Her hand shook as she took the test in her hands, amazed that her fate could be sealed by one test. She read the directions twice before finally deciding to look at it and see what it said. She dropped it onto the floor like it was on fire when she saw that mocking little plus sign in the window of the test. She sighed and dropped it into her purse and wondered how she was going to tell him, he was her boss after all. Would he even believer her? She didn’t know, but she did know that she was late picking up his dry cleaning and pregnant or not she still had work to do.

     He sat at the piano, his long fingers trying to make something that was pleasing to his ear but coming up empty. He dropped his head on the cool keys with a loud clang that made him smile a little. He looked around him wondering where all the people that were usually creating such a buzz around him might be. His best friend wasn’t even around annoying people like usual, and her, she was always trailing along behind him. He was started to hate it less and less, liking her company more. But she had been a little weird for a little over a month now, ever since she got drunk at a party he was throwing and he let her stay with him. So they had sex once or maybe three times, but it was just sex and there was no reason for her to be avoiding him. He guessed he had the morning to himself and it wasn’t something he was going to complain about. He decided to go take a walk and enjoy his next few quiet hours, before someone remembered they were supposed to be bothering him.

     As he was walking out, he ran into her, literally. His clothes that she had been carrying in encased in protective plastic went flying on the ground and so did the contents of her purse. She gasped, watching that little white stick sail to the ground among all of her other things. She prayed he wouldn’t notice it or that he would think it was a tampon, not that she would need those anytime soon. His eyes locked on hers the moment she gasped and followed her gaze to her things hitting the ground. It was his fault he decided, so he bent down to pick up the things, until she stopped him.

“I’m so sorry A. I got this stuff. I didn’t see you there.”
“Oh no Mr. Timberlake, I should’ve been paying attention to where I was going. I will pick this up.” She bent down to gather things before he could. She couldn’t find that test though; it wasn’t where she saw it fall. She looked over to him and bit her lip when she saw it was in his hand.
“A?” He looked over at her and she swallowed hard.
“Uh. . .I. . .uh..” Her voice was thick and shaky.
“Congrats A! I am so happy for you and. . . .” He smiled at her and waited for her to fill in the name of the man who she was having a baby with.
“You.” She whispered, her eyes on the ground.

     He didn’t get it at first, his forehead wrinkling with confusion. She glanced up at him for a moment and silently begged for him to understand so she wouldn’t have to say it again. He slipped a hand around her wrist and pulled her closer to him. She looked up at him, her lips pressed into a thin line but otherwise betraying no emotion. He slipped his other hand through her long curly hair and pressed a kiss to her temple.

“Ayelet…did you say me?” He whispered, his lips still touching her skin.
She nodded before she answered. “Yes, I just found out this morning.”

He slid a hand under her shirt and rubbed it across her belly where his baby was now growing inside. She smiled and pressed against him lightly.

“There’s nothing for you to feel yet.” She whispered.
“No, but he’s in there and I want him to know I am here and I love him.”
“Him?” She raised an eyebrow.
“Or Her.” He amended, smiling up at her.
“Justin, let’s go inside and talk, k?”

     He nodded and walked inside the house with her trailing behind him carrying all of his clothes. He noticed and turned around, taking everything out of her hands and setting it on a chair next to the door.

“You’re not going to be carrying anything anymore Ayelet, except my baby. You don’t have to work anymore either. We will make Trace do everything, it will be kind of fun to see him do things besides drink and smoke pot.” He nodded in her direction and smiled down at her tiny frame.
“Justin, we can’t make him do everything, plus I would really like to stay employed right now. There is no reason I can’t be doing things.”
Justin shook his head and frowned. “A, you are carrying my baby and you will do the least and have the best care. I am not some loser in an alley who will make you work until you have the baby.”

     She sighed and sat back in the chair she had chosen to sit in. She didn’t know what she wanted, if she wanted to argue with Justin or just do whatever he said to make it easier. And were they going to become something or raise this baby as friends? She didn’t even know if he had thought about being with her, but ever since that night when she had felt his hands on her skin and his body on hers she had been hoping he wanted to take their relationship past a professional level.

“Justin. . . What are we going to tell people?”
“What do you mean? We tell people that you’re having my baby. Let’s start with my mom. This is going to be great!”
     Justin seemed so confident that everyone would be happy with this news and it was infectious, Ayelet found that she was the happiest about it that she’d felt all day.
     Trace busted in the door while they were busy telling Lynn the news. She was so excited to be having a grandchild that she didn’t even care that it was with someone who Justin had never had a relationship with.
     True, Ayelet had been around longer than most of Justin’s girlfriends and they had spent the past 4 years together while she was working for him. While Justin was on the phone, Ayelet took it upon herself to inform Trace of the situation, perhaps he would’ve wanted to hear it from Justin but her and Trace had been around each other for just as long as her and Justin.

“So, what’s this big news that you guys have? J texted me about some news and to get my short ass over here.” Trace said, stretching in the doorway.
“Trace, hey! Justin’s on the phone so why don’t we just go talk in the other room?” She walked into the other room and Trace followed her cautiously, thinking maybe this was a joke or something.
“Well?”
“I am pregnant.” She shrugged lightly.
“Oh that’s great A. Congrats. Whose mini-me you going to be poppin out?” He laughed.
“Um, Justin’s.”
“Yeah right, real funny Ayelet. No seriously, you hate him, who is the dad? We don’t need to take you on Maury do we? I didn’t figure you for the 10 baby daddy type but it’s always the quiet ones…” He was rambling now.
“No really Trace. It’s Justin’s.”

     Trace felt his mouth drop open in shock. Justin had openly hated this girl for about the past 3 and ½ years, it wasn’t until about 4 months ago he decided maybe she wasn’t as bad as he imagined.

“Justin’s?”
“Yeah. . . I know, it shocked me too.”
“He’s gonna make you take DNA test, right? I mean he has a lot of money and you could be making this up.”

     Now it was her turn to feel her mouth drop in shock, she couldn’t believe he’d said that.

“Make that up? I expected this from some people but not from you, I thought we were closer than that.”
“I’m just saying, you of all people know what he has and what a catch he would be.”
“Well no, he isn’t making me take a test; he seems to believe that when we had sex we made a child. That’s actually exactly what happened, I don’t need you to believe me but I would like you to. I would like to think we are friends, you know?”

     The tears welled up in her eyes but she didn’t let them fall, she turned on her heel and left him standing there alone, still looking shocked.