I sit on the bathroom floor with my arms wrapped around my knees, wondering how this can be.

"Come on, babe! Open the door! I gotta pee!" Liam demands.

"In a minute!" I yell back.

"I don't have a minute. Seriously babe, if you don't open this door, I'll be mopping up a puddle out here soon."

I sigh, stand up, and open the door.

"Thank God!"

He pushes past me. He doesn't even notice my tears. However, that doesn't surprise me. Lately, Liam notices very little about me. Sometimes, I wonder if he notices me at all.

I drift into the bedroom of our dorm flat in a daze. I open my palm and look down again at the pregnancy test in my hand. How did this happen? I am on the pill. It is my last year of college. This year I graduate. I am about to earn my journalism degree. I grip the test in my hand while trying to think of what comes next.

Liam comes into the room and strips out of his lounge pants in order to get dressed for the day. "What's wrong with you? You've been awfully moody lately. Is it your time of the month?" He pulls on his shirt.

I don't look at him. I can't look at him. "Liam, we need to talk."

I hear him audibly groan. "Babe, we talked about this. Nothing happened at the Frat party with those girls. I swear, but you know me and the boys are in charge of the new pledges. It's our job to show them a good time and a party wouldn't be a party without some hotties to attend."

"That's not what I want to talk to you about."

"Oh. Well, what's up?"

"Do you remember the last time we slept together?"

"Do I? Hell yeah! You were pretty hot that night." 

He gives me that grin I used to love, and one of his eyebrows rose. "You looking to do that again, because I'm already running late for my physics class, but I would totally miss it for that."

I sigh. When had we come to this? Liam and I have been together since high school, so much in love that we couldn't even think of attending different universities. It's always been Cat and Liam, Liam and Cat. But lately, with my workload and his partying, we are more like roommates with benefits than an actual couple.

Tears burn my eyes as I look at him. "No, that's not what I mean. Something ... something went wrong. I don't know how but..." I open up my hand and the word PREGNANT is clearly visible on the test.

He jumps back from me as if I am holding out some venomous snake.

"Whoa! What is that?" he says, pointing to it.

"What do you think it is, Liam?"

He ran his fingers through his already messy brown hair. "But Cat, it says..."

He can't even bring himself to say the word.

"Pregnant, it says pregnant."

"No, no, no, no... this isn't possible. This is... this can't be... YOU... you're on the pill!"

I didn't care for the accusatory tone of his voice like this somehow is entirely MY fault.

Then suddenly, he laughs. "Oh, I get it! Good one, Cat. You and your sorority girls think this one up, or did you come up with this one on your own?" He places his hand over his heart and breathes a sigh of relief. "You really had me going there."

"This isn't a prank, Liam. I AM pregnant."

"Yeah, okay." He picks up his bag, grabs his laptop, and kisses my cheek. "I'm late for class. I'll see you tonight." And with that, he skips out the door, still chuckling while on his way to class.

"No, you won't," I say to no one, as I sit there alone in the room. No, wait. I'm not alone. My hand presses against my stomach. 

"Guess I'll never be alone again, will I, Peanut?" When did I decide to nickname the baby?

"Come on, Cat," I admonish myself. "You know you'd never even think of..." I shudder at the thought of giving up this child. Nope, not even up for discussion, which is why I have to go.

"Guess it's just you and me now. Maybe your dad will come around. Right now he's a little shell-shocked, but one thing is for certain. I need to get away. I need a place to think this through."

It's funny how your entire universe can change and yet stay exactly the same: the same route to Lit Class, same stairs to Visual Media, same professor dropping his knowledge on us students. I sit down next to my best friend, William, and he takes one glance at me and looks shocked. For a second, I have this ridiculous notion that somehow he knows my secret, but that would be insane.

"You look like hell girl, what happened to you?" The brown skin on his forehead crinkles in concern. He looks deeply disturbed by what he sees.

It is then I realize I didn't bother to look in the mirror before leaving for class. In fact, I am not even sure I ran a brush through my hair. I know I didn't bother with makeup. Not that I wore a lot to begin with, but with the sleepless nights I've been having, a little concealer would go a long way.

I quickly finger comb my auburn hair and tie it back into a haphazard ponytail high on my head, thankful I always have a hair band around my wrist. "I look that bad?"

"If by bad, you mean like you partied hard last night and didn't hear your alarm go off, so rolled out of bed and ran to class. Then yeah, you look that bad."

