Chapter Twenty-One
Sitting in one of the village’s café, I scrunched my nose up at the drink. Mason wouldn’t let me have a normal cup of tea (even though I had insisted it wasn’t going to harm the baby), so he’d decided to order green tea. It smelt rank, and didn’t taste any better. It didn’t make me feel any worse than I did – which was a plus.
“What’s up, Marzipan?” Mason asked. I glanced at him quickly before looking out of the window. Was I happy for a window seat? Not in the slightest. Everyone could tell I hadn’t washed in a couple of days. I was feeling so sick lately, and tired. The baby kept moving at night – and it seemed to be even worse this week. There was no position that I could get comfortable in at night. I turned on my back, uncomfortable. Turn onto the left side, I felt too heavy. On my right side? Still feeling heavy. In the end I would go downstairs, put on the TV and wait until I passed out due to the exhaustion. Some days I didn’t sleep until the late afternoon (good thing we were still on holidays, although they were almost over).
“Where did you tell Liam we were going?” There was no point in answering Mason’s question. He knew as well as I did what the matter was.
“We were going to a local café,” I nodded, showing that I was listening even though I wasn’t looking at him, “but what were you expecting me to say? You’re on probation at the moment, not me. And all you’ve done is sat around the house being boring. It’s New Year’s Eve – where’s the fun Mars who used to be all excited and run around and see who’s party we could crash?”
“She’s gone and been replaced by a fat, pregnant girl. That’s where she’s gone.” I growled, before breathing in deeply and apologising. I hadn’t slept for about twenty-eight hours, or something like that. I thought I had two more months to go before I felt anything like this. “I’m sorry, I just haven’t slept for a while and this green tea is disgusting and I need caffeine!”
“How long are you again?”
“Like, four months,” I took a sip of my tea before spitting it back into the cup, “I just want this over and done with.”
“Come back with me to Dalla, I’ll look after you for the last five months.” He offered, and I knew he was being sincere. But I declined his offer, shaking my head. For some weird reason, I felt a connection here. I felt a stronger connection to Beau, Thom and Georgia. But with Tristan… I wouldn’t have minded running away for a couple of days. I still hadn’t heard from him since… well, since I’d found out how he felt about me. But I needed to be here for Beau. I wasn’t going to leave until he was comfortable about himself, and that he’d gotten laid at least once.
“I can’t leave… I’ve got people I really care about here.”
“You left us.” My heart panged, and I was speechless. I turned my eyes back to Mason and I saw the saddening look in his eyes. I saw the betrayal. I wouldn’t leave my friends here, who I’d known for a couple of months, but I left my friends who I’d known for years. Mason couldn’t understand, to be honest, neither could I.
“I didn’t plan it… It just… happened.” Did I want to tell him I felt more of a connection here? No. It would hurt him so much and I didn’t hurt my friends. It was such a sucky excuse though – it felt like a half-arse apology.
“I get it. You don’t have to explain yourself. I can see why you wouldn’t want to leave here – it’s quiet, and there’s no drama.”
“You’re not being sarcastic… right?” The tone was serious and I was never sure if Mason was being sarcastic. He didn’t sound it but occasionally, he used to use sarcasm to divert a serious conversation. I had a feeling that this wasn’t one of those times.
“No. I mean, it’s so… tranquil. It’s like a little holiday – there’s no loud parties at night, no cars going past at all hours of the night. It’s just… silent.” It was his turn to glance out of the window this time. “Personally, I’d hate to live here permanently, but that’s just me. I’d prefer a lively city.”
“It’s alright if you’ve got the right crowd.”
“So,” Mason’s voice started squeaking, “tell me more about this Thom guy. Is he hot?” By the end, he was trying to impersonate one of those girly girls – to make me laugh. It worked, I started to laugh (not too loud though). He tried to do the whole tutting thing, and rolling his eyes and keeping his hands under his chin, as if he was hanging onto every word I was saying. I was glad he wasn’t being so serious any more.
“Haven’t I told you enough?”
“Well, yeah, but I need to know who has replaced us as your bum chums.” I laughed at that – bum chums. I’d never heard the words being uttered out of Mason’s mouth before.
“Bum chums?”
“Yeah. Just throwing it out there. Doesn’t sound so great.”
I shrugged. “There’s been worse that’s come out of your mouth.”
“I know. Anyway, answer the question. I want to know more about the people who replaced us.”
Before I could answer, the bell above the café door chimed. Turning around, I saw it was the one and only Thom who had entered. Perfect timing! If he saw us, Mason could interrogate him all he liked, rather than me. I didn’t fancy any questions. In with him, he brought a girl. I had never seen her before but she was quite pretty. Long, dark hair. Slim (I was jealous). Long legs – actually, she was almost as tall as Thom.
