48Author's note- I would just like to make a quick apology to all my readers for the long wait on this chapter. I'm so sorry! It's just that I have exams coming up and I barely have time to breathe let alone write. So yes, sorry for the delay, I hope you enjoy this.
Chapter Eleven
It was Thursday evening and I was waiting till my mum got home from her meeting. The mac and cheese I was preparing was bubbling merrily on the stove.
My phone was ringing, I walked over towards the counter where I left it, picked it up and glanced at the caller ID; it was Lee.
"Hey, how's the date going?" I asked, answering.
"It's going great," she enthused.
"Then why the hell are you calling me?"
"Adam went to the bathroom," she explained. Adam was Lee's boyfriend and they've been dating for six months today. "Tay! Guess what he got me?"
"What?"
"Remember that lens I've been talking about for months?"
"The one for your camera?"
"Yeah, the one that's way too expensive for my allowance."
"Oh my god, he got that for you?" I cried.
"Yes," Lee said just as excitedly. "He probably saved up his allowance for months to get this!"
"Fuck," I said as I lifted myself up onto the counter. "Lee, you are one lucky girl."
"I know!" she replied dreamily.
"I swear, you guys are my OTP," I sighed.
"OTP?"
"Goddammit Lee," I complained, "One True Pairing."
"Oh," she said slowly. "Thank you?"
"Heck yes thank you," I complained, "So ungrateful."
"You're such a sweetheart," she drawled sarcastically. "Okay, I'll talk to you later, I see him coming."
"Get some!" I crowed; I heard laughter as she cut the line. Smiling to myself, I stirred the pot of cheesy goodness.
I had just turned off the heat on the stove when my mum entered through the kitchen door.
"That smells amazing," she said inhaling deeply.
"Why thank you," I smiled as I poured it into a serving dish.
We settled down to eat, and we were silent for a while, just enjoying the food.
"Oh, I nearly forgot!" my mum cried at once, making me jump.
"Do you want me to choke?" I shot at her, clutching my chest.
"Drama queen," she rolled her eyes. "Anyways, guess what's happening this weekend?"
"What?"
"So this is a thing that this society does every nine months," she said as she poked a piece of pasta onto her fork.
"And what might this be…?"
"We're going to Florida!"
"Why?" I asked perplexed.
"So us pregnant people can have some fun before we get loaded with a baby," she said in a 'duh' voice.
"Oh, right," I nodded.
"One of our sponsors, Genevieve, she's super rich and she owns this estate like thing over there, so we're going there."
"Wow," I replied awed. "That rich huh?"
"That's not all, this estate; it has a lake in it!"
"Wow," I repeated.
"Yeah, and we're going down there for the weekend. This Monday is a public holiday too, so it'll be a three day holiday!"
"I think that sounds great," I enthused.
"There's like this big bungalow there and cabins and apparently they all surround the lake. The advisors who've been there say it's beautiful."
"You deserve some fun," I said as I dug into my food again. "I'm sure you'll have a great time there."
"Do you need to go shopping before?"
I paused, my fork frozen in mid-air, "Me?"
"Yeah," my mother said slowly, looking at me weirdly.
"I'm going as well?"
"Obviously," she cried.
"But…" I was taken aback. I thought that she was talking about a holiday for herself.
"Tay," she put down her fork and crossed her arms. "We can bring a person we love, someone who supports us with us."
I groaned.
"You said you'll support me through this all!"
"I meant like… taking you to doctor's appointments and fetching you all the stuff you crave," I protested, not liking her guilt trip.
"Tay…"
"What am I supposed to do on a three day weekend with pregnant people?"
"Please?"
I couldn't say no to my mum for things like this, she looked all sad. "Fine."
"Thank you," she enthused, a smile instantly crossing her face. "This will be so fun."
I shrugged; though I couldn't help smiling at the look on her face. Maybe it won't be bad, it is nature and beauty… and I've been in need of some fresh air.
It was Friday evening and my room was packed with my friends. Sam was lying on my bed beside my suitcase, Brix was sitting on my window seat, Lee was gazing at her new camera lens lovingly and Jaz was at my closet standing beside me, peering at the contents.
"Am I supposed to take shorts or what?" I asked Jaz who had a lot of experience on vacations.
"Obviously Tay," she said.
"Ah yes. Miss Jazmyn Swan here vacations at her holiday house by a lake," Sam said in a lofty voice.
"Shut up Sam," Jaz shot back. Brixton, Sam and I laughed; Lee was still staring at her camera.
"One would think you like that lens more than Adam," Brix noted from his seat to Lee as I rummaged around in my closet for shorts.
"It's so magnificent!" Lee said as she sat down next to Brix. Jaz settled down at the foot of my bed beside Sam's head as I pulled out some shorts.
"What makes it so special?" Jaz asked, the rest of us groaned in unison, this will lead to Lee talking nonstop about it, using tons of technical jargon none of us understood.
I turned to the bed and dropped the armful of clothes I was holding as Lee went on about focusing and contrast and other photo stuff.
Jaz started sifting through the clothes, Sam straightened up and joined her. When they deemed a clothing article was good enough, they tossed it at me to pack.
