The reason I smiled | Leondre Devries//Bars And Melody fanfic

Chapter Seven ~ The Mistake

It was three hours since the boys had left. Mum was due back from work in half an hour and I was, once again, in charge of the children. It was alright though, they were just watching tv and eating coco pops, that usually kept them quiet. Me on the other hand, was stretched across the sofa scrolling through twitter. I decided to stalk the boys, favouriting every single one of their tweets, they obviously noticed and did the same to me. This made me laugh. I continued to do this for the next ten minutes before I heard the familiar key in the door and the crash of bags on the floor as my mum threw them down in frustration. I sat up and slid my phone under the pillow, I didn't need a reason for her to yell at me. Previous arguments we had were her deciding I spent more time on my phone than with the family. Which I sort of agreed with but I wasn't going to admit that. She trudged through the door and collapsed into the armchair. She looked awful. Her eyes had dark rings surrounding them and her hair was in a mess.

"You okay Mum?" I asked, I was generally being serious asking her, not like I normally do when I ask just so she won't have a go at me.

"Huh! What? Um, yeah..." She flustered.

"You sure?" I asked.

"Yeah..." She sighed covering her face with her hands. I could see she was tired. She struggled to get up. I rushed up to help her, before she pushed me away.

"I can do it myself" she moaned.

She looked in pain. I followed her to the kitchen, jumping up on the counter and staring at her. She was holding her stomach and back as she wandered around the kitchen. Groaning at every step she took.

Everything started to click. She was up all night being sick. I thought she was just ill? Then it all made sense, why she always looked rough, why she recently started wearing baggy jumpers and why she didn't want anyone to touch her. I jumped off the counter and walked towards her. I touched her on the arm, she jumped, moaning in pain. I stood back, staring at her in shock.

"Mum, are you pregnant?" I mumbled, loud enough for her to hear.

"What?!" She flustered. She tried to brush the situation away but couldn't.

She stopped. Leant against the wall and slid down it. Pulling her legs up to her stomach and holding her head in the hands.

"I can't be Beth. I don't want to be" I rushed to sit next to her, I put my arm around her and pulled her into a hug. She wept into my shoulder.

"Why not Mum?" I finally questioned after she'd calmed down. She sat up properly and just stared at the wall.

"Because it's not Gary's" she murmured.

I sat in shock. "Then who's is it?" I flustered.

"This guy at work, Jack. I've been seeing him for a couple of weeks. I was hoping I wasn't pregnant. I can't leave Gary, he'd hurt me. He already hurts me now. When he gets drunk he gets vicious" she burst into tears, holding her head in her hands again. Shaking her head vigorously. "This can't be happening, it really can't, it's a mistake, a huge mistake"

I tried to comfort her. I was tough so I could handle Gary but Mum couldn't. I felt bad that I didn't know earlier, I could've helped her...but all was done now. I pulled Mum into a hug and we both just sat on the kitchen floor hugging. Eventually, she pulled away from the hug. Wiping the tears away from her face, she held my hands and whispered "I'm so sorry Beth"

"Why are you apologising?" I giggled, trying to lighten the mood.

She laughed weakly back through tears. "For letting this family down. I let that monster into our family"

"It's not your fault." I replied, lifting her chin and staring her in the eyes. She nodded slightly and pulled me into a warm hug before getting up and grabbing the tissues. She stood wiping her tears. She was a pretty women, she had long, curly blonde hair that brushed against her back when she moved. Her eyes shone a bright blue, just like Lilly's. I, on the other hand, was more like my dad. I had straight hair that hung past my shoulders and emerald green eyes.

I loved my Mum though. Whatever she decided, I knew she had me, Sam and Lilly at heart, always. She didn't deserve this pain.

Once the children were in bed, me and Mum sat at the kitchen table and decided how we were going to plan out the future. We needed to tell Gary. But how? After numerous hours of ideas, we finally decided on telling him straight. Mum was going to wait until Sam and Lily were in bed the next day. She'd make sure Gary was sober and she'd just tell him straight. We'd have spare bags packed just in case but hopefully Gary would leave. It wasn't going to be easy but Mum had me. It was 1am before me and Mum finished talking. I decided to go up to bed. I kissed Mum on the cheek and made my way to the living room to collect my phone. I had six missed calls from Leo, two from Charlie, numerous twitter notifications, a text from my Dad and three from Leo. Walking upstairs, I decided to check my Dad's text first. It read:

Dad:

Hey darling, are we still up for next weekend. Karen's going out so it'll just be me and you! Pizza and Netflix night? xxxx

Karen was Dad's new wife. I'd only met her three time but I knew she had three spoilt kids. Liam who was 13, Beckie who was 8 and Mia who was 4. Karen seemed nice however, not like other stepmum's but she tried to replace my Mum but my Dad seemed to let her. She treated me like I was three not thirteen.

I text my dad back and explained that I was with Leo next weekend and asked if I could see him the following weekend. I didn't expect a text back anytime soon.

Once I reached my room I opened the door, carefully shut it behind me and switched on the bedroom light. The electric blue that covered my walls shone out bright. I threw my phone on the bed, changed into my pyjamas and walked towards the window to shut the blinds. I peered out to see the deserted street. The streetlights shone weakly, so the street was partially illuminated. I could hear a faint vibration noise coming from my bed, I carefully rushed over to check what it was. It was Leo calling. I decided to answer it, I sat on the end of the bed and shuffled towards the wall, leaning against the cold surface.

"Hey there you" I answered

"Oh my god, you're alive!" He sighed.

I laughed, "Of course I'm alive silly."

"I just wondered" he laughed.

"What's up?" I asked concerned as to why he called me six times?

"Nothing baby girl" I could hear the smile in his voice.

"Oh...why did you call me six times then?" I giggled.

"Just wanted to check you were okay plus I wanted to say goodnight and tell you how much I love you" he spoke in his adorable welsh accent.

"Aw baby" I blushed.

"You're blushing aren't you?" he laughed.

"No..." I murmured.

Leo just laughed. I loved his laugh, it lit up my world all together.

"Okay princess, I'm going to get some sleep now. I love you millions and millions, good night beautiful" He said.

"Okay Leo, I love you millions and millions too, sleep tight" I smiled into the phone before hanging up.

This boy made my night, I got up, switched off the light and snuggled into bed. A smile still plastered on my face.

I woke up really early the next day, the sun shone into my eyes through the half open blinds, nearly blinding me. Using my feet I slid off my covers, laying in the freezing cold. I slowly sat up, rubbing my eyes in the process. Sliding out of bed, I slipped on my slippers and shrugged into my dressing gown. Walking towards the blinds and looking through the gap. The sun was bright, shining through the gaps in the blinds, illuminating my room. Something felt different today, it felt better. I walked towards my wardrobe, picked out my best outfit, brushed my hair and put on minimal make up before leaving my room and trailing down the hallway and stairs. Everything was quiet. I checked the living room, it was deserted. I checked the clock, it read 9:00, before closing the living room door and walking towards the kitchen. I opened the kitchen door to find the biggest surprise of my life...