Think Before You Speak

Joey groaned as he all but slammed his forehead on the table, ignoring the milkshake that had just been placed before him.

“Dude...what is up with you?” Leo asked. “You have been...whatever this is, all day. I thought a milkshake would cheer you, but you won’t even look at it! And I even paid for it!”

Joey groaned once more before he picked up his head to look at his frustrated friend.

“I’m sorry, I’m not in the mood for ice cream. I shouldn’t have let you buy that for me. Sorry.”

Instead of getting mad, Leo just stared at him like Joey had grown an extra head.

“Not in the mood for...what the heck happened to you?!” Leo exclaimed, sounding both concerned and bewildered. Joey sighed.

“You know the girl I have a...uh...liking to?”

“Just say crush, man. Own it,” Leo said with a roll of his eyes. “And yeah...Millie, right?”

“Mhm,” Joey confirmed with a nod. “You also know Rick?”

“Unfortunately,” Leo said, wrinkling his nose.

“Well…” Joey said, hesitating, nervous as to how his best friend would take it. But one look at Leo’s expectant face made him realize that he had no choice but to tell his tale of woe.

**

Joey whistled some random tune as he walked to his next class, his heart full of hopeful anticipation. Not for the class itself, but for who was in the class. The girl he had a crush on ever since freshman orientation. Millie! She was pretty, nice, and had a beautiful laugh. The first time she laughed, Joey resolved that he would do everything in his power to make her happy.

Unfortunately, even though they quickly became friends, they hadn’t seen each other in a while, due to busy schedules and different college programs. But not anymore. They finally share a class again, and this time, for sure, Joey would ask her out.

In fact, he was going to ask her out on a date right after class. Maybe before, if there was time.

Joey stopped when he saw that he was finally in front of the class door.

He was determined not to chicken out this time.

With a smile, Joey pushed open the door and quickly looked around for Millie. With a lift of his heart, he quickly found her, her red tresses strewed over her shoulders.

He hadn’t even seen her face yet, but Joey knew that she was still as pretty as ever.

“Mi-”

“Yo, Millie!” Joey stumbled to a stop as a shirtless, burly man roughly brushed past him and confidently strode towards Millie. “Your hair’s a mess!”

Rick...Joey met him during freshman orientation, too. And immediately disliked him. It wasn’t just because he was a jock while Joey was more on the nerdy side...okay, maybe it was partly that. But Rick was also full of himself and was unapologetically rude.

And was technically Joey’s rival since he also liked Millie...if just for the fact that he had red hair too so they should carry on the genes.

But thankfully, Millie wasn’t fond of Rick, so Joey had never been afraid of her dating-

“Rick!” Millie cried as she turned around, giving the other redhead a bright smile like he was...special to him.

They...they couldn’t be-

Millie then stood up and turned around.

And for once in his life, Joey’s eyes didn’t stay captivated by Millie’s angelic face as they became drawn downwards.

All the way down to her belly, clearly carrying an innocent, developing life.

“Mill...what...when...Rick, did you do this to her?” Joey cried as a quiet rage began to build into a burning inferno.

Millie always wanted to be married before she started having children...she wanted to graduate from college first...she...she wanted…

“Yeah. She resisted at first, but I persuaded her with my charm and my logic. This world needs more redheads. That, and well, she would have to be an idiot to reject this,” Rick confirmed, motioning towards his twelve-pack.

With that, Joey snapped.

Joey yelled as he balled his fist, preparing to hit Rick’s face, willing to die for Millie’s honor.

Then suddenly he was in bed.

**

“It was all a dream?!” Leo cried, so shocked that the hand holding his spoon drooped just enough that the ice cream slipped off onto the table. “I mean, now that I think about it, I did just see her not too long ago. And she definitely didn’t have a baby bump. And she was happily single.”

“I know. I saw her today,” Joey gloomily said.

“See? You saw the truth for yourself,” Leo said with a wave of his hands. “So why are you so depressed? You should be happy that it was just a nightmare.”

“I was happy when I woke up...which was two days ago,” said Joey. Even though Leo opened his mouth to interject, Joey kept on going. “But when I saw Millie today...I forgot. I mixed up reality with my nightmare, Leo.”

Leo stayed silent as he stared at Joey with dread.

“What did you do?” he whispered. Full of despair and shame, Joey looked his best friend straight in the eye.

“I yelled, ‘What happened to the baby?!’”