Beating For Two

Chapter 19

Over the next couple of weeks I swore I could feel myself grow bigger by the second. Both mum and Ian had given up on the subtle, incredulous looks and had went over to simply incredulous looks instead. To try and hide the truth for much longer would be impossible, I realised that when I stood in front of my mirror one day in the middle of March and viewed myself in profile. I was big. I was seriously big. When I hopefully asked Owen if it was just my somewhat depressed imagination that was running wild and that I really wasn't as big as I thought, he shrugged and said “no, you're gigantic” before he took a bite of the apple he was holding and walked back out of my room.

By the time I hit the thirty week mark, I'd gotten so used to the frequent kicking that I managed to ignore it at night and thus I finally got back a normal sleeping pattern. On the downside, my back was aching nearly constantly and made having between five and eight classes five days a week a nightmare. More than once I was forced to skip a couple of classes and go home to lie down on my bed and sleep for a little while and it led to me falling behind in classes like maths and chemistry. My grades were failing, my body was getting bigger and my back was constantly hurting. On the upside, Harry and I talked on nearly a daily basis, only over the phone, but still; we talked and that was enough for me.

Another thing that left me a little sad though was that as soon as Liam, Zayn and Niall found out that the baby was okay and that I wasn't mad at Harry anymore, they went back to sitting with him, Lauren and the rest of their friends at lunch, leaving me by myself once again. I'd gotten quite used to having someone to sit with and talk to during my lunch breaks and when I was suddenly left alone again, I had to admit that I felt lonelier than ever. And so I couldn't help but throw a few envious, sad glances over at the crowded table where they all sat, talking and laughing. It was okay though because I knew that as soon as I got home in the afternoon and had taken a quick nap, I would receive a text or a call from Harry. How sad was it that all that was required to make my day a good one was one single phone call?

Thursday, March 17th

Thirty weeks and three days

It was late in the afternoon and as usual for that time of day, I was lying on my bed with my phone plastered to my ear and a smile playing on my lips.

“Have you realised that these phone calls of ours have become a regular thing?” Harry asked on the other end of the line.

I wanted to laugh. Of course I'd realised. It had been two weeks of daily five PM phone calls now; how could I not have noticed?

“Yeah, I've noticed,” I said.

“Don't you think it's weird?”

I frowned a little.

“What do you mean?”

“I don't know, I've just never talked on the phone that much, so I guess I find it a bit strange that I suddenly spend an hour talking to you on the phone every day now.”

“Uhm, okay,” I said hesitantly, a sinking feeling in my stomach.

“We can stop if you want to.”

“No, no, that's not what I meant,” he said quickly.

“I like talking to you, it's nice.”

I bit my lip in a little smile.

“I like talking to you too.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“You know?”

“I- well, I know you're... or I've seen you at lunch, you seem lonely.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, I've seen you looking at us at lunch sometimes, I notice it. You look sad.”