[ WP ] A 25 year old reacts to his girlfriend admitting that she is pregnant . A true , honest-to-god reaction .

`` Nina... *Nina! * Come on, please open the door!'' 
 
 Nothing. Not a peep. He rested his forehead against the old, warped wood of the bathroom door and sighed deeply. What on God's green earth could it be this time? Perhaps her mother called, although it never put her in a mood this bad, only bad enough that she would lie on her bed reading and listening to Vampire Weekend for hours on end. It's possible that she was sick ( that sushi made him feel a little off last night too ), or maybe it was something as minor as her period. Regardless, he had been banging on the door for five full minutes and he was worried. As if he were opening up a tiger cage, he turned the knob gingerly. 
 
 She was there on the toilet, bent over looking at a thermometer. So it *was* the sushi. 
 
 `` Hey, you.'' he said quietly. `` What's wrong? Not feeling well?'' 
 
 She lifted her head up to meet his gaze. Her face was covered with tears and runny eye shadow, yet she was still beautiful as ever. Stunning, even. Every time he saw her face he could n't believe what a lucky son of a bitch he was, and even through the tears, she looked particularly good today. 
 
 `` Dennis, you need to see this...'' She held up the thermometer. It was an odd thermometer, truth be told. It did n't even have a screen. There was only a blue... 
 
 It was n't a thermometer. 
 
... a blue cross. 
 
 Pregnant. 
 
 The word thumped in his head numbly. Everything became quiet. He only heard his heartbeat and the one word: 
 
 *Pregnant. Pregnant. Pregnant. * 
 
 Within the space of less than a second, a hundred images flashed before his eyes. Bills of all shapes and sizes - electric, cable, cell phone, gas, *rent. * Bank statements, his checking account just breaking $ 200. An invoice from the garage after he backed into a flagpole. The inner fold of a wallet, sparsely populated with a couple bills. The dimly lit road on the way home from his shift at 7/11. The sun peaking up over the horizon as he drove the same road back to his job at the accounting firm, a dull buzz from a shitty cup of coffee the only thing keeping him awake. Nina slumped over in a chair, sleeping in front of her laptop that was open on a Craigslist page. He saw it all. In the time Nina's hand moved an inch to give him the pregnancy test, he saw it. 
 
 `` This is my third positive,'' she croaked through her quiet sobs. `` I do n't know what to do. You *know* I'm Catholic, and I-I just do n't know what to do.'' She was talking to herself as much as she was to him. 
 
 `` Nina,'' Dennis fell to his knee and took her hand, looking her straight in the eyes. Christ, was she beautiful. `` Whatever you want to do, I fully support your...'' He felt a pit forming in his stomach. ``... I support your, what you want to, to-'' 
 
 He never finished the sentence, for he wept. Clutching the hands of his beloved, able to keep his composure no longer, he wept in her lap. The carefully constructed plans, the delicate little life he was meticulously piecing together, shattered by a tiny zygote. No matter how desperately his mind sought a way out, he found no solace. She would hate herself for getting an abortion, and he would hate himself even more if he pressured her to get one. This would not be deflected; it could only be confronted. And even though he despised his reaction to what should've been miraculous news, he was overcome with desperation and dread for the hardships that lay before him. It was all too much. 
 
 So the two lovers wept.
