FicWad

The four hours seemed to go by as slow as they possibly could. Every minute seemed like an hour and every hour seemed like a decade. At one point, I thought the guys would never end their recording session. Just when I had given up hope, I heard the sound of loud footsteps thundering down the stairs leading from the second floor. From the spot where I was sitting on the floor, I could hear Lars chatting away as usual. I watched in anticipation as the guys rounded the corner.

"Oh god, what happened to you?" Lars asked, looking at me with raised eyebrows. Having no clue what he meant, I quickly looked down to see if I had spilled something on myself or anything. Not seeing any stains, I looked up at Lars curiously, "Well, hello to you too! What exactly do you mean by 'what happened to you'?"

By this time, James had reached me and was helping me to my feet. Giving my cheek a light kiss, he responded, "Don't mind Lars. You look fine. You're just a little...pale and green looking. But hey, that's okay. It could be worse. I mean, at least your skin isn't turning purple or anything like that." I stared at James in horror and hoped with all my might that he was just exaggerating.

"Hey Olivia," came a quiet voice from behind James. I looked past James' fluffy blonde locks to see a pair of honest, dark brown eyes looking into mine. There was something about that eyes that really attracted me. It was like looking into them filled me with a peacefulness that I hadn't felt all day. Suddenly remembering my manners, I made myself stop staring and replied quickly, "Hey Kirk. I'm glad you could make it here on such a short notice! We're glad to have you."

Kirk gave a quiet laugh and shrugged, "It was kinda a short notice, but hey, at least I'm here, right?" I nodded and started to say something else, but James gave a little tug on my arm and pulled me away from Kirk with a jerk. Speaking loudly so my words were drained out, James suggested, "So guys, what do you say to going back to our room and just chilling for a bit?"

Everyone exchanged glances and nodded in unison. Turning to me, James explained, "Johnny said we could use the storage room for our house. He said we can have whatever we want in there. Isn't that great? At least this way we won't be living out in the streets." My only response to James' question was a dirty look. After all, if he hadn't drank all the champagne last night, we could've had the guest bedroom all to ourselves. I also found that I was rather mad at him for interrupting my conversation with Kirk.

The five of us walked silently into the storage room that was now our new house and settled down. To my chagrin, I noticed Lars pulling two packs of beer out of a bag in one of the corners. Apparently, he had done some shopping of his own earlier. As we looked for places to sit, I hung back and whispered in Kirk's ear, "Is my skin really greenish?"

Kirk looked my face over intently and then shook his head, "Nah, not really. You're mostly pale looking. Are you sick?" I shook my head and was about to say something more, but James grabbed my hand and towed me away from Kirk once more. God, that boy could be so immature sometimes! I mean really, what harm was it doing for me to talk to Kirk? Just because I had a conversation with him didn't mean I was going to try to get in bed with him or anything.

I was about to tell all this to James, when Kirk caught my attention once more. He had wandered over to the corner where James and I had slept last night and was holding something up curiously. It didn't take me long to realize it was my pregnancy tester. Oh god, this situation kept getting worse and worse! Wrenching myself out of James' grip, I hurried over to where Kirk was standing and grabbed the pregnancy kit out of his hand and hid it sheepishly behind my back. With one hand, I put a finger to my lips in a signal for him to keep quiet. Luckily, Kirk did as I told him too. He nodded slightly and joined the others on the other side of the room.

I could see James giving me a very dirty glance, but I decided to ignore it right now. His jealousy seemed so petty sometimes. I was about to try to find a better spot to hide my pregnancy kit when I finally came to a sudden realization. It had been twelve hours since I had done the pregnancy test. I should be able to get my results now!

Nervously, I peered over my shoulder to see what the guys were doing. They were all busy collecting their share of beers and nobody was giving me a damn. Not sure if I really wanted to see this or not, I looked down reluctantly at the pregnancy tester. My heart literally stopped beating and I momentarily forgot to breath. The test read positive. Suddenly, the guys' chatter disappeared and the room before me started to waver back and forth. Taking a steadying breath, I fell back against the wall and slipped to the floor. I had read that store bought pregnancy kits weren't always correct, but unfortunately, it was certainly looking like I really was pregnant. I was going to be exactly like poor Trisha and have a kid at seventeen. I just hoped my ending was better than Trisha's.

As I sat paralyzed on the floor, I finally heard someone call my name from the middle of the room. Jerking my head up, I saw it was Kirk looking at me with a concerned expression on his face, "Hey Olivia, are you okay?" I wasn't really okay, but I didn't have any intentions of telling all the guys of my pregnancy results. What I really needed to do was to talk to James alone.

Pasting a false smile on my face, I replied to Kirk, "Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for asking." It felt like I was telling Kirk the exact same lie I had told Mrs. Zazula earlier. Oh well, it wasn't like I really had a choice about whether I lied or not. Kirk certainly didn't need to know I was James' pregnant girlfriend. I shot James a meaningful look out of my eye. It was a look that pleaded for him to come and sit down next to me so we could talk. I really needed to share my news with him right now.

