The Fifth {13}

Telling my mom Kim was pregnant turned out to be only half as dramatic as we thought it would be. The big fear my sister had was of telling our dad and stepmom Marcia. We kept our lips sealed and Kim assured us she would let us know when she finally decided to tell them.

It was a Friday night and Alex and I had stopped at my dad and Marcia's house so I could change out of the scrubs I wore for school. We were both starving and in a hurry to go get dinner.

The wooden steps bowed under my feet as I ran up the porch. After throwing the door open, I left it that way for Alex.

Just as I was about to sprint down the hall, I was stopped by my dad who turned around in his chair at the kitchen table to give me the kind of look you never want to get from your dad, "Hey, come in here. We need to talk."

As he walked through the door, Alex's eyebrows shot up as he heard my dad's choice of words.

In my mind, I was going through every possible thing I could have done in my entire 19 years that my dad did not already somehow know about. I had obviously done something.

My dad turned back around as he heard Alex come in, "You too, Alex."

Scratch that. We'd obviously done something.

Alex looked like a deer in headlights.

Marcia, my brother Marvin, and sister-in-law Shayna were all sitting at the kitchen table with my dad. What looked at first like a family meeting, turned out to be a game of cards as I got closer and saw my dad dealing out cards for a new hand.

As Alex and I came to stand beside my dad, Marcia eyeballed me closely with a hint of a smirk on her face, eyebrows slightly cocked.

Continuing to deal out cards without looking at us, my dad asks, "You got anything you wanna tell me?"

When I looked at Alex for help, he was mirroring my panic. Next, I tried my brother who was giving me the you're-about-to-step-in-shit look.

"Uh, no... I don't think so?" Brilliant.

Dad looked at me from the corner of his eye without turning his head, eyebrow raised, "You don't think so?" Heavy emphasis on the think. He addressed everone at the table, "She doesn't think so..."

Shayna was covering her face trying to stifle a giggle. Glancing at Alex, I saw he was just as confused as I was.

Stone-faced, my dad shook his head at her and her laughter dried up, "Anything going on with your sister?"

One sister in particular, the one who barely measures five feet tall was the topic of which I was trying to avoid since being sworn to secrecy or eternal damnation. So, I played dumb, "Which one?"

"Which one?" Both of my dad's eyebrows were now up high, "Which one, she asks?" He was talking to the audience at the table who had not even bothered to look at their hands now that dad was done dealing the deck. The cards remained where they had landed.

Marcia was trying not to giggle now, but my dad's death stare does not work on her and she cannot stop.

I am so confused. And so is Alex who is half-smiling, half-grimacing, unsure of what kind of situation he willingly walked into.

"The pregnant one," My dad turns and looks at me now.

"Oooohhh." Alex slips.

Laughing in mock disbelief, my dad looks at Alex, "Oooohhh?"

Desperate, I chance another look at my brother who just shrugs his shoulders and laughs.

Finally feeling some pity for Alex and me, my dad lets up, "Kim came by a little earlier to spill the beans."

Well, that explains it. I let out a sigh of relief. "Oh."

My dad eyeballs me, "Said you and Alex knew long before anyone else."

"We were sworn to secrecy," I look at Alex who backs me up with a nod.

"Sworn to secrecy..." With a laugh my dad shakes his head.

After everyone had a nice laugh over Alex and me sweating it out, I changed clothes and hightailed it back out the door to Alex's car.

"God, that was awful. She could've at least warned me!" I muttered as Alex slid into the driver seat, me into the passenger.

He was shaking his head as he put the car in first gear, "I'm gonna kill Kim."