Drunk or Sober

Congratulations!

"Am I missing something?" Wyatt asked, tapping his microphone.

"Encore! Encore!" Lennox screamed, still furiously clapping her hands. I could've killed her in this moment.

Harleigh stormed out the back door into another wing of the hospital. I wanted to go after her, tell her everything's alright, but Ramona beat me to it.

"And then there were four..." Rosie whispered.

"Why'd they leave?" Wyatt turned, facing me to look for answers.

"The extra audience members..." I looked back at all of them, waving sheepishly. "That's her parents, her brother, little sister, even her ex-boyfriend... And that other girl's my sister."

"That's rough." Wyatt bit his lip. "That one's cute though."

"Dude, that's my sister." I chuckled.

"Not her! The dreamy boy at the end." He looked up, and I realized he meant Ryder and laughed.

Rosie punched his arm. "Not the right time to be picking up guys, Wyatt." She mumbled.

"Hi, uh... Wesley." Mrs. Queen got up from her chair and held my hands in between her own. "Thank you for... uh, being here for Harleigh. God only knows it's been a difficult time for her." Mrs. Queen looked genuinely upset.

I didn't know what to think of that, considering how Cecilia Queen had never been much of a mother at all, but I guess there was some truth behind that old saying about never knowing what you have until it's gone, because even though Harleigh was still very much alive, the person Cecilia thought she was was nothing but a memory now.

I decided the proper thing to do was comfort her, despite Harleigh probably wanting me to flip her mother off right now. "It's okay, Mrs. Queen. You have a wonderful daughter; she'll get through this."

She sighed and pulled out a handkerchief, wiping a not-so-subtle tear from her soft blue eyes, then walking back to her seat.

"Okay, guys, why don't you head to crafts or something?" Ms. Kat requested, but I knew she only wanted us out of the room to inform the Queens on their precious daughter's deteriorating mental stability.

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We found Harleigh and Ramona on the pediatric floor staring at newborn babies behind the glass in their nursery.

"AWWWH! OH MY GOD LOOK AT THE LITTLE BABIES!" ROSIE screeched, not hesitating to sprint out of the elevator to get a closer glimpse at the tiny bundles.

"Shut the fuck up, Rosie! They're sleeping!" Wyatt scurried behind her, also screaming.

She put her palms on the glass and her nose pressed against it too. "I wanna be a baby nurse when I'm older." Rosie finally said in fascination.

"You mean a pediatrician?" Ramona corrected her, giggling at Rosie's admiration.

"Yeah! That!"

"Why'd you guys even come here?" I wondered out loud.

Ramona bit her lip and turned her attention to Harleigh.

"What?" Harleigh protested.

"I can't wait to have kids!" Rosie exclaimed, interrupting the tension between Harleigh, Ramona, and I.

Harleigh rolled her eyes, but Rosie studied her skeptically before opening her mouth to most likely say something witty and indignant in defense.

Instead, she posed a question. "What's wrong, Harleigh? Don't like kids? Of all people, you'd be the one I'd expect to want that white picket fence, suburban, Barbie doll life." She snickered.

"You know nothing about me, Rosie." Harleigh argued, seeming reasonably calm.

A nurse came over, obviously intrigued by the heated conversation going on. "May I help you ladies?" She inspected us with concerned eyes. Her expression changed when she saw Harleigh's blatant, bright hospital bracelet. "Oh!" She smiled, pulling Harleigh in a celebratory hug. "You must be a new mother! Congratulations! Would you like to see your baby?"

Harleigh's eyes widened. "Actually-"

"If it's no trouble, I'd like to see it!" Rosie interjected. "She's my sister! The baby is uh..." Rosie examined the newborns, closely eyeing name tags. "Ivy-Marie! That's her name."

"Alright, Rosie, as long as it's okay with the lovely mother."

Rosie interrupted again before Harleigh could say anything. "Of course it's okay!"

"Follow me, everyone!" The nurse guided us cheerfully inside.

Harleigh pushed back her new, short hair in frustration. Ramona wrapped her arm around her.

"Harleigh, you okay?" Wyatt asked, approaching her.

"I'm fine."

I looked around at all the sleeping infants in the room. I didn't get this sense of compassion that other people usually got when around babies.

I felt uneasy, like this cloud of dread was right over me.

Maybe it was because I thought about something most people didn't usually want to think about, like the fact how all of these babies would grow up, having to someday go through some tough coming-of-age.

I guess Harleigh was on the same page as I was, because she had the same look of anxiety too.

"Oh my god! Look at little Ivy-Marie! What a cutie pie!" Rosie squealed, cradling the baby in her arms.

"Would the mother like to hold her?" The nurse looked directly at Harleigh. She just stop there, frozen, staring back at the nurse and shook her head. "No... I'm okay."

"C'mon, Harleigh!" Rosie insisted. "Look at your little baby." Her lips curled into a mischievous smile.

And at those few words, Harleigh ran out of the room.

"What's your deal, Rosie?" Ramona narrowed her eyebrows and chased after Harleigh.

"God, I didn't know I was poking a bear." Rosie muttered, rolling her eyes and giving the baby back to the nurse. "What's her deal?" She looked at me, probably thinking I had all of the answers, yet I was just as much in the dark as she was.

"No clue. They're definitely hiding something though." I said finally, as we all walked out of the room and took a seat on the floor.

"Way to go, Sherlock!"

"Maybe she's... pregnant." Wyatt whispered.

Time stopped for a moment, while everything fell into place. Harleigh had to be pregnant; that's what was bothering her, right? I cringed just at the thought.

"Oh my god, Wyatt, YOU'RE A GENIUS! HARLEIGH'S FUCKING PREGNANT!" Rosie jumped up immediately and rushed across the hospital floor to the elevator. "Come on guys, we have to ask!"

Unlike Rosie, I wasn't excited, nor curious. I don't really know how I was taking this new information in.

Part of me hoped this wasn't true, and that Harleigh simply didn't like babies. Is that too horrible to say?

Because if she was pregnant, who was the father? I wasn't ready, God knows Harleigh wasn't either.

"What's wrong, Wes?" Wyatt asked, helping me up to follow Rosie's silly quest on finding the truth. "Oh shit... You're not the father, are you?" His eyes widened and he bit his lip, probably trying to figure out what to say next. I just looked at him and didn't say anything. "But aren't you with..." He paused. "This all just sucks."

I sighed and began walking with him, "I know."

//WHATS WRONG WITH HARLEIGH??!!!/