Parallel Worlds

Becca stood in her bedroom staring at the item in her hand and felt angry tears streaming down her cheeks. She sighed heavily wiping her tears away and shoved the object in her back pocket, pulling her hoodie on and shuffling downstairs to survey the mess left from the night before.
There were empty bottles and cans everywhere. A few people were already up, some attempting to clear the mess up, others lounging about half asleep nursing hangovers. She padded into the kitchen and made a beeline to the fridge, pulling out a bottle of water before going into the living room and slumping down on the sofa where Ali was previously sleeping, jumping when Becca made contact with the seat waking him up. Ali groaned and half opened his eyes to look at the culprit who had woken him up but then sat up looking curiously at Becca’s tear stained eyes
“Morning. What’s up?” Ali murmured as he rubbed his eyes; Becca stared straight forward into space
“Nothing, just feel ill. I’ve got the biggest headache and I’ve been sick twice, too much alcohol last night I think” She looked across at Ali and her lips curved into a slight smile; Ali smiled slightly back and pulled her into a friendly hug
“Yeah join the club, I think we’ll all be suffering today” Ali chuckled lightly, Becca nodded. Becca sighed as the thought of Alex last night popped into her head, she hadn’t spoken to him since the argument and went to bed feeling lousy not long after the argument had taken place, she wondered how things between them would be this morning.
Both Becca and Ali looked towards the living room door as Christina stepped in smiling holding a big mug of coffee, Ed following in behind her. The smell of coffee filling the room hit Becca’s senses, the smell reminded her of Alex.
“How are we this morning then?” Christina said cheerfully as she plonked herself down on the opposite sofa with Ed and snuggled into him taking a sip of her coffee, obviously not effected in anyway by hangovers or tiredness
“Headache” Ali said simply as he buried his head in the armrest of the sofa
“I’ve felt better” Becca said quietly as she stared into space
“What’s up?” Christina asked Becca frowning slightly
“Nothing, just don’t feel too good,” Becca said smiling lightly at Christina reassuring her; Christina nodded taking another sip of her coffee and resting her head on Ed’s shoulder who wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into his side.
Becca sighed and got up leaving the room quietly without uttering a single word. Once the living room door closed Ali shot Christina a curious glance
“What’s wrong with Becca?” Ali knew that Christina knew Becca too well to know that lack of sleep never affected Becca and even with a hangover Becca would fight it to still be her happy, chirpy self
“She had a big argument with Alex last night, it’s probably that” Christina sighed; Ali nodded in acknowledgment.
Becca made her way into the kitchen where a few other members of the household including Dan and Sarah could be found. She made herself a coffee and then sat at the table, too many thoughts going through her head
“How are you this morning then?” Sarah asked Becca from across the table
“Yeah I’m okay, just feeling a bit ill today,” Becca said putting on a fake smile. Her smile dropped as she watched a figure appear in the kitchen doorway. She watched him walk over to the coffee machine not uttering a word. She made eye contact with Sarah; Sarah knew what Becca wanted without her uttering a word. She stood up and yawned
“Right come on then you lot, come and help me tidy up the living room,” she said beckoning everyone out of the kitchen. Alex sighed and started to make his way to the living room only to have Becca stand in front of him and glare at him
“No, you’re staying in here with me, we need to talk” Alex looked down at her hesitantly before nodding and taking a seat at the kitchen table, Becca copied and took a seat on the opposite side of the table and sighed
“I suppose you cant remember much of last night” She asked him after a few moments silence; he looked down at his hands and shook his head
“Not really”
“You don’t remember arguing with me then?” He looked up at Becca sorrowfully before shaking his head slightly; Becca sighed and thought through about what she was going to say
“This excessive alcohol drinking and drug addiction needs to stop Alex, it’s going to affect you sooner or later” Alex continued to look down at his hands
“I know” He looked up at Becca, his eyes full of sorrow “and I’m sorry for anything that I did or said to you last night, whatever I’ve done to hurt you I didn’t mean it” he said staring into Becca’s eyes, Becca nodded
“Well maybe you’ll realise that and stop this little addiction of yours. It may seem like a little bit of fun and pleasure for you at the time but it’s affecting you and the people around you in the long term... I don’t like seeing you like that” Becca said as she fought back her tears
“I can’t just give up like that,” Alex said clicking his fingers
“But you can try” Becca pleaded; Alex sighed, a slight hint of anger building up inside him
“You’re acting like it’s an easy situation Becca, it’s really not! I can’t stop so suddenly, not even for you or for anyone close to me. I need this addiction, it keeps me sane!”
“Oh so you’re doing this just thinking about yourself are you?” Becca said as her voice started to become uneven as she tried her hardest to fight back the tears brewing in her eyes. She sighed tearfully
“Please just stop taking drugs Alex… If you wont do it for your friends or for me then at least do it for this” Becca reached into her back pocket and threw the small white object that she’d stored earlier across the table. Alex stopped it with his hand and picked it up. He looked across at Becca angrily before his eyes fell upon the item in his hands. His eyes softened then widened.
He couldn’t believe it. He didn’t want to believe it.

It was a pregnancy test.

And it was positive.

Alex looked from the pregnancy test to Becca who had tears running down her face
“Oh god Becca I’m so sorry!” He got up from the table and closed the kitchen door for privacy. He came to sit next to Becca, pulling her into his chest as she sobbed
“How long have you known?” he asked quietly as he stroked her hair gently
“Since this morning” Becca said through sobs
“Does anyone else know?”
“No, just you. You deserved to know first, it’s yours.” Not many things got to Alex but tears came to his eyes as he buried his face in her hair, kissing the top of her head
“How long gone are you?”
“The test said two weeks” Alex nodded. He sighed heavily as he tried to hold back his own tears
“I’ll stop Becca,” he said as his tears finally ran down his cheeks, he took a sharp uneven intake of breath “I’ll stop for you and I’ll stop for the kid” he sobbed as Becca wrapped her arms around him and cried harder. He brought his hand from stroking her hair and gently rest it against her stomach as he continued to hold her close, against their small child growing inside her.