Symptoms Don't Lie

Tuli

At six in the morning, I found myself knocking on Megan and Daniel’s door. I was thankful that Megan was a light sleeper, unlike Daniel. He didn’t need to be in the loop about my current worry.

“Please, open up,” I whispered.

Megan opened the door after a moment, rubbing her sleepy eyes. “Tuli?” she yawned. “What’s going on?”

“I’ve been throwing up for the past three mornings, and my period hasn’t shown up,” I whispered back. Her eyes widened in surprise, suddenly wide awake.

“I’m not sure,” I mumbled, “but I don’t want to go buy a pregnancy test alone.”

She nodded. “Let me get some sweats on and we’ll head out.”

Twenty minutes later, we were standing in front of the pregnancy tests. Megan was holding two different brands.

“You’d think they’d just have one reliable brand,” she grumbled. “What if it shows up negative and then you end up having octuplets?”

“Meg, don’t even joke about that! I’m stressed enough as it is.”

“Sorry,” she chuckled.

I pulled out my phone and looked up the brands. “That one.”

“Okay. Let’s get out of here before that old lady starts throwing holy water at you.”

We paid for the test and headed back home. Luckily, everyone was still asleep, so we snuck into the bathroom and locked the door.

Megan leaned against the counter while I nervously tried to open the packaging. ~I could have sworn I didn’t forget to take my birth control!~ I thought to myself as I positioned the stick.

Once I was done, I set the stick on the counter. “How long do we wait?” I asked Megan as I washed my hands.

“Two minutes. I’ll set a timer.”

I nodded and nervously scrolled through my phone. A text message popped up while I was on Instagram.

Jayce

You up?

Thank God I was smart enough not to buy an iPhone. I could read the message without it alerting the other person. I decided to ignore it and closed out of the messenger app.

Then the timer went off on Megan’s phone.

My anxiety shot through the roof. Megan and I exchanged a look before I picked up the stick. I took a deep breath before looking down at it.

A pink plus sign.

I blinked, hoping my eyes were playing tricks on me. Nope, still there. I showed Megan, and she had the same reaction.

“It could be wrong, right?” She pulled the other one out of the box. “You don’t need to pee again, do you?”

I shook my head.

I hid the test behind the extra toilet paper in the cabinet, then rolled up the used one in toilet paper and tossed it in the trash can. Hopefully, people will think it’s a used tampon.

“Do your boobs hurt?” Megan whispered as we headed back to my room to watch TV.

I nodded, and she groaned. “I hate to break it to you, chica, but I think you might be pregnant.”

I ran my hands through my hair in frustration.

This couldn’t be happening right now. Maybe it was just some strange coincidence. Maybe the test was inaccurate.

Did I want a baby? I rolled my eyes. Of course I did. I’d always known I wanted kids.

But was I ready for one? Was Jayce? He’d said he was willing to try with me. That didn’t mean he would take on an unexpected pregnancy.

I sat down on the bed while Megan turned on a movie. “~Jurassic Park~?”

“I don’t really care,” I mumbled.

As soon as the movie started, she sat down next to me and wrapped her arms around me.

“It’ll be okay,” she hummed soothingly.

My phone pinged again, and I opened up my messages.

Jayce

I’m missing you already. :’( Call me when you wake up, okay? I have something I need to talk to you about. I love you. o3o

I shut my phone off. I felt bad, but I wasn’t ready to talk to him. I was afraid I might let something slip.

As I set my phone down, Megan asked, “What are you thinking about?”

I shrugged. After that, we stopped talking and started watching the movie.

After the movie was over, I needed to pee again. We went back to the bathroom, and I used the second test. We anxiously waited for the timer to go off.

When it did, I reached for the stick a little faster than last time.

Sure enough, another plus sign. I groaned.

“Positive again?”

I nodded, and she sighed.

“Tuli, I don’t know what to tell you. I mean, our last resort would be to go to a doctor if you’re that much in denial,” she stated.

“Kiara,” I said after a moment.

She used to work as a nurse before she opened her jewelry shop. She knew a thing or two about the medical department.

Megan went along with me to wake my stepmom. Seconds later, we were in my bedroom, Kiara still rubbing at her tired eyes.

“Do your boobs hurt?” she asked tiredly, and I nodded. “And you’ve been having morning sickness?”

Another nod.

“Any mood swings? Odd cravings? Are you needing to pee more often? How long ago was your period supposed to start?”

Question after question, she fired at me.

“I haven’t noticed anything different with my mood or food cravings,” I told her honestly, “and I haven’t been needing to go to the bathroom every five minutes. According to my phone, my period was supposed to start,” I paused to double-check, “about a week ago.”

“Okay, have you taken a pregnancy test?”

“Two,” Megan answered. “Both positive.”