"I wish," I groan. Instead, I had spent the night staring at the ceiling, ticking the minutes off as I awaited sunrise, knowing I had the test of my life sitting in my purse, which I was going to pass or fail.

I had spent hours going over and over in my mind how or what went wrong until I finally fell into a restless sleep. That somehow made me even more tired when I woke up a couple of hours later. I slump in the chair, suddenly feeling every bit of that exhaustion.

"You sick? If you're sick... scat Cat. I'll take notes and bring them by later."

"No, I'm fine." I lie. I have been feeling queasy and the why now makes perfect sense, but I am not about to admit to it.

His hand on my arm startles me. I don't even remember closing my eyes. "That's it! After class, you and I are having a serious discussion."

"Do we have to?" I whine.

"Yes, and we will not talk anymore until you're ready to fess up to whatever is going on with you."

I should have skipped Visual Media. Whereas Liam ignores my existence, William doesn't miss a detail. After class, he takes my arm. "So, spill it, girl. I know when my bestie is in pain. What did Liam do this time?"

I wonder if I have been complaining about Liam so much lately that William assumed it had something to do with him. Or did he come to that conclusion because there is no one else in my life other than Liam?

"I can't," I tell him, and I see he immediately looks hurt.

"Cat, you can tell me anything, or well... you used to."

"Please understand. I'll tell you everything, but I'm still processing, you know. I just... I need some more time."

William's look of concern returns. "This is bad. Like on the code orange level of serious, isn't it?"

I nod in response because I can't bring myself to speak. The urge to cry is building up inside of me. I make some strange guttural sound to clear my throat. "Can I stay at your place tonight? I don't want to go home."

"I would, Cat... in a heartbeat, but it's my turn to host the drama club. There's no way I could reschedule that many people with so little notice."

"Oh... that's okay. Maybe I can.."

Someone came running up behind us. "Hey William, do you have the notes on our Mass Media Law class? I'm falling like WAY behind."

I look over to see this cute guy with sandy blonde and sparkling blue eyes smiling over at the two of us. He drapes an arm over William. "Pleeeease," he begs.

"This is the third time this week, Alex! Why didn't you make it this time?"

"I know. I got some stuff going on and it's making it hard for me to keep up. Pretty Pleeease!" This time adding some eyelash batting, which, despite my dismal demeanor, actually brings a smile to my lips.

William gives me an odd look and then looks over at Alex and then back at me. "Okay, I will. In fact, I'll cover you for this entire week if you do me a huge favor in return."

"Name it! Anything!" Alex was obviously desperate for those notes.

"Alex, meet Cat. Cat, this is my friend, Alex. Alex, Cat needs a place to stay, so you put her up at your place and we'll call it even."

"Wait, what?" Both Alex and I say in unison. It would have been comical if either of us took him seriously.

"Look, Cat, you need a place to stay. There is no one on this campus I trust more than you, other than Alex." He turns to Alex. "She's my best friend and a damsel in distress. It is your duty to answer the call."

"I um..."If William trusted him, that went a long way but to stay the night with a complete stranger? I just didn't think I could...

"I'm good if she is," Alex replies. "Sorry, for the reaction," he says to William, "but in my defense, you sort of sprung that one on me. Did you see the shirt Michael was wearing?" Alex asks, moving on in the conversation, even though I didn't give my answer yet.

"You mean the 'Nobody Knows I'm Gay' shirt?" William gives his famous, Puhleaze eye roll in response. "I hate it when straight people wear that shirt."

"I know, right!" Alex chimes in.

He's gay... he's gay, like William. Of course, that's why William thinks I'd feel safe with him.

"If it's not too much trouble?" I jump in, feeling suddenly timid, wondering if there was something going on between these two.

Alex looks over at me and smiles. "Great! Uh..." He pulls out his phone. "What's your number? I'll text you my address."

I give him the number, and he sends me the address. "In fact, here." He hands me his key. "I got a backup I can use. This way you don't have to worry about meeting up with me at a certain time. You can just drop in whenever you like."

"Oh, okay. Thank you."

"See that!" William says, pulling us all together for a group hug. "I love it when a plan comes together. Alex and I have a class this way. I'll see you in the cafeteria for lunch?"

Just the thought of food turned my stomach. "Maybe tomorrow?"

His smile fades, and William puts his hands on my shoulders and rests his forehead against mine. "I'm serious... the moment you're ready to talk. Day or night, no matter what time. You call me. Understand?"

"Understand."

"See you tonight, Cat!" Alex says with a friendly wave before he and William disappear into the crowded hallway.