Lone [MATURE HS]

Chapter 39

I wasn't fully prepared, but when I walked in and saw Erin, Nathan, Charlie, and my mother seated at the table, eating and chatting amongst themselves as if Harry and I hadn't received some of the biggest news we'll ever hear in our lives, my nausea came back full throttle. My head felt light, mouth watering, and as my mother stood to greet me and ask if I was okay, I audibly gagged and covered my small hand over my mouth.

"Tara?" My mother questioned worriedly, though I moved aside, ignoring everyone's watchful stare, even Nathan's frown on his small face.

Harry jogs up quickly behind me, either wanting to help or wanting to escape my mother's questioning -- probably both. My eyes squeeze shut as I hurl whatever content was left in my body into the toilet, grasping the white, cooled porcelain. Harry crouches behind me, holding my long stray hairs away from my face, each hand rubbing gently my temples and then down my back, helping me and soothing me, surprisingly relaxing me with his touch.

I sit back up, shutting my eyes and sighing heavily to myself. "God, this better go away within the next week," I whisper as Harry hands me a few tissues, though I wave them off and stand to my feet instead, going towards the sink to grab my toothbrush. Harry sets down the tissues from the box he'd picked them from on the cluttered shelves, turning to me then, watching me squeeze the minty blue paste onto my toothbrush with shaky hands.

My mother appears at the door frame, knocking her knuckles onto the wood before curiously gazing over at us. "Tara, are you okay? What did the doctor's say?"

Shoving the toothbrush into my mouth, I peer over at her with slight apprehension, forcing myself quiet. I can feel my heart in my chest, and Harry subtly hides behind me as we both stare at her like we've been caught murdering someone. When Erin squeezes herself into the door frame as well, asking softly with her gentle voice if everything was alright, Harry physically pales behind me and further moves himself behind me, knowing that if my mother were to attack him, she'd soften if I was in the way. However, there is one flaw with his logic: my mom would definitely not stop from beating both of us with a shoe just because I'm in her way, it would actually be much more convenient.

"Why do you to look like that?" My mother's light eyes search us for some hints, squinting slightly at the evident abnormalities in our behavior. One of her curls falls onto her forehead from her messy updo, tired eyes not removing themselves from us. The more she questions and stares, the silence grows, and we deviate from our usual bantering selves. Come to think of it, unfortunately, they were long gone before this.

Erin's deep green eyes wander towards her brother, her sympathetic eyes falling as her face distorts into concern. Gradually, she picks up on the hints, and I look away from her with slight panic, staring at Harry and myself in the mirror as I brush my teeth a little too hard. My hair was a mess, frizzy and tied up into a pointless pony tail as most of the hair was falling out of it. Freckles against my pailing cheeks and nose seeming faded, lips slightly chapped as some foamy paste falls onto them. Harry's hair was also a mess, curling, evidence he had been running his hands through it relentlessly. Pale eyes gazing down at the back of my head, avoiding the caring stares from the two women.

I bend down to rinse my mouth when Nathan pushes through the two women, nosy and wanting to see what the commotion was about. He stands there, shoving a baby carrot into his mouth that he had picked from his dinner plate. "Uncle Harry, you dropped a brochure with pregnant ladies on it," he innocently announces, chewing the carrot and big green eyes wandering around the bathroom before he pushes past his mother and mine, rushing back off into the living room.

"Que dijo?" (What did he say?) My mom spits slowly, her eyes widening, inflicting a fear inside of me that as I put away my toothbrush and swallow some of the paste by mistake, I have to look away from her narrowing, sharp stare. I stand in front of Harry, brushing my stray hairs away from my face, then placing my hands blindly against Harry's abdomen. I meekly stand there, cowering into Harry while my mother grows knowledgeable.