James caught my eye for a moment, but then quickly looked away as if he hadn't noticed me. Fuck. So now James was going to play hard to get because I had brushed him off earlier. For the first time ever, I found myself pretty angry at James. I wasn't in any position to play games right now. I could barely keep myself from screaming out with physical and emotional pain right now. But of course James wouldn't want to comfort me. Oh no, he would just continue playing his crappy, childish games and would end up getting drunk with Lars and the rest of the band. This was really the last thing I needed right now.

Tears filled my eyes and one slipped down my cheek. I brushed it away angrily. I couldn't cry here with all the guys in the same room. I blinked back the tears and hid the pregnancy tester behind two ancient-looking boxes. After that was out of sight, I flopped onto my stomach and buried my head in my arms. I figured I might as well try to get some sleep. I was really tired and all this drama from the pregnancy and James was only adding to that exhaustion.

I closed my eyes and was surprised to find that I drifted off to sleep quite quickly. I would really never have figured that it had been impossible for me to fall asleep last night. What a change! However, when I dreamed that night, I dreamed of Kirk...not James.

~ ~ ~ ~

When I woke up next, it was pitch black in the little storage room. I found my body ached all over and that I was shivering. I moved my head up from my arms and gazed around the room sleepily. Cliff had passed out on a pile of boxes, Lars was sleeping next to a pile of empty beer bottles, and James was lying spread out on the floor far away from me. My eyes narrowed as I watched him sleep in such a vulnerable position. I was angry at him for earlier, but I was even more upset that he hadn't bothered to sleep by me as usual. He was being so immature. We really should be discussing the whole pregnancy thing right now instead of playing games.

I was so upset about all this that it took me a few minutes before I realized that someone was watching me. Propping myself up on my elbows, I looked around to see who was watching me. A few minutes later, I caught sight of Kirk lying in a sleeping bag on top of a large piece of foam. He watched me with those large, chocolate brown eyes that always made my heart flutter.

When Kirk realized that I had noticed he was watching me, he blushed slightly and looked away. I blushed too, but continued to look at him. Realizing I wanted to talk to him, Kirk shyly turned his gaze back to mine and asked in a quiet voice, "I'm guessing you're awake too? It's pretty cold in here and it's hard to sleep. Want to get up and take a walk or something?"

I thought about Kirk's offer for a moment before replying. It really would be nice to get out of here and get some fresh air. Besides, I really needed a release from James right now. He was driving me crazy at the moment. Nodding my head, I stretched and quietly got to my feet. Kirk wriggled out of his sleeping bag, put a finger to his lips, and then slowly crept across the floor to the door of the storage room. Once we reached the door, I opened it soundlessly and the two of us snuck out. None of the other guys budged an inch and we figured that they were sound asleep and wouldn't wake for hours.

As soon as Kirk and I were in the hallway, we abandoned our caution for being quiet and started to talk. Our conversation started out about light topics like the weather and how Kirk's trip to New York had been, but after a while, the conversations started to turn to more personal subjects. After a while, I found myself asking Kirk, "If you had a girlfriend, would you consider taking her on the tour with you and to the recording studio?" I just wanted to see if Kirk would have done the same thing as James.

Kirk tilted his head back and thought for a moment before replying, "I did have a girlfriend actually. She was a really sweet girl. I did decide to break up with her in the end though. We both thought it would be better for us. I didn't want to haul her around the tour with me. It wasn't the kind of life she would've wanted. I miss her, but we're still good friends. Why do you ask?"

I shrugged, "No reason." Kirk gave me a little smile out of the corner of his mouth which told me that he didn't believe me. I certainly wasn't a good liar. I was starting to think that maybe I should quit the tour and go back to Los Angeles though. Kirk was right; hauling a girl around on a tour would definitely be a hassle.

"Did James bring you on the tour with him?" Kirk asked after a few minutes of silence. He was really too good at reading my thoughts. Deciding not to lie anymore, I nodded and said, "Yeah, he did. I think he only did it because he felt sorry for me. James was my only friend from school and I don't have any living relatives. I guess he didn't want to leave me in Downey by myself. Still though, I'm starting to think I'm just a hindrance to everybody these days."

Kirk quickly shook his head, black curls flying around his face, "Oh no, you're not a hindrance. If I was in James' position, I would have done the same thing." After a moment, Kirk added, "And Olivia?" I nodded to show I was listening. Kirk went on, "I'm really sorry about your parents. That must be one of the hardest things that's happened to you."

I nodded again. Having my mom die after she had gone crazy was one thing, but having my dad die at such a young age was even harder for me. My life hadn't been easy. Unfortunately, with this whole pregnancy thing, it was about to get a hell of a lot harder.