Friends with Benefits

Thirty One.

Jamie cleared his throat. He held the small piece of paper in front of him. The spotlight illuminated the handwritten words. I entangled my fingers with Tyler's.

"I'm not very good at making speeches and I'm sure nobody wants to hear about the drunk nights we had before Sarah. Sorry, Sarah. Oh, sorry Jackie." I peered at Tyler's mom waving her pointer finger at Jamie. Everyone gently laughed. I returned my eyes up to Jamie. "What I am good at is being the Best Man at my best friend's wedding. Tyler, you are like a brother to me. You are the last one off the ice and the one in front of me to the game. Never lose sight in what you are protecting." He cleared his throat again, holding the microphone away. "Sarah.." I smiled at Jamie. "..you have captivated Tyler since day one with your intelligence, sense of humor and strong independence. There wasn't a day that went by when he told me something new he learned about you..which made him fall even more in love with you." My vision became blurry from the tears. Tyler nodded his head. Jamie set down the paper on the table to lift the glass of champagne. "Take care of each other. Love each other. If you must go to bed angry, wake up to an apology. Or just send him to my house." Everyone laughed louder, wiping tears from their eyes again. "Congratulations, you two." Tyler and I stood up to clink our glasses with his. "You better name your son Jamie." We both laughed, shaking our heads.

***

I read the text from Jackie, smiling. She wished us a happy six months of being married. I thanked her along with tons of red heart emojis. Jackie has already made it feel like I was an additional daughter in her family. It was nice to feel like I had a mom again. I slid my thumb from the top of my phone to peak at the timer.
One minute left.
I locked my phone, shoved it between my crossed thighs and adjusted myself on the edge of the tub. I closed my eyes. My mom's voice echoed in my head:

You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.

Her perfume filled my nostrils. The alarm vibrating my phone startled me. My butt slipped from the edge of the tub. I tried to catch myself but the pregnancy test on the counter didn't make for something I could hold onto. I cringed at the loud thud of my butt hitting the bathroom floor. I shifted my eyes around the bathroom listening. Then I heard it; the footsteps running up the stairs followed by the jingling dog tags. Tyler flung the bathroom door open.

"Babe? Hunny? Are you okay?" His eyes searched the bathroom to see me on the floor. He dropped to his knees. "Oh, my god. What happened?" His hands comforted me gently.
"I'm okay, babe. I'm okay." I assured him. I pointed to the test on the floor by his feet. "I came in here to—"
"Are you sure? That sounded like a hard fall."
"Yeah, I wanted to take a—"
"Maybe you should stand up to check your tailbone." He interrupted again. "Or wait, no. You have to.."
"Tyler."
"You have to lay down because then y—"

"Tyler!" I held my hand over his mouth. "We can determine how we will both feel if you look at the pregnancy test by your feet." His eyes widened. I lowered my hand. "Do you want to get it or do you want me to?" The words physically shook his head back to reality.
"I'll get it." His hand searched for the test first before his eyes helped. I watched his every move and listened to every sound. The dogs were outside the bathroom whining from the commotion and high levels of stress. The loud gulp of air he swallowed staring at the test's results. His chin trembled. Tears were forming in his eyes as they sluggishly raised to meet mine. "We're going to have a baby."

"No w-w-way." I stammered. I covered my mouth with my hands. The tears fell from his eyes, turning the test around. The two lines were dark and strong. "No way!" I repeated louder. I straddled his lap the best I could. I buried my face into his neck. His chest inflated against mine with staggered breaths. "I'm pregnant." I said aloud. I lift myself to my knees to see more tears escaping his eyes. I cupped his face in my hands to wipe the tears. "Happy tears?"
"On top of the world tears." His hands rubbed my sides then traveled to my lower stomach.
"This wasn't how I was thinking about telling you." We both laughed through sharp breaths and more tears stinging our cheeks.

"There's a lot of things we did that probably weren't the most conventional way." We laughed again, nodding our heads. "I thought you were still taking your birth control."
"I forgot to take it the night we got engaged and I've been meaning to start up again but then there was so much going on." I attempted to wipe my eyes. His hands held my face. He pulled me closer for a kiss. His lips tickled mine as he spoke.
"Are you happy?" He asked. I nodded my head, still keeping our lips touching.
"I wish I could tell my mom."
"She knows, hunny." He brought one of his hands to my lower stomach again. "She already met the baby." I toppled over onto him, releasing the inconsolable tears. He easily folded me into fetal position on his lap. "With my Papa and Grandma too." His chest jolted again. He sniffled, trying to hold back the urge to cry more.

It felt like hours passed being held on the bathroom floor in Tyler's arms. We eventually got up and retreated to our bed with the dogs. I scheduled the soonest appointment I could get with an Obstetrician-Gynecologist.
"Okay, perfect. I'll see you then. Thank you. Bye." I hung up the call. Tyler's hand caressed my lower stomach throughout the entire phone call. I set my phone onto the nightstand. "I have an appointment in two days. I checked your calendar. You don't have practice or a game."
"I wouldn't miss it even if I did." He said, sternly. I giggled softly.
"You finally did it." I spoke softly. "You finally put a baby in me." He threw his head back in laughter.
"Only took me three years."
"Technically, it took you six months."
"Good point!" He laughed again. We kissed passionately. A giggle escaped his lips. I retracted my lips from his, frowning my brows. "Who would have thunk we would be married and having a baby?" I released my frown to laugh at the reference to my question I had at my birthday party when we first got together. I wrapped my arms around his neck to kiss him deeply.

The End