A gift From Las Vegas

Samantha

"Sam, are you there?" Charlie knocked on the bathroom door of the apartment we shared.

My only wish was to pretend it didn't exist until it became real. I sank a little deeper into the empty tub, seeking some protection from reality.

"Sam, you know if we're late we're going to have to put up with Elle picking on us!"  his tapping became insistent "come on, it's only two apresentacions today."

"The door is open," I mumbled, opening the third chocolate bar that would probably turn me into a pig.

Well, I would have the size of one sooner or later anyway.

Charlie opened the door, wide-eyed to find me lying in the empty bathtub, surrounded by boxes of assorted treats that my payment for last night's show had managed to buy.

"What the hell is that?"

She cautiously approached the tub as I nibbled listlessly on the chocolate bar. My friend bent down, picking up the reason for my despair in the last few hours from the floor.

Four pregnancy tests, all positive.

“My life is over.” I sniffled.

"Sam, I... Is this serious?" she stammered, sounding goofy.

I nodded without bothering to look at her.

"But..."

"I did the blood test, the result comes out today, but I couldn't wait"  I explained, settling in the little space I had.

"Who is the father? It's been a while since you broke up with Jack."

I sighed at the thought of my ex boyfriend. It would be much easier if it was him, I knew him, we had a relationship that lasted over a year. But no, I had to make things a little difficult.

“It's not Jack's. You do not know him.

She looked confused by the answer. I've always made a point of introducing all of my romantic involvements to Charlie, with the exception of Theon.

She knew that I had hooked up with someone a few weeks ago and that it was a passing thing since he was just in town on vacation. The only one who really knew him was Elle. It was amazing to enjoy his company,

I just didn't expect that such a silly oversight as the one we had would result in something like this.

"Sam, who are we talking about?" - She sat down next to me, picking up a packet of jelly beans that was on top of my stomach.

“That guy I met at the bar the day we went out together,” I explained.

“I think I understand why so many sweets.

“If it were up to me, I'd be surrounded by tequila, but apparently I can't drink any more.

We sat there for a few seconds in silence, just absorbing the news, but, all too soon, Charlie broke it.

“I know you're freaking out, but we realy need to go.”

Despite feeling reluctant, I forced myself to shower and get dressed for work. I needed to work, at least while I can still dance without having a huge baby bump getting in the way.

Charlie and I took a taxi to the hotel where our first performance was to be held. Afterwards we would go to an Arab restaurant, where apparently they didn't care about the ethnicity of their dancers as long as they knew how to belly dance and dressed in appropriate attire.

I was in the dressing room separating the clothes I would wear in the presentation when Charlie came in, sitting on a sofa already dressed for the presentation, taking advantage of the fact that we had been the first to arrive.

“How long have you been expecting?” she asked.

"I don't know," I sighed, sitting down next to her, "It's been a few weeks since Theon left, so it can't be more than that. But I think I need to go see a doctor or something. I knew one thing was wrong. , but I didn't want to accept it."

“I noticed you were acting weird, but I thought you had the flu from Milly.” She watched me.

“I don't get sick,” I sniffled, “but I also considered the flu, even though my period is a few days late.

"Denial?

“Could be,” I admitted. “I felt cramps, so I thought it was just that, a delay.

"But it was not.

I shook my head, laying down on her lap. I felt lonely, it was ironic to say the least, since technically, I would always be accompanied from now on.

"What do you intend to do?" she asked.

“Well, I'm going to try to dance all night without throwing up on anyone, and then eat the rest of my candy."

"Sam…" she sighed.

“And maybe call Theon and say, 'Hi, remember me? So… I hope you like kids, because we're having one.'” I cringed into his lap. “I'll be lucky if he doesn't disappear."

"He's not going to disappear" she assured me, touching my hair 'and if he does, we'll find a way, you can always ask your father to hunt him down and make him pay alimony."

“If I ask my father to hunt you, he'll take it seriously, you know hunting is his favorite pastime. Last thing I'm getting is alimony,” I joked, feeling a new terror rise in me.

How would I tell my parents this? I would have to tell them at some point!

