In retrospect I should have known that I wouldn't be able to keep my pregnancy a secret for that long. I was constantly surrounded by people who were all very attentive and who all cared about me and, unfortunately, I was still throwing up in the mornings and overall wasn't doing too well. It was now the last week of August and I didn't have a clue how the majority of the summer had already passed, but with new cities and shows pretty much every single night, it felt like the weeks just blurred into one big show. We had just returned from our final show in Canada and had a day off in Chicago before the boys were back on stage tomorrow night.
I was using our day off to go shopping as my boobs were refusing to stay in their assigned spaces within my bra and it was difficult to wear tight t-shirts. The fact that the majority of the people travelling with me were straight men made this investment even more necessary. Just when I was entering the lift on our hotel floor, Niall, Harry, Louis, Liam and Sophia emerged from what I remembered to be Liam's room and made a dash for the lift, all trying to squeeze in at the same time.
"Jeez, guys, give a woman some space!" I protested from my place at the back of the lift where I was squeezed against Niall who didn't seem to mind this at all. "So where are you off to?" He asked me with a grin, effectively ignoring my protests. A couple of heads turned and I suddenly felt like I was standing in a bright spotlight that made my cheeks turn pink. "Oh, not much. Just doing some shopping, you know? See what Chicago is all about. What about you guys?" I replied casually and hoped that no one would make a fuss about my planned trip. Unfortunately, my prayers weren't answered.
"Yeah, you're not going shopping by yourself, love." Niall immediately announced and Harry and Louis started shaking their heads at the same time, as well, supporting his claim. "Why not? I am a grown, independent woman! I can go shopping by myself in a foreign city." I protested and glared up at Niall who didn't seemed very fazed by that. "Oh, let's see... Remember the last time we went out? The fainting?" Niall pretended to think and my glare intensified. "Abby, you are not walking around by yourself when you have obviously not been feeling well lately. And don't pretend we didn't notice anything." Harry added when I opened my mouth to protest.
"We are just looking out for you, love." Liam piped in from the back and my gaze wandered over to his girlfriend who was standing next to him. Sadly, she seemed to agree with the boys and gave me an apologetic smile, but that didn't really make me feel any better either. With a defeated sigh, I leaned my head against the cool glass which was covering the inside of the lift and looked up at Niall who was towering over me. "So, what's your big plan, mister? Who is gonna babysit me today?" I asked him and tried not to get lost in his blue eyes which were still looking down at me.
"I, um... Eh... the boys and I have some stupid meeting for about... an hour just now, but maybe Sophia could go with you and then we can all, eh, meet up afterwards for lunch?" Niall stuttered and turned around to throw a questioning look at the rest of the group who were exchanging amused looks about his sudden inability to speak. "I would be happy to have some girl time." Sophia smiled at me from the other side of the lift and the rest of the group seemed to be happy with Niall's suggestion, as well. "Great, so you two will head off to God knows where and then we'll give you a ring once we're done, alright?" Harry asked and I silently nodded, knowing that there was no point in starting an argument that I wouldn't win.
Twenty minutes later I found myself in the middle of Chicago with no sense of direction, accompanied by Sophia who seemed to have an equally bad sense of direction. "Soooo... what kind of shopping did you want to do?" She asked me after we had aimlessly walked around for a few minutes, only to end up in front of the same coffee shop where we had started off at. I felt my cheeks heat up and I looked down at my hands for a few seconds, not really sure why I was so embarrassed about this. It might have been the fact that I was scared about her finding out about my pregnancy, but I was also not as close with Sophia as I was for example with Lottie so this wasn't exactly a topic that I wanted to talk about with her.
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Great Things Take Time (discontinued)
Fanfiction"Maybe it was the alcohol which was controlling my actions, maybe it was my body which felt like it had been set on fire by his mere presence, but a small part of me later wondered whether it hadn't been my aching heart which had made me act in that...
