BETH.
“Why do you sound so offended?”
“Because you always think you’re a Saint! Let everyone do whatever they wish to, Beth. Nobody is perfect, not even you! If you were perfect, everything would have fallen in place for you. But here you are without a man or any male figure in your life. I wonder how you even got pregnant in the first place when all you do is act like a saint that you aren’t.” She got up from the bed and headed towards the door. “Just die the matter. It’s my life, and it’s my rules.” She walked out, slamming the door shut behind her.
I sat on the bed staring at the door without any word. I didn’t know what to feel about what Lara had just said, but I found it very offensive. The way she says her sentences many times hurts, but this one even hurt in a way I couldn’t explain.
The urge I felt to pick up my phone and call Tony to tell him that the baby Lara was carrying wasn’t hers was high, but I decided not to do so. I was a good friend anyway, and I won’t become a bad one just because she has refused to know how to filter her words when speaking to me.
I let out a sigh before standing up from her bed and I headed to the sitting room. On getting there, I noticed that the girls were around already. I was surprised to see them because Lara didn’t say anything about calling them initially.
“When did you guys get here?” I asked them, looking from Janet to Grace and then to Yeesha.
“Lara called us. Told us she had some news to share with us about you guys.” Janet replied.
“Oh,” I simply said. She didn’t tell me beforehand that she was going to call the rest of the girls today to tell them about my pregnancy. Thinking it was due to the little argument we had in the room earlier, I chuckled at how she could be so petty. I walked to the nearest chair to me and jumped on it to have my seat.
“So, hey guys!” Lara exclaimed as she walked into the sitting room from the dining and joined us. “I called you guys to share with you an unexpected shocking and lovely news to you guys!”
I rolled my eyes at her. Suddenly, I felt a hand wrap around my neck and turned to see who it was. It was Lara. I didn’t know how she quickly moved from where she was sitting before to where I was sitting.
“Guess what!” She said as she squeezed me tighter to her. I was still annoyed and offended over what she had said earlier, but I tried to not show it.
“What is it?” Yeesha simply asked. She looked very uninterested and I couldn’t blame her. I was always like that whenever Lara claimed she wanted to tell me a piece of news or gist or anything of the sort. Most of them should be used to it by now.
“I told you guys to guess, duh,” Lara said to her, rolling her eyes at her. “Can’t you guess?” She asked again.
“We honestly can’t. Just tell us what it is already. We want to know what this fuss is about,” Janet replied. She then added, “I have a date tonight and I have to go prepare for it.”
“Whatever,” Lara said and pulled me closer to her again. The way she was acting made me lose interest in what she was about to say and I was quite sure the others would be bored by then. “Anyway, Beth here is pregnant!” She exclaimed.
Silence ensued in the room. I began to feel uncomfortable immediately after she said it and no one replied. They all looked at each other as if trying to process what Lara had just told them. After a couple of minutes and no one talked, Lara spoke again.
“Aren’t you all supposed to be happy that my best friend and I would be giving birth almost at a similar date?” She asked them.
“I mean, yeah, we’re happy. But… I mean how? How in the world is Beth pregnant?” Grace asked Lara. Then she turned to face me, “congratulations, love. Is it Luca? It’s Luca, yeah?”
“I hope it’s not who I think it is though,” Janet said and rested her back in the chair.
I knew what she was trying to say and who she was referring to, but I acted like I didn’t hear her. She was talking about Tony, but deep down, I hoped she won’t say anything about that here.
“It isn’t Luca,” I simply replied. “And thank you,” I turned to Grace to say.
“You all didn’t give the vibe I expected you to give. Are you guys not happy about it?” Lara asked as she stood up from her seat. “Or are you all surprised? I understand your surprise, I was surprised too. But as we all know, we all need to fuck from time to time. But my darling here did hers and it has led to a baby. So, you all should expect to be godmothers to two babies quite soon.”
“Cheers to our upcoming babies!” Yeesha shouted and picked up a glass of wine on the centre table as she stood up and raised her hands in the hair. The others joined her by picking up their cups of wine on the table and raising it in the air.
“Cheers!” They exclaimed and clicked their cups together before gulping down their drinks. They poured themselves another glass and continued like that.
I looked around and noticed that Lara was no longer there, so I stood up to go check on her in the kitchen. Getting there, I met her doing some stuff and cleaning up. I walked in and rested on one of the shelves there.
“Well done,” I said to her to gain her attention. She turned to face me and simply nodded. “What was that about? You didn’t tell me you were going to tell them today. We didn’t even plan it this way.”
“You can simply tell me thank you. I wanted to make it a surprise for them and that was accomplished. I wonder why you’re this bothered about the whole thing when they already know.” She replied to me without looking at me.
I scoffed, knowing fully well that she acted that way because of the little argument we had in the room earlier on. “Is this about what I said in the room earlier? Lara, I was just telling you the normal-”
“Beth, please. This isn’t what’s going on in my head at the moment. Just let me be right now. I have to focus on stuff.”
I chuckled at how she spoke to me, but I said nothing to counter her words. “It’s fine then. I’ll be taking my leave.” Without waiting for her reply, I walked out of the kitchen, picked up my bag in her room and headed to the sitting room to bid the other girls goodnight.