Something About The Way || Greta Van Fleet

Chapter 9 - Until I Met Him

One Week Later

I felt like shit the entire week after that. I always dreaded starting my period while on tour. The non-stop traveling and performing when all I wanted to do was lay in bed and sulk. 

I was shaken from my thoughts by a knock on my door, "Come in."

The door opened and I rolled over to see Layla in my doorway. We haven't talked about the fight at all. In fact, we didn't talk at all unless she told me my schedule for the day.

"Can we talk?" She said, still standing in the same place.

"Yes, but make it fast. I don't feel good."

She walked over to sit on the foot of my bed facing me, "I'm sorry, I know I should be more lenient when it comes to your personal life. I just don't want anything to ruin what you've worked so hard to build. Especially, with this tour, it's doing such great things for you. I'd hate for anything to get in the way of that."

"I understand that and I don't want that to happen either, that's why I've kept it secret. But my personal life means more to me than any of this," I looked down while picking at the skin on my fingers, "He means more to me than any of this. I'd stop all of this in an instant if it meant I got to be with him." 

"Mm, I guess you do know a little something about love," she smiled.

"I do, but I didn't until I met him."

"Who is this mystery man anyways?"

"I really can't tell you, Lay. I want to but I can't," I gave her a sympathetic look.

"Okay, I get it. Why don't you feel good?"

"I'm about to start my period and it sucks."

"Babe, did you forget our periods are synced up? I already had mine," she said, giving me a confused look.

My stomach dropped. There's no way I'm...no there's no way. "I think I'm just late, it's probably all the stress."

"Probably, there has been a lot of shit going on. I'll let you rest, thank you for talking to me."

I nodded and forced a smile before she walked out of my room. Once the door closed I immediately grabbed my phone to check my period app. Sure enough, I was late. I mean it really could just be the stress but something was telling me it wasn't. I texted Alex, who was driving separately, about what was going on and he said he would pick up some tests before we got to our next stop. I'm sure he was pissed but he didn't show it.

I felt the bus stop and looked out the window to see we had arrived at the venue. I heard Alex walk onto the bus and tell Layla he would handle getting me inside so she would leave. I heard the doors close before mine opened.

"You better hope this isn't the reason, Allani." He said, handing me the bag full of tests.

"I know, I know."

I took the bag into the bathroom with me while Alex waited in the living room area of the bus. I pulled out a test and took it. I set a timer on my phone for three minutes and sat on the lid of the toilet while I waited. I jumped slightly when the timer went off; I just stared at the test for a couple of minutes. I didn't want to flip it over afraid of what it would say. I finally built up the courage to look at it. When I did I felt like the air was kicked out of my lungs. I felt tears start spilling from my eyes as I opened the door to face Alex.

His facial expression changed immediately when he saw my reaction, "No..." I nodded, bringing my hand up to my mouth as I started sobbing. He came over wrapping me in a tight hug, "Fuck, Allani. You're so young this isn't what I wanted for you."

"I don't know what to do," I managed.

"You need to tell him. Don't let what he says affect your choice, but you really need to tell him."

"Okay," I said, wiping away my tears and trying to calm myself down.

"Go call him, I'll keep everyone busy."

I went to my room after he left and ended up just staring at Jake's contact for longer than I intended to. This could fuck up everything. I'm not talking about our careers, I'm talking about us. What if this scares him away completely. I'm not against abortion, but I've always wanted kids, and what if this was my only chance. I knew almost immediately I wanted to keep it, but what if he doesn't want a kid right now. I couldn't blame him, we are really young. I finally told myself fuck it and pressed the call button.

He answered almost immediately, "Hello gorgeous, what's up?"

I sniffled while trying to keep my composure, "Um, we need to talk."

"Okay? Are you crying? Are you okay?"

"No, I'm not," I said, as I broke down in tears again. So much for keeping my composure.

"You're scaring me, Lani."

"I just don't know how to tell you this. I've felt like shit ever since we left California, and I thought it was just because I was starting my period, but then I realized," I paused, "I was late, so I took a pregnancy test and it was positive." He was silent for a while after, "Jake I need you to say something I'm freaking out."

"Sorry, I wasn't expecting that."

"What do we do? We're both on tour miles away from each other. I don't want this to ruin us."

"Hey, I told you I wasn't going to leave, and I meant it. Of course, it's your choice what you want to do about the baby, but if it counts for anything...I hope you keep it."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. I know it's all happening so fast but I wouldn't want to do this with anyone else," I could sense him smiling.

"I was hoping you'd say that," I said, finally feeling calm again. "Everyone is going to be pissed. They don't even know we're together and we're about to drop this bomb on them."

"I know," he laughed, "But we'll figure everything out as we go on."

I took a deep breath, "Okay, as we go on."