TOBY.
"Who is pregnant?" I asked. I begged the powers that be to let Sapphire be the pregnant one here so it would have nothing to do with me.
"She is," Sapphire said pointing a finger at Ruby, "congratulations," she added.
"I'll just leave you two to talk," she said after we stood in awkward silence for a minute then dashed out the door.
"How?" I asked that lame one-worded question again leaning against her bedroom wall.
"You probably know more about the process than I do." She shrugged. She looked as shocked by the news as I was and judging from the tests that were now lying on her bed she just found out.
"But it happened just once, we had sex just once," I said bewildered.
"Well I guess it was enough," she said, sounding resigned to the situation.
"There's something called the morning after pill, you know, to prevent situations like this. Why do you have to be so slow?" My temper had begun to rise, this was all her fault I convinced myself.
"You can't pin this on me, we are both responsible for this situation," she answered equally as vexed as I was. She spoke facts if I was being honest with myself.
"You're not keeping it are you?" I tried to reason with her.
"That's for me to decide," she stated flatly. She plunked down on her bed, "and for you to deal with." Women never saw how unfair it was for men, this not having a said thing.
"Do you want anything that's a product of this sham of a marriage," I said praying she saw my point.
"This might just be the best thing to come out of this sham of a marriage and you want me to destroy it, no way." Well, that went in the opposite direction quite fast.
"Deja-fucking-Vu," I muttered under my breath. How the hell was I having this same conversation less than a week apart with two different women, just my luck. This is what happens when you think with your dick kids.
"I'm sure you didn't say any of this bullshit when you found out Yasmin was pregnant."
"I'm not interested in being a father. You think you have me all figured out but you don't know shit," I said. I stormed out of the room. It was obvious we both had nothing more to say to each other.
I walk out to meet a startled Sapphire beside Ruby's room door. From the look on her face, she must have been listening in on our conversation..
"I'm disappointed in you," she said hesitantly. "You are the last person I expected this from."
"You don't know shit about any of this so please stay out of it," I said. I was irritated about how she thought she knew enough to judge me.
"Oh please, I know enough, all I see is a man running away from his responsibilities."
"You don't." Is all managed to say because she hit too close to home.
"Look, Ruby has been through a lot and she doesn't deserve any of this."
"I've been through a lot too and I surely don't deserve any of this either." Sapphire walks out on me without another word, just a look of disdain and then she slams Ruby's bedroom door behind her.
"Fuck!" When would I ever stop messing up? I stood in the hall for a minute, Ruby's sniffles reaching my ear before I stormed off to my room.
I had just reclined in bed to ponder what my life was becoming and all the bad decisions that led me here when Yasmin's call came through.
"Hello, babe I'm craving pickles, run to the store and get them for me," she said with an entitlement that shocked me.
"Since when have I become your errand boy or assistant."
"Well, I'm carrying your baby."
"Look here Yasmin, keeping this baby was your idea so you'll just have to deal with the inconveniences that come with having it."
"You think so, you think you can abandon me well then think again. If you don't do what I say then your father hears about the grandchild he has on the way," she said maliciously.
"You can't do that," I said, not feeling so sure about the situation. My position in the company was still shaky at this point, this scandal could ruin me.
"Watch me."
"I'll be there in thirty minutes."
"Good," she said before she cut the call. I quickly roll out of bed and rush to do her bidding. I rush to the store and then to her house, her mother lets me in with a frown and a barely audible answer to my greetings. In less than thirty minutes I'm at her bedroom door. She is wearing a tank top and shorts, she has zero make-up on and her hair is in a messy bun but still, she looks as beautiful as ever but it doesn't move me. I am beyond angry that she has me doing her bidding like a lap dog. This was blackmail.
"Here," I said dropping the bag on her dressing table. For someone who was craving pickles, she didn't seem interested in what I brought.
"Please just come sit, let's talk," she said patting the space beside her on her bed when I made to leave.
"You're not having any cravings right?"
"Bingo! I'm surprised you fell for it, it's too early for that I think," she said walking toward me. "The only reason I did this was that I couldn't think of any other way to get you to talk to me. Please just stay, let's talk," she said, with a reassuring hand on my arm.
"You didn't have to be dramatic or threaten me you could have just asked to see me and I would have come, you know that but you just wanted to hold it over my head. Well congrats, you have the upper hand here."
"I swear it's not like that at all, I wasn't even thinking in that direction."
I huffed, I didn't believe a word she just said."If you want to talk then let's talk."
"I know you're scared, I'm scared too but we are having this baby and there is nothing we can do about that."
"That's where you are wrong, we have options."
"I'm not having an abortion and you need to accept that so we can move on."
"What if I don't want to accept it."
"Then we can't move on," she said with tears trailing down her face.
"Looks like it's either that or our relationship, whats It going to be?" I asked.