Part 27 (2/2)

”Forget it,” Shelby said and the weariness in her eyes was far worse than any shouting or screaming. ”He asked Debbie Stanton out. He hasn't even looked at me since . . .”

”Oh, Shelby,” Vivien said. ”I knew that guy wasn't good enough to get within ten feet of you. Hand me your phone, I'm going to . . .”

”Vivi,” Shelby said. ”Could we just find out for sure?” They looked at each other and then they looked up at the CVS sign in the corner of the strip center.

”I can't go in there and buy a pregnancy test,” Shelby said and now her voice was whisper soft. ”Even if I'm not, everybody will know.”

”Okay,” Vivi said, already fumbling for her purse on the floor of the backseat. ”I'll be right back.”

Vivi waddled into the store and followed the signs to the pharmacy. From a shelf of early pregnancy tests, she chose three different brands. With her thoughts on Shelby and hoping against hope that these kits would come up with a great big, ”Relax, it's a negative,” she carried them up to the cash register and set them on the counter.

The clerk had streaky blonde hair and a large oval face. Her body beneath the store smock was beefy and so were the hands she fisted on her ample hips. She considered the pregnancy tests in front of her and then took a long look at Vivi. ”I think I can save you a little money here, honey,” she said, her gaze halting for a long moment on Vivi's bulging stomach. ”I might not be a doctor, but you're pregnant.”

Vivien raised an eyebrow at the woman, just managing to hold back the ”Ya think?” that sprang to her lips. ”They're, um, for a friend.”

”Right.” The woman was still staring at her stomach, but she went ahead and scanned the boxes. ”A friend,” she repeated as she dropped them into a plastic bag. ”Tell your . . . friend . . . good luck. And let her know that, uh, she can return any of these that aren't opened.”

”Thanks.” Vivien took the bag without further comment. She could feel the woman watching her as she waddled away.

When they got back to the house, Melanie was still at the studio and Trip was holed up in his room. The final strains of ”Dead and Gone” by T.I. snaked out into the hallway.

”Oh, G.o.d, I'm afraid to find out,” Shelby said as she followed Vivi to her room.

”Here,” Vivi said as she scanned the instructions, then handed a box to Shelby and directed her into the bathroom. ”Ignorance is not bliss. Basically, you just pee on the stick and then wait for the color to tell you whether you're pregnant or not.”

”Okay.” Shelby looked and sounded about ten. Her face was scrunched up in an effort to hold back tears.

”Look,” Vivien said from the other side of the closed door. ”Let's not worry until we know we have a reason to.” Not that the fact that Shelby had reason to think she might be pregnant wasn't reason enough. She heard the sound of cardboard and then paper being ripped open. Vivien offered up a few prayers on Shelby's behalf, not that any of the ones she'd sent up for herself had been particularly successful. A few minutes later she heard, ”Oh, man!”

”What?” Vivi asked. ”What is it?”

”My hand was shaking so bad I dropped the stick in the toilet.”

Vivien drew a deep breath and then let it out. It wouldn't help for her to get as agitated as Shelby. ”Okay, we've got backups. Throw that one in the trash and I'll get you another one.” She opened the bathroom door and saw Shelby sitting on the toilet with her jeans puddled around her ankles. She looked way too young to be worrying about this. And horribly frightened.

”Leave the door open,” Shelby said. ”I, I just don't want to find this out all by myself.”

This Vivien understood completely. The doctor's message on the day she'd left CIN, all the shocks that had followed, came rus.h.i.+ng back to her and she knew they wouldn't have felt like such body blows if Stone had been there or she'd had anyone else she felt she could confide in.

She doubted she could have survived all the curve-b.a.l.l.s that had been slung her way without Melanie on her side, and she would not let Shelby face this alone. But in her heart she knew Melanie wouldn't appreciate Vivien keeping her daughter's worries from her. And how would she feel about the fact that Vivien, as Scarlett Leigh, had spent the last months poking fun at her life and those of her friends? She was too busy ripping open the box and handing the slim wand to Shelby to answer. Like the character from which she'd drawn her pseudonym, she'd think about that ”tomorrow.”

