Best Friends Don't Sleep Together - A.H. Series #1

Chapter 27

I'm sorry, this is probably boring ... I'm having some difficulties finishing the story because it kind of went in a totally different direction, far from the old one. I'll try to figure things out and finish it by the end of the year 😖

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I gargled with mouthwash for the second time, because I could still feel that nauseating acidic feeling in my mouth. What they don't tell you about pregnancy related morning sickness is that it kills even your will to eat anything for the rest of the day and it leaves such a bad taste in your mouth that not even the strongest mouthwash ever invented can get rid of it in one time.

You'd think that, after 3 months, I'd have gotten used to it, but no. Every morning I repeat the same routine: wake up suddenly with the dire need to puke, I run to the bathroom, where I spend the next 30 minutes, then I try as much as I can to get rid of that acidic taste in my mouth. Next, I enter the kitchen, where my mom has laid out breakfast, I merely look at it, sometimes get as far as tasting a single bite ... then I run back to the bathroom to puke.

I spend the rest of the day watching TV, taking a walk every now and then, doing puzzles, playing games on my phone, reading books, catching up with people from my hometown. Given the complexity of the situation, my parents thought it was better if I took a break from the big city. Not that I told them anything of what Detective Powell said. I preferred to keep it to myself, so, officially, nobody in my life knows Sebastian's true story.

Officially, I decided to live the pregnancy in my hometown, just to get away from all the stress related to the city, but the truth is, Detective Powell thought it was better for me to skedaddle as soon as possible. After 3 months, I still couldn't believe Sebastian was the criminal that Dylan depicted him as, but I didn't dare test the waters. I wanted to do some research on his case, but the detective thought it unwise: anything that would connect me even remotely to Tyler Banks could reveal my position to him, he said. Even a simple Google search, yes. I guess criminals are high-tech, too now.

The worst part was having to stop talking to my friends. Sebastian knows them all. I wouldn't think he'd be capable of hurting them, but again, Dylan thought it was better if they didn't have any information he could extort out of them. I wondered why not go with Witness Protection, since Sebastian's case was federal, but that would have implied completely losing my identity for who knows how long.

"Lay low", Dylan says every time he calls to check up on me, "just try to relax and lay low." As if that were easy. I worked at the local newspaper for a few weeks, but I was bored out of my mind – 8 hours a day of transcribing whatever the editor came up with, which was usually some silly gossip that was likely not even true. I can't plan ahead, because yes, I should have been preparing for motherhood, but between the fear of the baby daddy finding me and the continuous reminder that this will change my life forever, I felt stuck.

Icing on top, I haven't heard a single word from Chris since that day at the hospital. We can't throw away 20 years of friendship, right? Until I get pregnant and he decides his loyalty doesn't extend that far. I'd have worried whether he was ok, but my mom talks to his regularly, and just as regularly Chris talks to his parents. That means I'm the only one he doesn't want anything to do with.

"Are you alright, sweetheart?" My mom asked from the other side of the door.

"Yeah ..." I splashed some cold water on my face, "yeah, I'm fine ..."

"There's someone here for you."

My eyes widened immediately. Who would come here out of the blue, without a single word? On a random Tuesday morning, might I add. "Who is it?"