"Patient's name: Hall, Tawny. Age: 19. Week: 20." Tawny's file indicated only the relevant medical information. It didn't mention her long black hair or the fact that her breasts had gone from tear-shaped C cups to a more convex D cup. She had gained fifteen pounds since the original confirmation of pregnancy.
I told her, "In a few weeks we should be able to get a good view and find out what you're having, if you'd like."
"Sure," she said. "I want as few surprises as possible. The fact that I'm your patient now instead of my regular doctor's is enough of a surprise."
"Your history doesn't mention the Pill or an IUD. Condom failure?"
"No, I just thought I was on the safe part of my cycle."
"Tracking your cycle's a great idea if you're trying to get pregnant," I told her. "Not a great idea if you're trying not to. That's true at any age, but most girls' cycles don't stabilize till they're twenty or so." I turned my back and picked up my iPad. "Let's go ahead and schedule that. We have an opening on Wednesday right after New Year's. Is that good for you?"
"Sure. Classes don't start up again till the day after MLK Day."
"Will anyone be joining you?" It wasn't technically necessary to ask the question, of course.
"Whoever drives me," she said. "Probably my friend Lucie." She ran her heel up my thigh. When I turned around, she told me, "The dad's not in the picture. Is that what you wanted to know?"
"Yeah, you got me," I said sheepishly.
"Good, 'cause it's been months since I had a good 'examination,'" she said, making air quotes with her fingers. She started hiking the exam gown up.
"Argh! This isn't working," I said. I wished I were writing by hand, because wadding the paper up would have been so much more satisfying than just closing the word-processing file.
"What?" Jeff asked excitedly. "It was just getting interesting!"
"Train wrecks are interesting too," I told him. "That doesn't mean I want one. I've written stories about my mechanic, my friend's dad, my dad's friend, my former teacher and the college tour guide. But doing my OB is just-ugh."
"Is it because you're pregnant?" he asked. I glared at him. "In the story, I mean." He paused. "You're not pregnant in real life, are you?"
"No, Jeff, you're not gonna be a dad any time soon. I could write a good story where I'm pregnant. Maybe I will sometime. Even a doctor might make a good story. But pregnant, with the OB? And I'm nineteen? I'm not buying it myself, and if I'm not, the audience won't either."
"Okay, take out the pregnant part. I still like the doctor idea. Maybe you're terminally ill, and you just want to show him a good time before you die."
"That's not a terrible idea. I might write it sometime, but with a new character."
"Just fishing for ideas here. All these stories are about older guys except the tour guide, and even he's a
little
older. Was your first time with an older guy?"
"There's no one who is or ought to be a registered sex offender on my account," I told him indignantly. "But ..."
"Yeah?" I didn't answer. "What is it, Tawny?"
"The 'friend's dad' story? I really did have a crush on my friend's dad when I was fifteen. I never acted on it, thank God."
"So?"
"So, I also had a boyfriend whose dad was kinda hot. I may even have caught him looking at me."
"Now we're talkin'," Jeff exclaimed.
I was sure Geoff and I had a date, but his car wasn't there. I could think of a couple realistic explanations that wouldn't make me mad, so I walked up to his door anyway and knocked. Geoff's dad answered. His dad used to be a stunt man. Geoff says he punched James Bond, Batman and Jackie Chan at one time or another. He also got thrown against a wall by the Hulk. He greeted me. "Hi, Tawny! Geoff's at a jacks tournament. I thought he told you."
Jeff interrupted me. "Jacks? I get that you're trying to make me look like a wuss to build my dad up, but come on. Make it believable!"
"Who says this is
your
dad?"
"You named your boyfriend Geoff!"
"Yeah, but you spell it with a 'J,' and my fictional guy spells it with a 'G.'"
"I could let that slide, but my parents are still together. None of the other guys you wrote about were married. You'd break up a family just to satisfy your urges?"
"It's also the first story where I'm cheating on someone," I pointed out. "That doesn't mean I'd do it in real life. I'm going beyond my comfort zone." That seemed to satisfy him for the moment.
"Let me see if he left me a message on Facebook," I said. I opened up the app.
"Well?"
"It's worse than that. He's at the Fifth Street Jacks Club."
"Well, at least he was telling the truth."
"Yeah, but he also posted that it's a great place to pick up girls."
"What kind of sick fuck are you making me out to be?" Jeff asked. I continued typing.
"Oh, wait, he just posted again. 'Damn, I got shot down.'"
Geoff's dad asked, "You mean he lost, or he got turned down for a date?"
I waited. "Someone else must have asked him the same question. Apparently, both."
"That's my son. He can't even beat an eight-year-old at jacks."