Lost in the Game {Brollins}

| Chapter 47 |

Rebecca searched through the isles before coming across the section filled with hygiene items, medicines, and health products.

She looked through the shelves as she slowly walked down the long lane, coming across the medication area. She quickly saw some pills to use for headaches right beside the boxes of cold medicine. She swiftly grabbed the bottle of pills for herself, before figuring that if Ashley was sick—pregnant or not—some medicine couldn't hurt.

After some more searching, she came across the stocked shelves filled with different brands of pregnancy tests. She grabbed a pack that came with multiple tests so that they could be thorough and get clear results before she made her way to the check-out.

While standing in line, Rebecca noticed that everything seemed to be irritating her. A cough from the man in line in front of her, the clicking of the keys on the cash register, even the woman walking around the store in high heels seemed to be grabbing too much of her attention. She threw her hood over her head, taking in its scent, before remembering that it was Colby's.

Rebecca squeezed her eyes shut, wishing she would've stayed with the guys, hidden from everyone else. She would've rather been curled up on the couch next to Joseph as he combed his fingers through her hair, listening to Jonathan talk about anything and everything, or simply enjoying his quiet presence. She laughed to herself quietly when she came to the conclusion that she would even rather hear Colby's lame pick-up lines than be worrying about everyone else's problems but her own.

She immediately stopped herself once she realized what she was thinking. Rebecca knew that her friends were relying on her, and she wanted to be their support system, and if that meant burying her own issues then so be it.

When she finally made it up to the counter, she placed her items in front of the cashier and grabbed her beat-down and old wallet. When the cashier rang up all of the items, and she handed him a ten-dollar bill, he paused. "Sorry ma'am, this ain't enough."

She stared at the cashier and then the screen displaying all of her items before sighing when she finally clued back in, "Uh, sorry about that."

She took another second to stare at the items, "Just take off the pills. I don't really need them."

The man nodded and pushed the bottle aside, before taking her cash and handing her a small amount of change. She gave her thanks when he handed her the bag of her things and quickly made her way out of there and over to Ashley's.

When she arrived she found the door unlocked and was met with absolute silence. "Ash?"

"I'm here." Ashley's response was muffled and sounded like it came from upstairs.

When she reached Ashley's room she heard some crying along with the sound of a toilet flushing. She slowly walked inside and saw the bathroom door had been left wide open. When she reached the door opening she saw Ashley curled up on the bathroom floor, next to the toilet, with tears streaming down her face. It was evident that she was in extreme distress. Rebecca took in the scene, noticing Ashley's hair was a rumpled mess, her face was sickeningly pale, and her entire body was shivering.

"Hey, babe." Rebecca spoke softly and the look of relief on Ashley's face when she saw Rebecca, made her feel even more guilty for her earlier thoughts. However, before Ashley could respond, her head was quickly back in the toilet.

"Hey hey, it's okay." Rebecca dropped the bag of products and rushed over to Ashley, pulling her hair behind her and rubbing her back, "You're alright."

Ashley flushed the toilet once again and sobbed, turning towards Rebecca and curling up next to her, "I'm late."

Rebecca nodded, knowing the last thing Ashley needed right now was to be chastised for her poor actions. "I'm so sorry Becks."

"It's okay. You don't need to be apologizing to me. We'll figure this out together." Rebecca gave her a small smile, "No need to work ourselves up before even finding out for sure, right?"

Ashley nodded with a quick and small optimistic smile, before it faded again, "But I'm late and sick, and I don't know what to do."

She quickly began crying again and blubbered to Rebecca before she quietly interjected, "How late?"

"Two weeks." Ashley responded, "I didn't think anything of it because sometimes these things happen. But the past few days I started feeling nauseous. That's why I left the party so early."

Rebecca nodded, making the mental note to herself that Ashley wasn't at the party when everything went down. "Well, I have some stuff for you."

Rebecca gently leaned Ashley on the wall behind her, careful not to jerk her around, before going to grab the bag of things she bought. She handed Ashley the box and let her sort herself out while she waited in Ashley's room.

When stressed she noticed she always had a tendency to fidget with a nearby item, but Ashley's room was so infuriatingly spotless that she had to resort to something else. She crossed her arms, moving her hand to her mouth as she gently bit the tip of her thumb, as extreme waves of stress continued to wash over her as she tried to calm herself down. After some time, she heard Ashley rummaging around in the washroom before she came out.

Rebecca watched Ashley shuffle towards her slowly before she held Ashley in a tight hug while soothingly rubbing her back with one hand, "Now we play the waiting game."