Just Like Heaven (9 page)

“Today is no good, I’ve got plans, and besides, I feel fine.”

“I’d feel better if you went,” her Dad argued.

“Well, I wouldn’t!” Demi declared, becoming the petulant teen she occasionally was. “I’ve got plans!”

She stormed out of the kitchen in a dramatic fashion leaving her Dad feeling both dazed and confused by her ever changing moods. Even though she was against going, he knew his own mind would be at ease if she went to the doctors and so he went and made her an appointment for that afternoon, hoping that whatever plans she had would be over by then.

####

Arthur nervously eyed the walls covered in various tattoo designs while holding on tightly to Demi’s hand. In theory it had been a great idea to get something permanent which would forever remind them of this summer but now they were actually here about to go through with it he felt unbearably nervous.

He’d never liked needles. He didn’t understand how Jared could tolerate them as he did. For such a young kid his brother was unbelievably brave.

“So what are you going to get?” Demi asked her voice low as though she were afraid to be too loud even though they were the only ones in there. Beyond them in another room they could hear the wasp like hum of the needle permanently etching a design on to another customer.

“We are going to get this,” Arthur rummaged in his pocket and produced a piece of paper which contained some elegant script;

And I promise you, I promise that I”ll run away with you

Demi recognised the lyric and smiled.

“It’s certainly a nice sentiment.”

“It’s more than that, it’s an oath,” Arthur said as he absently fingered the paper in his hand.

“That no matter where life takes us, to Duke, Georgia, wherever, that one day we will run away and be together, just us, no matter what.”

“I like the sound of that,” Demi said wistfully.

Arthur wrapped an arm around her, noting how he liked how she fit perfectly in to his side, as though they were two parts of a puzzle slotting together seamlessly, and kissed her head.

“Will it hurt?” she asked, sounding nervous.

“A bit,” he replied honestly. “But it will be worth it.”

“Yeah.”

Linking hands they gazed in to each other’s eyes, feeling the depth of their feeling and of their promise to one another.

“I love you so much,” Arthur said, squeezing her hands.

“I love you too.”

“Are you kids ready?” a burly man with tattoos running up his arms came out and stood behind the counter, regarding them with a slightly contemptuous look.

“Yes,” Arthur replied confidently. “We are ready.”

####

Demi felt as though she were floating when she came home despite the throbbing along the base of her spine where her new tattoo sat atop sore skin. Being in love was just as wonderful as she always hoped it would be, and saying goodbye to Arthur each night really was the sweetest sorrow she’d ever known. Already she lived for the moment when their lips would next lock together. It was all so wonderful, so magical. Nothing would ever come between them, not college, not distance, not time, nothing.

“Where have you been?” Demi’s Dad asked angrily the moment she came in through the front door.

“Dad, I told you, I had plans,” she snapped at him.

“Well, I’m taking you to the doctors, now.”

“Dad, I’ve just got in!” Demi protested.

“Young lady you will do as I say! I’m concerned about you, now go get in the car!”

Demi wanted to fight back, to not be bossed about like that but she loved her Dad dearly and appreciated just how difficult it was for him to be a single parent and she hadn’t been spending much time with him lately. If a trip to the doctors would make him happy then she would go along with it.

####

“Your brother is already asleep,” Arthur’s Mom told him as he came home and slung himself across the couch.

“It’s only six thirty.”

“He’s been getting more tired lately, I told you that,” his Mom said curtly, her own eyes tired and strained from worry.

“Can’t I go see him?” Arthur went to get up but she held out a hand signalling him to stop.

“He needs his rest, Art. If you want to spend time with him perhaps you shouldn’t go gallivanting with that girl all day.”

“That girl? I thought you liked Demi!”

“I did… I do… it’s just,” he could see his mother choosing her words carefully for fear of offending him.

“You two are getting so serious and with college on the horizon, I don’t want you to be making it difficult for you to leave come fall.”

“Isn’t it already difficult enough?” Arthur shot back. His mother sighed wearily and went to turn away when something caught her eye. While they had been talking Arthur had been stroking his sore, now branded arm. And like all mothers, his was perfectly in tune to changes in his movements and behavior.

“Lift up your sleeve,” she ordered.

“What?” panicked Arthur straightened on the couch, clutching his arm protectively.

“Your sleeve, lift it up.”

“What? Why? No!”

Arthur Conrad Cooper you’ll do as I say while in this house!”

Not wanting to anger his mother more when she already had so much to worry about with Jared, Arthur slowly raised his jacket sleeve and watched the colour fade from her face as he did so. Then his mother went from white to red and her lips set in a firm line as she pondered on what she was seeing.

“Is this to do with Demi?” she asked, her voice shrill.

