You’re Mine by Penny Brooks

Easton

What the hell is she talking about? She's late? "Where you gotta be?" I ask stupidly.

Harper rolls her eyes and settles into the passenger seat, her arms crossed in front of her as she stares straight ahead.

"I'm late.

My period." Swear to God, her lower lip is trembling.

"Wait a second." It all comes flooding back.

How emotional she's been lately, crying all the damn time over silly stuff.

The breakdown she had earlier.

The stress.

How tired she's been.

How horny she's been too.

"Do you think you're " My voice drops to a whisper.

"- pregnant?" She glances over at me, her expression full of misery as she nods.

"I haven't started my period yet.

I'm like-two weeks late." "Is that normal?" "No.

I'm like clockwork.

I'm so regular, it's almost annoying," Harper practically whines.

I make a face.

Too much information, don't really need to know the details of Sadie's irregular cycle.

"Have you taken a test?" "I've taken a lot of tests lately, Easton.

Just like you since we just had finals-oh." Her face falls and her voice becomes hushed.

"You mean a pregnancy test." "Yeah." Reaching out, I settle my hand on her knee and give it a squeeze.

"Maybe we should do that." "Right now?" she squeaks, her eyes wide.

Damn, my girl looks terrified.

I'm feeling a little terrified myself.

This is serious, the chance that Harper could be pregnant with my baby...

I bang the back of my head against the seat and close my eyes.

"Your dad is going to murder me on the spot when he finds out." "It's not for sure." She pauses.

"But I had that exact same thought." I scrub a hand over my face.

"It's not like we meant to.

You're on the pill.

We've been safe." "I know." Harper hangs her head, her hair falling in front of her face.

"I don't want to be a mom.

Not right now." "Hey." I reach for her, slipping my fingers under her chin so I can tip up her face, her luminous gaze meeting mine. "It's going to be okay." "Really?" I hate how doubtful she sounds.

I guess I can't blame her.

This is some scary shit.

"Really," I say firmly.

"I've got you no matter what, okay?" "Okay." "You want to get food first? Or stop by a store and get a test?" "Let's do the test first," she answers. "And nowhere nearby.

Let's go to the other side of town." "Why?" "We don't want to run into anyone we know." "Good call," I admit as I put my Jeep into gear and pull onto the street.

We drive until we're on the other side of town, just as Harper requested.

We don't make much conversation.

Think we're both too preoccupied with our thoughts.

And they're pretty fucking serious thoughts, if you ask me.

We finally find a Walgreens and I pull into the parking lot.

We don't say a word as we climb out of the Jeep, but before we walk into the store, I grab her hand, interlacing our fingers.

Hers are icy cold and I'm pretty sure they're trembling.

I bring our locked hands up to my mouth, dropping a kiss on her knuckles.

"I love you." "I love you too," she answers shakily.

Christmas music is playing over the speakers in the store, loud and crackling with static.

There are people everywhere, and I guess it doesn't matter where you go, if it's right before Christmas, the shoppers are out, looking for those last-minute gifts.

I let Harper lead me to the aisle where the pregnancy tests are, right next to the condoms which I think is hilarious.

A nice little reminder-oh and those condom packages are under lock and key, which is some bullshit.

Condoms should be provided for free if you ask me.

But whatever.

Can't worry about it.

"What test should we get?" Harper asks as we study our options.

"I don't know.

Not the cheapest one." I wave a hand at them.

"Why not?" She turns her frown on me.

"Maybe they're not as accurate." "True." She taps her lips with her index finger, pulling her hand out of mine as she leans over and plucks one of the tests off the hook. "This test looks good." I grab the box from her and read over the back.

Seems fairly simple.

It'll tell us if she's pregnant in minutes.

Not the most expensive test, but not the cheapest either.

"Want to get two? Just in case?" She nods, grabbing another one.

"Let's go." We wander through the store, Harper picking up a bag of miniature peanut butter cups wrapped in Christmas colors and a gift bag with Santa's face on the front of it. "Do you need that stuff?" I ask her as we head toward the line for the registers.

"No one needs candy," she says, sounding vaguely irritated.

"But I want some." "And the gift bag?" "I don't want to look like we came in here just for these tests," she admits, her voice low.

"Give them to me." I wave my fingers at her and she hands over the items.

I know she's embarrassed about this.

Time to man up.

"You want to wait in the Jeep?" Harper gapes at me, surprise etched all over her face.

"You'd do that for me?" "If you're embarrassed, I don't mind making the purchase." I hand over the keys to her.

"Start the engine and run the heater so you don't get too cold." Her lips curve upward and she rises up to kiss me.

"Thank you." I watch her leave the store, wondering what the hell we're doing.

I'm not ready to be a dad.

And I'd bet she's not ready to be a mom either.

But looks like we don't have a choice in the matter.

Either she's pregnart...

Or she's not.