Hinder • {Bill Skarsgård}

||Chapter Seven||

-June, 2011
Los Angeles, California
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Bill stood hunched over in the condiment aisle of the store, turning the spices to read the labels. He had been living with Ella for a month now; the pair had been sitting pretty.

Ella found it odd that Bill's family was so accepting of their off the wall romance. They didn't ask questions or try to convince Bill the insanity of moving in with someone he barely knew. Ella, on the other hand, had yet to tell her family of Bill. Her only explanation was that she had gotten lucky and decided to stay for a while longer.

"I'm gonna get some soap, I'm almost out." Ella said, gliding her hand across Bill's back.

"Get me some too... please." Bill spoke, his eyes wavering quickly from the jarred saffron in his hand to Ella. He seemed to be conflicted about which ingredients to use.

Ella made her way down the hygiene aisle, looking all along the shelf at the various soaps. She walked past the pads and tampons, not giving it a second thought. She picked out her soaps, sniffing the male body washes, wondering which Bill would smell best in.

As she started out of the aisle, she passed the feminine products again—only this time, she gave it a second thought.

She stopped, staring at the sanitary napkins, thinking back to her last period. Ella couldn't recall the last time she had menstruated. It was sometime before she had met Bill.

She remembered being bloated and miserable during one of her auditions, cursing herself for being a woman.

She thought of the first time she had had sex with Bill; he had not pulled out. They were both drunk—drunker than they had ever been with one another that first night she had taken him to her apartment.

It was a miscommunication; Bill had presumed that she was on some form of birth control when she had insisted that it was "okay" to proceed without caution. Once she noticed Bill's ongoing presence in her life, she then told him to never do it again, but that it was fine just that once, because she had kept track of her ovulation week—that week had not been it.

Ella's eyes widened when realizing she had misspoke. She had stopped keeping track of that once she moved to LA; there was simply no need. She had even told Bill that her sex life was dry.

She didn't feel nauseous, she didn't feel tired; she wasn't displaying any classic symptoms of pregnancy, which was why she hadn't thought twice about it. Ella did not think she was pregnant, but decided it was best to take a test just to ease her mind.

She glanced toward the end of the aisle to be sure Bill wasn't around, grabbing a pregnancy test off the shelf. She felt like a criminal with the box in her hand—the box that read:
"99.9% Effective."

Ella had never been much for stealing, but for that one moment, she didn't see the harm in it. She didn't want Bill to see that it was even a possibility.

She ripped open the box casually, keeping her eyes averted to any passerby's. She tucked the singular wrapped test into her back pocket, pulling her shirt down over her jeans in an attempt to hide it before making her way back to Bill.

She saw him walking down the main path, looking down every aisle he passed. He was holding a basket, swinging it back and forth casually without a care in the world.

Ella smiled at the sight—her heart swelling with a love she had never felt before.

"You ready?" Bill asked with a wide smile, holding out the basket for Ella to put the soaps in.