Jennie
It has been almost three agonising days since Lisa had last spoken to me. She spent maybe four or five hours at home and that was just to sleep. I heard her enter each night, close to midnight trying my best to not think of whom she was with or what she had been doing.
Although she had made it heart-achingly clear that she would see other women, I couldn't stop the rise of nausea that filled my throat from the mental image that appeared in my head. Lying back against the fluffy white pillow, I placed a hand onto my taut stomach as I held the nursery rhyme book propped against my legs as I sang the familiar words.
From the corner of my eyes, I saw the movement, feeling rather than seeing Lisa at first as she stood with her back against the open doorway studying me intently. Self-consciously my face heated as embarrassment won out, I dropped the book onto the bed as I gazed into her amber eyes. Her throat bobbed as her eyes flickered to the hand still resting on my stomach and then to settle on the book as she returned her indecipherable eyes onto mine.
The terse silence stretched out between us as she sauntered into the room impeccably dressed in a three piece charcoal suit indicating that she had returned home from the office surprisingly early for a change. Pausing at the foot of the bed, her dark eyes glanced at my stomach once more as she opened her mouth to say something before briefly shutting it as though she had changed her mind.
"Rosé is coming over for dinner at 7." she suddenly stated and then walked right out the room leaving me staring at her retreating back.
Overjoyed at the prospect that Rosé was coming and the chance of company in the now bitter apartment, my mood improved by tenfold as I proceeded to make my way to the kitchen ignoring her abrupt change in attitude. Lisa was at her private gym on the ground floor, so taking advantage of the time I made my specialty, molten chocolate lava cake hoping Rosé would enjoy it.
A while later, dressed in a cotton stylish summer dress I had purchased at a yard sale, I re-entered the living space as Lisa paced the room glancing at her watch irritatingly. Upon seeing me entering she paused as she took in my form. Feeling my traitorous body respond to her heated stare, I descended the staircase as the lingering tension returned, consuming the space between us before she strolled off to the door.
"You're late as usual." she snapped at Rosé as I imagined the scowl on Lisa's face as her back stood facing me. Dressed in a pair of dark grey jeans and a tight fitted black long sleeve t-shirt that emphasised her muscles, she was more than what my pregnancy hormones could have handled in her casual attire as she ran a frustrated hand through her drying hair.
"And you're an arse as usual." Rosé easily replied in that cool tone of hers, "I am delighted that nothing has changed between us Lali."
I couldn't have helped but laugh at Rosé's nickname for Lisa and her accurate quote from 'The Princess Diaries', a movie I had recently seen for the first time much to Rosé's dismay. After exchanging a brief hug, I led her towards the dining table as the sibling's banter continued throughout the evening.
"I'm getting married in two weeks." Lisa suddenly said emotionlessly as we both turned to face her. Ignoring my questioning gaze, she lifted her tumbler of scotch tentatively taking a sip.
"Pardon?" Rosé questioned, voicing my thought as I looked on at Lisa speechlessly.
"Jennie is pregnant and we are getting married." she repeated slowly causing Rosé to choke as I rubbed her back gently. She seemed as though she went into shock just as I did with the clustered time limit.
Quelling the hurt that tore at me, I forced myself to maintain a smile on my face as I asked Rosé to be my maid of honour. Happily agreeing, she stayed and chatted for a while later until she announced that she was leaving.
