Chapter III
Wednesday comes sooner than Sharon expected. She hoped to have a little more time to be just her old self, having coffee or tea or hot chocolate with her friends three days a week after school, ignoring her ex-boyfriend a little while longer. Despite the rather crushing reality of her break-up, Sharon liked how her life had turned out and she even managed to convince herself that the break up was for the best, because she wouldn't change what she had with Andrea and Andy for the world. She had loved Jack, but even she had to admit, that she had been smiling a lot more in the last three weeks, than the six months before that. It may have been a blow that her relationship ended like it did, but looking back on it, she thinks that maybe she should have seen it coming for a while.
The trio had spent Monday afternoon at their usual spot, catching up on what happened between lunch and the end of school, doing their homework and generally talking and having a good time. Though it was technically Andy's turn to pay for their beverages, Sharon and Andrea waved him off when he went for his wallet. They even spent the extra money to get him the extra chocolate sprinkles on his cappuccino and a piece of blueberry pie to make up for lying to him about their weekend. He had more than once tried to tell them that it really is okay, that they didn't need to do all that, but they wouldn't hear of it. They'd felt bad about being dishonest ever since they told the lie, and that had been when they hadn't known Andy knew it was a lie. After, they felt even worse.
Of course, one coffee and a slice of cake won't ever really make up for what they did, but when he slid into the booth next to Sharon and pulled Andrea onto his other side like always, they started to believe that they might actually be forgiven already.
When their first beverages and Andy's pie had been cleared, Andrea scooted out of the booth and slid onto the seat opposite her friends to make a bit more room to start on their homework. Without a single thought or hesitation, the blonde's french assignment found it's way in front of Sharon, while the brunette slid their history questions across the table. They may not attend the same classes, but Andrea had realized pretty soon, that she sucked at french whereas Sharon was almost fluent. History class, on the other hand, had always been the one class Sharon and Andy used to plan out the rest of their week. It wasn't like they weren't able to follow the topics or couldn't remember what they had been taught if they ever payed attention, but history, especially with their teacher, was just so boring. (While they still had been going out, it had been Sharon and Jackson for a great while, until their teacher had had enough and made him change seats with Andy – not that that actually helped any). Andrea had always loved history and, as boring as she might sound to other people for admitting that, she read Sharon's history textbook every year, making it incredibly easy for her to follow the assignments her two friends didn't want to do.
Andy, for the last five weeks, had been responsible for Sharon and his math homework. He'd copy the history papers, while she'd copy the math papers and then they would start working on whatever else was to do together.
While Sharon and Andy had been huddled together over their English assignment, Andrea had texted Emma. The girls had known each other for a while, had never been really close but cordial enough to throw the occasional smile when they passed each other in the hallway or saw each other in class. They had, recently, been paired together for a science project and, even though Monday's are reserved for coffee with her two best friends, the girls needed to get a move on said project, so she'd asked Emma to come over after she'd finished all her other work. Sharon had given her a suggestive smirk, that hadn't really been hidden as good as she might have thought it had, when Emma showed up at their table. They had exchanged polite hellos, and when Andy and Sharon went back to whispering over their paper, Andrea had been positive what they were talking about now, was not English homework.
It's no secret, that Andrea's gay, at least not to the people close to her and who cared. But what she would have liked to stay a secret for a while longer – preferably forever – was her crush on Emma Rios. She's not hiding anything per se, and if it had been anyone else, she might have actually said something already, but Emma had been extremely happy with her boyfriend until recently – and therefore as straight as they come.
