I Could Just Donate My Eggs!
1158 Words
"Grace? What's wrong? Lena asked, her heart skipping a beat.
Lena stared at her friend, she was very scared of what she might say as Grace looked at her with her phone in her hand and her eyes full of tears.
"I got into...fashion school!" Grace finally replied, her voice breaking with disbelief that she actually got in.
Lena's fears immediately changed to joy, Grace's tears were happy tears! They had been trying for years to get Grace into a fashion school in New York and here she was finally!
"Congratulations! I am so happy for you, New York has no idea what's coming!"
"Thank you Lena" Grace replied, her voice still shaky.
"What’s wrong?" She asked, bringing her voice to a whisper to avoid Eric from eavesdropping.
"The fashion school, I got into is in Paris"
"Wow... Paris took you. That's good news!"
"I got drafted into the late admissions, I must resume in two weeks"
"Oh ....wow" Lena's voice dropped. "Two weeks..."
"I can turn it down" Grace said quickly
"Nonsense! You must go. Have you forgotten how long you have saved for this?
"But Lena, how will you go about rent? The bills?"
"I will get a new roommate," Lena replied, trying to be as optimistic as possible.
Grace had tried over and over to apply for the fashion school but never got in. It was Lena's idea to try for school's outside of New York this year and she was very happy to see that her idea worked, though not the way she wanted but she did not want to stand in the way of her best friend's dreams.
Grace had been with her through her pregnancy. She had stayed with her, worked on the side with her skills as a seamstress, they pooled money together to pay rent and sort the bills and even take care of Eric but now it was time for Grace to find her own life.
"I love you Grace, but you deserve to live out your dreams too." Lena whispered to her.
"I love you too. But how will you handle the bills?”
"I could just donate my eggs!" Lena said casually.
"What?!" Grace pulled away from Lena and started to laugh but when she looked at Lena she realized she was serious.
"How? Why? Are you sure? Grace wished she could ask many questions.
"A fertility clinic in the city shared some e-flyers some time ago, the money is good"
"Lena, are you sure?"
"Grace, if I do it the money can help me balance before I start to feel your absence"
"Lena..."
"Grace, let's go home and discuss this, okay?"
Grace nodded at her friend and they both got into the car.
Three weeks later.
Lena found herself on the opposite side of the hospital. The streets of New York were busy that day but she tried to find her way. She held the paper she had written the hospital address and cross checked to see if she got the right fertility hospital.
Grace had sold her car to raise the emergency funds needed to get her to Paris so she had to take the bus and walk two blocks to find the hospital.
She missed Grace terribly but she was glad she had settled in at school and was catching up. Eric constantly asked after her and they spent every breakfast time before school talking to her on the phone.
The six hours difference was crazy but Eric would cry if he couldn't talk to his godmother and she didn't want to feel so far away from her only friend.
Lena looked at the hospital across the road again, she knew she wasn't ready to have any child again so donating her eggs was a pretty simple decision and the pay wasn't bad.
She really needed the money she would get from donating her eggs; rent was due soon and Eric needed new shoes and new clothes for the next season, with Grace away and no new roommate in sight, she couldn't waste any more time.
"Here we go," she told herself.
She was confident, but she still tried to mask her identity with a long trench coat, a nose mask and sunglasses.
She was just about to cross the street when she felt someone tap her on the shoulder.
"Excuse me miss, could you please help us take a picture?" Lena heard a cheerful female voice behind her say.
Tourists, Lena thought, flooded New York often. She turned around to politely say no, she was already running late for her appointment but the lady shoved her phone into her hands anyways.
"Thank you! I want you to take a picture of my fiance and I...please" she said sweetly.
Lena stared at her as she flashed her diamond ring to Lena as though they were old friends, but Lena wasn't interested. She had an appointment and she needed to be done quickly with everything.
"Isn't it the most beautiful ring you have ever seen?"
Lena nodded at the lady but prepared to return her phone to her.
"Congratulations but I am sorry, I need to..."
"Just one, it will only be a moment" The lady pleaded, giving her puppy eyes.
Lena tried to smile politely. She wasn't in the mood for this.
"Alright, just one," Replied Lena.
"Yay! Thank you, "the lady said.
She turned to tap a man who had been on a phone call behind her while facing the opposite direction.
"Baby...I got a nice lady to take our picture"
The man turned around and the lady quickly planted a sloppy kiss on him. Lena wasn't in the mood for love shenanigans, so she stared at her toes impatiently and waited for them to call her attention for a picture when they were done displaying love on the street like two lovesick rabbits.
Lovers always behaved like no one else could love more than they could, until they got heartbroken, Lena thought bitterly.
The lady finally pulled away from kissing her man.
"We are ready!" The lady said with her overly happy voice and brought Lena back from her thoughts.
Lena held up the phone to take the picture of the couple, and her head took a spin. The image displayed through the camera lens couldn't be real to her, it was impossible!
She looked at the fiance in disbelief and almost dropped the phone as she looked away from the phone screen to the actual couple. Her eyes met the fiance and he grinned at her.
How long has it been? She tried to run her thoughts through her series of unfortunate mishaps.
Lena's eye caught the engagement ring one more time. It glittered in the morning sun and then reflected right back in her eyes as if to mock her.
"Frank?" Lena croaked, staring at her ex-boyfriend of just three weeks as he held the love-dazed lady close to him.
- Writer
