Louis had to be pregnant. He just had to be. He has never been so put off by the thought of food before, and he was up until 3am getting sick.
Today was the first day that the doctor said it was safe to take a pregnancy test, and of course, Louis forgot to take it this morning before work. Okay, so, maybe he didn't forget. Maybe it was more along the lines of Louis was terrified that the test would come back negative, and Louis really didn't want it to be negative. He also wouldn't mind someone to be there when he took it whether or not it turned out positive or not. Comfort is good for bad news.
"Liam!" Louis says excitedly into the speaker of his phone.
"Hey, mate. How's it going?" Liam replies, slightly more mellow.
"Do you want to do me a huge favor?" Louis asks nervously, scrunching his nose.
Liam sighs. "What have you done now, Louis?"
"Nothing bad, don't say it like that," Louis laughs. "I need you to come 'round to mine tonight."
"Sure, lad, what for?"
"Well," Louis debates with himself on whether or not to blurt out the fact that he might be pregnant over the phone, but he got a little too nervous to say it. "I'm-I'll just tell you when you're there, alright? How's the ole job going anyways?"
"It's going alright. The interns have started to flood in again. You still looking to be set up, because their are a couple of lads I think you'd potentially be interested in."
"Thanks for the offer, Liam, but I'm not exactly in a good place in my life to start a new relationship right now," Louis laughs, imagining his future with the thing that could be growing inside him right now.
"Are you kidding me? A couple of months ago, you were begging me to set you up with someone," Liam says.
"Alright, now, I wasn't begging. I was heavily implying," Louis jokes. He hears a beep and realizes he has a call waiting on a different line.
"Whatever you say, Lou," Liam says, sarcastically.
"Yes, well, on that note, I have a call waiting. And it's coming from your office. Fancy that."
"It's probably one of the new interns calling to set up the Montgomery-Meyerson meeting. Have fun with that."
"Yeah, whatever, Liam, bye," Louis says and hangs up, immediately answering the waiting call.
"Hello, Montgomery Incorporated, how may I help you?" Louis answers in the most professional voice he can put on in that moment.
"Um, hello. I'm calling on behalf of Derrick Dobrev. He wishes to schedule a meeting between Mr. Montgomery and Mr. Meyerson for Tuesday at 3 o'clock," the person on the other line says. Because of his overwhelmingly uncomfortable voice, Louis can tell that Liam was right about it being an intern calling.
"Alright, let me check Mr. Montgomery's schedule for Tuesday," Louis says, flipping through the planner he bought specifically to put Montgomery's to-do's in. "Tuesday at 3 o'clock is actually perfect. Have you already informed Meyerson?"
"Yes, just before this," the deep voice answered.
"Alright, that's perfect, then. I'll let him know. Thank you," Louis says, jotting the meeting down in his planner.
"Thank you as well. Have a nice evening," the intern says before hanging up. Louis was pleasantly surprised with the politeness of that intern. He sincerely wishes they were all so kind.
Louis stands up and walks over to Mr. Montgomery's office, knocking politely.
"Yes, Mr. Tomlinson?" Montgomery says without looking up at Louis.
"You have a meeting with Meyerson on Tuesday at 3," Louis answers.
"Alright, thank you for letting me know. Could you tell the rest of the office that they can go home early? My daughter's ballet recital is tonight, and she wants me to help her get ready, so I need to leave quite early."
"Of course, Sir. Would you like me to send some flowers?"
Montgomery seems pleased with Louis's offer. "Actually, yes. It would save me an errand. Thank you, Mr. Tomlinson."
"No problem, Mr. Montgomery," Louis says as Montgomery exits his office with his briefcase in hand. As soon as Montgomery is out of the building, Louis announces their early release and watches as everyone's faces become suddenly full of life as they pack their things for the day. Louis quickly calls Mr. Montgomery's usual florist and has them send a large bouquet of daisies to Montgomery's home.
As soon as he finishes his task, he takes off straight to the closest drug store and picked up a couple of different kinds of pregnancy tests. The cashier tells him that his aura screamed pregnancy, and that makes Louis feel very happy.
Once he arrives back at his apartment, he texts Liam that his office was sent home early today and that he could come over as soon as he gets off of work as well.
He puts the pregnancy tests somewhere he might forget about them in order to ease his stress. Out of sight, out of mind, as he says to himself. He sighs and his stomach growls with hunger, but Louis really doesn't have an appetite, so he decides to drink some water and take a nap instead.
When he wakes up, he hears his doorbell ring and discovers that he's been asleep for about 2 1/2 hours now. He suddenly becomes very nervous as he makes his way to answer the door.
"Hey, Liam," Louis smiles a little too intensely, and Liam's eyebrows raise.
"Hey, Lou," he walks into the flat. "So, why did you want me to come over tonight?"
"Okay, so, I kind of did something a little crazy about a month ago," Louis slowly begins explaining.
"Okay?" Liam asks, urging him to continue.
"Bottom line, I need you to be here while I take a pregnancy test," Louis blurts out, nervously rubbing his hands together.
Liam's eyes widen. "You're pregnant?"
Louis shrugs. "I hope so."
"You hope so? You meant to get pregnant?"
"Well, yes, I kind of got artificially inseminated."
Liam blinks at Louis for a few seconds, not knowing what to say.
After a longer silence than Louis is comfortable with, he asks, "So will you be here while I take the test or not?"
Liam immediately nods. "Of course, mate, I was just a little caught off guard. No wonder you don't want to be set up with anyone right now."
Louis laughs. "Yeah, that would put a damper on a new relationship. 'By the way, I'm pregnant with another man's baby, and I'll never know who he is.' Imagine," Louis's sarcasm makes Liam laugh.
"Alright, well, let's get on with it then. I want to know if I'm going to be an uncle already."
Louis laughs and quickly runs to grab the pregnancy test from his bedside table. Him and Liam meet outside of his bathroom and Liam waits while he prepares the test. When Louis opens the bathroom door, Liam sets a timer on his phone for 5 minutes.
'This is quite possibly the longest 5 minutes of my life,' Louis thinks as he paces up and down the hall. "How long has it been?" he asks, clearly on edge.
"1 more minute, mate."
"Oh my god, I'm literally going to die."
"Alright, alright, don't stress your potential child out now. Jesus."
"Liam James Payne, do I look like I need jokes right now?" Louis asks sarcastically, feeling his nerves getting worse every second.
"Kind of." Liam shrugs, causing Louis to glare at him.
Just then the nerve-wracking beep of Liam's phone sounds and the blood rushes out of Louis's face.
"Oh my god," Louis mumbles to himself. He slowly makes his way to the bathroom but once he arrives in the doorway, his fear gets in his way. "I can't look. I absolutely can't look."
"Do you want me to look?" Liam asks, sincerely worried for his friend's momentary sanity. Louis nods. Liam walks into the bathroom and picks the pregnancy test up by the handle, studying the screen for a moment in complete shock.
"Liam, what does it say? You're going to make me vomit."
A huge smile spreads across Liam's face. "You're pregnant."