The four of them had spent another three hours seated in their booth, ordering a second and then a third cup of cappuccino and hot chocolate and when they'd finally left they'd hugged Andy goodbye in front of the coffee shop and headed back into the direction of their High School, Andy walking in the other direction since the cafe was just between his home and school. Sharon had offered to drive Emma home since her mother had dropped her off earlier and so, when they had reached the parking lot, the three girls had piled into Sharon's car. Now that they hadn't been preoccupied with their respective homework, Emma and Sharon had held a pleasant conversation about nothing in particular but still Andrea had been able to read between the lines – Sharon was inconspicuously interrogating and determining if she was good enough for her best friend. And while Sharon had spent the rest of the day, and a good part of the night, too, teasing Andrea about Emma, the blonde had spent almost as much time trying to convince Sharon, that the interrogation hadn't been at all necessary. In the end, Andrea had indulged her best friend just because she had been glad she'd found something else to occupy her mind with other than Jack and the baby.
Tuesday happened to actually almost turn out like every other Tuesday they had encountered in the last weeks. They'd met before their first classes, occupied way too much space around Sharon's locker that she wondered why nobody had ever complained that they couldn't reach theirs, and generally acted like they owned the hallway on their way to their class rooms. Courses had been as boring and equally exiting as they get and come lunch they had been huddled together around a small table in the cafeteria again, talking, complaining, joking. Andy had made it his personal mission to tease Andrea about her new girlfriend, which had earned him more than one shove in the shoulder and a few adamant "She's not my girlfriend" from Andrea. The only thing Sharon had to say about all of it were more teases and a good amount of poorly disguised snickers that turned into groans when she'd received her first shoulder shove as well. Of course, it didn't help that halfway through their lunch Emma had shown up at their table and whisked Andrea away to check on something about their science project before heading to their next classes. She'd be hearing about this for a great while she is sure.
After school, Andy has soccer practice on Tuesdays, which is pretty convenient since it overlaps with the girls' film club meeting anyway. Sharon hadn't really been in the mood for discussing her favorite movies and slam their resident movie smart-ass with her actual knowledge instead of his made up facts, but she had wanted to act as normal as possible for at least the days she hadn't had her first pre-natal appointment yet, and attending after school activities sadly is included in that. She's already dreading debating, where she actually needs to participate, as opposed to film club, where she was able to lean back and enjoy the others' conversation if she were so inclined.
In the end she had opted to to not sulk in some corner, mainly because about fifteen minutes in they had started to pick apart American Psycho and, as one of the best movies that had ever been created, she couldn't stand it. Andrea had backed her up on the amazing book to film adaption, the incredible casting choice and the artistic realization and pretty soon Sharon had found she was enjoying herself a great deal better than she had anticipated that morning.
Since Jack had dropped out of the soccer team at the beginning of the year (he wanted to focus on real sports, he had said to an eye roll from his then girlfriend and best friend), Sharon and Andrea kept up their tradition of meeting up with Andy after his soccer training session was over. That close to a game, the training was held in private, but sometimes, when film club fell flat, the girls had spend their Tuesday afternoon doing their homework in the bleachers while cheering on the boys. For the last three years they had even participated in the first training of the season, since this included trial sessions for new team members and wasn't as challenging and serious as the rest of them. Girls, of course, weren't allowed to play on the team, but Jack had been a favorite with the coach.
This time, however, they'd waited patiently for the boys to finish showering and changing and finally leave the locker rooms. Andy had appeared last, his arm slung around Julio's shoulder, heads bent together, laughing. Upon seeing them, he had bid him goodbye, though and made his way straight over. They'd heard Julio, in good humor, call him whipped across the field.
They had parted again in the parking lot.
Back home, Sharon and Andrea surprised the blonde's parents with dinner. Sharon had wanted to do something for them as a thank you, and even though Andrea told her it wasn't necessary, she'd agreed to prepare and have dinner ready when her parents get home. It's not like she had all that big of a role in preparations anyway, since Andrea can't cook if her life depended on it. So her tasks had been limited to cutting vegetables and looking after the pots with not-yet boiling water. In the end, dinner had been an incredible success... or failure, depending on who you ask, since the girls had been put to the task of preparing dinner every Tuesday in the foreseeable future.
