Page 65 of Only ever you-Ana & Byron
Ana couldn't help but think of what had been happening between her and Byron.
She didn't say anything. She just couldn't.
Later, the apartment felt like a hollow shell-unlived and unloved. The silence rang.
She went into the bathroom, hands trembling slightly as she opened the cupboard behind the mirror. The box was there. She checked the expiry date... still good.
She took it out and ripped the foil. Then she put the top down on the toilet seat and downed another glass of water while staring at the hook on the back of the door. She peed on the stick, missing it the first time and hitting her fingers before getting it right. Her fingers shook as she sat on the closed toilet, holding her breath while time dragged its feet. 10 minutes felt like a century.
One line.
Then a second one... it wasn't light or inconclusive. It was solid pink.
She just stared for long minutes, taking it in. She could take another one... but she knew. SHE KNEW.
Disbelief could not will the result away.
Her hands began to shake again.
Then came the first breathless sob, tight and painful, like it was torn from her.
She crumpled forward, arms across her knees, forehead resting on her arm.
The tears came hard and fast. Guttural sobs wrenched from her throat.
Because this wasn't how it was supposed to happen.
How was she going to tell Byron?
Because she would have to tell him EVERYTHING!
Half an hour later, she sat alone on her bedroom floor, the pregnancy test clenched tight in her hand and her phone lighting up again beside her. The doorbell had rung again and again until it went silent. Byron was blowing her phone up.
Cadi:Please call Byron. He is losing his mind. He's not okay.
Gray:I don't know what happened between you two, but Byron's losing it. Where are you?
Another one, a few minutes later.
Gray:Seriously, Ana. Call Byron. He is tearing the place apart. He said he tried your apartment, but there was no one there.
Gray had never ever messaged her before. Byron was blowing up her phone. Ana powered off her phone and threw it onto the bed.
She couldn't deal with this. Not while her chest felt like she was on the verge of a panic attack and her brain felt like sludge. Her colleagues didn't call her the queen of procrastination for no reason. And she had dragged her feet on this conversation for five years. A few more hours won't matter.
So instead, her mind wandered.
***
They'd gone walking at the Dovestone Reservoir, all five of them-Byron, Gray, Cadi, Ana and the Tasmanian devil that was Tomos.
It had been chaos. Pure, joyful chaos.
"Unca' Bywon! Did you see my side-step?" Tomos barrelled up to them, face flushed, grinning widely with a cheeky grin. "That's a full pivot, that is! Coath says I am a pro at it!"
Byron cocked a thick eyebrow, hands stuffed in his pockets.
"Is it now? Full pivot, eh? I bet your coach's dead impressed with your pro skills. Wanna show me again?"
