Love is a Losing Game

Chapter 5

Chapter five - the dilemma

"Hiya! Just this today?" A cheery voice asked.

"Mhmm" Laurence muttered under her breath. 

"Well,  what results are you hoping for then?" The friendly woman was trying to make conversation but it wasn't working how he hoped. 

"Negative" 

"Oh, how come?" She wasn't giving up so Laurence just told her. 

"I umm... I just ended things with my partner. I still love him but he proposed to me with a bag of heroin, so, I'm hoping I'm not pregnant with his baby" She explained, a sullen expression on her face.

"Oh," The old lady at the till wasn't expecting that response so she had nothing much to say. As soon as she had paid, Laurence rushed home to take the pregnancy test. Her heart sunk deep into her when she saw the results. Her knees were wobbly and her arms dropped the test. Rachel was confused but when she saw what Laurence had just dropped, it all made sense. 

The test had two clear lines across the middle. Her best friend went to buy a few more so that they knew the results were correct. Sure enough, the first test was accurate and she was pregnant with Duncan's baby.

"Rachel, what do I do?" Cried Laurence, already knowing what her response would be. 

"Tell him, you can't just have his baby and not tell him or have an abortion and pretend as nothing happened" Explained Rachel with a serious tone of voice. Laurence knew she had to tell Duncan, but how? 

After a long conversation with the only person she trusted, she knew what to do. She had to tell him but she was going to wait, for multiple reasons; it was part of the plan to tell him and she didn't want to have to tell Duncan I had a miscarriage after the stress of telling him she was pregnant with his child in the first place. 

While Laurence was stressing over that, her love was hoping his dealer wasn't taking any action about their previous phone call. Unlike, his soulmate, he had no one he could turn to for help. The only person he had left was his colleague, Rowan. Duncan had no interest in talking or making contact with him as he knew he would convince him drugs were the only way out; the addict knew from experience, that heroin was a one-way ticket in.

He was alone and terrified. He knew that he was in danger. His dealer had threatened him before. He didn't want to tell anyone but that was the reason he started drugs again. He was forced to buy from him to buy heroin and Rowan convinced him to start taking it again. Duncan's life was falling to pieces but this didn't stop him. He saw it as an opportunity to rebuild his life the way that he wanted it. He heard a saying once, 

'When people have their lives together, to rebuild their lives, they have to knock themselves down. That is what's hard and people almost never come back from that but when someone else knocks you down, you still have trust in yourself and that trust and resilience is what helps you rebuild' He took this to heart and he knew that he wasn't the one who knocked himself down. He may have been the one to go to the party and trust his colleague but he knew that he still had trust in himself. He could rebuild his life. He already started when he called his dealer but the next step was Laurence. He needed her to know that he still loved her. He decided he would try to make contact but would also focus more on his work. He had a lot on his plate but never doubted himself. 

Laurence's life was also starting to be pulled back together. She knew what she had to do to tell her lover that she was pregnant. She waited until she had a small baby bump but by now, she had already a few ultra-sounds. She wanted Duncan to be there for all of them but she knew he couldn't be there just yet. 

The day that she was going to tell him had finally come. She put on a tight, light grey dress to show off her baby bump and walked to the cafe where she first met him and walked along his work route to try and see him. After a while, he was there. He walked slowly towards her as she greeted him with a smile on her face. 

"Hey, it's good to see you!" She beamed. She had totally forgotten all of the things he did to her and she was ready to move past it now that she finally had something big that changed her emotions. 

"Hey, good to see you too!" Duncan was glowing, hoping that he might finally be able to make things up with Laurence. 

"Oh, I see you moved on quickly," He noticed her baby bump and assumed it was someone else's. His tone changed drastically as his mind was questioning if she found someone else or if she had a one-night stand. 

"Oh, actually, I haven't," She was hoping Duncan could join the dots and come to the conclusion that the baby was his. 

"Wait, you're pregnant. And it's mine? I'm the dad?" He said in a tone where Laurence wasn't sure if he was happy about it. Her nerves kicked in snd she tried to explain herself. 

"Well, I know we used contraception but I haven't even thought about being with anyone else. You're the dad and it's ok if you don't want to be back together but I really think it would be good for the baby. And, if I'm being honest, I cried at every ultra-sound you weren't there for. So, please just consider it" She exploded, speaking so rapidly that he could hardly even make out what she was saying. 

"No, I'm happy about it. I'm off heroin now and I wasn't planning on having a baby just yet but I hope I can come to future ultra-sounds. I mean, I understand if you don't want to move back in yet but-" He was cut off as Laurence just said yes. She continued saying she wanted to move back in and finally get out of that little apartment she was living in now. She loved her best friend but she just couldn't live in that little place for much longer. 

As the days passed, there were many ultra-sounds that both the soulmates attended. For the first time in a while, they were both truly happy and Duncan even met some new friends who weren't like Rowan. He still spent most of his time with his partner but he went out a few times with his mates when Laurence went to visit Rachel. 

Word count: 1149

(A/N)  I like this chapter but it could definitely do with some work. Please leave any suggestions in the comments and thanks for reading and supporting me.  NF