Kiara’s lips tightened into a thin line. “Tules, I’d love to tell you it’s all just a coincidence, but that would be wishful thinking. The symptoms don’t lie and, most of the time, neither do the tests. I hate to be the one to break it to you, sweetheart.”

I let out a long sigh and massaged my temples. After a moment, I found my voice. “Can you guys do something for me?”

They both nodded, and I continued, “Please, please, don’t tell dad or Daniel. I love them to pieces, but this is already stressful enough. If they find out, especially Daniel,” I added, glancing at Megan, “it’s only going to make things worse. I need some time to break it to them.”

Megan nodded in understanding and Kiara said, “We’ll keep it between us. I promise. But I think you should at least let your boyfriend know.”

“I will, but I want to do it in person when we meet again,” I assured her.

Then I swallowed hard, my throat tight, as my phone pinged again. This time, I didn’t even bother to check.

Jayce

I sighed and pocketed my phone. It was now ten o’clock and Tuli hadn't responded to my texts.

Maybe she was still sleeping, but I was too eager to share the truth with her. The sooner she knew, the better.

“Quit sulking,” Janelle grumbled, setting a plate of food in front of me. “I’m the one who should be sulking.”

“I know. I’m just a little stressed out. I don’t know why she hasn’t texted me back.”

“Jayce, she’s with her family. It’s understandable she hasn’t responded yet. Be patient and give her a chance to reply before you lose it.”

I nodded and pushed my food around my plate. Janelle sighed. “You may only be a few minutes younger than me, but you still act like a baby.”

I stuck my tongue out at her and she laughed.

“Let’s go visit mom and dad’s grave. It might distract us. You know mom would be happy to see us on her favorite holiday.”

I popped a piece of bacon into my mouth and chewed thoughtfully before swallowing. “I don’t see why not.”

“Great! Let’s get the kids ready.”

We stopped by the store to pick up some flowers before heading to the cemetery.

We made our way to mom and dad’s tombstone. I’m not sure if it’s common in other cemeteries, but here, they bury the wife on top of the husband or vice versa, depending on who died first.

I always liked that idea. It felt like, even in death, two lovers would stay together forever.

But I wanted to be cremated when I died. I wanted my ashes scattered across some beautiful landscape.

I wondered if Tuli would want her ashes to be scattered with mine when her time came.

Janelle snapped me out of my thoughts. “Earth to Jayce,” she said, waving a hand in front of my face.

I nodded. “Sorry, just a little distracted.”

“That’s okay. Do you want to clean the tombstone while I clip the stems?”

“Sure.”

I was deep in thought as I wiped the stone down with a Clorox wipe. I then tossed it in the plastic bag with the clipped stems.

I couldn’t help but wonder what Mom and Dad would think, knowing I was about to propose. I wished they could be here to congratulate me and welcome Tuli into the family.

When Janie was finished, I grabbed the cups and filled them with water. I stuck them into the ground on opposite sides of the tombstone.

Janelle arranged the flowers in the cups.

She stood up and went to comfort Dmitri, who was starting to fuss. While she did that, I pulled out my phone and took a couple of pictures.

It was nice to see a splash of color next to their gray tombstone. It made it a little less sad.

Gabrielle came up and hugged my legs. “Uncle Jayce?”

“Yeah, sweetie?” I answered, looking down into her beautiful green eyes.

“Are Grandma and Grandpa happy?”

I ruffled her black hair. “I’m sure they are, girlie.”

I picked her up and planted a kiss on her nose, making her giggle. I sat her down on the blanket my sister had spread out and sat down next to her on the grass.

We pulled out some snacks to munch on while enjoying the peaceful afternoon. Soon after we were done, I heard a familiar laugh.

I looked up to see Tuli approaching. She hadn’t spotted us yet, but she was about to. Behind her were Megan and a tall blonde I recognized as Daniel.

And trailing behind them were Hunter and Kiara.

“Crap,” I mumbled, getting to my feet.

Tuli saw me and her steps slowed. She froze for a second, before she said, “Jayce?”

“Uh, hey, baby,” I told her, forcing a smile onto my face.

Then Hunter saw me and gave me a smile. He must not have heard Tuli, because he said, “Oh, hey, Adam. Nice to run into you and your sister. I know how much your mom loved Thanksgiving, so I thought we’d come to pay her and your dad a visit.”

Immediately my eyes went back to Tuli, whose mouth dropped open in shock, as did Daniel’s and Megan’s. It may have only been seconds before they recovered, but it felt like hours.

“Wait. Adam?”

“Yeah, your childhood friend,” Hunter replied. “You kids don’t remem—”

Tuli rushed me.

We all stood frozen as her fist came right at my face. It connected with my eye and I stumbled back from the force.

“Fuck, my hand!”