The Fourth Side of the Triangle

Chapter 9

9.

Of course Amy tells him when he has just taken a long, refreshing gulp of his diet lemonade. He splutters, showering them both with liquid, whilst desperately trying to wipe his mouth with the back of his hand. When he is finished coughing, he wipes his streaming eyes and looks across the table at his girlfriend.

“Are you... what... you’re...?”

He tries to speak but it’s like his mind has stopped working. He remains stock still, lemonade still dripping down his chin. He coughs again and Amy hastily hands him a piece of disintegrating kitchen towel.

“I think Oliver needs to sit down...” Becca says from her position by the sink when she and James arrive half an hour later to make sure Amy has actually told her partner and not chickened out at the last minute. She throws the roll of tissue at James’s head and curses when she misses. James bends down to retrieve the tube and upon straightening up, he says,

“Oliver is sitting down.”

Amy glares at her two friends, before taking his hands in hers and looking imploringly into his face, searching for any indication of how he might feel upon hearing this news.

“Oliver...?”

“How?” Oliver finally demands, his eyes still as wide as saucers, sounding slightly dazed and confused.

“Oh, come on Oll,” James chimes in, “really? Didn’t you have the talks at school?”

“James!” Amy exclaims, turning to face her friend, “please! If you have nothing helpful to say, then don’t say it at all.”

James puts his hands up and shrugs, as if to say, ‘just saying!’ before draining his tea like a shot of vodka and banging the empty mug heavily down on the counter.

-x-

Oliver comes to accept the fact that Amy is pregnant. In fact, he does more than accept it; it has given him something new to live for, something really, really special. He is having a hard time believing that he has helped to create new life... he finds the whole concept of it simply mind blowing.

Of course, every time he looks at James he sees a hint of sadness in the eyes of his friend; he knows full well how he feels about his girlfriend, but nothing is ever said about it. James accompanies Oliver to tell Nancy, Alice and the rest of their colleagues- Nancy squeals and attempts to hug Oliver to death. Jonathan and Anthony clap him on the back and Oliver sheds tears of happiness with Alice as she congratulates her friend. Becca is ecstatic. She is desperate to start buying toys and clothes and is already scouring the internet for different paint colours and room designs.

Of course, with all the attention drawn to his girlfriend and his baby, Oliver starts falling back into bad habits. He grows to rely on apples and diet lemonade, eating perhaps one decent meal a day. Nobody notices- they are too caught up in a flurry of excitement. He happily eats dinner with his family and friends, so nobody suspects anything... he doesn’t even suspect anything himself; everything goes on as normal and nobody bats an eyelid.

He gradually starts to subconsciously change his routine- waking up at the last possible moment, leaving him only enough time to shower and dress before leaving for a hard days filming, let alone eat breakfast. Once on set, he would grab a quick cup of tea to keep him going until lunch. However, whilst the other cast members troop off to the canteen, Oliver wanders down to the town to grab some lemonade and some fruit. Then he fills the rest of the lunch break rehearsing lines or on the phone to Amy who frequently asks after his health. He answers with a typical,

“Yes... of course I’m eating.” Which isn’t entirely a lie. 

After lunch, it is straight back to filming. James makes him endless cups of tea- so many, that Oliver often has to tip them into the bushes.