ran back into the bathroom where she somehow managed to puke something more into the toilet.
Beck appeared behind her, holding her hair back out of her face and whispering to her softly.
Once she flushed the toilet and brushed her teeth again, Beck walked over to a plastic bag on the counter and pulled out a small rectangular box. "Jade, I know you really don't want to think about this, but could you, please?"
Jade eyed up the box as he placed it in her hand: a pregnancy test.
"You want me to go pee on this stick?" she smirked.
Beck looked down sheepishly. "Yeah, I do. I just want to know for certain."
Jade rolled her eyes and returned to the bathroom, reemerging a minute later with the stick.
"We need to wait three minutes," she deadpanned, setting it on the table. "Then we'll know."