“What if it is?”

“Do you realize how ridiculous you look? To have a tattoo? And they are permanent, did you know that?”

“Mom, I know, and it’s my body, I can do what I like to it!” 

“Lord knows what your father will say!”

“I don’t care what he says!” Arthur stood up, yelling, forgetting about Jared sleeping just above their heads.

“It was my decision!”

“And a poor one it was!” she spat, casting cruel judgement over her teenage son. “You are spending far too much time with that girl. I’m scared you’ll do something even more stupid than that tattoo!”

“Like what?”

“Like end up being stuck with her for the rest of your life!”

“That’s what I want!” Arthur declared.

“Right now you do, but trust me, the world is much bigger than Collinswood and you’ll see that soon. There are many girls out there who will be desperate to date you.”

“But I don’t want to date them!”

“You will, Arthur. You’re a young man, it’s in your nature to date and enjoy yourself, don’t deny yourself a future by tying yourself down so young.”

“I love Demi!”

“The world isn’t some fairy tale. The girl you meet at eighteen isn’t the girl you’ll spend your life with. In time you’ll see that, I just don’t want you making any more mistakes before you do!”

“Stop lecturing me!”

“Would you rather your father did it?”

Arthur was silent at this; the judgement of Conrad Cooper was something he could definitely do without.

Above their heads they heard soft muffling.

“Christ, he’s awake,” Arthur’s Mom sighed, raising a hand to her temple.

“I’ll go get him settled again,” Arthur offered, before turning and touching his mother’s arm gently.

“It’s just a tattoo Mom; I’m not getting married or anything. Stop worrying so much, please.”

His mother looked in to his face and saw that her young boy had become a man right before her eyes, and it both scared and saddened her. She knew all too well the trappings of young love and hoped against hope that nothing would happen to stop her son from fulfilling his potential at Duke as so much already stood in his way.

####

“How have you been feeling?” Doctor Shapiro asked, his old eyes gazing at Demi kindly, as he shone a light down in to her ears.

“Fine,” Demi shrugged. “I was sick a couple of times over the last few weeks, but apart from that I’m fine.”

“Uh huh,” the doctor nodded as he continued with his examination. He listened to Demi’s heart, checked her temperature and regarded her with a slightly concerned look.

“Do you mind if I check your tummy?” he asked.

“Sure,” Demi replied casually.

She went and lay on the bed made up in the room, and after calling a nurse in, Doctor Shapiro began to feel her stomach. It didn’t hurt and Demi wondered what the point of it was.

“Demi, when was your last period?” he asked directly once she’d settled herself again on the chair opposite his desk.

“Oh,” Demi felt herself blushing. “I’m not sure…a couple of weeks ago.”

“Would you mind doing a urine test for me?” the doctor asked.

“Umm, yeah, okay,” she answered hesitantly. “Is everything alright?”

“Everything is fine. It’s just to check you aren’t pregnant.” The doctor explained.

“Oh!” Demi gasped and then turned even redder at the thought that her family doctor, whom she’d been visiting since she was in diapers, was now aware that she was sexually active. It was almost as humiliating as her Dad finding out.

Taking the small plastic tube, Demi dutifully went and did a sample before being told to sit in the waiting area until they called her in again in a few minutes.

“Why do you have to go back in?” her Dad asked nervously.

“I’m not sure,” Demi answered, not wanting to tell him about the pregnancy test, it would only cause him to worry further unnecessarily.

“I hate being at the doctors, it always makes me think of…” he was going to say her mother but stopped himself. He had to remember that not everyone who came to the doctors feeling unwell died a few months later.

Demi reached out and held her Dad’s hand, sensing his pain.

“Everything will be alright,” she told him, feeling so confident that it would be.

####

“Pregnant?” Demi almost choked on the word as she repeated what Doctor Shapiro had just told her. She felt her heart rate rise in panic and she became teary.

“It’s okay,” Doctor Shapiro knelt before her so that he could look her directly in the eye as he placed one hand gently over hers which lay clenched in her lap. Frantically Demi looked from the doctor to the nurse standing close behind him, each were eyeing her with a sad, poignant gaze.

“This happens to more young women than you realize. Would you like to discuss your options?” the doctor’s voice was low and soothing but it did nothing to alleviate Demi’s distress.

“I can’t be pregnant!” Demi declared, almost shaking with shock and emotion. “I’m going away to college in the fall; I’m going to be a nurse!” The nurse in the room smiled fondly at this.

“There’s no need to panic right now,” Doctor Shapiro told her kindly.

“I can’t be pregnant,” Demi spluttered again as she began to cry. The nurse handed her a tissue which quickly became soaked.