Strong • W2S

XXIII

Chapter Twenty-Three

Ronnie left the next night with fifty thousand pounds, my fifty thousand pounds. Actually he left with a little more than that because I gave him a black eye...
Even though the circumstances weren't the best it was still nice to see my brother, Dylan's death wasn't all his fault. Sure he was partly responsible considering he had made the deal with the Jackson boys in the first place but it's not like he actually committed the murder himself. He promised that he'd call me the second he'd given the Jacksons their money and finished business with them for good but part of me knew that it would never end, I was just glad I no longer lived in Glasgow anymore and instead I stayed hours away from there.

Nothing had changed between Harry and I well if anything we were probably more closer and comfortable with each other now we knew our deepest secrets. Layla was acting weird and had been since the morning after Ronnie arrived, at first I thought it was Dylan's death that was causing her to be like this but I soon realised it wasn't. Layla was more blunt than usual, she slept practically all day and I rarely seen her unless she was going to the bathroom which was so weird considering we'd eat dinner together and watch a few episodes of The Vampire Diaries every night.
Cal hadn't been around all day either... actually he hadn't been around since the day Ronnie left which was even weirder than Layla being the way she was.
Harry hadn't really seen or spoken to Cal either because he'd been by my side the whole time except from when I was at work, in fact none of the boys had seen or spoken to Cal in the past few days.

I closed the front door behind me and hung my soaking wet jacket up on a hook. Flinging my keys into the bowl, I walked into the living room where Layla was sat with an almost empty tub of Ben & Jerry's ice cream and a million tissues surrounding her.
"What's up with you?" I asked walking past the living room and into the kitchen to grab some water.
"We broke up." She licked the spoon and then forcefully shoved it into the tub before placing it onto the coffee table.
"Since when were you together?" I was confused because they never really did make it official. "We weren't but when he saw the test in the bathroom he ended things." It took me a second to click on about what she meant but when I did I sprayed my water everywhere in shock.
"Test? You're pregnant!" I exclaimed, she nodded slowly and teared up within seconds.
"Holy shit... fuck! Are you ok? Are... are you gonna keep it?"
"I...I don't know. I mean why should I? I'm not ready to be a mum, I'm only twenty-two and I don't even have a boyfriend or a bloody baby daddy."
"I can't keep it Erin, it would be so selfish of me if I did but at the same time... I want too. Ugh! What do I do? What am I going to do?"

What do you tell your best friend in this situation especially when you know that she's nowhere near ready to be a mother? Do you tell her the truth or do you lie?

"I think you should do whatever makes you happy, no matter what you decide I'll still stand by you."
"What was it like for you? You know when you got an abortion." She asked, I took a deep breath in.
"Painful in both ways. I was in pain for days after and was bleeding constantly, I was emotionally and physically drained. I just lay in bed for a few days before I started to feel normal again but then again I don't think I've been normal since."

"Erin!" I turned around and was met with Harry standing at the other end of the hall. "I'll meet you in the bedroom in a minute, I'm just having a conversation with Layla about something." He nodded and made his way to the bedroom, I turned my head back to face Layla who had her hand placed over her stomach.
"How far along do you think you are?" Looking down at her hand and then back up at her face I asked.
"I don't know a few weeks? Maybe five or six."
"Why don't we book you a doctors appointment, we'll find out how far along you are and then go from there." I gave her a small smile and she nodded her head before going back to the zombie she was. I could tell by her body language that she wanted to be left alone so that's what I did, I stood up and walked into the bedroom where Harry was waiting for me.
As I close the door I let out a deep sigh and closed my eyes.
"What's up?" Harry asked looking at me concerned, "Layla's pregnant and Cal's done a runner basically." I walked over to my bed and sat on the edge.
"She's pregnant? Fuck! That's why Cal's M.I.A then, is she ok?" Shaking my head no I replied "She doesn't know whether to keep it or not especially if Cal's not gonna be around."
"We're gonna book her an appointment in the morning with a doctor, I'll take the morning off or something Mitch won't mind if I work late instead." I added, I was stressed about so much recently and now I was even more stressed. I knew Layla better than anyone did and I certainly knew she wasn't ready to be a mother, she never even really wanted to have kids to begin with. All I wanted to do was to sit with her and talk about things but whenever she was upset or stressed about something she wouldn't speak to anyone, she just wanted to be left alone with her thoughts.
"I'm gonna go call Mitch now actually, he should still be at the office." I stood up and grabbed my phone off the drawers, a few minutes later I returned to the bedroom to find Harry fast asleep and curled up into a little ball on the bedroom. Sighing I pulled the duvet over his body and turned off the light, leaving the bedroom I walked back into the living room and sat on the opposite couch.