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7
Rose
Worshipping the porcelain god before sunrise is not my idea of a good time. I groan as another wave of nausea washes over me, and I barely turn in time to heave what little is left in my stomach into the toilet. Which, by this point, is nothing more than bile.
I reach up to flush the evidence away, then lean against the wall, closing my eyes to concentrate on my breathing. My skin feels clammy, and I’m shivering even though I’m not cold. When several minutes pass without another episode, I grab my phone and check the time.
5:00 a.m.
Which means it’s ten in London, and Evelyn will be up.
“Hey, you.” Her voice is extra chipper when she answers. I never developed an accent while overseas, but Evelyn’s accent is strong, having been born and raised in England before coming to Dublin for school.
“Hey.”
Evelyn knows me well enough to sense when something is wrong by just my tone. “What is it? Wait, why are you calling me so early? Is everything okay?”
“Yes…no. I-I don’t know.”
“Talk to me, sweetie. Do we need to switch this to a video call?” She doesn’t wait for my answer. “You know what? Yes, we are. I miss seeing your gorgeous face.”
A moment later, my phone rings, and I accept the video call. My best friend is the very definition of what magazines call a rare beauty. With her long, natural blond hair, bright blue eyes, and flawless porcelain skin, she is gorgeous.
“Oh, my dear girl, that bedhead of yours.”
Evelyn is the yin to my yang. Growing up, she pushed me to be outgoing when all I wanted to do was hide away. She encouraged me to be daring and question things.
But she’s more than a pretty face. Evelyn is wicked smart with computers. Her university degree may be in business like mine, but her true passion rests in code and program development. The girl can hack her way into the police database in less than a minute. Not saying she’s ever done that exact thing to erase a few parking tickets she got growing up…but she can.
“Still better looking than you,” I joke lamely.
“Where—” She squints her eyes at the screen. “Are you in the loo?”
I glance around at the spacious room. “I might be.”
“Are you sick, Rose? Oh my God, you are. What’s wrong? Do you need me to call someone?”
I chuckle as she rambles on until I finally interrupt. “Evelyn. Evelyn, stop.” She does as I ask after a moment, her cheeks pink from embarrassment and her eyes full of concern. “It’s just a little nausea and vomiting.”
“So it’s a stomach bug?” She looks relieved.
“Maybe?”
Evelyn narrows her eyes, all relief gone, replaced by concern again. “Maybe?”
I sigh because my thoughts will not be easy to talk about. “Remember when I told you about Michael?”
Evelyn’s the only person who knows about him and our time together that night. Not even Grace knows, which makes me feel like a terrible sister, but…if my suspicions are correct, I’m glad I kept it from her.
“Yes, of course. The handsome as hell stranger who shagged your brains out in the club loo. What about him?” In typical Evelyn fashion, she applauds my sexual escapade like a proud mother would for her child at a spelling bee.
“I didn’t tell you this, but he didn’t wear a condom.” I hold my hand up when she opens her mouth to reprimand me, I’m sure. “It was stupid, I know, but I haven’t been with anyone since my ex, and he was over a year ago. So I stopped taking those birth control pills. I didn’t like how they made me feel, but I think…” I know I’m rambling out of a need to prepare myself to speak aloud the fear lurking in the back of my mind for the past week. Because once said, it makes the possibility of it more real. “I think I might be pregnant.”
It’s rare for Evelyn to be left speechless. I can count on one hand the number of times she has. The woman is a walking chatterbox. While I wait for her to process my news and gather her thoughts, I pull myself up and walk over to the sink. I grab a washcloth and run cold water over it before wiping my face and neck. The cool sensation feels amazing on my heated skin.
“Pregnant,” she repeats, drawing the single word out. “Bloody hell. Are you certain?”
“Not yet. I need to grab a test, but you know me, Evie. I’m never sick, and I vomited all over Igor last night.”
