She laughed back. “But seriously, even if I were attracted to guys, that guy would skeeve me out. He never stays with a girl for too long, often breaking their hearts when he's done with them. Loyal isn't exactly in his vocabulary.”
“Is he with anyone right now?” I asked.
She thought about it. “I think so, but I'm not sure. He's wealthy enough that he manages to impress some ladies. Why, are you interested in him?”
“No, actually. He got pretty handsy with me last night.”
Anne put her hand on her forehead, like she was disappointed with herself for not stopping it. “Really?”
“Yeah. If James hadn't walked in, I'm not sure what would have happened.”
Anne sighed. “I can't believe this shit. Yeah, I totally expect it out of him. I mean I can't afford to quit my job under him over this...”
“No, of course not,” I interjected quickly. “This wasn't your responsibility.”
“Yeah, but I should look out for girls around him. I'll make sure to keep an eye on him if any other new girls ever go to one of his after parties. Thanks for confiding in me.”
I actually did feel relieved to be able to talk to someone about it. “No, thank you. James already gave him a pretty stern talking to, though I think he can't get rid of him that easily either.”
“Probably not,” Anne said. There was an awkward silence for a moment, then she looked at her watch. “So, do you fly back to New York tomorrow?”
I nodded, then sighed. “Yeah. I probably won't be back until Spring Break or something.”
“What brings you back? Are you that close with your brother, or have you fallen in love with our fair city?”
I'm very close to my brother, I thought. “I'm enjoying some things here and not looking forward to some things back in New York.” Specifically, I was thinking about Nicole continuing to hit on my brother. I knew it would end up negatively affecting our relationship, which was difficult since we still had to live with one another for the rest of the semester.
“Guy trouble?” Anne asked.
I smiled. “I told you, I'm single, but...” I trailed off and looked at her, not sure if I wanted to go any further.
Anne nudged me. “You just confided one thing to me, and it felt pretty good, didn't it? Go on.”
I sighed. Tessa should really know this first, but I knew that she'd guess right away who the father was. Anne was the closest thing to a neutral party that I had, and had also been a great listener up until now.
“You cannot tell James about this.”
“I promise,” she said.
I pulled out my phone and pulled up the most recent picture, then handed it to her. Her brow furrowed. “What am I looking at?”
“A pregnancy test.”
“Oh. Oh.” Her eyes immediately went to my belly, then back to the screen. “I don't know much about this, but on TV ads, don't they usually say that one line is a negative test.”
“Look closer,” I said.
She zoomed in on the picture and squinted. “I mean, I see what you're talking about, but I think it's still pretty clearly one line.” She handed me back the phone and bit her lip. Her eyes seemed a lot wider than usual. “Still, you must be freaking out.”
I nodded. “I'm late on my period, but that doesn't mean much for me. I also threw up this morning, though it might have been the alcohol from last night.” Anne didn't know that I hadn't drank alcohol last night, that my cup had just been full of soda, but it felt easier to explain that way.
Anne bit her lip. “Maybe you were just thinking of Ryan from last night and it made you retch.”
I laughed. “Yeah, that could be it. I don't know, though.”
Anne kept biting her lip. “I hate to ask, but-”
“No, I don't know who the father is,” I cut her off with a lie. I had been with Danny before Christmas Break, about six weeks ago, but he had always insisted on wearing a condom. No, I knew exactly who the father was. And, now that I was saying all this out loud, it occurred to me how real it all was.