Well, that was it. Sam's days as a college student had officially come to an end. Her graduating class was throwing a huge party now that the ceremony was over. It seemed the entire campus was out celebrating, even the underclassmen. Everyone was having the time of their life. Everyone, that is, except for Samantha Forster.
She had woken up on the day of her graduation, and had immediately lost the contents of her stomach all over the floor of her doom room. That had taken ages to clean up, and the day only got worse from there. The entire day had been ruined for Sam. She felt like crap and she'd constantly had to make a break for the bathroom, as she would rather throw up without the entire school for an audience. Which is how she ended up where she was now, crouching near the toilet groaning in pain, when she was supposed to be celebrating the biggest accomplishment of her life. Just leave it to her to get sick at the worst time possible. Sam was extremely grateful for Jen, who had been a pillar of support throughout the whole day. Even now, Jen was in the large family bathroom with her, making sure she was as good as she could be at the moment. Sam knew Jen's loyalty wasn't the only thing keeping her by her side. At her core, Jen was a scientist, and she was determined to get to the bottom of Sam's illness. Sam could hear Jen now, as she rambled off all the things she could think of that might be the cause of the sickness.
"...and of course there's food poisoning—" Jen broke off as she noticed Sam staring up at her blankly, and tried to lighten things up with a joke, "Well at least we can safely rule out pregnancy."
Panic flashed through Sam, and she felt like throwing up all over again. She hadn't told Jen about "the night". It hadn't felt necessary. Things with Jake had been completely normal afterwards, and besides, it wasn't something she wanted to go around talking about. That night had been between her and Jake. Period. Now though, Sam was reconsidering her decision to not tell Jen. If she had told Jen, she wouldn't be facing her wide, questioning eyes right now.
"Sam?" Jen spoke slowly, "We can rule out pregnancy, right?"
Sam couldn't speak. She couldn't even move her head in reply. All she could do was turn her head back towards the toilet as she threw up for probably the millionth time today. Tears formed in her eyes, and she heard Jen draw in a sharp breath.
Jen's words came out faster than she could keep up with, "Samatha Anne Forster, how could you keep something like this from me!" Jen pivoted when Sam started crying hysterically, "Oh, okay. This is going to be okay. Sam, look at me. Everything's going to be okay, ok?" Jen took a deep breath, and then another, to calm herself down. Then she was back in scientist mode, "Sorry about that. Sam, you don't have to tell me anything you feel uncomfortable sharing, but I'd like to ask a few questions?" Jen waited for her to nod before continuing, "Do you have an idea how long ago the last time you, uh, spent…time with someone was?"
Sam swallowed uncomfortably, her voice was hoarse from all the vomiting and crying, "A month or so ago?"
Jen's eyes went wide again behind her black rimmed glasses, but she held herself together and mumbled to herself, "Well, that checks out." Jen looked back to where she sat by the toilet, "What about your period?"
Sam had to think about that, she had been extremely busy this month. She did seem to remember some spotting, which at the time she had chalked up to all the stress she was feeling, "Spotting?"
Jen nodded, "Have you had any other symptoms?"
She had no idea. What other symptoms were there? Jen saw her confusion and started listing things for her, "Fatigue, mood swings, aches and pain, food cravings?" Sam dropped her head in her hands and started crying again. Could this seriously be happening? Jen took a steadying breath, "Sam, you're gonna be ok. Just because you're experiencing these symptoms doesn't mean you're pregnant. Did you use protection?" Sam nodded. "Ok, see? That fact alone significantly lowers your chance of being pregnant. It could just be a flu, or a side effect of all the stress you've been under." Jen crouched down next to her and pulled her into a hug.
After Sam calmed down, wrapped tightly in Jen's arms, she asked, "So I'm not pregnant?"
She pulled back when Jen didn't answer, and saw that her lips were pressed into a line, "Well…Look, the only way we'll know for sure Sam, is if you take a test. What do you think?"
Sam blinked at her. Her brain felt numb. Finally, she was able to nod.
"Ok, so here's what we're gonna do. I'll run to the pharmacy and get the tests, and you'll stay here in case you need to throw up again." Jen stood up, gathered her things, and walked over to the bathroom door. "Make sure and lock this behind me." She looked over her shoulder and smiled softly, "And Sam? You're going to be ok." Jen slipped out the door, and Sam crawled over to push the lock in.
Sam leaned her back against the door, not bothering to crawl back to her spot by the toilet. Her stomach had calmed down for now, and she was just too tired to move. She would have to let Jen back in anyway. Sam's eyes teared up as she thought about Jen. She didn't deserve her. The tears kept coming as she thought of her other best friend. What was going to happen if she was pregnant? She didn't even wanna think about telling him. She would cross that bridge when—if, she came to it.
She sat in front of the door, not really thinking about anything, just resting. She had just shut her eyes when she heard a soft knock on the door. Was Jen back already? She wasn't sure exactly how long it had been since she had left.
Just before she could reach up and open the door a voice spoke, "Sam?"
She froze. The voice belonged to her best friend, just not the one she had been waiting for. She couldn't talk to him, not right now. Holding her breath, she listened intently through the bathroom door. Was he looking for her, or did he know she was in here? He didn't say anything else, and Sam could hear the sound of his boots grow quieter as he walked away. She let out a heavy sigh, and rested her full weight into the door. Before she knew it, she had fallen asleep.
Sam was startled awake by a much more aggressive knocking. The voice she heard was aggressive as well.
"Sam, I swear to God, if you don't let me in right this—" She jumped up and quickly opened the door. Jen was standing there with a shopping bag in one hand, and what had been a look of fury in her eyes quickly turned to concern as she slipped past Sam. Jen spoke after she shut the door and relocked it, "Why weren't you answering your phone?"
"What?" Sam grabbed her phone off the sink counter and turned it on. She had missed several calls from Jen and Jake. She quickly cleared the notifications and turned her phone off. Jen still looked scared when she glanced back up. "I kinda fell asleep after you left."
Jen let out a shaky breath, "I was worried. I didn't want to leave you alone, so I had asked Jake to check on you while I was gone. He texted me saying he had come checked, but when he knocked there was no reply. You must have been asleep by then."
"Uh, yeah, must have," Sam cleared her throat, "You didn't, um, tell Jake anything did you?"
Jen looked at her, "Sam, I would never share your personal information like that." She sounded hurt, but didn't say anything more about it. She handed over the bag she had been holding, "Do you want me to step out?"
"I'm sorry Jen." Sam felt bad for questioning Jen as she had. Jen was being so supportive, she didn't know what she would do without her. "And…you can stay." Her voice wavered with her nerves.
Jen smiled and hugged her close, holding her that way for a while. Then, letting go, she turned to face the wall as Sam took a deep breath and prepared the tests.
It was the waiting after that nearly killed Sam. She was sitting on the closed toilet seat, and made sure to keep the space where the test result would show up hidden from view. Jen stood next to her, and held her hand as they both waited in silence. The timer on Jen's phone went off, making Sam jump clear off the seat. Jen squeezed her hand tight, and she looked up meeting her friend's gaze. Then, closing her eyes for a second, she took a deep breath and gave a slight nod. Sam was ready.
So, from this point on the story will be switching between two different timelines. I'll clarify which timeline we are in at the beginning of each chapter, but besides that I'm thinking that timeline 1 will be normal text while timeline 2 will be italicized.