Page 49 of Size Queen

We deal with what isn’t important, which ironically is ordering our meal. I let her look over the menu that I’ve now had time to memorize. My eyes dart from the menu to the beauty in front of me. We don’t make direct eye contact, instead “checking each other out” like high school kids. After we give our server our order and he takes our menus away, we face each other fully.

“So, you ever going to tell me what’s going on?” I ask her. “I’ve been worried about you ever since I saw you last. I know you were crying. I just… please tell me if I did something to upset you. I swear, it wasn’t my intention—”

“No, you didn’t—you didn’t make me cry,” she says. “I’ve been having a really tough last week.”

“You can tell me about it, you know.”

“That’s exactly what I’m going to do,” she assures me. “I just haven’t been brave enough, I’m sorry.”

“Noelle, what is it?” I ask, agitated.

“I’m pregnant.”

The entire waffle house goes completely silent. Or at least it feels like it.

I’m suddenly numb. Her admission feels like a sucker punch.

It can’t be… We wore condoms… I pulled out…Those don’t always work…

“Damon?”

“I’m sorry—you’re what, now?” I stutter.

“I’m pregnant,” she repeats. It doesn’t shock me any less hearing it the second time.

“Wow. Uh… okay then,” I say while chuckling awkwardly. “Are you… so are you trying to say…?”

“I haven’t slept with anyone else besides you this whole year,” she says. “It’s yours, I promise.”

“Okay.” I’m still trying to process. “Not that I don’t believe you, but… would you happen to…”

As if she can read my mind, she goes through her phone and pulls up a picture of her with the pregnancy test taken a few days ago. Positive. I take a deep breath, pulverized inside.

“Is it bad that I’m hoping you’re just lying to me to try and get some child support money?” I say with another uncomfortable laugh.

“I’m not lying,” she says, shaking her head. “That test you saw there wasn’t even the first one I tried. I peed on a few of them.”

“And they’re all positive?”

“They are,” she confirms. “You don’t think there’s a chance all three could have been false positives, do you?”

“Hey, don’t ask me,” I say with my hands up. “I know nothing about the ways of the pregnant. That’s what you want to hear from the guy that knocked you up, right?”

We laugh together. It’s a contradiction considering we both feel like we’re descending down an unknown tunnel.

Her smile morphs into despair, and she covers her face. She breaks down in tears. I’m instantly reminded me of the last time we were together and she ran into the bathroom to cry away from me. This time, I’m not going to let her get away or separate us over anything.

“Noelle, please don’t cry.”

She sniffs, trying to wipe her face as discreetly as possible. “Sorry…”

“Hey, no need to apologize,” I tell her. “I’m pretty freaked-out right now, myself. It takes a lot to freak me out, I have to tell you.”

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” she says while trying to compose herself. “I… I’ve been thinking about all my options.”

“And?”

“Have you ever gotten a girl pregnant before me?” she interjects.