A Night's Reward

Pregnant

Dominic was my best friend from diapers. Well, from when I was three but that's besides the point. He's been there for as long as I've been here and if there was anybody that could help me pick myself up, it was Dominic.

After our call that morning, we met up and I told him all about what happened.

Dominic was of the opinion that I was set up but the question was, by whom?

I gave up trying to figure it out and just let myself try to survive each day with my mother acting like I held a knife and stabbed her with it.

My sister wasn't speaking to me, or rather, I wasn't responding when she spoke to me so she stopped speaking to me.

Weeks had gone by since I came back home and my mother finally loosened up and was treating me decently.

My father was the one who sat me down to ask what the way forward was and I answered him truthfully. I didn't know.

My mother was of the opinion that my father speaks to the Osbornes to shift the wedding closer. My dad worked for the Osbornes and when they suggested to him an arranged marriage between their children, he lapped up the idea.

Although something tells me that he was acting solely on my mother's words. In all honesty, the woman had some mental remote control over him. He did whatever she said and said whatever she wanted.

“You should stop hanging around that Dominic guy now that you're back. We don't want Alex or his parents having the wrong idea that you both have something going on,” my mum said one day when we were both having breakfast.

Cassie was excluded of course. She was on some self imposed diet and she was having just fruits in the morning.

“Mama. I've been friends with Dominic for as long as I can remember. Plus, you know he's not the dating type,” I said with a shrug as I took a bite out of the french toast.

She suddenly brought down her voice as though there were other people in the room with us. “The Osbornes are very traditional people, don't bring up your relationship with him in front of them.”

“I wasn't asking you Ava. You should respect Alex and tone down your friendship before I'm forced to do it for you,” she added in a normal tone.

“You don't have to worry. He’ll be leaving in a few days. He's going back to work,” I said with a fake smile planted on my face. “And Alex can come tell me himself then,” I murmured under my breath.

“What was that?”

The truth was, I had only ever seen Alex Osborne once but that was enough to not want anything to do with him, let alone get married.

He never visits, never plans dates, calls once in a blue moon and somehow expects that we will have the perfect marriage.

I opened my mouth to deny saying anything but suddenly felt the food I had just swallowed threaten to rush back up my throat.

Choking back on it, I let out a gag and shuddered at the vile taste in my throat.

“I think the butter might be going bad,” I said, pushing aside the piece of toast on my plate.

My mother gave me a look and then stood up to leave the table.

****Two weeks later****

“Ava! Are you going to the Noahs’ dedication party today?” I heard Cassie ask me from her room.

Her whiny voice at such a loud volume was irritating to my ears. I wanted to scream.

“No, I'm not,” I called back in a much more normal tone.

“Why not? Mum said you should come.”

“Because I don't want to f*****g go Cassie. Leave me the hell alone,” I snapped back.

She was quiet for some time and then I heard her footsteps approaching my room. She stood at my door frame, leaning slightly on it.

“You've been awfully irritable. I'm not the reason you got expelled, that one's on you,” she said simply before walking away.

I was gaping at her retreating form. That brat just walked up to my room to insult me just like that.

When she left, I thought about her words. Have I really been irritable? I mean, I had been feeling very tired and stressed. I'm sure it was the stress that caused me to miss a period. Maybe that's also why I was irritable.

I shrugged, making a mental note to apologise to Cassie before I returned back to my phone.

It took a few minutes of me scrolling on i********: before my previous thoughts registered themselves again in my head and I gasped, jumping out of bed.

“There's no way,” I whispered to myself as I stood in front of my mirror. I kept muttering to myself as I put on some clothes and left my room.

My dad was out and he left his car at home so I quickly borrowed it and drove off.

My destination wasn't too far from our house. I wore a hoodie so no one would recognise me as I quickly paid for the item over the counter and hurried out of there.

Back in my room, I slipped into the bathroom and quickly locked the door behind me.

“This is just to rule the idea out completely. There's nothing to worry about,” I told myself as I set the timer.

The few minutes seemed to drag on forever as I sat there. At some point, I wanted to throw it away or even break it and act like nothing was happening, but I couldn't.

The timer went off and I swallowed hard, bringing the object up to my eyes.

I choked back a sob when I saw the two lines that were glaring angrily at me.

“No…no…no…this can't be happening,” I whispered to myself. How could I be pregnant?