Heartbeat

Chapter 8.

— Aria's POV —

It's been four days, and within those four days I've foolishly ignored every one of Noah's calls and texts, and instead thrown myself into work.

My thoughts are constantly racing with what if's and my nights are waking me with horrible nightmares, all because of the pending reality I'm soon going to be hit with, yet I'm ignoring it.

I'm not stupid, I know what it means to be that late on my period, but the truth scares me, so I've ignored the fact all week.

After my long shifts, I found myself laying in bed at night, resting my hand on the lower part of my stomach, wondering if maybe it could just be a mistake.

I would come on my period soon; I'm sure it's only missed from stress - it's happened before - and it really wouldn't surprise me, but I knew my excuses were just that, I needed to know soon so that my mind would stop spinning.

I feel awful that I've ignored Noah, it wasn't his fault, but I knew if I were to face him this week, it would all become too real, and I just aren't ready to face the facts.

The fact that I might be pregnant with his baby.

"Screw it." I curse to myself, putting the blinkers on my car and I prepare to pull off the freeway. I can't sit here with these thoughts any longer.

I pull up at a gas station, filling up my tank so that I have more than enough for the drive over and back home, and after I paid, I walk into the small store there.

Nerves fill me, so instead of going to isle that calls my name, I grab some snacks first. Getting chocolate and chips for the rest of the ride to Lillie's. It's not far, maybe another twenty minutes, but I missed breakfast and my stomach was starting to hurt.

I then grab what I needed most - a pregnancy test. I didn't realise how expensive they were so I got two packs of the cheap ones in case I got a false reading, leaving the expensive ones on the shelf. It's not the first time I've bought tests and taken one, but it surely is a first when I realise what the result might be.

We used to play pregnancy roulette - me and Lillie did - the morning after her parties. Of course, we never were pregnant, but Lillie always was paranoid that she would be and dragged me along to make it into a game so she wouldn't be so anxious.

Right now, I needed Lillie by my side and I can't wait to be with her again. I've missed her more than anything, I've got so much to catch her up with as I'm sure she has with me. I can't imagine how college is and I can't wait to hear all about it.

"That'll be twelve fifty." The guy at cashier speaks and breaks me from my thoughts as he serves me. I can see his gaze on me as if he was judging, but I brush away the feeling, handing him some cash.

I tell him to keep the change even though he didn't deserve it with his ignorance, and I walk back to my car with all my things in hand.

It's not much of a drive to go, I've been on the road today just over an hour, and I've got less than twenty minutes ahead of me. I know I could've let my thoughts badger me for the rest of the weekend and continued to drive, but I just know I couldn't relax without knowing.

The past four days were worse enough, I don't think I could survive another four. We'll be drinking and although I'm not sure what the result will be or what my choice will be when I see said result, I don't want to harm myself in any way.

I just want to know now.

So, I throw the tests into my purse, and open up the bag of chips before getting back on the road. The rest of the drive was okay, but I was just so excited to see Lillie that I just wanted to be there already, and I grew impatient very quickly.