Bump by Matthew J. Metzger

Author:Matthew J. Metzger [Metzger, Matthew J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: NineStar Press, LGBT, contemporary, trans, bisexual, established couple, interracial, veterinarian, disability/car accident, depression, family issues, homophobia, children, pregnancy, body dysphoria, #ownvoices
Publisher: NineStar Press, LLC
Published: 2018-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

HIS BACK HURT.

David spent most of his day standing up at work. He preferred standing to sitting now he was unquestionably showing, but eight hours was taking a toll on his back. And his thighs. And everything else.

Plus, Sam thought standing up was the best thing ever and had taken to punching every organ within reach.

So when half past four arrived, and his last appointment opened the door, David could have cried to see Vicky.

Just Vicky, holding a blatantly empty carrier. No Fred, no kittens. Just Vicky.

“I’m not a doctor,” he said, and she laughed at him.

“You’ve not been answering our texts or calls, you’ve been skipping judo for months now without a word, and this is the only way I get to see you,” she said. “So I’m going to sit here for half an hour, and you’re going to talk to me until the surgery closes, and then we’re going to get a drink.”

David rolled his eyes. “You know, we could fine you for this.”

“We both know you won’t,” she said. “So, come on. What’s going on? Are you okay?”

“Yes?”

She eyed the straining lab coat pointedly. “You’ve been off sick, you’ve gained a lot of weight, and you’re not coming to judo. You’re obviously not all right. So I can start guessing or—”

She knew. They all knew, his judo friends. They were all his university friends. But David had found that a strange thing happened over the years, once the passing had kicked in.

People forgot.

They just—forgot. In the beginning, there was a sharp tinge of awareness about everything, like everyone saw that he was trans before they saw that he was David. Like they’d remember his identity prior to his name. But after his first surgery, when he’d jumped from obviously trans to obviously a man, the people around him just seemed to forget. There had been…moments. Incidents where it became obvious they no longer quite remembered. The night out after he and James had passed their blue belt, where James told him to hurry up and stop waiting for the cubicle and just use the urinal. The day Vicky had rummaged through his bathroom cabinet in search of condoms to steal for her own use, and had a go at him.

“You could get someone pregnant!” she’d raged, and David just stared in stupefaction at her.

He looked obvious—but people forgot. People saw what they wanted to see. And so he knew—knew—Vicky wouldn’t guess right.

“I’m not ill,” he said.

“So explain—”

“I’m pregnant.”

She stopped mid-flow. Her jaw sagged. She’d lifted a finger to point accusingly at him, but it hung in mid-air like she’d forgotten she had hands at all.

“Pregnant?”

There was a long pause.

Then, “Oh my God!”

She squealed and jumped forward. The carrier clattered to the floor. She hugged him tightly, and he was smothered in the smell of perfume and paint.

“That’s amazing!” she enthused. “Oh my God, why didn’t you say anything! No, wait, I know why, you never say anything anyway! Oh my God, David! You have to come over now.

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