"And all of you stopped listening…" Lee said after about five minutes of this.
"No, no," I said, "Go on, we're listening."
"Isn't it cute when she goes all photographer on us?" Brixton interjected lightly. Lee made a face at him.
We were done with pants and had now moved onto tops.
"Tay," Lee said, and when I turned around, she snapped a picture of me. I blinked wildly, blinded by the flash.
"Oi," I said glaring at her when my vision returned, but she had already moved onto the bed and was showing the rest of my friends the picture, explaining how it was different from her normal photographs.
We heard the front door open and Lee beamed. "That must be your mum," she stated.
"Tay?" my mum called out from downstairs. Lee shrieked happily.
"I'm gonna go talk to someone who understands," she called, and sprang up from the bed, rushing downstairs.
"I swear," I said shaking my head as I folded some clothes neatly into the bag, "That girl is mental."
"Talking about crazy girls," Brixton interjected his legs up on the seat with him now, "Enough obsessing over clothes!"
"I thought gay people are supposed to like clothes and stuff?" Sam joked.
"Don't stereotype me, bitch," Brix said in a mock angry voice.
"Oh," he cried out suddenly, "I should congratulate your mum about the baby!"
"Oh right!" Jaz cried, "I didn't get to either!"
And with that, they left as well, leaving Sam and I alone. She lounged on my bed again, and started humming some song.
I grabbed some pyjamas and stuffed them in.
"I think I'm done," I stated stepping back from the bag.
"Honey, did you take some extra underwear?" Sam said from the bed, doing a perfect imitation of her mum's voice. I snorted, falling onto the bed laughing.
"That's my mum whenever I pack for anything."
"Ugh," I said as I rolled over, looking at her, "I wish you could come with me for this. I have a feeling it may be quite boring."
"Sorry bub," she said pushing her red hair off her face, "Family camping trip."
"I think that may be worse," I giggled. "Pete doesn't even like sitting on grass."
Sam sighed. "I'll let the twins be my parents' problem."
"So your mum and Lee are going crazy about that lens," Jaz reported as she waltzed back inside, Brixton right behind her.
"Let's have loud fun and try to draw her back to us," Sam suggested sitting up.
I rolled my eyes at my ridiculous friends as Jaz walked to my laptop and plugged in my speakers to blast some music.
It was six o'clock on Saturday morning and we were outside the community centre where the Single Mothers Society was held at.
Still yawning, I climbed out of the cab we got here in. As my mum went round to pay the driver, I pulled open the trunk and lifted our bags out of it.
There was a big blue bus parked at the corner. "Are we going in that bus?" I asked as my mum picked up her bag.
"Yup," she affirmed, "they use this every year."
"Don't tell me this Genevieve owns it."
My mum grinned, "She does."
"Man," I shook my head, "she sounds even richer than Aunt Em."
She laughed. "You get in," my mum said gesturing to the line of people getting into the bus. "I'll just go talk to some people."
"How many people are going?" I asked eyeing the line and the big bus.
"Well, there are nineteen of us in the group, and each person is bringing at least one guest with them," she shrugged, "do the math."
I sighed as I picked up my bag and joined the short queue with only three people in front of me. I looked around the area trying to find anyone else around my own age.
I spotted a girl maybe sixteen, with a bulging belly sitting next to an older woman who looked a lot like her. Maybe I can talk to her later.
"Your name?" asked the woman with a salt and pepper braid standing beside the door of the bus, a clipboard in her hands.
"Uh, Taier," I said.
She raised her eyebrows, "What? Taylor?" her eyes ran down the list of names in front of her, "I don't see a Taylor here."
"No, no," I shook my head, "Not Taylor, Taier."
"What?" she asked abashed, I felt my face heat up. This had happened many times before, why did my mother have to give me such an odd name?
"Tay-er," I repeated slowly. The lady looked at me like I was crazy; I heard a snort from behind me.
I whirled around to see Logan standing right behind me, looking completely amused by my embarrassment.
I glared at him; I'd had enough of his shit. "Mind your own fucking business."
I turned back to the lady and spelled my name for her.
"Oh, alright," she said nodding, she looked a bit shocked at my words to Logan, she checked a name on the clipboard, "There you are."
"Thank you," I said not too kindly. I stomped up the stairs as I heard Logan give his name without any confusion.
I found an empty pair of seats in the middle area of the bus, stuffed my bag on the overhead shelf and sat down.
I saw Logan walk this way.
Fuming, I turned my attention to my phone in my hands, looking away from him. I heard his footsteps stop beside me, and I looked up.
"You have no fucking right to talk to me like that," he said coldly as he stood over me. "This is the second time you've done this, and I don't know where you get the idea that you can go bitch on me from. You're not my friend, I don't like you. So I suggest you fucking learn how to talk to a person, or just not talk to me at all."
And with that, he stomped off to the back of the bus. I was dumbstruck, my phone slack in my hands.
Author's Note- As always, please leave a review with your thoughts. Thank you to;
leavesfallingup, SuiLon434, Jadeisnotonfire (guest) and keelykelly for their reviews on the previous chapters.
I hope you all keep reading xxx