My first appointment was extremely underwhelming. The doctors all flowed in and out of the waiting area, blankly calling last names until they got to mine, and Jenny gave me an excited grin as we stood and made our way to the room.
All they did was take a urine sample to confirm the pregnancy (telling me that I was six weeks), and instruct me to the front desk to schedule an ultrasound if I wanted one for my nine-week mark since they can't see or hear the baby at this size.
Altogether, the visit was about ten minutes.
This was two weeks ago. I hadn't heard a word from Harry since.
His reaction told me well enough that he had no intentions of being in me or my baby's life, but it didn't really sink in until the third day had gone by and there was nothing but silence from him.
After seeing what he did for a living, I occasionally googled his name. More times than I'd like to admit. He kept his appearance. There were candid shots of him entering the large building, captions insinuating that he's producing the next big artist. Who fucking cares. It seemed that nobody knew or gave a shit that he had a child on the way who he couldn't give less of a fuck about. And as much as that angered me, it hurt me.
Jenny and Niall had gone back to work. I didn't bother putting my two weeks notice, just collecting my last check and sending a quick email to Yael, who had yet to respond but didn't seem to notice I hadn't been clocking in.
After hours of searching on job finding websites, I was called back by a nursing home a few minutes away from the apartment. The hours were short, only twenty a week, but it was all they had to offer and despite my continuous calls and applications, it was the only place that called me back.
And it wasn't too bad. Though the checks were shitty, not being nearly enough to cover my apartment rent once the money Harry gave me ran out, the job was calm.
My favorite part was the two hours between breakfast and rec time, where all of the residents would hang out in the mess hall whilst chatting amongst themselves, and I found my hands gravitating to the large grand piano.
I didn't learn to play much, only the basic songs my father had taught me; Celine Dion, John Legend, Bruno Mars. I did know an Elvis song that seemed to be a favorite, specifically requested by Carol each time she saw me make my way to the instrument.
"I'm not playing Elvis again, Ms. Carol," I dully tell her, throwing a teasing smirk in her direction when she rolls her eyes, using her walker to push herself toward me. Carol was a little fragile thing with way too much attitude for her aging body.
"My family pays you great money to play!"
"Your family pays Wickshire to keep you alive," I correct, adjusting myself as twelve or so residents take note of what I'm doing and follow suit. "I'll play it tomorrow. Hugo wanted Celine. Right, Hugo?"
The nearly seven-foot man sits down in a chair, nodding as he grins, "Celine," He repeats, his wording slow and voice raspy. If you asked him, she was his wife some years ago before she married René Angélil. Hugo vividly remembers when Celine called him crawling back after René passed away and how he regrettably declined. "But the love is always there," He'd say.
My days were like this for the most part. I'd clock in around nine and immediately help get the residents ready for breakfast. This wasn't too hard unless my stomach was feeling queasy, which didn't happen much now that I took my nausea medicine and prenatal vitamins. By the time they had finished eating, it'd be going on 11. I'd play the piano right up into it was time to leave, helping get them ready for lunch and clocking out.
I made about three hundred a week, and 1200 a month. Every cent I made went to savings. Whether it was for hospital bills or rent and utilities.
There were nights I spent metaphorically banging my head against the wall, considering the dark, intrusive thought of an abortion. It wasn't what I wanted but I wasn't sure how long I'd be able to keep up with making so little money and doing it alone.
I loved Jenny and Niall but they kept their late hours at the shop, so when I was up during the day, they were asleep. It was another drastic change to my life that added to my stress that I couldn't fucking afford to have.
I finish up the first song, preparing myself for the second when the front door buzzes. The woman behind the receptionist counter, who was also the med-tech, brings her feet down from the desk and buzzes in the code to let the person in.
"Hi! I'm here to see Ellie," Jenny asks, and Kim directs her to me, immediately going back to her phone as I babysit all of my residents plus hers. I roll my eyes but smile nevertheless at the sight of my friend, my fingers still working the keys.
"Jenny from the block," I state.
