chapter 5

Jade

I closed my eyes and let Ed Sheeran's voice soothe my soul, knowing fully well that I was moping but didn't care. I promised myself just a few more days, and then I would stop thinking about Michael. It was proving to be extremely difficult to forget about the man when I dreamt of him every time I closed my eyes. We'd had the perfect night together, and my mind couldn't stop replaying it, which was both satisfying and torturous. I heard my bedroom door open, and I opened my eyes to see Tammie narrowing her eyes at me.

"You know that listening to heartbreak songs makes you feel like crap, right?"

I sat up and paused the song playing on my phone. "Joke's on you. That was actually a love song."

Tammie rolled her eyes. "You need to get out more, and I mean just getting out into the sun. Have you seen how pale you look?"

"I had that stomach bug all weekend, remember?"

"Yeah, but I thought you were feeling better now?"

"I am. Maybe my complexion is just taking time to catch up."

Staying in bed all weekend had probably upped my Michael thoughts since I had nothing else to do, but I'd had little choice. It had all started with my sister's macaroni and cheese which had made me spend the entire weekend hugging a toilet bowl. Despite that little sore spot in my heart, I was feeling much better.

"Well, you look worse than Grandma Rose, and she has the excuse of having a device implanted in her heart."

I laughed and shook my head. "How is she doing? I meant to visit this weekend, but –"

"You were busy puking your guts out, I know. She's complaining about being on bed rest, but every day is better than the last."

As if she had woken up my regurgitation system by simply mentioning the word 'puking,' I felt my breakfast threatening to reappear. I rushed to the toilet and got there just in time, feeling tears sting my eyes as I retched. Tammie was right behind me, and she pushed my hair out of the way, holding it up for me as I threw up. When there was nothing left, Tammie handed me some toilet paper to wipe my mouth, and I sat on the floor for a minute as I caught my breath.

"It might be time to visit the doctor," Tammie said, but I shook my head.

I had been feeling fine a few minutes ago, and besides feeling just a little tired, I wasn't in any pain. I told this to Tammie, who frowned.

"A doctor would tell us what's up. You've been assuming it was just a case of eating bad food, but shouldn't it be out of your system by now?"

I had no idea; maybe using G****e for medical advice wasn't the best way to go.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were pregnant," Tammie teased, obviously trying to lighten the mood and make me laugh.

But her statement had the opposite effect as a cold feeling of dread filled my entire body. I placed a hand to my stomach and prayed to any God that would listen that Tammie was wrong. The idea had never crossed my mind, and now that she had mentioned it, I wondered how it hadn't been the first thing I thought of.

"Hey, are you okay? I was only joking," Tammie said, placing her hand on my shoulder. "You are practically celibate. If anyone should be pregnant, then it would be me."

She laughed but stopped when I didn't join her, her own face becoming pale.

"Oh shit," she almost whispered. "Sexy guy from the auction?"

I nodded slowly as I did the math in my head.

"But you've always been irregular," Tammie insisted. Even though I was panicking, I felt gratitude toward Tammie for trying to provide some much-needed logic.

"This is the sixth week. Even I am not that irregular."

But I had also been a bit stressed the past few weeks. Between working on my application for culinary school and being busy at work, maybe my system had just responded accordingly. Pregnancy was not the only thing that made a person throw up, miss their period, and feel tired. But even as I said it, I knew I was grasping at straws.

"Remember when I had those back-to-back modeling gigs? I didn't get my period for two months, and the doctor said it was just stress."

I refrained from reminding her that she had not slept with anyone in those two months, which made our circumstances very different. I didn't want to say it out loud because it might become true.

"I think we need to go to the pharmacy," I said, knowing I had to be sure.