Page 95 of Pipe Dreams
Lauren took the kind of deep, cleansing breath that Ari tried to get her yoga classes to take. Then she took two more. Yelling at a locked door was not going to win the girl’s trust.
She backed away, then opened the adjoining door to slip back into her own room. She dug out her Katt Phone and tried to think.
After a few more yoga breaths, she called Mike’s number. “Hi, honey. Hope your pregame routine is going well. I don’t want you to worry, but Elsa won’t come out of her bathroom.As a precaution I’d love to know if she’s been feeling ill. But I suspect that she’s fine and just pushing my buttons a little bit. If you have any intel, shoot me a text. Otherwise I’ll talk her out of there in a bit and we’ll both be cheering for you. Love you.”
She hung up, wondering if calling him had been the right thing to do. Mike probably wouldn’t see that message before the game, anyway. He was probably stretching with his teammates and chatting with the goaltending coach.
Lauren went back into Elsa’s room and stared at the door.She’s only a sad teenager, not a lion, Lauren reminded herself. “Honey,” she said to the door. “If you won’t tell me the problem, or come out of there, I’m going to have to call maintenance and get them to open it for me.”
“No!” Elsa invested so much fear into this short word that Lauren’s pulse kicked up a notch again.
“Why?” Lauren demanded. The bathroom doorknob had a little hole in the center of it. The ones in her apartment were the same. If she could thread a straightened coat-hanger into that hole, the lock would release with a pop...
The doorknob turned suddenly and Elsa’s face appeared in the crack, looking both angry and scared. “I have a p-problem.”
“What kind of problem?” Lauren whispered.
“There’s... blood everywhere.”
“What?” Lauren nudged the door, moving Elsa out of the way. When it swung open she saw bright red blood on the bath mat. She grabbed Elsa’s wrists in her hands, but they were perfect.
And shaking.
A fraction of a second later, more pieces of the puzzle began to align themselves together. The pair of jeans cast onto the floor. The wastebasket full of wadded-up tissue. The red smear on the toilet. “You just got your period?” Elsa nodded tearfully, and Lauren felt a great flood of relief. Then one more lightbulb illuminated. “For the first time?”
The child dropped her chin, and her shoulders sagged.
“Oh,” Lauren said slowly. “Oh, honey. That must be scary.”
Elsa let out a sob.
“Hey!” Lauren said quickly, pulling herself together. “You’re okay! You’re fine.” Instinct kicked in and she pulled Elsa against her body, one hand on the back of her head. “Breathe, okay?”
“It’s... everywhere,” Elsa cried.
“It looks worse than it is,” Lauren babbled. “Just a little mess. You’re just surprised, right? Did it start earlier today?”
“I... I guess. I saw some... brown in the airport. And then I shut the TV off and got up and... and... itgushed.”
“Okay, okay,” Lauren soothed. “You’refine. I know you feel scared, because it seems weird to see a lot of blood. But this is totally normal.” It wasn’t her most elegant speech, but she was pinch-hitting here.
“I want mymom,” Elsa sobbed, her narrow shoulders shaking.
Lauren’s eyes welled instantly and spilled over. “Oh, honey. I’m so, so sorry she isn’t here.” She swallowed her own tears. “Let’s get you cleaned up. I’m going to help you the best I can. I know it’s not nearly the same as having your mom around, but I’ve gotten periods for a long time, okay? I’ll get you set up.”
“Okay,” Elsa ground out.
She convinced Elsa to take a quick shower while she went to look in her luggage for a pad. Luckily, she found one. Often there were only tampons in there.
With Elsa standing there in a towel, she gave her a quick explanation of how pads were affixed to underwear. “You can just throw your ruined ones away, okay? I have extras. And we’ll use cold water to get the stain out of your jeans. Do you have another pair with you?”
She did, luckily.
Ten minutes later, Elsa was dressed in clean, dry clothesand sitting on her bed looking a little shell-shocked but otherwise fine. It was almost time to head over to the rink, but Lauren took the risky step of climbing onto the bed next to Elsa. She hugged her knees to her chest and sighed. “I got my first period on a bus trip with my class. In eighth grade.”
“Oh, no!” Elsa gasped.
“It was on the way home, at least. I tied my sweatshirt around my waist. But I was still a hundred percent sure that everyone saw. I felt like I was glowing like a beacon.”
