Even the Sun Sets in Paradise

For the next few weeks, I was constantly on a high. Layton and I had told the guys about our relationship, and thankfully they all were happy for us, even Ellis. Layton was an adorable boyfriend. I was scared that now we were officially together, things would change between us and I would feel uncomfortable, but nothing much changed at all. Turns out, we acted like a couple already. The only difference was that we could openly admit our feelings for each other now. I gained a lot more attention at school though, generally positive. After Dark’s album had been hugely successful for a first album, and one of their songs had made it into the UK top 40. They were ecstatic about that, obviously, but I was sure it was partly just another excuse to go out and get drunk. They had also been asked to support another famous rock band on some of their tour dates. I had to admit that was awesome. I knew how long they had been working for this and being a supporting act on tour might just have been the exposure they needed.

Since I was now over half way through the pregnancy, Julie was helping me arrange everything. Along with the midwife and Layton, we had prepared a birth plan. Somehow that made everything more real, and I couldn’t help but feel majorly apprehensive about the birth. They reassured me that it was normal to worry and that the birth would most likely go smoothly, but it didn’t soothe my nerves whatsoever. We agreed that Layton would be my birth partner. As much as Layton could be a bit of a dickhead at times, Julie could see that he was mature and responsible enough, and she had no doubt that he would take care of me. Sally at work obviously knew about the pregnancy now and she was so understanding and helped me sort out maternity leave. We decided I would work pretty much right up to my due date since the work wasn’t exactly strenuous. She also said I could come back whenever I felt ready and that my working hours could be very flexible which I appreciated. I was very self-conscious that people would think negatively of me because I was pregnant at sixteen but people tended not to be judgemental. Most people didn’t ask too many questions, especially now Layton and I were together; they just assumed we’d kept our relationship a secret for a while. Nonetheless, the situation wasn’t exactly ideal, but we were making the best of it we could. I still hadn’t heard anything from George but I wasn’t sure whether to be relieved about that or not since my instinct told me he was up to something. After all, George was never one to give up. I kept myself busy though and tried not to be alone for long periods. As long as I was surrounded by people, surely he couldn’t do too much harm.

One evening in early November, exactly four months before my due date, Layton was round but I couldn’t help noticing he was acting slightly odd. Don’t get me wrong, he wasn’t nasty or anything, but he had an unusually high temperature, several flu-like symptoms and absolutely no appetite. He shrugged it off, claiming that he was possibly just coming down with something, but I couldn’t help but worry. After all, Layton wasn’t a stranger to a bit of cocaine ‘now and then’ and he seemed to be showing several side effects. I had a niggling feeling in the pit of my stomach but for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to ask him about it. I couldn’t decide whether it was out of fear of getting in an argument, or fear of my suspicions being true. Either way, I kept my mouth shut. Layton’s phone rang, and he jumped out of his skin, another side effect of drug abuse.
“Manager,” he told me, “Best answer it.” I nodded as he disappeared into the other room and shut the door. Unable to resist the temptation, I silently picked up Layton’s jacket that was thrown across the chair. I checked in each of his pockets, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe I was wrong. From years of living with George and my mother, I had learned that cocaine was quick to take effect. The high was over within a few minutes; the paranoia and/or depression kicked in later. He seemed fairly happy to me. I told myself it was probably nothing - maybe because I trusted him, or maybe because that was what I wanted to believe. Either way, I had no evidence so there was nothing I could do about it. Even if I did, I didn’t think it would bother him much. Much to my dismay, Layton was always seemingly unfazed by his supposed ‘social’ drug use.
“You alright?” he asked, as he returned to the room.
“Yeah, you?”
“Yeah, manager says we’ve got an all-day rehearsal for the tour tomorrow and then we’ve got a few days off.”
“That’s good. How many nights are you playing on the tour?” I questioned.
“Two days at one venue, then we have two days to get to the next where we’re playing three nights, and then I think it’s another three nights at the last venue,” he explained.
“You excited?”
“Yeah, I’m buzzing. You should have seen us when we found out,” he smirked, planting a kiss on my lips. Julie got home a couple of hours later and she said Layton could stay the night, surprisingly in my room. I guess she trusted us both. Or maybe she just figured that since he’d already got me pregnant, there was no more damage to be done. Of course, we didn’t do anything we shouldn’t be. I still was not comfortable with that kind of thing after a lifetime of abuse. Thankfully Layton respected that, although I worried how long he would respect it for before he wanted more.