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(01) ; Nico
Jan. 2nd, 2020 01:41 pmThing was, Grace hadn't even wanted to go out. No matter how much her friends (and her mother, bless her heart) tried to convince her that getting out and meeting new people was the best way to begin to recover from her recent divorce.
She wasn't ready to step into a new relationship and didn't know when or if she ever would be again. She certainly didn't want to fall into patterns of going home with strangers or bringing them to hers, either.
For a while, anyway, all she wanted to do was tuck herself away, lick her metaphorical wounds, and be a hermit. Unfortunately for her, they weren't exactly going to take no for an answer.
So … she went out. And while she was nice enough to some of the men that approached, for the most part, they leave her be when it was obvious that she wasn't there for a good time - or at least, not the type of good time that they were offering.
Her friends called her morose (okay, she had been acting like kind of a buzzkill) and trickled off one by one, eventually leaving her by her lonesome. Until Nico arrived. She could commiserate with his story - bunch of fun-loving friends having a bachelor party inexplicably left him behind, and laughed as she decided, okay, that was a story worth sharing a drink over.
One drink turned to more (she lost count, or never really tried to keep count, anyway), and one dance turned into … the mortifying ordeal of making out with a complete stranger in public, and by the time he'd panted against her kiss-swollen mouth asking if she wanted to go home with him …
Well. She did.
They hadn't gotten much sleep that night, and indeed, she looked back on it with a hazy fondness when she did let her thoughts drift his way. Before saying goodbye, they'd exchanged numbers with the promise to call or text or maybe even see each other soon, but he hadn't gotten in touch with her and Grace felt weird and anxious about reaching out first. Maybe he wouldn't even remember her, maybe it was ridiculous and kind of clingy in a bad way to feel any sort of attachment to the first man who had showed any real interest and affection to her in the aftermath of her bad marriage failing.
Grace didn't call or text, no matter how much her fingers itched to some nights. Truth was, she was just too cowardly, and didn't want to find out.
Life went on, and so did she. Grace got back into the swing of things at her new job, she started decorating the apartment to her taste, she even visited animal shelters as she thought about getting a cat to keep her company.
Her illness came on so gradually at first that she hardly even noticed, and when she did feel a little off, attributed it to the fact that it was winter, after all. But she had had her flu shot already and she convinced herself that it was nothing and she was going to be just fine.
Until she wasn't.
One home pregnancy test and one doctor visit later confirmed what she had begun to suspect - the first time in three years that Grace had had sex and she had gotten pregnant. She couldn't say whether she had forgotten her birth control (highly likely) or if it had simply failed, but either way, she was most definitely expecting.
Grace sequestered herself more than usual for the next small handful of days, trying to process the reality of the situation and to think through her options. The one thing she was most certain of was that she couldn't go through with anything without letting Nico know. It was the right thing to do.
She stared at her phone for what seemed like the fiftieth time in one day, and before she lost her courage completely, opened up her contacts to his name and number and pressed call.
I'm gonna be sick, she thought, screwing her eyes shut and holding her breath, waiting on pins and needles as the other line began to ring.
She wasn't ready to step into a new relationship and didn't know when or if she ever would be again. She certainly didn't want to fall into patterns of going home with strangers or bringing them to hers, either.
For a while, anyway, all she wanted to do was tuck herself away, lick her metaphorical wounds, and be a hermit. Unfortunately for her, they weren't exactly going to take no for an answer.
So … she went out. And while she was nice enough to some of the men that approached, for the most part, they leave her be when it was obvious that she wasn't there for a good time - or at least, not the type of good time that they were offering.
Her friends called her morose (okay, she had been acting like kind of a buzzkill) and trickled off one by one, eventually leaving her by her lonesome. Until Nico arrived. She could commiserate with his story - bunch of fun-loving friends having a bachelor party inexplicably left him behind, and laughed as she decided, okay, that was a story worth sharing a drink over.
One drink turned to more (she lost count, or never really tried to keep count, anyway), and one dance turned into … the mortifying ordeal of making out with a complete stranger in public, and by the time he'd panted against her kiss-swollen mouth asking if she wanted to go home with him …
Well. She did.
They hadn't gotten much sleep that night, and indeed, she looked back on it with a hazy fondness when she did let her thoughts drift his way. Before saying goodbye, they'd exchanged numbers with the promise to call or text or maybe even see each other soon, but he hadn't gotten in touch with her and Grace felt weird and anxious about reaching out first. Maybe he wouldn't even remember her, maybe it was ridiculous and kind of clingy in a bad way to feel any sort of attachment to the first man who had showed any real interest and affection to her in the aftermath of her bad marriage failing.
Grace didn't call or text, no matter how much her fingers itched to some nights. Truth was, she was just too cowardly, and didn't want to find out.
Life went on, and so did she. Grace got back into the swing of things at her new job, she started decorating the apartment to her taste, she even visited animal shelters as she thought about getting a cat to keep her company.
Her illness came on so gradually at first that she hardly even noticed, and when she did feel a little off, attributed it to the fact that it was winter, after all. But she had had her flu shot already and she convinced herself that it was nothing and she was going to be just fine.
Until she wasn't.
One home pregnancy test and one doctor visit later confirmed what she had begun to suspect - the first time in three years that Grace had had sex and she had gotten pregnant. She couldn't say whether she had forgotten her birth control (highly likely) or if it had simply failed, but either way, she was most definitely expecting.
Grace sequestered herself more than usual for the next small handful of days, trying to process the reality of the situation and to think through her options. The one thing she was most certain of was that she couldn't go through with anything without letting Nico know. It was the right thing to do.
She stared at her phone for what seemed like the fiftieth time in one day, and before she lost her courage completely, opened up her contacts to his name and number and pressed call.
I'm gonna be sick, she thought, screwing her eyes shut and holding her breath, waiting on pins and needles as the other line began to ring.
