“I’m not going to scream at her, but I am going to get to the bottom of this. If she is pregnant then it won’t be a secret for one more day.” The thought of him being a father crossed his mind for the first time. “Damn, man. Look at me. I’m not ready to be someone’s daddy.”
“You think that she’s ready to be someone’s mother? Hey, it’s your bed. You made it; you lay in it.”
The thought made Nicola calm down. “You’re right. Look, I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Tell Kit that I had to go, and I’ll call her or something.”
“Damn, you’re still chasing ass after that news? I would keep it in my pants if I were you,” Brooks said laughing.
“Look, I’m not about to marry this girl just because she may be pregnant by me. I don’t even know her.” Nicola instantly got defensive.
“Alright. Whatever. I’m going to stay here and get a lap dance. You know, pay some girl’s college tuition.” Brooks said sipping on his drink. “You go and talk to your baby’s momma.”
“Don’t say that shit, man,” Nicola said waving his finger at Brooks. “Like you said, we don’t know if its mine or not.”
“We? I don’t need to know. Hell, I didn’t sleep with the girl. Take your drunk ass on.” Brooks laughed. “Oh and Nico…”
“Yeah,” Nicola said turning around.
“Happy Birthday,” Brooks said cracking up.
“Shut up,” Nicola said turning around with a half-crooked smile.
*
Speeding down the highway with his cigar hanging out of the side of his mouth and his vision slightly blurred, Nicola blasted his radio and tried to think of ways to say how he felt to Ivy. The thought of walking through the door and shaking her until she couldn’t see straight had crossed his mind several times, but of course it was the wrong thing to do.
Pulling into the dormitory parking, Nicola turned of his ignition switch and sat back in his seat. For the first time in nearly an hour, he actually breathed comfortably causing a small pain to shoot through his back. The compression of stress on his chest made him feel like he had just bench-pressed a mid-sized car and the aching pain of his newly acquired headache made him feel as though crushed glass was being rubbed into his temples.
Rubbing his forehead, Nicola closed his eyes and began to doze off. He just needed to relax for a moment. He already knew that there would be tears, anger, fear and possibly a little cursing involved in the confrontation. Watching small flakes of snow hit the hood of his truck, he grunted as he stepped out the oversized truck and hit the alarm. Mother nature seemed to be rushing him to get on with the business laid before him.
Nicola knocked on her front door and looked around the quiet bricked complexes for any sign of life, but all the windows were dark, all the doors closed and only security watched from across the street, monitoring his every movement. Opening the door slowly, Ivy looked at Nicola in surprise. Standing in her pajama’s she stepped aside and invited him.
“What are you doing here this late?” she asked closing the door.
“You’re a smart girl. What do you think?” Nicola asked taking off his jacket.
“I think that you’re probably gonna want to keep that on. You won’t be here long,” Ivy said moving her hair off her shoulder. She instantly sensed his bad mood.
“Why be Billy Bad Ass tonight?” Nicola asked sitting down on the couch. “I’m here because you’re pregnant.” His voice raised slightly in irritation.
“Lower your voice.” Her heart skipped a beat. “Who told you that?” This was not the way she had planned on him finding out. She closed the front door quietly trying to keep from waking anyone in the dormitory.
“A little birdie.” Nicola smiled sarcastically. “Anyway, who told me really isn’t the bigger issue here is it?” Planting his face in his hands, he looked down at the floor and yawned. “I’m tired, and I’m pissed. I’m not here to play games with you. So tell me, why did you not bother to tell me that you are nearly over a month pregnant?” He looked over at her standing with her hands crossed.
“Because I don’t know who the father of the child is, and I don’t want any unneeded confusion right now.” Ivy rolled her eyes as she sat down in the chair across from him. Although she was in the wrong, she couldn’t help but be defensive. After all, he had caught her off guard.
“Unneeded?” Nicola mocked her. “You’ll have confusion until the day of the DNA test. And I think that you already know that so I’m going to ask you one more time. Why did you not tell me? No lies, now.”
“Because…” Ivy was unprepared for a late night interrogation. “Because I knew that you were just a playboy. Someone I fell for…someone any woman would have fallen for under the present situation. And truthfully, I knew that you are not ready for a child. You’re not one for commitment and that’s what I need right now. I don’t need someone to bring all of his insecurities to table and just dump them on me. So, I’ve been keeping the pregnancy to myself. Besides that we used protection, which changes the probability when you really look at it.”
“First of all, I think that you need to let me determine whether or not I’m ready for a child, okay. Secondly, sooner or later someone will notice and there won’t be an ounce of stability in your life. Third, no one wants to dump anything on you. Hell, I don’t even know you well enough to dump anything on you. Besides that, yes, we used protection, but we
