10 . OMG! Amber Tells Dave She's Pregnant

 The apartment was quiet—the kind of stillness that usually meant a lazy Sunday afternoon. Sunlight filtered through the dusty blinds, casting warm golden stripes across the worn hardwood floor. Dave sat on the couch, laptop balanced on his knees, absentmindedly humming along to a playlist while scrolling through endless lines of code and weekend emails.

In the hallway, Amber stood motionless, her reflection staring back at her from the full-length mirror. Her heart was beating against her ribs like a trapped bird. In her right hand, tucked deeply inside her coat pocket, was a small white plastic stick with two solid pink lines. She had checked it once. Then twice. Then three times, waiting for the lines to magically disappear or shift into something else. They hadn’t.

She took a slow, grounding breath, pushed her hair back from her face, and walked into the living room.

"Dave?" her voice was barely above a whisper, but in the quiet room, it sounded like a glass breaking.

Dave didn't look up immediately, his fingers still tapping on the keyboard. "Hmm? Yeah, babe? Did you figure out what we're getting for dinner? I was thinking maybe—"

"Dave, put the laptop down."

Something in her tone—the flat, trembling precision of it—made him pause. His fingers hovered over the keys. He slowly tilted the screen down, looking up at her with a mix of mild confusion and amusement. "What’s up? You look like you just saw a ghost."

"I... I don't know how to say this," Amber began, her hands fidgeting with the edge of her sweater. She walked over to the center of the room, standing a few feet away from where he sat. "I've been trying to figure out the right words all morning, but there aren't any."

Dave’s smile faded, replaced by sudden concern. He set the laptop on the coffee table and sat up straight. "Amber, you're scaring me. Did something happen? Is your family okay?"

"No, everyone's fine," she said quickly, taking another step closer. "It's not that. It's... us."

Dave blinked, a flicker of panic entering his eyes. "Us? What do you mean 'us'?"

Amber closed her eyes for three agonizing seconds. When she opened them, tears were welling at the corners, reflecting the afternoon light. She pulled her hand out of her pocket, reached forward, and placed the small test directly into his open palm.

Dave looked down at his hand. For a long, suffocating moment, there was complete silence in the room. The ticking of the wall clock seemed to amplify ten times over.

He stared at the two pink lines. He read the tiny printed word next to them. Positive.

"Is this..." Dave's voice cracked. His head snapped up, wide-eyed, his face going completely pale. "Wait. Is this real? Is this... a joke? Are you playing a prank on me?"

"Do I look like I'm joking, Dave?" Amber said, a mixture of a sob and a laugh escaping her breath. "I took three of them. I went to the clinic down the street two hours ago. It's real."

Dave stood up so fast his knee knocked against the coffee table, sending a half-empty mug trembling. He started pacing back and forth across the rug, hands clamped behind his head, staring at the ceiling as if looking for answers in the plaster.

"OMG..." he breathed out, his chest heaving. "OMG, Amber. A baby? Right now? We... we just bought the new couch! We're supposed to go to Bali in four months! I'm still trying to get my promotion!"

"I know! Do you think I planned this?!" Amber cried, crossing her arms defensively. "I'm terrified, Dave! I came in here hoping you'd say something comforting, not freak out and start talking about Bali!"

Dave stopped dead in his tracks. He looked at Amber—really looked at her—and saw how visibly she was shaking, how tightly she was holding herself together. The initial shock began to settle, making way for a wave of realization and raw emotion.

He took three slow steps across the room, closing the distance between them. Without saying a word, he reached out and pulled her into his arms, wrapping his hands tightly around her back. Amber buried her face into his shoulder, letting out a long, shuddering breath she felt like she’d been holding all day.

"I'm sorry," Dave whispered into her hair, holding her tight. "I'm sorry, I just... I was shocked. I'm terrified too."

He pulled back just enough to look into her eyes, his hands resting gently on her shoulders. A faint, overwhelmed smile began to break through his stunned expression.

"We're going to be parents?" he asked gently, the reality finally setting in.

Amber nodded, wiping a tear from her cheek with a weak smile. "Yeah. We're going to be parents."

Dave looked down at her stomach, then back up at her face, letting out a breathless laugh. "Okay... Okay. No Bali. We're buying a crib instead