"Sam, are you crying!?" Why?” Charlie's eyes widened when I got up from his lap, trying to wipe away the stubborn tears that insisted on appearing.

“I don't know, can I blame the hormones?” I forced a smile, trying to change the subject when I heard voices approaching the door “please don't tell.”

I didn't want to talk anymore about how terrified I was about the situation. I just wanted to try to maintain a normal routine. She wrapped me in an awkward hug trying to comfort me, but that seemed impossible to me at the moment.

A baby!

"Come on, you need makeup," Charlie declared, leading me over to the mirror, "let's make you pretty."

She worked on me as the girls buzzed around me, unaware of the chaos engulfing my mind.

The first part of the night passed without incident. The routines were simple and the main attraction was a cover of Elvis that was performing. Due to the tight schedule, I didn't have time to check the result of the blood test, although I already knew what it would be. When we arrived at the restaurant, there was no suitable place to prepare for the presentation, so we took turns in the manager's room.

I was the last one to get ready, sitting on the chair, picking up my cell phone to confirm the test result.

That's it... I'm having a baby, the son of a guy I don't even know well!

What do I know about him? He's Greek, he lives in Colorado, and his cousin is getting married. In fact, he must have been married already. It's been a month since Theon left.

"That damn goodbye party," I cursed, throwing the phone on the table and burying my face in both hands.

A knock on the door had me looking up in time to see Elle walk in with a worried look on her face.

"Sorry I'm late Elle, I'll be right...

"Sam, are you okay?" She approached.

I was fine? I just realized that I got myself into the biggest mess of my life.

"Sure," I lied, forcing a smile, "any problem?"

“The owner of the restaurant saw you earlier and well, he has some special plans for you” she commented evaluating me “you don't have to accept it.”

“What plans?” I frowned.

“What is your experience with snakes?” She grimaced.

I blinked in a daze at that sentence.

Snakes? Why would I have experience with snakes?

"What kind of snake are you talking about?"

“That it's disgusting and crawls around.

That information made my stomach churn, forcing me to run to the bathroom. Elle followed close behind, holding my hair in an attempt to comfort me.

"I'm sorry, you don't have to go near any snakes," she assured when she heard a small uncontainable hiccup from me.

“That's not the problem,” I assured, wiping the tears that had escaped.

Will I be able to stop crying at some point?

"So you're going to dance with the snake around your neck?" She frowned.

"No way!" I raised my voice, getting up and going to the sink.

"Sam, you've been weird since we met," she sighed, stopping beside me and eyeing me suspiciously.

I looked away, not sure what to say next.

“Sam…”

“I'm pregnant,” I blurted out at once.

“How is it?” she returned almost immediately, gaping at me.

An uncomfortable silence fell between the two of us, I didn't want this story to spread so quickly, but I don't think it would be so easy to hide.

"Who's the father?" she approached gently.

“Theon” I looked away, not having the courage to meet her eyes“ you know, the Greek guy.

“What the fuck, Sam!” she cursed.

It seems she also thinks I've made an already bad situation worse.

"What do I do?” I begged for a magical solution.

“What? I don't know, Sam. Will you carry the pregnancy forward?” she got straight to the point.

"Yeah, I couldn't do otherwise," I sniffled.

Despite the dread that the situation created in me, I never thought about aborting that baby.

“Then you need to tell him. Do you have any contacts?

“I have his number, but what am I going to say? I can't call someone out of the blue and tell them we're going to have a baby!

“And you have another option, Samantha?” She rolled her eyes.

“No but…”

“Look, you better take the rest of the night off. I think May will go along with the snake idea, and it won't be good if you throw up on some customer” she sighed “then we can see together what you need.

"Will I still be able to dance?" I wiped my eyes.

“I don't know, I've never been in that situation” she admitted “I think until you see a doctor it's better to take a break from work.”

“It's so much details.”

“I know, but you're going to have to deal with everything” she cut me off “ go home and try to get some sleep, we can talk later.”

I thought about what she said and it made sense. I could fall, throw up, pass out, anything. Other than that soon I would be too unattractive to wear whatever clothes they gave me, but what could I do? A baby needs money!

And there was still Theon's issue, I needed to warn him. But how?

I'm so screwed!