Hello! A slightly longer chapter today, the next one will be shorter. - Le Sac Bleu

"How can you be sure it's mine?"

She puts her hands on the steering wheel, throws her head back on the headrest, closes her eyes. I'm watching for something on her face, a sign, something that would tell me this is all just a big joke. I walked, haha. I even ran. But it was a valve, Cullen. A big valve. It's not funny, but it's still funny.

"Have you ever wondered how girls know?"

I pout. Girl's stories, very little for me. I'll see when I get a girl. Well, I guess. It always seemed weird to me, and despite the sex education classes I taught in high school, I've always approached these issues with due discretion.

In other words, I don't feel concerned.

Maybe I'll have to fire my cutie.

"You..."

"Twelve days late. I calculated based on my cycles. You know what a cycle is, right? The uterus, the endometrium, the periods, all that?"

I must look lost because she says:

"The dates match."

"Dates..."

"Damn, Cullen! I'm not one to cheat on my guy and you're the only guy I got to sleep with a month ago!"

"Black is..."

"In New York for another three weeks, yes!"

I knew it. I knew that this evening was going to end badly. Alice had predicted it. My sister always had a knack for depicting the future. I should have listened to her.

"There's nothing to say we really slept together that night. I have no memory of that night, and neither do you!"

"Well, we have the proof!" She retorts, lifting her sweater to show me her belly.

I can't see anything except her well-defined abs. It's only muscle, Swan, you can't take that away from her. Muscle and flexibility. Pretty appetizing. It's true that if I had the opportunity to touch it, I wouldn't deprive myself of it.

I digress.

"Wait, wait, wait. You yourself said that we were so drunk I couldn't get hard!"

"In any case, we were good enough not to put on a condom properly."

She seems resigned. It's weird, I feel like I'm not reacting.

I'm a little stunned. That night was a huge mess. We had the house to ourselves, and we didn't deprive ourselves of enjoying it. I remember waking up the next day with Swan in my bed panicking and telling me that this night never happened, that no matter what had happened, nothing happened, and rushing to Alice's room before I had time to emerge from my headache to ask her questions.

And the worst part is I have no memory of what happened because I was too cooked to remember.

Just a flash of kissing Swan excitedly and loving it.

"What are you going to do?"

She looks at me. There's anger in her eyes.

"Is that all you have to tell me?"

That voice... It's sour and sharp. It almost hurts to hear.

"I don't really know what else I can say."

I defend myself the best I can. She comes to explain her problems to me with the idea that I'd come to solve them? Damn, I don't know!

I think back to Alice and her grandiloquent speeches about women's choice and their bodies and blah, blah, blah.

"Either way it's up to you. Whatever I say is up to you."

In Alice's mouth it sounded better. Like, liberating speech, feminine and all that.

In my mouth it just sounds like a guy that doesn't want to take responsibility.

But I mean it: she does what she wants. Even though I clearly don't see myself as a father in less then eight months, although I really hope that she will take the option that will be the least complicated for us.

Not necessarily the easiest. But the least complicated.

Swan closes her eyes, breathless. She seems exhausted. I notice the dark circles, well defined under her eyes. Under the illumination of the night light above the mirror, her milky skin looks more fragile around the eyelids. It's as if Bella Swan has a weakness. It feels weird to me. And I think I'm starting to see the enormity of what's ahead.

"So?"

I need an answer.

"What do you think? I looked at the clinics near Seattle. There's one that takes walk-ins for this kind of emergency. She grinds between her teeth.

She's right. She can't mess up her purse or her life (no pun intended). Together with Alice and their team of cheerleaders, they have been selected for the Cheerleading Worlds which takes place in three months. There is an interesting prize to be won, a prize that could help her complete her studies. I can't see her giving up on that.

The Swans are pretty broke. Charlie is a cop and, how can I put it... Forks is not the city where the advancement of state officials is easiest. He raised his two children alone: his wife disappeared 15 years ago and has never been heard from (or alimony again). In short, the Swans often eat plain pasta at the end of the month, Emmett takes swimming lessons in parallel with his studies, and Swan gets a cheerleading scholarship to continue in college. This way, they hope not to put too much pressure on the household savings.

Not really the right profile to be a mother in your twenties.

"Why are you telling me if..." If you've already have made up your mind?

"I just wanted you to know."

Ah.

"I thought it was more correct."

Swan has a strong sense of responsibility. It's not for nothing that she is a high-level acrobat. Duty guides her steps on the sacrosanct road to success.

She has a lot of flaws but I have to give her credit for this: she does what she thinks she should do. And she always speaks her mind.

"When are you going?"

"I'll go on Saturday."

She purses her lips. I'm waiting for the sequel. She has something to ask me, it shows like a wart in the middle of her face.

"I'll need you to come with me to Seattle."

She didn't have to tell Alice, then. Otherwise, my sister would've gone with her.

She didn't tell anyone.

And right now, I feel a little bad for her. For us, even. We're alone in that.

"On Saturday I have a competition of..."

"You're half to blame for this."

I close my eyes. We have to stop being touchy for nothing. Otherwise, we'll never be able to drive all the way to Seattle: I already wanted to throw her in a ditch.

I know I'm responsible but shit! It was their evening to celebrate the end of their January exams, and I was the one being yelled at?

I forced myself to breathe.

"Saturday I can't but I can skip class Friday afternoon if you want."

I'll go for a swim in the morning. And Emmett will understand for training. At worst, he'll torture me on Saturday.

I can stand it: Emmett doesn't scare me.

His sister is much worse when she gets into it.

Swan releases her breath.

"Okay. Let's do that."

I slam the door on the way out.