Beating For Two

Chapter 11

The next two weeks passed in a blur of sleep, school work, and mum giving me subtle hints that maybe I should start doing some exercise. Other than that, it was a pretty calm and uninteresting couple of weeks, unless being nagged by Owen about my weight counted as interesting. I saw Lauren and Harry one time when I was taking a walk, but luckily, Harry didn't see me. Lauren did, though, and even though she didn't approach me, she did send me a scornful glance, something that led me to believe that Harry had finally asked her to be his girlfriend. It sucked majorly, if I was gonna be completely honest, because I now had a crush on a straight guy who was painfully obviously in love with someone else. Someone else who was a girl and could offer all the things that I couldn't. All in all it was a rather boring fourteen days that parted mine and Harry's shopping trip and the next visit to the doctor.

Tuesday, January 25th

Nineteen weeks and one day

“It's nice to see you both here again,” Dr. Hayes said once both Harry and I had entered the office and she'd closed the door behind us.

Harry arrived just on time that day; exactly when Dr. Hayes opened the door to her office to call me out, Harry came running in the entrance door with snow covering his curly hair and his cheeks flaming red from the cold wind outside. He looked great, though. Of course he did.

“Do you have any questions or should we just get started?” she asked as Harry and I removed our coats and hung them on a peg next to the door.

“I think we can just get started,” I said with a questioning glance at Harry to see if he had anything to ask.

To my surprise, he did. “I was just wondering,” he started a little hesitantly, “with the adoption and everything, how does that work?”

I shot my eyes down. I didn't like to think about that part of this whole situation. This baby was gonna be inside me for about five more months, and to carry something living inside you for that long and then to have to give it away? It was a rather depressing thought.

“Harry, can we please deal with that... some other time?” I said, almost pleadingly, before Dr. Hayes got to answer.

“Oh, yeah, sure, sorry,” he said with an apologetic glance at me.

The room went silent for a few seconds before Dr. Hayes spoke up again. “Okay, if neither of you have any other questions, you can step onto the scale, Louis,” she said.

I didn't say anything, but did as she told me to and then sighed solemnly when the numbers on the scale stopped at seventy-two point one kilos.

“How much am I gonna weigh by the time I'm nine months along?” I asked once I'd sat down in my chair next to Harry again.

She sat down as well and replied as she scribbled something on a paper sheet in front of her. “It differs from person to person, so it's hard to say exactly, but judging by your weight before you got pregnant and your height, I'd say somewhere around eighty kilos, give or take.”

“Eighty kilos?” I wailed, my jaw dropping.

“Relax,” Harry said and laid a hand on my knee, “You're just pregnant, remember? Just pregnant, not fat.”

“I know, I know,” I mumbled, trying to ignore the tingling sensation that erupted from where Harry's hand was resting on my leg.

“Okay, well, we should move on to the ultrasound then,” Dr. Hayes said and interrupted any further comments me or Harry might have had to add to our conversation.

“I guess that means I have to stand up and drop my shirt,” I said.

“You don't seem too pleased, but yes.”