BETH.
“What did you just say?” Lara asked from the other side of the phone. From the tone of her voice, I could tell that she was shocked at what I said to her.
That was how Lara was. She had always felt that nobody could stand up to her and talk to her about anything and that whatever she said was the only right thing. I had lived with that for years, just to remain friends and to keep the peace between us, but we all had limits and here was mine. At this point, I couldn’t take it any longer, so I decided to speak up and speak my mind.
“You heard me well, Lara. You’re not a good friend. You want others to make sacrifices for you when you can’t make them for others. I remember when we were much younger that I liked a guy too in college, but you didn’t let me speak to you about it. You automatically claimed him as yours and made all of us know that nobody should lay her hands on him. When you eventually found out that I had feelings for him too, you took it into another dimension and got pissed. I left the guy for you then, just to maintain our friendship.” I paused. “This is similar to what is happening now, and despite telling you my part of the story, you still aren’t understanding.” I scoffed. “What was I even expecting? You were never understanding.”
“I was never understanding?” She replied and gave a loud laugh, which I was sure was not from her heart. “You wanted me to be an understanding friend for a lowlife like you? You think this whole world is about you, uh?”
“I should be asking you that, Lara,” I blurted out. “You always think the earth revolves around you, and that’s not how it should be! You never want to listen to anyone and you never want to learn. Now, it has come to this and your temper is about to take the best of you again.”
“You won’t be the one to tell me what to do. And for one, I’m hanging the call now. And don’t you ever try to call me again in your entire life, Beth. This friendship between us is dead to me from now on. And trust me, Beth, you know I never give up. I’ll show you what it feels like to betray someone like me.” She said and hung up the call immediately.
I was still talking when I found that she had hung up the call. I sighed and dropped my phone on the bed. I needed to calm my head and get some sleep, to get my mind off everything that was happening at the moment. Playing music from the speaker next to me on the bed, my room began to bang to the loud sound of the music. I had no idea when I slept off, as I only remember closing my eyes slowly.
I woke up two hours later with a throbbing ache in my head. It felt like I worked for a long time and didn’t get some rest, but I knew that wasn’t what was wrong. My headache was due to the things I had been going through lately, and the way I had cried when Lara met Tony and me, making out. I let out a sigh of worry as my mind went back to that day. If I were in Lara’s shoes, I didn’t know how I’d have felt. But one thing I knew was that guilt would be one of them.
My phone rang, making the speaker I had on bang my ringing tone in the room. I switched off the speaker and picked up my phone to check who it was. It was my mother. It was until I saw her call that I realized that it’s been a while since I heard from her last, and I hadn’t called her for a while now. She was either about to scold me for that or to rant about my father and how his wife was behaving toward her. I hoped it wasn’t the latter.
“Hi, mum,” I said calmly when I picked up her call. “How’re you doing?”
“I should be asking you that, okay? How are you doing? Do you want me to come to pick you up at home or get you some guards to stay with you whenever you want to go out or something? Just tell me anything you need and I’ll get them for you.” She said. I could hear a sign of concern in her voice, but I wasn’t sure what she was talking about. Why would I need guards? I was fine on my own.
I chuckled lightly, knowing how dramatic my mum could be sometimes. “Just tell me if you miss me and I’ll come to visit you when I’m free. You don’t have to-”
“Are you sure you’re fine, Beth? You could talk to me if anything is bothering you, you know that right?” She said to me again. Now, I was feeling uncomfortable. I didn’t understand what she was talking about anymore.
“What’s all this about, mum? I’m not a child, I’m fine.” I stated firmly to her.
“But Beth, why didn’t you tell me about the pregnancy? I am your mother, and if you had at least explained it to me, I wouldn’t have judged you.” She said, and my heart skipped two beats.
Ever since I went out knowing that I was pregnant, I stopped visiting my mother the way I did before. I wasn’t ready to tell her that I made the same mistake she made. How would she take it if I told her that I was pregnant with a man who is dating my best friend? It was insane to tell her that, but I preferred not to. And I appreciate the doctor for not telling her either. But it seemed like she already knew now, and there was nothing I could hide from her anymore.
“Uhm… mum, what are you talking about?” I asked. “How did you… get to know about the pregnancy? I don’t remember telling you anything about-”
“Why did you force yourself on Tony because you loved him? Beth, your best friend’s fiancé shouldn’t be attracted to you because of anything. You’re very wrong to be pregnant for him, uh.” She said sternly.
“How…” I stuttered as I tried to think of all the possible ways that she could have found out about it. “How did you know, mum? I… I was going to tell you. Did Lara call you? She did, right?”
“Haven’t you seen the net and what’s trending?”
“Trending?” I asked, unsure of what she was saying.
“The voice note you sent to Lara confessing how much you loved her fiancé and made him cheat on her with you has been leaked! You’re now trending for being a man snatcher who wouldn’t leave her best friend’s man alone!” My mum exclaimed from the other side of the phone.
“What?” I immediately hung up and checked the net if she was saying the truth or not. But she wasn’t lying. It was all over the internet already. My name had been stained by Lara. “Oh my God,” was all I could mutter as I read through the several articles that have been posted about me.