Page 14 of Pretty Little Disaster

“It’s nice here.” She moves to the window so she can check out the view. “I didn’t really notice it last time I was here.”

“That's because you were busy getting knocked up.” I decide to lighten the mood and I can’t decide if the snarl she makes back at me is serious or not.

“How has this become our lives?” She flops into the chair by the window looking exhausted.

“I don’t know, but the way I look at it, people try their whole lives to do what we did, and some never get it. We have to look at this as a gift. A real fucked-up, ironic gift.” I laugh to myself as I rest my shoulder against the floor-to-ceiling window that looks out over the city, but it’s not the city I’m admiring tonight, it’s the girl resting back in my chair who’s pregnant with my child. I swear it makes her even more attractive than she was before.

“This is going to be tough, pregnancy does not bring out the best in people, and you already hate me,” she sighs.

“I don’t hate you, you just bug me.” I cross my arms over my chest.

“Well, I’m sure to bug you even more once my hormones kick in, and I already know I’m going to blame you when I can’t fit in any of my clothes.” She’s laughing, but I know she means it, andwhen I think about her tiny 5ft 7inch frame carrying a big, round belly, I feel my dick twitch.

“Like I said, we’ll worry about things as they come. I guess the first thing we should do is tell our parents. I can imagine Serena’s going to be as excited as she is surprised, that's if Madalina managed to keep it from her.” I suddenly realize that I know nothing about Lorna’s family. I know she used to live with her mom and stepdad, but that was back when she was in high school.

“We can tell Serena, but I’d rather hold back on telling my mom for a little while longer. She has a habit of being erratic about things and I need some time to come to terms with this situation before I have to try and defend it,” she tells me sadly, and it puts a strange feeling in my chest. One that makes me want to move closer so I can comfort her.

“You should make yourself at home, help yourself to whatever you need.” I move toward the door, picking up my keys.

“Wait, where are you going?” She sits up in her chair looking confused.

“I got something to deal with at the club. It’ll probably be a late one.”

I race out the door, closing it behind me and clutching my keys as I take a long, deep breath. What the hell was I thinking insisting she move into my place? It’s a recipe for disaster. I’m already starting to understand why Dario was so overbearing with my sister when she was pregnant. Suddenly, all that matters in the world seems to be this woman who I’ve hated for as long as I can remember. I’m blaming that for the fact I very nearly just kissed her.

Things are complicated enough without me putting something like that on her. I feel bad for leaving her alone here on her first night but it’s been a long, very eventful day and thebest thing I can do is put some space between us while I let the fact I’m about to become a father sink in.

I wake up on the couch when I hear coughs and splutters coming from the bathroom, and picking my watch up from the coffee table, I see it’s only six-thirty am. I scrub my face to wake myself up and head down the hall, opening the door and see Lorna, wearing just her underwear as she kneels in front of the toilet, throwing up.

“Shit, are you okay?” I ask, still attempting to wake myself up. It must have been past two when I finally got home. “Is there anything I can do?” I ask.

“Yeah, get the fuck out of here and stop looking at me.” She picks up the closest thing to her, which just happens to be the toilet brush, and launches it at me, missing my head by inches, then retches and starts to vomit again.

“Here.” I kneel behind her and scoop her hair up in my hands, holding it back and trying not to look at the mess she’s making of the toilet.

“Is it always this bad?” I stroke her back, trying my best to comfort her, and when she eventually gets up and answers my question with a nod of her head, I stand back and watch her splash water over her face and get her breath back.

“It usually doesn’t start until after I’ve eaten my breakfast. I guess it’s going to get worse before it gets bet…” She fails to finish her sentence when she turns her head and sees that I’m only wearing my boxer shorts, and suddenly I’m very aware that we’re both standing in a confined space, wearing just our underwear.

“Is there something I can get you?” I step closer to her, feeling like a moth being dragged to the flame. This woman is carrying my child, everything indicates that she belongs to me now, surely it's natural that all I want to do is touch her.

“No, I’m fine now,” she assures me, looking at me strangely as I move closer, and when my hand stretches out to press against her lower stomach she does nothing to stop me, just stands static and watches.

“Last night while I was at the club, all I could think about was this,” I admit, stroking my thumb against her skin and looking down at how it goosebumps. “I need you to know that I’m all in. Whatever you ask of me, I’ll give you.” I’m fully aware of how pathetic I sound, but she needs to know. I reach my other hand around the back of her head and bring it forward, gently kissing the top of it, and then I leave her to think about what I said.

LORNA

“What’s all this?” I step from the hall into the open-plan living area of Nic’s apartment and see that the dining table is full of food.

“Breakfast, I went out after you went back to sleep to get it. I wasn’t sure what you’d want. You said you had trouble keeping stuff down.”

“That's sweet, but I’m never going to eat all this.” There are at least five different selections of cereals, a plate stacked with pastries and I’m sure I can smell bacon cooking.

“You don’t have to eat all of it.” Nic pulls out a chair for me. “Just something.” He smiles.

I sit down, wondering if I’ve woken up in some kind of alternative universe. Seeing Nic be so…pleasant just doesn't seem right.

“I appreciate this, it’s sweet, but whatever I eat is probably going to get thrown back up again so it doesn’t really matter.” I’m surprised that, despite the nasty taste that's constantly in my mouth, the stack of pancakes that are dripping in syrup is tempting me.

---