"I know, this is a lot to ask, but would you maybe come with me tomorrow?" Sharon tangles and untangles her fingers in her lap, eyes fixed intently on them. She and Andrea were about to head to bed, when the thought crossed her mind – she doesn't want to be alone at the doctor's tomorrow; she's still too scared of what this all means and how this will all change her life. She can't ask Andrea or even Andy to accompany her, they would both be busy with sports and debating. But she can't ask her parents either. She hasn't spoken to either of them since Saturday and until they came to terms with their daughter's new reality (or said daughter finally decided on the abortion she doesn't want to have) Sharon's pretty sure she won't be talking to them anytime soon, either. So, she thinks, Andrea's mother is the next best thing to a parental figure she has right now. Growing up, she's been spending almost as much time here than she had at home, has been treated like a daughter ever since she can remember (in every aspect, be it praise or a good talking to). She doesn't think she's crossing a line here, asking, but she's nervous anyway.
"I was just waiting for you to ask, honey" Sharon is, for all intents and purposes, an adult with her eighteen years. There is no way Andrea's mother would impose on the girl if she chose to do this by herself. Andrea's parents had worked only half a day on Wednesdays for years now and so there's no problem in spontaneous plans in the afternoon. "I'll pick you up at three. We can get something to eat, or just sit around and talk or think- so you can prepare yourself" The fact that she's scared and has no idea what's to come is clearly written all over her face.
"Thank you" A relived sight escapes Sharon's lips as she leans over and hugs the woman. With a kiss on the cheek she bids the adults good-bye and makes her way up the stairs after her best friend.
The girls don't care that they don't have a room to themselves, they've been sharing room and bed at sleepovers for years. When Sharon enters the bedroom, Andrea just finished changing, giving her friend a small smile while she takes her sleep clothes from the closet and casually turning down the bed. Sharon would take her pajamas into the bathroom to change, like every night, where she's brushing her teeth and wiping off her make-up anyway. When Andrea doesn't hear the door open and close, her head whips up, concern written all over her face – and what she sees has her blush and close her eyes immediately.
Her friend had already changed into her pj shorts and is standing topless in front of the full length mirror. She's examining her still flat stomach. She knows it's going to be a while yet until she can actually see anything, but tries to imagine what it would look like, what she would look like. She can't picture it, and with a sigh she pulls the fabric of her top over her head. When she looks up, she finds Andrea's face in the mirror over her shoulder.
She lets out a laugh. "Come on, you have seen much more than that already" Turning around, she gets into bed. "You can look now, by the way" She laughs again, when Andrea blushes even further. Sharon grabs her hand and pulls her down to lie next to her, cuddling her friend's embarrassed face into her shoulder.
"Yea" Andrea finally speaks, her voice muffled by Sharon's shoulder. "But that was before either of us was aware of the fact that I like what I could see" Sharon's pretty sure her continued laughing doesn't make this less embarrassing, but she can't help it.
Andrea had been pretty sure she was interested in girls since she had been fourteen and she knew she was, about a year later, when she had been practicing for her lead in the school musical (her first and last). Her co-star had been absent that day and so some random girl Andrea never noticed before offered to read the lines with her. The girl had been able to recite half of the text without consulting the sheet in front of her, so she actually had been included in the production. They had been going over scene after scene, since there where barely any Andrea didn't have down to a T. When they had reached the romantic ending, where she was supposed to kiss her co-star, some immature boys dared them to pull through the whole scene. They did - because really, what the hell was there to it? - and in the end the blonde was disappointed that kissing her actual co-star didn't feel as intoxicating. Andrea had later found out that the girl had designed most of the costumes and had absolutely zero interest in Andrea – friendly or otherwise.
