Three weeks later...

It's pretty pathetic how my life fits into five boxes and what's worse, I loaded them into my car with ease; I didn't even need to squeeze any of them to fit. All my furniture I had to leave behind, only taking my clothes, kitchenware and necessities with me, and now I'm sleeping on my old roommate's sofa until I work the rest of my notice.

I only have one week left in New York; it's been three weeks since I found out I was getting evicted, and time is going too fast. Aiden's been in touch almost every day with apartment listings, but they're all so out of budget; I'd have to work over sixteen hours a day, seven days a week for me to afford them. 

After the first week, the reality hit that I would be taking the thirty-hour drive home at the end of the month if I liked it or not. My parents are yet to know, I'm tempted to turn up and see how long it takes for them to notice I'm even there.

Work was a place where I loved to go, but now it is becoming more depressing with the fewer shifts I have left. Today is Monday, my day off, and I don't know what my plans are. I've been lying on the sofa, staring at the ceiling for the last ten minutes, so nothing is promising.

"Rise and shine, sleepy head, breakfast is on the table!"

My stomach rumbles at Isabelle's words and I jump up from the sofa, but when I do my stomach turns and the hunger I was once feeling gets replaced with nausea. I pin it down to getting up too fast, but as soon as the smell of fresh bacon hits my nostrils, I'm racing for the bathroom instead of the kitchen.

Retching over the toilet, I empty my stomach of last night's meal and once I feel like I'm okay, I sit back and wipe my mouth, catching a breath.

"Iris?" Isabelle murmurs, opening the door slightly, "Are you okay?"

"Peachy," I nod, taking another deep breath, but another wave of nausea hits me, "Nope, not so peachy," I heave over the toilet once again.

She holds back my hair as I throw up, and rubs my back, helping me through the sickness. When I feel a bit better again, I sit back and the concern is written all over my friend's face.

"I must have eaten something dodgy," I say, my throat sore from the acid.

"You had exactly what Jake and I had yesterday, and I feel fine," she frowns, and I sigh, holding my head. It won't stop pounding. "You're not pregnant, are you?"

"What?" I hysterically laugh, until I sober up at the actual thought, "I can't be pregnant, right?"

"I don't know, you tell me, you slept with that guy from the club recently; is your period late?"

From all the stress of the last few weeks, I hadn't realized I was in fact a week or two late, "My cycle is always weird, you know that."

"By a few days, yeah, how late are you?"

"Around two weeks," I wince, holding my head again, "I can't be pregnant, we used condoms!"

"And how long ago did you purchase those condoms, Iris?" she asks.

"Hey! I know I went through a celibate era, but don't call me out, I'm sensitive right now," I try to joke.

"Condoms expire, idiot," she slaps my leg.

"Oh," I whisper, "I'm such a fucking idiot, how could I let this happen? No, this can't be happening, I can't be pregnant! Not with a guy who is with someone else! Oh fuck, and I'm leaving next week! My parents will kill me, I can't do this alone!"

"Okay, let's calm down, you don't know yet, hold on," she opens up the cabinets under the sink, and after a few seconds she passes me a test, "Pee on that, I'll go get you some water."

Instead of peeing, I cry. I didn't think my life could get worse, but now I'm single, soon to be unemployed, homeless and possibly pregnant.

I might be pregnant. Pregnant. A baby inside me.

I feel nauseous at the thought, but I need to know, I can't put it off, so with tears still staining my cheeks, I pee on the stick. Once done, I put the cap on and leave it to the side while I wash my hands.

"I'm back, this is for you," she passes me a glass of water once my hands are dry, "How are you feeling?"

"Not good," I admit, "I don't know what to do."

"You have options," she reminds me.

"I want a baby, but this is horrible timing," I say, my eyes watering again, "I don't have a job after next week, and I don't have a place to live, my parents wouldn't let me keep it if I moved back, and the dad won't want anything to do with it. I don't think I have any options at all, only one and it's something I don't want to do."

"What if he would want something to do with it?"

"Then that's even worse, it's a thirty-hour drive from here to Montana; how can he be a father if we're that far away, I can't stay in New York and he lives here," I stress, hating this entire situation, "And remember what I told you, he has a woman called Laura, he won't want to start a family with me, and frankly I don't want to with him either."

"It's also only like a six-hour flight, babe. And if you are pregnant, he will need to know, you can't keep something like that from someone, it will be his child if you are."

"Let's just pray the test says I'm not pregnant at all, it will be much easier for everyone," I mutter.

"No time like the present, the test should be ready now," she picks it up and hands it to me.

Positive +

"Fuck," I curse again, and Isabelle wraps me in a hug, letting me cry it out on her shoulder.

✯✯✯

I've known for a few hours now that I'm pregnant, I've eaten a single slice of toast without throwing up and have done nothing but research on my phone. Every search gets scarier and scarier.

I did however find out through an app that based on my last period, I should be six weeks and three days, and the thought thoroughly terrifies me. An actual baby is growing in my belly.

I don't want to have an abortion, this baby is part of me, but it's also part of Nathan. I have to speak to him, I have to tell him, and I'm more scared to do that than anything else. I have a week left in New York and so much to do, and today is my only day off until I leave next Monday.

I open up my messages and I find the one from Nathan; he gave me his number initially at the club before I asked him back to mine. Me and my stupid ideas. Because this no longer concerns just me, I draft out a few messages before settling on one and sending it without backing out.

'hi, it's iris, I was wondering if i could catch you for coffee today?'

And now the wait commences.

The wait however isn't long, after tossing together a chicken salad, a response awaits me.

'1 pm okay at Duke's?'

'perfect.'

I have only an hour until I have to tell Nathan I'm carrying his baby and I'm dreading every second.

✯✯✯

Nerves consume me when I step into Duke's, as they've been doing since I messaged him, but it gets worse when I see Nathan, his back to me, sitting at a table; he's rather easy to spot. Duke's is a quaint coffee shop and I'm glad he suggested meeting here because this conversation is not for somewhere busy. He's got a coffee already in front of him, and I take a breath of encouragement before heading over to him.

"Hey," I say, and he immediately stands to greet me.

"You look lovely," he smiles, taking in my appearance; I'm only wearing a summer dress. "Um, I didn't order for you because I didn't know what you would like, but I can go get that fixed now."

"A vanilla iced latte please," I say, taking a seat. Google told me I'm still allowed some coffee, just not much.

Once he's ordered for me, he takes his seat opposite me, "It should be over soon."

"Thank you, I appreciate it."

"So, as lovely as this is, what made you want to meet up again?" he asks, and I bite the inside of my cheek. He's bringing it up already, not that I wasn't expecting it.

"Would you believe me if I said I just wanted to see you?"

"Considering you left my messages on read last, no," he finds amusement in the fact, though I still wince having forgotten I did that, "Did you end up finding another place by the way?"

"Oh, um, no, I'll be moving next week," I say with a sigh, "It's part of the reason why I'm here actually."

"What's wrong, Iris? You can tell me," he says.

A waitress suddenly arrives with my iced coffee, and I thank her, taking the straw and stirring it around.

"Iris? You're worrying me."

I close my eyes and bite the bullet; better now than never, "I'm pregnant, Nathan and the baby's yours."

~~~

A/N

Lol, surprise, Nathan. 

Longer chapters coming soon!