My Brother's Best Friend's Friend (ON HOLD)

Chapter 5

It is dark out by six ten. The moon shines brightly in the sky, stars covering the darkness surrounding it. A warm breeze passes by and the leaves in the trees move in the same direction. I sit down on our island, elbows resting on the table as I listen to my brother Caleb's conversation with Louis. He is talking about the wedding and how stressful it has been on Susan, his fiancée. Louis wraps an arm around me and sniffs my ear like a dog which makes me burst into laughter. Harry, who stands beside Caleb, only stares at us coldly as I almost pee in my pants from laughing so much. Why does he care so much about what the boys do to me? Especially Louis? I've known him longer than all of them.

"Alright, Alex, calm down. Lauren should be arriving any minute." My mom says.

I almost choke on my laughter. "What?! Lauren?!" I smile. Lauren is my moms sisters daughter and my favorite cousin. Even though she is a year younger than me, we have always been close and have always helped the other when they have problems. It's been almost a year since I've seen her and I can't believe she is finally going to come back.

"Yes, Lauren." My mom laughs.

"You guys didn't pick her up from the airport?" I ask confused.

"No, she said she didn't want us to because she has a surprise for us." My mom replies.

I nod and see my dad giving Harry a death glare that he has not yet noticed. His gaze moves to me and his expression softens a bit. I haven't talked to my dad since that argument last night. The only people who actually know are my family and Ella. I'm too afraid to tell Louis and the boys. I'm afraid that they would judge me. That's a stupid reason though. I've known Louis since I was little and he has never judged me once.

"What's wrong?" Louis asks, sniffing my ear once again.

"You're so weird!" I laugh, pushing him away so that he laughs as well.

The doorbell rings and Kyle gets up to get it. Lauren has met Louis before, but never the rest of the boys. I wonder how she is going to react to this. Suddenly, the room gets quiet and I turn around to see Lauren standing there. Everyone's gaze is on her and my jaw drops when I see what they are all in shocked by.

"Surprise," Lauren says with a weak smile.

"Lauren, is this some kind of prank?" My mother asks.

"No,"

I stand up and walk up to her. Everyone is still quiet as they continue to stare. She looks up at me with tearful eyes and I outstretch my hand, making her nod. Gently, I place my hand on her stomach and feel a kick. Lauren is pregnant.

"How many months?" I ask.

"Nine in a few weeks," Lauren replies, tears streaming down her face. I pull her into a hug but am careful to not hit her stomach.

"Why didn't you tell me?" My mom asks sounding heartbroken.

"I was so scared," Lauren cries. "My parents didn't want me in their house anymore, Mark left me, my friends won't talk to me. I didn't want the same thing to happen with you guys." She lets go of me and wipes away her tears.

"Sweetheart, you know we'd never do that to you. You're family," my mom smiles before hugging her. I look at my dad and he has a disappointed look on his face. Knowing him, he's probably going to say something negative about the situation.

"If your parents kicked you out, Mark left you, and your friends won't talk to you, where having you been living for the past eight months?" Caleb asks.

"One of my teachers let me live with her. She helped me with anything I needed," Lauren replies and my heart drops to the ground. What if I got pregnant? Would my parents do the same thing?

"Have you stayed in school?" My dad asks. Ethan runs downstairs and I see him run to Harry who is smiling down at him before carrying him into his arms. I look at them and smile. I never knew Ethan liked Harry. Harry's eyes meet mine and he sends me a smile that I return. Ethan wiggles in his arms and Harry lets him go. He runs to me and I swoop him up into my arms and kiss his cheek making him giggle.

"She homeschooled me after she came back. When she was at school, I did the homework or whatever she assigned me." Lauren answers. My dad presses his lips together as my mom cries.

"Don't worry, we'll help you until you're ready to be on your own." My dad tells Lauren which makes her smile through tears.

"Do you have any bags?" I ask.

"Just one," she responds, lifting it up so I can see it.

"Come on, I'll take you to my room."

Slowly, she walks up the stairs and to my room. It looks as though she is struggling but when I offer my help, she says she doesn't need it. With a hand on top of her stomach, she walks into my room with a smile and sits on the edge of my bed. Her eyes take in every inch of my room as though she hasn't been here for years.

"You can sleep on my bed tonight, I'll just bring the air bed in." I say and she smiles again.

"Thank you,"

"How does it feel?" I ask.

"How does what feel?"

"To be pregnant,"

"It feels.. Amazing at times, you know? Like, it's incredible how I have something living inside of me that is just waiting to come out and see the real world for the first time. Sometimes it's stressful because I don't fit into my old clothes or I gain weight but I've learned to cope with it over the past eight months." Lauren responds.

"Do you regret doing what you did?"

"To be honest, no. Most girls my age would because they're sixteen and haven't even finished school but I'm happy I did. I don't think I'd change a thing if I was given the opportunity to go back in time."

I smile at her. For as long as I can remember, Lauren has always tried to look on the positive side if situations instead of the negative. She has always been a sweet, caring, respectful girl since she was little. That's something that I've always been jealous about when it came to Lauren.

Someone knocks on my door then says, "Lauren, your aunt wants to talk to you." Our heads turn to the doorway and I see Harry standing there.

"Is she downstairs?" Lauren asks.

"No, she's in her room." Harry responds and she nods, walking out. After she is out of sight, Harry walks in and shuts the door behind him.

"Harry, we can't be seen -"

I stop talking when he lays me on my back and his body hovers over mine.

"Can I ask you something?" Harry asks in a whisper.

"Yes but just get up so we can sit like normal -"

"Why are you so difficult?"

"What do you mean?" I ask confused.

"You show no interest in me. You don't care that I'm Harry Styles, member of One Direction. You treat me like a normal guy and sometimes it's good but then it isn't because -"

"To me, I don't care what title you have in the media. You're just another conceded moron who thinks they can have any girl he wants in my opinion. If you think I'm easy like all those other girls, you're wrong. I'm not some slut that is going to sleep with you just because you're Harry Styles. To me, that's just another normal name for another idiot in this world." I interrupt him and when I finish, he stares at me in shock.

"So you're going to believe everything the media says?" Harry asks.

"Most of it is true. Maybe not all of it, but some of the things about you are true." I answer and he gets off me.

"Fine, I'll prove you wrong. If you don't want to believe me, I'm not going to force you to but whatever." Harry says, leaving my room. I sigh, getting up and running my fingers through my hair.