Denial
Chapter Eleven
Elly was on the phone to her doctor who was telling her, "Mrs. Conway I really would prefer it if you came into my office for this news, I'm not supposed to give out this information over the phone."
"Look I know we should be having this conversation in person," Elly replied, "But I got some new…information…and I know now there's no possible way that I'm pregnant, I just need you to confirm it for me."
The doctor sighed, "Correct, you're not pregnant, Mrs. Conway."
"Good, that's good," Elly breathed deeply, glad to know for sure that she wasn't screwing up the rest of her life by bringing another Kelly into the world, "Look I'm sure you want me to come in to see you to answer this but…like I told you the other day I've missed my period the last two cycles."
The doctor gave in, "You're not pregnant but your stress levels are off the charts. It's affecting your normal cycle. You need to make an appointment with your GP as soon as possible to address your stress and if whatever it is that is causing it, you need to find a way to remove the stress from your life or there could be more complications."
"I will, I'll go tomorrow and the stress I've been dealing with…it's nearly all gone from my life, I just have one more thing to deal with in two hours' time and I can get myself back on track," Elly explained, "Thank you."
Elly hung up the phone, incredibly relieved to know a pregnancy wouldn't be getting in her way for and Chloe's future together. The only thing left to do was to come clean to Bea and Mark.
Going back out to the living room area of the Kennedy household, she approached Bea hesitantly.
"You lied to us about been pregnant to Mark?" Bea accused shaking her head.
Elly sighed before walking over to her, "Yes. The test I took was positive but then my GP took a blood test and…I wasn't pregnant. I lied to you and Mark and I let this lie spiral out of control."
Bea ran her hand across the bridge of her nose, "I'm not going to judge you, Elly, but seriously you've led us to believe you've been pregnant for two months. Was this all just some scheme to make Mark forgive you for cheating on him and keep a chance at a future with him by making him think you were carrying his child? Then you thought you slept with Shaun and thought you were pregnant to him and were trying to work out how you could juggle Mark not knowing your conception date wouldn't match? What the hell, Elly? I mean I love you but…what the hell?"
Elly nodded, "You're right, I don't have a good reason for what I've done. I may have been lying to Mark about me been pregnant with his child but this lie was never going to spiral out of control to the point that I was going to convince Mark Shaun's baby…I mean…if I was pregnant to Shaun…that it was Mark's. I know I've done the most terrible thing in the world but I was never going to play a baby that isn't his off as been Mark's for the rest of his life."
"But lying to him for two months, what else do you expect Mark to think when you do tell him?" Bea questioned.
"I know, I don't need you to ream me out about this Bea, I've been so unfair to Mark and when I tell him later this morning he is going to have every reason to hate me," Elly confessed.
"Why didn't you tell him when you found out?" Bea asked.
Elly ran her hand through her hair, "There's no excuse. I was so messed up by everything that happened with Chloe and denying my feelings for her and I just…spiraled."
Bea walked over to Elly and gave her a hug, "So Chloe also…kinda decided that with a bit of time she could forgive you for lying to Mark about the pregnancy and that you might have been pregnant to Shaun?"
Elly nodded, "Chloe's kinda amazing like that. I really can't wait to be able to tell her I didn't sleep with Shaun and I'm not pregnant. I mean I have to see Mark first in a just over an hour to tell him I'm not pregnant. Chloe and I will be hanging out tonight so I'll get to tell her then the good news. I've hurt Chloe so much these past two months but once I clear the air with Mark there's absolutely nothing stopping us from being together. I kinda want to make tonight a date with Chloe, is that too forward?"
Bea smiled at her sister, having never seen her so happy at the thought of going on a date, "Not at all. You know if you've got some time to kill before you see Mark…why don't you go to Lassiters now and tell Chloe the good news and ask her out on that date for tonight? You know Chloe will be worrying about you all day long, why wait to tell her now you know everything that happened…or I mean didn't happen that night with Shaun?"
Elly grinned, "That's a really good idea, Bea, thanks."
At that moment, the pair was interrupted by Susan arriving home; having been out and about for the better part of the last few days to have even noticed what Elly had been going through, "Hi girls, what have you been up to the last few days?"
Bea released her sister from her hug, tilted her head to the side and wondered if Elly was going to tell their aunt the truth.
Elly looked down at Bea before looking back at Susan, "Quite a lot actually…so I need to tell you a couple things…but I'm just about to go out so can I give you the cliff notes and explain it all to you tomorrow?"
Susan nodded, "Of course, love."
