Love Thy Neighbour *editing*

"Who the hell are you?"

Turns out neither Sian nor Jen perished in the fire. While I was worriedly phoning both of them for nearly an hour, they were asleep in, you guessed it, some loser's house. But did they get back to me that same day? No, they didn't.

 And Sian was fully prepared to give me all of the details of what they had been doing, when she phoned me up to do some Christmas shopping, three days later. Apparently, she and Jen had left the marquee with Angus and John before the fire had broken out. Yeah, thanks for letting me know, guys. I managed to reign in my feelings of abandonment long enough to tell her that, yes, I had been trapped, and no, I hadn't died. If I had been hoping that she would beg for forgiveness for just ditching me, I was sadly mistaken. There was just a brief silence before she asked if I was coming shopping with her and Jen. I would have said no on the pretences that I had been out of my mind with worry for the last three frigging days, but Christmas was fast approaching and I hadn't bought a single thing. So I agreed to meet up with them at the shopping centre later that day. When I hung up, Niall was looking at me, his eyebrows raised in amusement.

"Don't start," I groaned, resting my head on his chest.

"You're going to give in?" he asked, shocked. "Just like that?"

"Yes," I replied stiffly. I was determined not to get stressed out about petty little things like this; it wasn't good for anybody. This was the new and improved Evie, starting from today. I would go into town with my friends, do some meaningless shopping and then wander back home. See? Nothing eventful or particularly life threatening about it. Unless I got hit by a car while I was cro- No, no more stupid thoughts like that.

"And besides," I said, "I need to get Christmas presents." Niall nodded. Was I expected to get him a present? What do you get for the boy who I'd met fucking someone in my garden, had a one night stand with, got me pregnant and then became my boyfriend? Contraception that worked perhaps? The thought made me smile.

"I hate Christmas," I voiced out loud. Niall snorted.

"How can you hate Christmas?" he asked as if the very notion was ridiculous. I turned to face him, making him grunt in discomfort.

"It's stupid unless you're religious," I stated. Then I remembered that Niall and his family were in fact Catholics. But he wasn't exactly a shining example of the faith. The no sex before marriage rule had gone right out the window the moment he had got his first hard-on, I presumed.

"And if you aren't religious?" he probed, evidently enjoying this.

"Then it's just an excuse to get bladdered," I replied. "And I can't do that this year thanks to you and your dodgy condoms." I patted my stomach affectionately, smiling at him. Niall rolled his eyes and put his hands on top of mine. We lay there for another ten minutes, before I sat up, yawning. I got to my feet and wandered over to my wardrobe, pulling the doors open.

In a couple of months, I wasn't going to be able to fit into any of these clothes. Was it honestly that vein of me to get depressed about the notion that I wasn't going to be able to squeeze into my jeans? I was going to look like an overstuffed turkey and Niall would be able to walk around looking fit. I really didn't see the fairness in this.

"I'll give you a lift if you want," Niall said, picking up the newspaper from the ground. I had discovered that Niall wasn't as dim as I thought he had been. In reality, he was probably a lot more aware of things than I was, which didn't actually make me feel better about my current circumstances. What would happen when he got bored of playing daddy? He could just piss off to University or college and I would be left here raising a child. In short, he had endless options and I...well, I wasn't the thickest person in the world but I wasn't exactly the brightest, or so my maths teacher had informed my mum when I was thirteen.