The Thin Red Line?

“Can you close the window?” I asked Brad.

We were sitting on his couch and he was closest to it. The breeze blowing through wasn’t helping my allergies and I was sick of sneezing. And I was getting sick of Brad, too. Every time I tried to talk about something serious, he changed the subject to his new tattoo or to how romantic it was that we told each other we loved each other over a picnic.

“What? No. It’s so hot in here. You know I don’t have an air conditioner.”

I got up and shut the window.

“Hey!” Brad yelled, he got up and opened the window.

“Are you serious?” I said angrily.

“It is boiling in here, Faith.”

“Yeah well maybe if you had spent money for an air conditioner instead of tattoos or guitars this wouldn’t be an issue!”

“What the hell is your problem!? Why are you being such a BITCH!?”

“Excuse me!? You’re the one throwing a tantrum over a WINDOW!”

“Are you on your period!? What is the deal?”

I opened my mouth to tell Brad off but I stopped.

“What, you are?”

“No.” I said quietly.

I slowly sat down on the couch and checked my phone’s calendar.

“Faith, what-”

“Shut UP, Brad. I’m checking something.”

I scrolled through my calendar and realized I didn’t have my period.

“Faith, tell me what-”

“I’m late.”

“What?”

“My period…it’s…it’s late.”

“What do you mean? How late?”

“Two weeks.”

“Is…is that normal? I thought being on the pill made it so it wasn’t late.” Brad asked.

I tried to think about other times where my period was late.

“The pill usually makes it start on time but I’ve been late before while taking it when I’ve been really stressed out. It’s…it’s never been this late before.” I said.

“How could this happen? Are you pregnant!?” Brad was pacing and breathing fast.

“I don’t know, Brad. I almost never miss a pill.”

“I’m….I’ll go buy a test. There’s a pharmacy around the corner, I’ll just go get one and then you can take it okay?”

“Okay.” I said.

Brad threw on a shirt and grabbed his keys and wallet and left me alone in his apartment. I stared at my phone in disbelief. I couldn’t figure out how this could be happening. I looked to see if I’d taken a pill late on my calendar because I use a special symbol to mark it if that happens but I’d taken it like I was supposed to.

I tried to calm myself down by drinking some water and taking deep breaths.

“It’s okay,” I said to myself, “You’re probably not pregnant. It’s okay, you’re freaking out over nothing.”

I started pacing in Brad’s kitchen and stared at the clock every few seconds. After what seemed like an eternity, Brad came bursting through the door.

“I couldn’t figure out which one to buy, I got the purple digital one.”

“Whatever.” I said ripping into the box and heading to the bathroom.

I shut the door and read the directions and then perched myself over the toilet. Then Brad walked in.

“Oh, God, Brad! Can you give me a second, please!?”

“Oh, geez!” He said covering his face and backing out the door, “YOU PEE ON IT!?”

“What did you THINK I was going to do with it?” I yelled at him through the door.

“I don’t know, just, like, stick it up-”

“Oh my God, Brad, NO!”

I put the cap on the pregnancy test and opened the door.

“We have to wait for 10 minutes.” I said.

I placed it on the sink and sat on the edge of the bathtub. Brad came and sat next to me.

"...is your birth control going to affect the results?” He asked.

“Brad, have you had any sex ed? I mean really. NO, it will not affect the pregnancy test!”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, the test looks for a special pregnancy hormone, not the estrogen and progesterone in my pills, okay?”

“Alright.”

I clasped my hands together and put them between my knees. Brad bounced is leg up and down. I looked at my phone’s clock and counted down the seconds. It was the longest ten minutes of my life.

I grabbed the test and looked down at it with Brad. We both started crying, but only one of us was crying from happiness.