Vivien waited, heart pounding, while Shelby peed on the stick and then held it in front of her for the required period of time.

”What color was positive?” Shelby finally squeaked. ”Blue or pink?”

Vivi retrieved the box from the dresser where she'd dropped it and reread the instructions, barely breathing as she did so. ”Blue is positive. Pink is negative.”

There was a gasp from the bathroom.

”Shelby?” Vivien asked, bracing for the answer. ”Don't fool around here. What color did you get?”

”It's pink!” Shelby shouted. ”Thank, G.o.d, it's . . .” She paused as if double-checking. ”It's definitely pink!”

There was another pause during which the frenetic beat of Vivien's heart began to slow and her brain kicked back into gear. ”We've got one more test, and I am not returning it,” Vivi said. She ripped the box open, removed the wrapper, and shoved the wand at Shelby. ”Here,” she said. ”Let's just confirm, okay? To be sure.”

”All right,” Shelby said, and Vivi noticed that the quiver in her voice was already gone. ”But I'm expecting another negative. It better be another negative.”

Vivien waited in the bathroom doorway. She collapsed onto her bed in relief when Shelby's whoop of joy rang out in the bathroom. ”Pink!” she shouted. ”I've got another pink!”

Vivien felt as if she'd run a marathon. Dazed and out of breath, she waited for Shelby to get dressed and wash up. She still couldn't move when Shelby finally came into the bedroom and collapsed beside her. ”I can't believe how relieved I am.”

”That makes two of us,” Vivien said.

They sat on the bed, their shoulders touching, both of them spent.

”Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Shelby said, but Vivi wasn't sure whether the grat.i.tude was aimed her way or to a more highly placed recipient. When she was able to get her thoughts together, Vivien broached the subject that she had stashed away for after.

”I'm hugely glad you're not pregnant. But this risky behavior has to stop now, this minute. Or I'm going to have to tell your mother.”

Shelby tensed and Vivien knew she had to talk fast before the grat.i.tude and relief were replaced by Shelby's more usual belligerence.

”In my opinion you're much too young to be having intercourse, but if you're going to, you have got to practice safe s.e.x and birth control.”

”Like you did?” Already the sarcasm was sneaking back in.

”I'm an adult and our situations are completely different,” Vivien said. ”And right now we're talking about you.”

Shelby turned away from Vivi to face the mirror. Like the day she and Melanie had discussed her own pregnancy, Vivien was aware of the picture they presented. But no matter how grown-up Shelby looked, she was still a girl in many ways.

”I didn't even think you could get pregnant from oral s.e.x,” Shelby said in a rush. ”But then I didn't get my period, and I was so freaked out.”

Vivien paused as Shelby's words sank in.

”You didn't have intercourse and you thought you were pregnant.” Vivien tried the statement on for size. Her own sarcasm flew right over Shelby's head.

”He wanted me to go all the way, but I only gave him a b.l.o.w. .j.o.b.” She looked earnestly at Vivien, and Vivien tried not to wince at the word ”only.”

”You didn't have intercourse?” Vivien felt the need to double-check.

Shelby shook her head dejectedly. ”I said I would but then I just . . . couldn't. That's why he was so p.i.s.sed off.” She looked down at her hands, which were folded in her lap. ”I didn't even like putting his . . . thing . . . in my mouth. It was gross.”

Vivien reached out an arm and put it around Shelby's shoulders. ”Nothing is gross when you're in an adult relations.h.i.+p with someone you love and no one's being forced to do something they don't want to.”

Shelby drew a deep breath and buried her head in Vivien's neck. ”I was so scared I was going to have a baby. And Ty wouldn't even talk to me about it.”

<script>