Elly bit her lip, unsure how Susan would take the news, "So the thing is…I'm not pregnant…and…I'm going to see Chloe to ask her out on a date…would that be okay with you?"
Susan was stunned, "Wow…that's big news…where have I been the past few months to not know this was coming? You don't need my permission, Elly; I just want you to be happy."
Elly couldn't help but smirk at the thought that Susan had been quite absent the past couple months and hadn't been involved in the changes in her life but she was thankful she had her aunt's support.
Half an hour later, Chloe was busy at work in her office but she smiled the second Elly strolled into her office, "Hey, you, what are you doing here? I thought we were hanging out tonight after work?"
Elly grinned brightly at Chloe as the blonde immediately got up from her desk and came to Elly's side, "Do you have a minute to talk? There's something I need to tell you and I didn't want to wait until tonight."
Chloe's face fell at the thought that Elly had something else to tell her after everything that was revealed the previous night, "Something else? I uh…I really thought you'd told me everything last night."
Elly reached out to place her arm around Chloe's waist as the pair stood next to each other, "I did tell you everything last night but as it turns out I had a few facts wrong."
"Okay…" Chloe responded unsure what Elly could mean.
Elly shifted so she was now standing in front of Chloe and placed her hands on either side of Chloe's hips, smiling as Chloe re-actively placed her hands on Elly's hips, "So you know how I said I don't remember the night I spent with Shaun at the hotel?"
Chloe groaned, "I was kinda distracting myself all day so I didn't think about that."
"Bea talked to Shaun this morning at breakfast and he told her about the night he had spent with me, he wanted to clear the air with her after we had bumped into each and pretended not to know each other a few days ago…and…" Elly chewed on her lip before finally telling Chloe, "I didn't have sex with Shaun."
Chloe felt like she'd misheard Elly in hope.
Elly squeezed Chloe's hips, as she repeated then explained further, "I didn't have sex with Shaun when I got drunk with him. I stopped it from happening and yes it was still a really bad night. I made out with him and Shaun got naked but we didn't sleep together. I stopped it and fell asleep next to him."
"Really?" asked Chloe surprised by Elly's latest news.
Elly nodded, "Really. Bea believes Shaun and he has no reason to lie about me not hooking up with him when he doesn't even know me or what I've been going through since that night."
"Wow," Chloe whispered, "That changes things…I mean I would've gotten past it eventually but…wow."
Elly gently pulled Chloe closer to her, "This is a little embarrassing but do you know why I stopped Shaun and I from sleeping together?" As Chloe shook her head, Elly continued, "Because I couldn't stop talking about you. There were also some tears…okay a lot of tears…but I didn't have sex with him because I spent two hours talking about you and telling him everything there is to know about you because I lo—I guess because I couldn't stop thinking about you. You were the only thing that mattered to me."
Damn, it's too early to drop the love bomb on Chloe, keep it smooth, at least wait until you've been on one date, Elly thought to herself.
Chloe blushed heavily before realizing, "So if you and Shaun didn't…then that means…"
"I'm not pregnant," Elly confirmed, "I called the doctor back as soon as I realized and even though I didn't need it the doctor confirmed that I'm not pregnant. It's still kinda weird for me as I've spent the better part of the last couple months thinking I was pregnant but it turns out all that's wrong is my stress levels are off the chart and I need to see my GP to work on that. Although I can already feel a lot of my stress has gone."
"Wow," Chloe repeated once more, "That really does change things…I mean not that I would've thrown away any chance of us because of a baby but…"
"I know, I get it," Elly agreed, "It does change things and I hope…this means that there's nothing standing in our way anymore."
Chloe smiled as she confirmed it without words.
Elly grinned back, "I'm meeting Mark in an hour and once that's all sorted…dinner? At the Waterhole? You and me? Tonight? I'll pick you up when you finish work?"
Chloe nodded then glanced down at her own clothes.
Reading her thoughts, Elly assured her, "You look great; you don't need to change from your work clothes for dinner tonight. What time do you think you'll finish up?"
"Should be done by 7pm," Chloe answered, already looking forward to dinner with her friend so the pair could hopefully work things out between them.
"Great, I'll see you then," Elly said happily before leaning forward and pecking Chloe on the cheek in a sign of affection that she hoped they would be able to build on that evening.
As Elly left the office, she grinned to herself at the thought - It's a date.
Chloe chewed on her lip as she sat back at her desk and wondered – It's just dinner between two friends who are trying to work out where they stand…it's not a date…it might be a date…it's not a date…