"Ellie yellie, I missed you," She gushes, holding a bag of chipotle, "You're playing again?"
Jenny knew that I played the piano, courtesy of my father, but she also knew I wasn't confident in my abilities and tended to shy away from the instrument. But playing it here passed the time and I didn't have to worry about judgment because half of these people would forget anyhow.
"What can I say? I'm a bit of a celebrity around here." I say, ending the song on a high note before turning to face my residents. "Alright, to the main room ya'll go. I gotta talk to my friend."
Scattered moans and groans are heard but when I usher them to the room just across the hall, they enter, immediately being drawn to the Andy Griffith show.
"Speaking of celebrities," She begins, and I instantly sigh exhaustedly, knowing exactly who she's talking about.
I may have lied when I said Harry made no means to contact me, because he did.
He'd shown up to the shop a few times, all around two-thirty in the morning when he knew Jenny would be there. I'm sure he learned her schedule at this point.
When she first told me he'd paid a visit, I got a pathetic twinge of hope, one I can laugh about now. But this man didn't want to apologize or accept our situation and make do.
This man wanted a fucking paternity test.
He came to the shop dressed in all his richness, a small stack of papers connected with a staple that were forms he needed me to sign to get it done.
Harry had my number and he knew where I lived. I understood him showing up the first night, but when Jenny told him I quit, he didn't bother asking where I worked now, only pushing her to get me to sign them. He made no actual effort to talk to me like an adult. And for that, I couldn't give less of a shit about him or his papers.
I didn't even know why he wanted me to sign them, to begin with. He made up his mind that he didn't want to be in our lives so it made no sense.
"This time, he brought his lawyer. Jacob? Jim? Something like that," She takes a bite of her food and shakes her head. We'd moved to one of the tables, now sitting across from each other.
"Of course he did. What did you tell him?"
"To fuck off. That you said no. Niall gave him his fair share of words though, told him how disappointed he was before Charlie and Felix threatened to physically remove them,"
I laugh at the thought of Niall reprimanding Harry. Something I know didn't bother him one bit but still amused me. And I'd love nothing more than to see Felix and Charlie forcibly remove Harry from the shop. In fact, I'm counting on him going back just so they can.
"Anyway, enough of him. How's baby bean doing?"
"Funnily enough, the size of a kidney bean. I'm almost nine weeks so I get to see them. My appointment is next week actually. Niall's still coming, right?"
Jenny's mom's birthday was next week so she was driving two hours west to visit her for a few days. Niall was ecstatic to hear this, knowing he'd take her place and be able to see the baby on the ultrasound before her.
"You gotta text him but I'm pretty sure he is. He's been bragging about it at the shop."
"Oh God, he'd better not embarrass me," I shake my head and she laughs. We continue at the burrito bowls, catching up on our uneventful lives these last few weeks and even discussing baby names. I had no idea what I played on naming the little bean. I hadn't thought of it, I was so busy trying to make sure I had everything set up.
Jenny and I finish our lunch and begin tossing the trash into the bin when she takes note of the time. I know that she has to get back to the shop and was only going in late so she had time to hang out with me.
Since it's time for me to get home anyhow, we say our goodbyes in the parking lot and I make the short drive to the apartment.
My phone rings in the pocket of my jeans and I fish it out, seeing Niall on the caller ID.
"Hello?"
"Ellie!" He cheers into the phone, "Excited for next week?"
"I guess," I hold the phone between my shoulder and ear as I lock my car door and shove the keys into my purse.
"I was wondering if there was anything special I should wear? Or bring...to prepare is all,"
"Niall, all you need to bring is your ass." I tell him.
I make my way down the hall and to the stairs, making a mental note to call the leasing office for a third time. I can't keep taking them, I feel like my lungs are being squeezed by a giant's hands each time.
"I read that you've got to hold your piss for about two hours, so your bladder can push up on your uterus, is that true?"
My brows come together in confusion when I approach my apartment door and see a pale yellow paper folded and slid through the small crack of the frame.