"That's not true" Sharon is finally able to say between laughter. Her hand is stroking her friend's blonde hair in a soothing manner, hoping her unease will fade soon. "And either way, you know I don't care"
Since that day two years ago, there had been plenty of conversations and reassurances. And more than enough situations in which Sharon could have felt uncomfortable – but she didn't. She didn't care which gender Andrea preferred to date – she wouldn't care if it was both, either – and what does it matter if a girl was appreciating her in her underwear or a bathing suit every now and then, when she doesn't mind a boy doing it, too? "Where is this coming from all of a sudden?"
"I don't know" she shrugs. She hasn't been embarrassed about being gay since her family told her there was nothing to be embarrassed about. It takes a good amount of gentle prodding and knowing looks, before Andrea finally relents. It's not like she was going to keep this from her best friend forever, anyway. "I may or may not have almost kissed Emma earlier" It's nothing more than a mumble, barely able to make out, but of course Sharon hears her.
She pushes the blushing girl slightly away from her comfortable position and turns onto her side with a flourish. An excited smile lights her eyes when she demands "Tell me everything"
And so she does. It takes her friend's mind off of the things going on in her own life right now and after the incident with Sharon's parents, Andrea is glad for every distraction and opportunity to see her best friend smile. "We were in the lab, looking at our project and she looked so cute when she smiled at me, that I felt myself leaning towards her without even thinking" Her voice had taken on a different tone when recounting the events. There was none of the earlier reluctance and there's a tiny smile blooming at the corners of her mouth. Something tells Sharon, that this encounter didn't end as bad as Andrea had tried to make it out to be in the beginning. A gentle poke in the ribs has the blonde letting out a short laugh, before she continues. "She turned her head, but definitively didn't flinch when my lips collided with her cheek" Another brief pause, and this time there's no mistaking the fact that it's only purpose is to squash the ever blossoming smile on her face. "She knows I like her, but she's straight. Doesn't mean she doesn't want to be my friend"
Sharon resists the urge to tell her I told you so. A few weeks ago, they had a lengthy conversation about her crush and the fact, that Andrea would never know if she doesn't talk to the girl. And if ( when, Andrea insisted) Emma doesn't feel the same way, they would always still be friends. Andrea hadn't bought it, too sure she would be humiliated beyond life and Emma would never,ever, want to talk to her again.
"You know, I won't mind if she wants to join us for lunch or at the cafe after school" She likes Emma, and when she's a friend of her best girlfriend, then there's always room for her to join them if she wants to.
"You just want me to have something to do when you are busy with your boyfriend" It's a tease, nothing more, one Andrea had taken up again when Sharon and Jack were through but it seemed that the subtle flirting between her and Andy wouldn't end.
"Andy's not my boyfriend" It's the words Andrea had anticipated, but the way Sharon says it, almost defensively, with maybe just that hint of sadness, that's what's new. She has never heard her friend deny it. She's said those exact words enough in the last weeks, that Andrea had known they were coming – but up until this moment, they were always spoken with a lighthearted tone, a joke and a jab following, ending in a kiss on Andy's cheek, should he be around during the conversation. Everyone knows that there is nothing going on between them romantically, and so this had always been a game, an inside joke, that nobody ever took really seriously.
It's the flat out denial that has Andrea asking "Yeah, remind me again, why that is?"
A glare is all she gets for an answer at first. Then a sigh. Then "I used to go out with his former best friend and I'm pregnant" Matter of fact, like it will explain everything. Of course, Andrea had caught on to what Sharon hadn't said.
"But you do like him" It was supposed to be a question, but the moment Andrea opened her mouth, she realized that there was no need for it to be. It was plainly obvious for everyone willing to actually look. Judging by the slight widening of her eyes (which she conceals rather quickly again) Andrea thinks that maybe Sharon hadn't known she does before that.
Sharon doesn't say anything to that. Of course she doesn't like Andy like that, that was just ridiculous. They've been friends for such a long time and that's all they were ever going to be. They might have shared the occasional overly - flirtatious conversation over the last few weeks but then again, they had traded innuendo filled remarks when Sharon had been happy with Jack. This clearly doesn't mean anything. And even if it did, why would Andy want a knocked-up hand-down from the boy he used to call his best friend not so long ago?
