BETH.
I stirred on my bed and after five minutes of doing it over and over, I got up and rushed to the bathroom. I felt extremely nauseous. I couldn’t explain it, because the night before, I didn’t take any meal. I was way too tired to prepare anything for myself, so I went to bed like that.
Getting to the bathroom, I tried to vomit in the washing hand basin. What I was vomiting, I couldn’t tell. I was sure there was no food in my stomach, so I couldn’t explain where the whole vomit was coming from. I sighed as I rinsed my mouth, hands and face. Then, I cleaned up the basin, switching off the tap right after.
I returned to my bed and looked up at my wall clock. It was five minutes past three in the afternoon. A message came into my phone, making my phone ring. I stretched my head to peep at the screen to see who the message was from. It was Luca.
‘Will be at your place in an hour.’ That was the text he sent. It was only then that I remembered that I had a date with him. It’s been a while since we’ve gone on dates because I’ve been busy with work and other important things. I kept postponing it till it got to today. Luca however, wasn’t having it anymore. He said he was not going to cancel this one when I told him to, so I had no choice but to go.
“I have to get up and prepare now, if I don’t want to keep him waiting when he’s here,” I muttered to myself, but I remained on my bed.
Luca had been trying a lot for me these past couple of days to help me get over Tony. At some point, I thought it was going to work, but these days, Tony comes to my mind often again. I just couldn’t explain it, but I liked him a lot. I sighed once again as I struggled to get up from my bed to prepare for the date.
“What about her?” The waiter asked Luca, and he turned to face me.
“What would you like to order?” He asked me.
“The same thing you did.” I simply replied. I had no idea what he ordered, but to save me the stress of going through the menu and trying to decide on what to eat, that was the easiest thing to do.
“Alright ma’am,” The waiter said and walked away with the menu in his hands.
“So, it’s been a while, Beth,” Luca said with a smile on his face, folding his arms to stare at me from across the table.
“Yeah. Sorry about how I’ve been postponing this date. I’ve been so busy with work that I do not even have free time for myself.” I said to him sincerely. For some reason, I had been postponing the date, but it wasn’t because of my work. The first time I postponed it was the only time work was truly the cause of it. Other times, I just didn’t feel in the right mood or state of mind to go. But I couldn’t possibly tell him that, so I did the easiest thing. Lie against my work.
“It’s fine.” He said and paused, staring intently at me as if he was trying to stare into my soul. “Are you okay?” He eventually asked.
“Uhm, yeah. I am. What about you?”
“No, like are you sure you’re fine? You look… I don’t know, pale or something.” He said, using his hands to demonstrate.
“Oh, that,” I said and smiled weakly. I was drained and feeling tired and I couldn’t wait for the date to be over, so I could return home and stay in bed all day. “I’ve been sick. Probably that’s why.”
“Sick?” He asked with raised eyebrows. “How come I didn’t hear about it?”
“Because it isn’t something serious? It’s just a mere cold, I guess. If anything more, then it’s most likely a fever. But I’m getting better now.” No, I wasn’t. But I hated attention coming to me alone unnecessarily, so I lied again.
“Are you sure?” He asked, looking very concerned.
“Yes. I’m fine.” I replied with a smile. “Thank you.”
He was about to reply when the waiter from before got to our table with a tray and two plates of spaghetti and meatballs on it. He was about to drop the plates on our table when I began to feel nauseous again. The aroma of the food made my stomach turn, and I felt very uneasy all over my body. Immediately I felt like I was about to vomit again, I clutched my stomach with my hand and stood up quickly.
“Excuse me,” I said hurriedly and ran towards the restroom in the restaurant. Immediately after I got in, I began to vomit. Yet again, within a day, I’ve vomited twice. I sighed as I cleaned up when I was done. “I need to go see my doctor again. This fever is troubling me so much.”
I sat on the toilet seat for some seconds and when I was fit to walk again, I stood up and left the restroom, heading back to our table.
“I’m sorry about that. I’ve been vomiting, so…” I said, using my hands to explain to him.
“Yeah, I figured. And you’re telling me yourself fine?” He asked.
“I am, Luca. It’s getting better, honestly. It was worse than this before.”
“Fine, if you say so.” He said and motioned to my phone, which was in the middle of the table. “Your phone’s ringing.”
I stretched my hand to pick it up, but I felt a sharp pain in my lower belly. I only felt that way if I had not eaten or if my period was on its way. Speaking of my period, it was late. I should have seen it about a week ago, but I didn’t. Then, I shrugged. I sometimes had late periods, although it was just once in a while. Probably this was also one of those times.
“Here, let me help you,” Luca said when he noticed how I winced while trying to stretch my hand. He picked the phone up from the middle of the table for me and checked the screen. He then said to me, “Doctor Rachel.”
“Oh, that’s my doctor. Please, pick it up and place it on the loudspeaker. I’m too weak to stretch.” I said as I retreated and rested my back on the chair, still holding tight to my stomach. The pain was still there.
“Alright,” Luca said and picked up the call and returned the phone to where he picked it up in the middle of the table.
“Hello, miss Elizabeth.” She said from the other side of the phone. It was loud enough for both Luca and I to hear.
“Doctor Rachel, how’re you doing?” I replied gently. I couldn’t speak loudly because of how tired I was.
“I’m good. Uh, how’s your health?”
“I’m… I’m getting better, I guess. Been vomiting though.”
“Yeah.” The doctor said and cleared her throat. “About that, I think there might be something else wrong with you.”
“Uhm, what do you mean?”
“You’re a month and three weeks gone.” She said.
“Excuse me?”
“You’re pregnant, miss.” She simply added.
“What?!” I stared at my phone in shock, trying to process the piece of information I had just heard.