Never Let Me Down

Chapter 5

23rd December 2015

Lauren was unsure what had woken her up, she felt her stomach turn and felt an excessive amount of saliva in her mouth. She laid there swallowing down the saliva that kept building. As she sat up she felt a sudden urge to vomit, running across the hall she made it in to the bathroom just in time.

There wasn't much to come up as she hadn't eaten much the night before. She waited for the retching to subside before sitting back against the bath and taking deep breaths. It took all of her strength to stand up, she was shaking as she splashed water on her face. Looking at herself in the mirror she noticed how tired she really did look.

As she got back into bed she heard her phone vibrate, picking it up she saw Anton's number flash up. She felt guilty that she hadn't called him back and answered.

"Hey, Anton, sorry for not getting back to you."

"Oh, it's okay. I'm just worried about you, Chris is worried about you."

"Anton, I'm fine, I just needed some space to figure this shit out. I'll probably be back in the new year anyway."

"You know he really misses you? I've not heard him this upset...ever. I swear to you he's a good person and I know he loves you. It's just someone trying to stir up shit and get a reaction from you so they can sell more bullshit. Lauren, he wouldn't ever do that to you. Just call him?"

Lauren was silent on the other end of the line.

"I don't know..I'll have to think about it. You know I love you Anton but I don't need you fighting Chris's battles for him. He's a big boy, if he loves me as much as he says he does.."

She left the sentence unfinished and Anton knew he was being dismissed. She heard him sigh on the other end "Okay, I'm butting out, not gonna say any more." Lauren hung up the phone. She still felt sick as she went downstairs, meeting Katie in the kitchen.

"You look like shit" She said to Lauren. Lauren looked at her and pulled a face "Thanks! needed that confidence boost first thing in the morning! as if the trash mags don't remind me everyday!" Lauren sat down. "Someone's cranky today..I heard you throwing up in the bathroom" Katie said to her.

"So? must have been something I ate" Lauren said dismissively. "Mmmmmhmmmm" Katie looked at her, not believing Lauren. "NO! don't give me that look! no fucking way..I am NOT pregnant!" Katie shrugged "whatever you say.." She got up and buttered some toast before putting it in front of Lauren.

The nausea rose again, the smell was making her stomach turn. She tried to breathe through it, it was no good she gagged slightly, putting her hand over her mouth. Getting up she ran back upstairs, hearing Katie laughing behind her.

Lauren lay on the tiled floor of the bathroom, the cold tiles cooling her face. The door opened and Katie stepped in, Lauren moved from the floor and sat against the bath while Katie sat on the closed toilet. "So? how long have you known?" Katie said to her. "I'm not pregnant" Lauren said again weakly. "Bullshit! Lauren, when was your last period? I know you keep track of that like your life depends on it!"

Lauren suddenly looked at Katie "No way! I can't be, I just thought it was stress and stuff...oh God! oh this cannot be happening!" She started to cry, Katie slid onto the floor and took her friend in her arms and held onto her. "Get ready, we need to confirm this, then we'll go from there okay? stop crying we'll figure this out."

Lauren had a quick wash and got dressed. She checked her phone but still had no calls or messages from Chris, this made her slightly angry and she didn't know why after all it was her that wasn't returning his calls.

They made a quick trip to the nearest pharmacy and came back with one of those fancy digital pregnancy tests that told you how far along you were. After reading the instructions about ten times Lauren was ready. She waited patiently but kept her thumb over the digital window. When the time was up she stepped out of the bathroom and went up to Katie, "You ready?" Katie nodded.

Lauren lifted her thumb and almost dropped it, there it was, the word 'pregnant' and then it popped up how many weeks gone she was and she gasped. She was six weeks pregnant.