And though that being her last thought before falling asleep, she finds herself dreaming about some distant reality where Andy might actually want her – pregnancy and poor life choices included – which has her incredibly confused by morning.
She wakes Wednesday morning with a blonde head nestled in the crook of her neck, an arm slung protectively around her waist. She smiles when Andrea lets out a soft snore and tightens her hold just a little bit. The bedside clock shows her it's about five more minutes before the alarm is supposed to ring and she decides to relish in that moment. It's not the first time she wakes up like this and she loves her best friend any other day, but today she can't help but feel it ten-fold. She needs this easy, loving sweetness Andrea is able to provide with just her presence next to her. It helps ease the nerves that rake up when she thinks about what this day is going to bring for her.
When the alarm finally goes off, she eases herself out off her friend's embrace, let's her sleep for a few more minutes while she makes her way into the bathroom. When she undresses for her shower she can't help but look at her stomach again, where, of course, nothing is showing yet. Once more, she tries to envision herself a few months from now, and though she still can't see it, it scares her nonetheless. When she's satisfied with her examination she steps under the hot spray and tries to relief the tension in her body. And when she steps out of the shower, the tension is still there and Andrea is leaning against the wall opposite the bathroom, waiting for her own shower.
An hour later they arrive at Sharon's locker, hand in hand, where Andy is already waiting. And even though her dream still confuses her, the smile that splits her face when she spots him is genuine. He greets them in their usual manner, and it's enough for Sharon to even forget that she is nervous. The day passes way too quickly for Sharon's liking, still, and with a half-lie for Andy's benefit, she bids her two friends and Emma good-bye at just shy of three o'clock.
Then, she spends an hour nibbling on a salad, pushing it around her plate more than anything. Andrea's mother is patiently sitting in the booth opposite her, eating her own lunch, waiting for Sharon to find the words to what she wants to say. Or not – it doesn't matter. If the girl doesn't want to talk, then she would get all the silent support she could give, all the same. The hour after that is spent on a bench in the local park just across the street from her doctor's office. She's shared her fears and doubts, accepting the gentle reassurances that are offered – and then she's fallen silent again. When five o'clock draws nearer, she's tenderly pulled off the seat and ushered into the building.
She's terrified enough, that Andrea's mother fills out the initial form for her and when her name is finally called, the woman has to prod her into moving with a protective hand around her shoulders.
The room she's led to is white and sterile and smells of nothing and everything at the same time, and Sharon clings to the presence of soft fingers interlaced with hers. When, fifteen minutes later, the doctor confirms what she already knew to be true, she breaks down for the first time since talking to her parents. She feels paralyzed as she weeps into her friend's mother's shoulder and the two adults let her have that moment. They can't even imagine what that situation must feel like for her.
And then, when she finally does not have any more tears to cry, and all of her questions have been answered by her very compassionate doctor, she doesn't feel numb anymore. She's still afraid, this probably won't fade for a good long time yet, but there's a wee smile on her lips and a delightful gleam in her eyes. Now she has to tell Jack, because no matter what he decides to do or say about it, she can't raise a child with the knowledge that their father doesn't even know about their existence.
A/N … I decided, after a long thought process, not to include the actual doctor's appointment in the chapter. I tried, but after spending all that time recently with doctors and the likes, I could not bring myself to write an actual conversation between doctor/patient. I'm thinking, however, of trying my hands on that again later (and there will be further appointments in the story I won't skip all together) and include it as either a flashback or a tie-in.
I hope you enjoyed the latest installment of this story and I hope it was worth the wait. I am, again, so sorry for keeping you waiting that long, and, even though I will not make any promises, I WILL try to give you an update at least once a week.
Thank you, for all the lovely words and messages I received.
JK