Flashbacks | Zalfie

Chapter Five

            When I walked through the front door, Joe was cradling Ian in the kitchen and my dad was eating lasagne. They both turned and just stared at me for a moment, before my dad spoke up, "How are you feeling, sweetheart?"

I glared at him. He knew fine well how I was feeling. "Tired."

"Well, so's Ian, so why don't you take him up to bed?" Joe suggested, holding my son out towards me.

Carefully, I scooped him out of Joe's arms and held him at arms length. I heard my brother sigh at my actions, so I just turned on my heel and headed up to my old bedroom.

As soon as I walked through the door, Ian burst into tears. I sighed, rocking him back and forth.

"Shhh, don't cry," I whispered, trying to sound soothing but but instead I sounded disgusted.

When he didn't stop, I changed his position and rocked him some more, and when that didn't work, I tried burping him, but to no avail. He just wouldn't stop crying.

This was all so stressful. I could feel tears welling up in my own eyes as my son cried. I just missed Alfie so much. He would've known what to do.

"Alfie," I murmured. "Help me please." There was no reply, so I brought my voice up to a speaking tone. "Please, Alfie! Just come back! Help me! I can't do this alone!"

By this point, the baby was shrieking and I was crying. A heart wrenching sob escaped my mouth and placed Ian aside, curling up into a ball. I couldn't stop this pain in my heart, this stabbing sensation.

I sat up against the wall and banged my head back against it. I liked the pain it gave me, it was refreshing, so I did it again, and again, and again. And I guess at some point I must've hit my head too hard, and all of a sudden. . .

Blackness.

Flashback

Words could not explain my excitement that day. All my close friends - Louise, Matt, Louis, Tanya, Jim, Niomi and Marcus - were coming over, and Alfie and I were going to announce the pregnancy to them, and after, we were going to FaceTime our friends from other countries and share the news with them.

I was so happy that, four months into my pregnancy, I could finally reveal everything to them. Alfie was too scared to before, since he was worried about me miscarrying, but when I woke up this morning with a huge, round stomach, I told him that it was time to tell everyone.

Joe had already told Caspar, Oli and Will, so there was no need to announce it to them.

I knew all our friends would be supportive, because they had been teasing us forever about having babies. And, after all, when were they not supportive of anything we did?

Nala jumped onto my lap and I smiled and petted her absentmindedly.

Alfie walked into the living room, cradling two mugs of tea. He held one out towards me and I graciously excepted it from him with a 'thank you'.

"No problem, Little One," he replied, sitting beside me and taking a sip from his tea.

I stroked my belly, drinking my own tea. "We'll have to start decorating the baby's room soon."

Alfie chuckled. "You're only four months pregnant, Zo."

"Yeah, but in two months I'll be six months, and three months after that, the baby will be here."

Alfie nodded. "I guess you're right. When do you want to start?"

I shrugged. "After the viewers know, so they don't see baby stuff lying around in vlogs."

"Yeah, I guess so."

The first knock on the door came only moments after that, and Alfie was the one to rush through and open it. I straightened out my jumper, making sure you couldn't recognise my swollen belly through it.

An excited Louise ran into the room, followed by Matt and Darcy. Louise opened her arms for me and I ran into them, giving her a tight hug.

"Chummy," Louise said, dragging out the 'y' for longer than was needed.

I chuckled and pulled away from her, taking a seat.

The next to arrive where Tan and Jim, then Louis, and lastly Niomi and Marcus. When everyone was sat down with a mug of tea in their hands, we decided to make the announcement.

Alfie cleared his throat. "Guys, we have something to tell you."

Everyone raised their heads expectantly  and nodded. I looked up at Alfie and he smiled reassuringly, gently, telling me to go on.

"Well? Go on then!" Louise said jokingly. "We're all falling asleep here!"

I laughed and turned my head back to my friends. Here I was, surrounded by the people I loved most dearly, the people who I knew would never hurt me, never reject me, never make me feel unwanted. They loved me unconditionally, and I them.

"I don't want to sound cheesy but. . . I want you all to know it's such an honour to have you as friends, and to be able to share this news with people as amazing as you all. And I know Alfie feels the same." Alfie squeezed my hand, showing me the feeling was in fact mutual. "Guys, Alfie and I are having a baby. I'm pregnant!"

Our friends reacted well. Brilliantly, in fact. The first to congratulate us was an ever happy Louise, grabbing us both into a double hug and squeezing us until we could barely breath anymore.

Then came the questions. How far along was I? How long had we known? Was it a boy or a girl? And 'but you don't look pregnant, Zo', to which I replied by removing my jumper and letting my friends pet my stomach gently.

We ordered a pizza each from dinner, and I got my usual mozzarella. I had a real craving for it that night.

Nights like this were amazing. Just spending time with my good friends, eating good food, and chatting away about my pregnancy.

Tanya asked if it was planned and Alfie answered with a shake of the head and a smirk. The boys erupted into laughs and cheers, clapping Alfie on the back for his 'success.' I merely rolled my eyes and took a bite of my pizza, smearing it all over my face.

"You've got a little something there, Little One," Alfie said. I began to reach up to wipe it away, but he cut me off by licking it from my cheek. I rolled my eyes for what seemed like the millionth time for that night, laughed, and pressed my lips to his.

When I next picked up a slice of pizza, Alfie reached over and pushed into my face, managing to cover me in tomato sauce. I gasped and hit him across the shoulder.

"You're a dick!" I exclaimed in awe.

And he really was.

But that's just the way I liked him.