"And they were doing the ultrasound, right? I told my mom I'd send her pictures if that's alright with you. She saw that picture we took on Jenny's birthday and thinks you're absolutely gorgeous. She says as long as the baby comes out looking like you then it doesn't matter who the father is. She's never even spoken to me that way," he rambles as I quickly grab the paper, my mind immediately panicking under the assumption that it's an eviction notice though my rent isn't due for another two weeks. I rip the paper out and unfold it.
"And-"
"Niall I really have to go," I cut him off, becoming frustrated with the words my eyes flit across.
"Oh, alright. Well just let me know." He says right before I end the call.
Paternity test mandation.
Harry Styles has written to request that a paternity test is carried out in order to establish whether the unborn child of Eliana-Rosalie Serenity Wilson is his genetic [son/daughter].
I don't read the rest, already feeling my hands get shaky and my face get hot at his fucking audacity.
I didn't want to get a paternity done and he threw court papers at me?
I told myself to leave Harry alone. To treat him like the pesky little gnat he is in hopes that he'd end up under somebodies shoe. I had no fucking idea why he keeps pushing a paternity test on if he already established that he wanted nothing to do with it.
Unless he did.
Did he change his mind?
The second my breathing calms down and I'm considering the idea, I shake my head and unlock the door. I can't justify him harrassing me all this time. If the notion were true, he should have texted me like a human being. Call me for fucks sakes. Not slap a mandated court test on me. One that I don't want to do.
Harry is the only person I had sex with since I left home and broke up with Danny. And that was two years ago.
I grab my phone and close my front door shut, searching through my contacts and finding his number. I sniff and run a hand through my hair as I press call, not giving myself too much time to think about it.
"Hello-"
"What the fuck is your fucking problem, huh?" I ask rhetorically, gripping the edge of the countertop. "You're trying to take me to court?"
I hear him quickly mumble for someone to take five before shuffling over. A door open and closes and he finally speaks, his voice still hushed, "I'm not trying, I am, Eliana. You knew this would happen."
"You didn't try shit, you didn't call or text or anything. There was no fuckin' effort," I motion with my hands.
"You wouldn't have listened to me if I tried to talk to you over the phone and I'm honestly surprised you still have my number," He bites back, and I laugh incredously.
"What's your game, Harry? I don't understand. You don't want this, and whatever. I don't give a shit. I'll do it alone. But why are you harrassing me about a paternity test?"
"Oh, sue me for wanting to make sure the thing is mine-"
"The thin- oh my god," I pause, pressing a palm to my forehead, "You're real life stupid. Like, it's not a joke. You're not joking. You're actually fucking stupid."
"You know what I meant, Ellie. If you want me on child support you best believe I'm going to make sure I'm not paying for some other blokes mess."
"Who said I was putting you on child support?" I pause, squinting my eyes and deciding to take the higher route by ignoring his second comment that referred to my pregnancy as a mess.
"Well you are, aren't you?"
"I didn't plan on it, and I never told you I would. I'm not gonna force you to take care of your child." I snap.
"Well, I need to make sure it's mine first, don't I, Ellie? I don't know what other men you've been fucking. I saw how you acted that night." He remarks.
"You know what? I hope that for some weird fucking reason its not. And that god planted the next baby jesus into me while I was asleep or something. Because I'd be shit out of fucking luck if my child ended up with a shitty excuse of a man like you," I hiss, ending the call before he could say anything back and letting out a scream so loud I know it'd have the neighbors knocking.
"Dumbass!" I shout, shaking my head and rereading the folded court papers. I reread it again, this time, to the end.
Basically, we both have to go through a third party to get the test done and submit the results to the court by a certain date. And when we do go, and the baby is proven his, he'll be put on child support. And that's another thing that confused me.
We'd spent the short conversation we had arguing but it didn't occur to me that by requesting a paternity test, Harry would have to pay child support. Otherwise, they wouldn't have approved it. I don't think this meant he wanted to be in the baby's life, but that he wanted to put himself on child support.
And for what? I have no fucking idea.
hi chiccy nuggies :))) hope everyone is doing well and drinking ur waters and whatnot. pippip.