Living the Life of Riley | ✔

Chapter Twenty One

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“She’s gone and been replaced by a fat, pregnant girl.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.