Fat Dancer

We landed in Australia, the tour through the Great Southern Land would be lasting a month in total. Then we’d be getting a weeks’ break to actually have some fun in Australia. This meant though that we were off the tour buses, they were too hard to get into Australia. So it was decided that we’d be flying everywhere, and taking rented cars around the cities. We’d be staying in Hotels too, so there was no more small bunks for over a month.

There was a definite spring in my step as I walked to the hotel lobby on a Tuesday morning; my brother Xander would be meeting up with me. He’d always wanted to see Australia, so he saw it as a perfect time to take some time off work and hang out with me.

Matt smiled as I sat down next to him, “What’re you so excited about?” I smiled and bit into a piece of toast that I covered with Peanut Butter. His eyes widened, in a good way, that I was eating something so high in fats and oils. “Whatever it is, it’s good,”

I swallowed the toast, “Xander will be here today, remember,” The smile was plastered across my face, there was no way it’d be leaving me any time soon. Just as planned I waited out the front for my brother, when he arrived I saw the beard that was now adorning his face. He’d always said when we were younger that he’d grow one, and he did. I yelled his name, and jumped up in his arms; he laughed, and hugged me back.

“I’ve missed you so much, Harlow,” Xander kissed the side of my face, then let me down on the ground. Back in America, I lived with him and his fiancé. So it was certainly a change not seeing him every morning at the breakfast table. We took his things inside where I introduced him to Brian and Michelle who were just going out to a movie together. We were sharing a room together, so I was able to help him settle in a little before Xander announced he had something to tell me.

“What is it?” I asked, kinda nervous, he had a very serious expression on his face. It was kinda scary, it was the same sort of face he had when he found out about my eating disorder. “Xander?”

He smiled, “Sophie is pregnant,” That’s when I felt bile bubbling in my stomach. “Are you okay?” I nodded, fakely.

“I’ll be right back, I just gotta check something with one of the guys,” Before he could say anything else, I was rushing to Matts room, and banging on the door. He opened the door, and immediately I was holding onto him, and crying into his chest.

“Hey, hey, what’s wrong?” Matt questioned, running his hand through my hair gently. Leading me into his room I still couldn’t form a proper sentence, it was like my brain had just switched off. “Harlow, what’s up?”” He asked, for about the fourth time, “Sweetheart, you were so happy not even an hour ago, what changed?”

My eyes met his and I forced myself to talk, “My brothers fiancé is pregnant, it just reminded me suddenly of, you know…” Suddenly I saw that he was about to start crying a little. That memory was still hard to handle, although I’d decided I needed to move on, I couldn’t. Not yet. After about twenty minutes of my crying, and him also a little, I decided, with Matt’s help, that I needed to go back to my brother. He was probably so confused.

So I took the elevator and went back to my room, but I saw Xander standing in the hallway talking to Mackenzie. Her hair was straightened out perfectly, and reaching her lower back, where it was now dyed a light blonde on the tips. I sighed, and stepped forward, she was a little off looking, tired maybe.

“Oh there she is,” Mackenzie smiled, dashing over to me, “You alright?” She asked, knowing why I would be upset, but needing at the same time to hear it directly from me. “Is it about the baby, Harlow?” I nodded.

“What baby?”” Xander’s voice was gruff, and firm. His knuckles turned a white colour from him balling them up so tight. “Why didn’t you tell me you’re pregnant?”

“Because I’m not anymore, Andy,” Andy was a name I gave him when I was younger, and couldn’t be bothered saying his full name, “I lost the baby,” Immediately he was holding onto me tightly, telling me how sorry he was.

“Do you know who the Father was, Harlow?” I nodded, “You don’t have to tell me, okay. It’s you’re business,” That’s what I loved about my brother, he never pried into details like that. He excused himself back into the room, he needed to get some sleep before he dropped to the ground. Mackenzie wiped away a few tears for me, and smiled gently.

I took a deep breath before speaking, “So w-what did you come for?” I asked, not trying to sound rude. But I thought he and Zacky would’ve had plans, most couples seemed to.

She sighed, “I was kinda wondering if you knew where Zacky was? I haven’t seen him all day, he didn’t even leave a note. I’m kinda worried about him,”

“No, sorry, I haven’t,”

She shrugged, and tucked some hair behind her ear, “I’m sure he’ll turn up soon,”’

By night time Mackenzie was starting to worry, as were some of the others. Nobody had seen or heard from Zacky all day. But around eight he stumbled into the lobby where we were all sitting, waiting for him to return, and hope that he did.

He giggled, drunk, “What’re you all doing?” We turned to Mackenzie who looked a little upset that he’d clearly been drinking all day instead of spending any time with her. “Who died?” He asked, then burst out into laughter.

“Nobody, Zacky,” Mackenzie muttered, taking him by the arm and dragging him to their room where she was clearly going to talk to him. That’s when I heard a snort of laughter coming from none other then Val.

“Looks like trouble in paradise,” She smiled, not taking into account how hurt Mackenzie was. “Oh well, not my problem,”

“Then why’d you comment, you asshole?” I snapped. “If you don’t actually care about Mackenzie don’t make comments like that. Considering you fight nearly everyday with your husband, you have absolutely no room to talk,” With that I went to my room, where I changed into some more comfortable clothes to sleep in and tried to go to sleep.