Toxic 2: Lethal

Wedding Dress

Chapter8-Wedding Dress

I groaned as I wiped hair from my sweaty forehead. The toilet smelled like rotten milk and it was making my stomach twist and turn even more. When would this morning sickness end?

"Hey, Lyd. Your dad said you weren't feeling well this morning."

I looked over my shoulder as Ava walked into the bathroom. She was dressed for school already, her hair braided down her shoulder. She knelt down behind me and gathered my hair in her hands.

"You should take it easy today."

I shook my head. "I can't miss school."

"Lydia, you're sick. You can't go."

"I'm f-" I turned and threw up into the bowl.

I could hear the smug smile on her face as she spoke. "You're staying home." She helped me get to my feet and walked me back to my bed.

"I shouldn't be missing this much school, Ava."

"It's just one day-"

"One day turns into two and three and then I won't graduate because I was absent with morning sickness."

"The school should give you a few days for free. I mean-"

"Ava, I'm a pregnant teenager. No one really expects me to stick this last year out."

"I do. Your parents do."

I rolled my eyes. I needed a support system. I needed people who cared about me and how I turned out. But it needed to be more than just my parents and Ava.

"Lydia, trust me. You can make up your work, you can do extra credit, anything. We won't let you fail."

"How can I make up days I missed?"

"We'll talk to the teachers about that. Mrs. Barnes can help us."

"Mrs. who?"

"She's the guidance counselor."

I groaned. "Please don't make me talk to someone."

"Lydia-"

"No, I don't need someone telling me that I can still make something of my life even with a baby. I know that. Plus, it's embarrassing. I just wanna stay to myself."

She laid down beside me and kissed my forehead. "We'll be okay."

I wrapped my arms around her and buried my head in her chest.

"Did you know that in Georgia you can get married at sixteen if you're pregnant?" Ava said, looking up from her computer.

I rolled my eyes at her. She was so ridiculous sometimes. "I don't think-"

"I'm being serious, Lyd. I just looked it up."

That made me suspicious. "Oh really?"

She looked back down at her computer and said nothing. That confirmed it.

"Ava, are you already planning our wedding?"

A smile crept onto her face but she still said nothing.

I moved to sit beside her and looked at her computer screen. She had a website of cheap, though not cheap enough, wedding dresses up on the screen. Some were short and puffy while others were thin and long. "You have got to be kidding me."

"Okay, if I didn't know you better, I'd take offense to that."

"I don't want to be barefoot and pregnant when I get married."

"You can wear shoes. I never said you couldn't."

I rolled my eyes. I didn't want to get married so soon, especially after I just found out I was pregnant. I certainly didn't want to get married because of the baby. I wouldn't do it. "This is too much, Ava."

"Lydia, do you love me?"

"Ava-"

"Do. You. Love. Me?"

I sighed and rested my head on her shoulder. There was no use fighting with her. "Of course I do. I just don't want to get married this way. It feels too... I don't know, fake? Forced? I want to get married to you because we love each other, not because our baby is going to need another parent."

"It doesn't hurt to start getting stuff ready. I mean, weddings cost a lot." Ava said, scrolling through all of the dresses. She sounded like she really wanted this. And I didn't want to disappoint her.

"Ava, I want you to be happy. I really do. But I don't want an overboard wedding. I don't even want a dress, really. I just want you and the officiator there. I don't care about the rest of it."

She lifted my head so she could see me better. "Then let me plan the wedding. You be the guy and just show up."

I couldn't help but laugh. "You seem to be forgetting the situation we're in."

She rolled her eyes and ignored my comment. "Let me do this, Lyd. It'll be the last thing I ever ask for."

I narrowed my eyes. I'd used that line on my mother plenty of times to know that it wasn't true. "I doubt that. But fine. Plan a wedding. But I'm not making invitations in the middle of the night with you."

"Someone will be up with the baby anyway. Might as well kill two birds with one stone."

I groaned and hid my face in her arm. "You're killing me already."

She laughed and kissed the top of my head. "You won't regret it, Lydia. I promise."

I jerked up quickly, a light bulb going off in my head. In the process, I almost hit Ava. "You never proposed."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "It's my job to propose now, too? I'm already planning the wedding-"

"You want the wedding, you propose. That's my offer. And I want a ring. Doesn't have to be expensive."

Now she groaned. "You're impossible."

"Yes, I'm the impossible one."

She tackled me to the floor, her lips close to mine. "Don't even-"

"Ava... baby."

She froze, confused, for a second before she rolled us over so I was on top of her. "Better?"

I nodded and pressed my lips to hers. "Much."

As I sat up, straddling her, she pressed her hand to my stomach. "Has the baby grown any yet?"

I lifted my shirt up and shrugged. "I don't know. I can't really tell."

"Can you feel anything? Like any movement?"

I shook my head. I knew the baby wasn't going to move for a few more weeks and I was okay with that. But I was still concerned.

"When's your next doctor's appointment?"

"In two weeks."

She reached up and brushed a strand of hair behind my ear. "These next few months are gonna go so slow."

"Tell me about it." I mumbled. I was the pregnant one. It would feel like forever before I'd be back to my normal, non-pregnant self.

She pulled me to my feet, linking her fingers with mine. "Let's go visit my dad. I'm starving."