As Thom looked around, I threw my arm up in the air and waved. At first, he waved back awkwardly, as if he had no clue as to who I was, before smiling and waving normally. He whispered something to his friend, handed her a note before making his way over to us. At least some of us looked clean.
“You’re back!” Thom smiled, sitting on a chair next to me. “You also look as if you’ve been through Hell.”
“I came back a couple of days ago.” I decided not to comment on how I looked. I knew there was no excuse.
“And you didn’t think to tell me. To contact me somehow?” He faked being insulted, holding a hand to his chest.
“No… I was trying to sleep and just avoid people in general. Plus, Liam’s grounded me.” I said. Thom looked shocked.
“Grounded? Like I’m going to believe that! Liam would let you get away with murder.” He laughed until he saw that I wasn’t joining in. His mouth slowly turned and made an ‘o’ shape. I don’t know why he thought I’d be joking about something like this. In fact, I’d never mentioned anything about being grounded or having some form of curfew.
“He didn’t appreciate me running out on Christmas Eve.”
“Are you going to be running away tonight?” Thom joked, and I did a fake laugh.
“Ha-ha. And no. Oh! Before I forget, Mason this is Thom, and Thom this is Mason.” I gave some quick introductions because I knew I’d forget – I always had. The amount of times I had to repeat it to myself silently was unreal. They did the whole “Dude, nice to meet you” while I was trying to sneak Mason’s coffee away from him.
“So, how long have you guys been here?” Thom asked. I successfully managed to steal Mason’s coffee. Half of it was already gone but I didn’t care. Half a cup of coffee was better than nothing.
“Maybe like… half an hour or something. Not long.” I answered. “Anyway, what are you up to tonight?” I noticed Mason go to take a sip of his coffee and notice that his cup had magically disappeared. He glared at me before rolling his eyes.
“Well, if you had been here and texted me,” Thom started, with a grin on his face, “you’d know that the sweetest party was happening tonight. At mine.”
“Oh? Well, it’s a shame that I can’t join you.” I sighed – I actually wanted to go, despite feeling like poop.
“Why not? I’m sure Liam wouldn’t care.”
“She’s got to ask Liam’s permission to go out.” Mason pointed out. I mouthed “Thank you” to him (I wasn’t being sarcastic either).
“Seriously?”
“Yeah,” I scratched the back of my neck, “Mase had to ask if he could take me out here.”
“Well then text him,” the dark-haired girl who came with him joined us, “it won’t hurt – the worst he can do is say no.” I guessed that Thom was right. The worst he could do was say no and he knew that if he did, I wouldn’t make a fuss or go against him (I’d learned my lesson).
While I was texting Liam, Thom introduced his friend to us. Turns out it was his cousin, Claire, who had recently gotten married to someone in another village nearby. She was visiting with her husband, and her husband’s family, in time for Thom’s New Year party.
“You know, it’s really good to see girls getting pregnant at a younger age. It makes such a change.” She told me, after Thom had mentioned about my pregnancy. “Are you still with the father?”
“No. It was just a one-night stand.” Thankfully, there was no judgemental stare, no disapproving noises. Nothing. It was a nice surprise from the… stronger reactions I’d gotten.
“Well good on you for keeping the baby, and doing it as a single mother.”
“Uh… thanks?” I wasn’t sure what to make of Thom’s cousin. She seemed nice, but a little cuckoo at the same time and while we were sat in the café, she kept asking and asking about my pregnancy. I don’t know if she wanted a kid or if she was trying to steal mine (I’d seen a lot of horror films so this wouldn’t have been a surprise to me) but she was very interested.
My pocket buzzed and fishing out my phone, I checked. “Oh, Thom,” I said, grabbing his attention.
“Yeah?”
“Looks like I’ll be seeing you tonight.” Liam had replied telling me he was going out and so was Veronica and he didn’t want to spoil my New Year’s (and knowing that soon enough I wouldn’t want to go out anywhere), so I could go and join Thom and have a good time.
“And Tristan!” He said, with a smile on his face. I, on the other hand, was starting to feel nervous. What was I going to say to him?
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Sorry for the *very* late chapter but I've done it! I procrasinated doing revision (for tonight) and decided to write a chapter. Quite happy with this and it turned out better than the original chapter that I wrote. Three more weeks of exams/revision and hopefully I'll be able to post a chapter every week of summer! (Since I'll have all the time in the world).
Hope you guys enjoy this, let me know of any errors and thoughts!
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