SWEERAN

CHAPTER 53: PIZZA HUT

I clench my stomach in pain as I go into panic mode. I managed to pull over on the side of the road after a few honks from angry drivers. I was all alone though. My breathing was heavy and I had no idea what to do. I had the car, Ed was at home, and I was too weak to drive to the hospital myself. Seeing no way out, I began to cry. Here I was about to give birth and no one I knew was around to help me.

After about ten more minutes of just sitting there crying and thinking of a way out of this, someone pulled up in front of my car. I heard the door slam and footsteps getting closer and closer until there was a rapid knocking on my window. I looked up quickly and saw a young man in a Pizza Hut uniform looking shocked and concerned.

I rolled my window down and looked up at the boy.

"Yes?", I groaned in pain.

"T-Taylor? Is it really you? Are you okay?" he rushed out.

I nodded at his first question. I had no idea who he was but he obviously knew me.

"No", I stated weakly, bursting into another round of tears.

"What's wrong?" he asked, but his gaze flew to the hand on my stomach and his eyes widened.

"A-Are you... Oh my god, where's Ed?? Why are you all alone? Do you need a ride to the hospital-"

"Yes! Yes, please!" I croaked out.

"Okay I- uh...C-Can you walk? I'll take you in my car."

I looked over at his car, just now realizing the pizza logos that covered it.

"Well it's not exactly mine but whatever."

I began the struggle of getting out of my car and into the Pizza Hut owned one. The teen- who's name was Ashton, judging by his name tag- helped me stand as I locked my car door and we made our way into the passenger seat of his car where I cried out in agony.

"Which hospital?" he asked, pulling off the side of the road.

"Brampton Civic."

He started towards the hospital and I took out my phone and called Ed, having his number on speed dial. Quickly, I thrusted it in Ashton's direction.

"It's Ed. When he picks up, tell him what's going on."

"Wait, but I-"

"Hello? Tay?"

"Uhh no...is this Ed?"

I groaned in frustration; of course it's Ed!

"Yea, who are you and where's Taylor?"

"M-My name's Ashton and she's right beside me. We're on our way to the hospital."

"WHAT? What happened? Is she okay?"

"Yea, she's fine. I was driving back to work and I saw her car parked on the side of the road so I went to see if she needed help, and it turns out she'd gone into labor."

"Oh my god, Tay are you okay?"

"Yea Ed, I'm fine", I responded once Ashton put the phone onto my ear, looking frantically between me and the road ahead.

"I am so sorry I'm not with you right now. Just stay on the phone, yeah?"

I nodded, even though he can't see me.

"How are you going to get here?"

It was silent on the other end until he spoke up shakily, "Can you put Ashton on the phone?"

I put the phone back to Ashton's ear, telling him that Ed wants to talk to him. He was shocked, but tried to contain his excitement for my sake.

"Hello?"

All I heard from that point on were 'Mhm's and 'Yea's and 'Okay's, then he gave the phone back to me. I didn't question what they were talking about; I just sat and listened to Ed's calm, reassuring words.

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Just when I thought I wouldn't be able to take anymore of the pain, Ashton parked into the hospital parking lot. He'd talked to me the whole way here; partly to distract me from the baby trying to make its way into the world and partly because he was a huge fan.

Like really huge.

He basically told me his whole life story but I didn't mind at all because it was quite interesting. He was bullied because he loves my music, which made me feel guilty because I feel like I made his life harder considering he was already bullied for being gay. He told me how much I meant to him though and how honored he was to be this close to me and all sorts of sweet things. At one point he actually started tearing up, then apologized without me knowing why.

Now that we were at the hospital, I hung up on Ed and got out the car nice and slowly, stumbling towards the entrance. Before we even got in, two nurses burst through the glass doors with a wheelchair. They helped me sit down in the uncomfortable seat and began asking me questions, leaving poor Ashton by himself.

"How long have you been in labor, sweetie?"

"I-I don't know, maybe an hour?"

"Who's your doctor here?"

"Dr. Nguyen."

"When was your last check up?"

"Like three weeks ago."

They both nodded and wheeled me into an unfamiliar room. Over the intercom I could hear someone calling for Dr. Nguyen in Room 413. She walked in minutes later and smiled when she saw me.

"Okay, Taylor. The first thing you need to do is breathe."

Breathe.

Breathe.

Breathe.
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Swifties to the rescue ;)

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