The Hardest Part of Today is a Hangover.

I sat in the waiting room with Oli, silently hoping that this was all a dream, but the doctors and nurses bustling by in their scrubs made me quiver. They made this all too real.

“What do you think is going on?” Oli finally piped up from next to me, an edge lacing his obviously nervous voice. I could see his hand shaking on our adjoined armrest.

I cleared my throat, the nervousness coating the walls of my throat like a sickness.
“I- I don’t know,” I admitted.
My voice was croaked and I was craving some sweet release from this stress, but I knew pot was going to get me nowhere at this point. I’d probably just make a fool out of myself in the lobby.

The large green doors that I had been staring at for the past half hour swung open, a doctor taking his glasses off appearing. He wiped his brow and said: “Mr. and Mrs. Sykes?”

[-Oli-]

Anna looked up at the doctor, wide-eyes, mouth agape.

“No,” I spoke up, “We’re no-”

“Yes,” Anna interrupted, “That’s us.” She stood briskly, running her hands together in front of her. “How is Erin:?

I forgot all about Erin as that moment. I couldn’t even hear what the doctor and Anna were saying. I could just see her lips moving, making me jittery. I couldn’t help but think what she had meant by that.
Did it mean anything? Or was she just saying that to get information from the doctor?

“-oming?”

“W-What?” I stumbled, shaking my head and looking at Anna.

“Are you coming?” she repeated, motioning for the door.

“Oh! Y-Yeah. I’m…I’m coming,” I sputtered, following Anna through the large green doors the doctor had appeared through. I was shaking.

[--]

“Oh, Erin! I cannot believe you!” I laughed, pulling her into a hug.

Oli gave us an odd look.
“Where’s the baby?”

I laughed. “If you had been paying attention to what the doctor said, Oli, you would know that Erin went into false labor because of all of the stress from her dad’s accident and taking care of him and the store. Duh.” I laughed again, embracing Erin.

“Oh…” he mumbled, looking over at Adam and running a hand through his hair. A dumb smile came onto his face and he punched Adam in the shoulder. “Bet you were shittin’ your pants, aye?”

Adam laughed, looking down at the ground. “Yeah, man. I was scared.”

Erin smiled and stood up, the doctor walking through the door.
“Well, Erin, you’re free to go. Here are your clothes,” he gestured to the bunch of clothes a nurse put on her hospital bed, “and your insurance was able to cover nearly all of it. You only need to pay the fee for the medication you’re going to be taking for the next week to help with the stress and the nerves, okay?”

Erin nodded. “Thank you, Doctor.”

“No problem. That’s what I’m here for.” The doctor turned to Oli, Adam, and I. He was obviously singling out Oli and I when he said: “You two going to be the next ones? Don’t want this little one going on by itself, do yah?”

Oli and I exchanged nervous glances before Erin cleared her throat, smiling at us and saying, “They’re trying, Doctor. Very, very hard.”

The air seemed to change as the doctor winked and gave us a thumbs-up before leaving the room. We followed him out of the room, Adam taking Oli on a different route so he could go pay while we got to the car.

“I can’t believe you,” I mumbled through clenched teeth finally.

“What? I didn’t do anything,” she laughed innocently.

“Yeah. Right.” I huffed, “Mr. and Mrs. Sykes, Anna? Really?”

“It’s going to happen eventually, Anna, babe. Just get over it and smile,” she ordered, smiling at a passing woman who was obviously going into labor. I could almost hear her whisper nah-nah nah-nah-nah!, but I wasn’t too sure.

“Whatever,” I laughed coldly, “Just never do that again.”

“Yeah, alright,” she laughed, walking through the automatic doors with a big, bright smile on her face. “Whatever you say…Mrs. Sykes.”