Side by Side: An August Alsina Urban Novel

Chapter 5: Reunited

They laid in the bed together, he missed the way her body felt when she curled up next to him, almost like a newborn puppy. "I missed you." he closed his eyes and breathed in the scent of her shampoo. She stayed silent partially because her thoughts were driving her crazy. "What's wrong?" she sighed and sat up, pushing herself off the bed. She grabbed the pictures from the doctor and walked back to the bed handing them to him.

August surveyed the pictures obviously confused at first. "You- you're pregnant." He could see the scared expression on her face and he pulled her close to him. "Hey you don't have to be scared. Look at me, I'm here." "But school. I don't have family to go home to and now I can't stay here. What are we going to do?" he shut her up with a kiss and waited for her to calm down before speaking again. "We are going to do what we've always done, survive. Look, I have a little saved up from the jobs and I can find a legit job at a plant or something. You're not quitting school though, I promised your grandmother I would never let you." And that was true. Before packing up there bags to come off to school, August promised her grandmother that he would keep her safe and see that she finished school.

She had no intentions on hiding the pregnancy from August. She knew that she could tell him anything. She knew that he would be excited regardless. "So how did you know?" His hand skimmed her still flat stomach. "I never get sick, you know that. And the exhaustion was odd too. I took a test the day you got locked up and I wanted to tell you but I never got the chance. One came back positive and the other was negative so I just went to the GP on campus and she told me that I was- pregnant." It was still a shock to her so saying it was still difficult. Though her life goals didn't include a child until she was established in life, August made her feel safe. With him by her side things wouldn't be as hard, right?

"You need to eat, you won't stop feeling sick until you eat." It had been a few weeks but she was still cursed with "morning sickness" to the point where she could barely make it through a few hours of the day without at least feeling nauseous. It frustrated August that she would refuse to eat. He knew that she felt bad mainly because there wasn't anything on her stomach. Her food aversions were terrible and there was nothing that she was remotely craving besides to just feel better. "August I already feel nauseated. Just the thought of food is making me want to gag. Can I please just go lay down? I don't even have the strength to go to class." This was also pissing August off. She was beginning to let her grades drop. "You are going to eat and take your ass to class. Get up."

The growl in his voice didn't frighten her, but she did realize that he was serious. She knew that she had been slacking and that she needed to get her shit together quick. Midterms were coming up and if she wanted to keep up her 4.0 she had to do better. Reluctantly, she stood from the bed and made her way into the bathroom. She would only be able to stay in her dorm until the end of the semester because pregnant students were not allowed to stay on campus. They had been searching for alternative housing and found a nice studio apartment not far from the University.
Although August made her a light breakfast, she still found herself face to face with the toilet about a half hour into her bio lab. Today of all days they were disecting rodents. Her stomach felt weak from the start and she was lucky enough to make it this far without causing a scene. "Hey, you alright in there?" Just as she was about to answer, she felt her stomach heave, hopefully all that was left in her stomach. "I think I am now," she muttered while wiping her mouth with a tissue.
Slowly rising to her feet, she flushed the toilet with her foot and turned to walk out. "I have some gum girl, you sure you okay? That sounded pretty bad in there." She had noticed the girl around campus but never actually engaged with her. "Yea. I just get a little quesy on dissection day from time to time." The girl nodded in understanding and passed over the gum with a smile. "My name is Korin by the way." They exchanged names and small talk while she freshened up at the sink.
By the time she got back to the lab, everyone was cleaning up. She grabbed her things and slid discreetly from the classroom before her professor could stop her. She was about to break."