Rêveuse

Chapter 24.

October 2024

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you!" Evie and I sang as Arthur opened the door to his hotel room. We made it to Austin to celebrate our birthdays. Just a few hours earlier I found out that I was pregnant, and for most of the train ride to Austin I cried like a baby because I didn't know what to do. I was so disappointed in myself, and we were trying to figure out what to do.

Of course I couldn't keep it. I was in no shape to take care of and raise a child. Especially not with Mateo. I also realized that I had to tell him, but I didn't really want to do it over the phone, so I realized I would have to go back to Spain the weekend after our celebrations and deal with it.

But I didn't want to tell anyone. The first thing I asked of Evie was to keep the news to herself. I didn't want anyone to know how badly I messed up. So I had to pretend like everything was fine while everyone else was around.

"You two took your sweet time," Arthur points out as he hugs Evie who walks first into his room. Then he looks at me and I hug him while congratulating him on his twenty-fourth birthday.

"One of our transfers got delayed," Evie lied. We missed it because I was crying in the bathroom at the train station.

"But we're here now!" I say, trying to sound as excited as possible, but I knew that my eyes were red and they were puffy, and I knew that Arthur noticed it the second he laid eyes on me. He didn't mention it though.

We caught up a little and Evie gave him his gift. She got him a really nice bottle of whiskey from Texas, which he seemed to like a lot even though he doesn't drink a lot, and especially not whiskey. But it's one of those things to have at home and save for nicer occasions.

Evie then went to see her brother, and I went to see my parents, which I had been dreading since I found out I was pregnant. Seeing them, even though they didn't know, was shameful enough. It's like I was worried that they would know somehow and be super disappointed in me. There's no way they'd find out. I wasn't showing, and I hadn't even noticed myself before today, so there's no way they would.

As soon as my mom opened the door, her smiling face fell, "chérie... es-tu malade ?" Dear... are you sick, she asked and put her hand on my face, and then on my forehead. I pushed her hands off of me and I walked past her.

"Merci, maman," I replied while rolling my eyes. "J'ai juste mal dormi," I just slept badly, I lied.

After that I got to greet them properly and my dad laughed at my mom's reaction. I spent some time with them before I went to my own room to get ready for dinner. I had to cover up my horrible looking face and make myself look a little normal so I wouldn't have to lie to more people.

Evie kept me company, because I didn't want to be alone. She was on my bed, looking through the photo album I put together of all of our photos. I added some little details, decorations and comments under each photo. I finished my makeup and then I took the outfit out that I was going to wear. I looked at the tight, strapless dress I had picked out before I found out. Of course it didn't feel like the right choice anymore.

I placed myself sideways in the mirror and I examined my body, especially my stomach. There wasn't more than just the slightest difference. A tiny, tiny little bump at the bottom of my stomach. It just looked like I was a little bloated. So I tried the dress on and I examined myself again. Then Evie noticed what I was doing.

"It's not even visible, C, you have nothing to worry about," She told me.

"My mom notices everything... so does Pascale... especially Pascale, she's like a hawk," I replied as I got a blazer out and put it on just in case.