From Here On Out

22

Emmy picked herself up from the bathroom floor she had been parked on for the last few hours. Day by day her symptoms were only getting worse, forcing the pregnancy to really sink in for her. She reached up and grabbed a towel to wipe her mouth. She wasn't feeling better in the slightest but she had rehearsals to attend to.

She slowly moved over to the window. She herself could spot how pale her skin was and the redness of her eyes. Her hands grabbed the tube of foundation she had on the counter. She dotted it under her eyes and on her forehead. She added blush and mascara on top, hoping it would make her current state less noticeable. Lastly, she decided to wear her glasses. The black frames would take some of the attention away from her tired eyes.

Walking out of the bathroom, she saw Jasmine grabbing her stuff to leave.

"Emmy, why don't you just tell Lora you're sick?" Jas asked as she looked over at her.

"I'm fine," Emmy sighed in return. She felt something rise in her throat and instinctively put one hand on the bottom of her belly for protection. It was an unconscious instinct, one that felt natural yet she didn't even realize she was doing it.

"Are you sure?" Jasmine side eyed, watching Emmy remove her hand just as fast as she had raised it.

"Yeah," she nodded. She was leaving out the part that she didn't want to miss her last few rehearsals. She had tried her hardest not to think about it, but she knew there was no way she could do a play with a baby bump.

Emmy crossed the room to grab her bag. She put a bottle of ginger ale inside just in case she needed it. Her and Jas then left the room and walked down to Mary's room to grab her.

"Hey guys," Mary came out as cheerful as ever.

"What's got you so smiley?" Emmy asked with a laugh.

She had pulled out her phone and was grinning as she typed out something. "Nothing," she lied.

Jasmine and Emmy looked at each other thinking the same thing, "Rafa," the two of their laughs could be heard down the hallway. Mary and Rafa were basically official at this point, Mary somehow finding a way to soften him into a relationship guy.

The walk to the theater, for Emmy, was occupied by thoughts about her baby. Pretty much every waking moment was like that now. The more she came to terms with it, she was actually becoming slightly excited. Excited in a loose sense in that she was still spending far too much time over the toilet, she'd be missing out on so much, and she was still scared as hell. But she figured that if it was gonna be a thing, she might as well find a way to be happy about it.

This pinch of happiness, however, was fleeting. Every inch of it went away when she thought about having to tell her parents. She still hadn't told them. And it wasn't like there wasn't an opportunity, she talked to her mom every night. The fear was just too great. Her heart raced every time she even thought about it, and it ran even faster when she spiraled into the thought that they would be even more upset when they realized she'd known and had been holding it from them.

Her feet treaded up the stairs before her mind had caught up. Walking in the door at the same time was Daveed, and the two of them collided of the entrance.

Emmy's eyes finally looked up, "Oh... hey," she muttered.

Daveed took notice of the glasses that she never wore. He looked deeper and took in her red scleras. A look and emotion of concern came upon him. He softened his features and looked at her sympathetically, "Hey, how are you?"

"Good," she answered back quickly. She looked down and pointed at the blue cast he had going from his lower wrist to his fingers. "How much longer for that? she asked.