Thanks for reviewing. The chapters increase a little in length from now on.
Sophiejayne: *hands piece of birthday cake* Don't worry, she will get back with Liam eventually. This story will stay as a Liam / Hayley ship.
Linneagb: *hands piece of birthday cake* Thank you :3 The happy birthday shout out on your story was lovely :D
LivingTheBeatOfSummer: *hands piece of birthday cake* Nerveracking? Yes, mission accomplished ;P Thank you.
Mr Zeze: *hands piece of birthday cake* Muchas gracias. I'm so bad at Spanish - urgh! I'm fourteen. Thank you ;P
The-Girl-Who-Waited-DW: *hands piece of birthday cake* Thank you :3
Relatively Crazy Coconut: *hands piece of birthday cake* Thanks :) Haha, young one? ;P
DreamerCarroll15: *hands piece of birthday cake* Thank you for your shout out on Fallen Ones and for using Evie :3 Haha, I'm seriously considering doing a TBR / Narnia oneshot now ;P
I closed my eyes, shutting out the world and burying my face in Rick's shoulder. The aroma of his aftershave comforted me more than words could even attempt to. Silence encased the room for a minute or two, however there was no feeling of awkwardness that often followed silence around - this silence was needed. It was silence that let me think, let me wipe my eyes and gave me strength to pull myself together - after all, silence speaks louder than words.
"What happened?" I pulled away from Rick, locking my ice blue, tear filled eyes into his concerned brown ones, even though he was the one asking the question, I was certain that he already knew, or at least had a pretty good guess - he was clever like that, "it's okay," he whispered, his words soothing me in a way that felt almost hypnotic.
"What can I say?" I muttered, biting my lip in an effort to prevent a waterfall or tears flooding down my face, "he dumped me," I swallowed so hard it was audible, in a final attempt to keep my cool - my attempt was entirely unsuccessful and tears streamed down my cheeks, creating a pattern that somewhat resembled the cracks in my heart.
"It's my fault," he sighed, pulling away from me slightly, "all my fault," he looked back into my eyes and noticed my disbelieving expression, "don't try to tell yourself otherwise," I opened my mouth to reassure him in someway, which he noticed and quickly stopped, "look Hayley, it's the truth. You know he hates me and you know I didn't back off when he asked me to," he fixed his gaze into mine, giving my a stern glare, preventing me from denying the truth even further.
I glanced down at my stomach, thoughts clouding the stormy sky that I called my mind, "what am I gonna do about the baby?" I looked up, praying Rick had some answers, I trusted him with my life - to be honest, with Liam gone, who else did I have? "I can't do this without him," panic flowed through my veins, replacing the blood and sparking a sudden dizziness in my head, "fuck, I didn't even wanna do this! It was his choice and fucking hell I shouldn't have listened!" I caught his eye, expecting a smirk and a gaze that might as well be waving a banner reading 'I told you so'. I was pleasantly surprised to see that his comforting gaze hadn't changed - after all, he wasn't Liam.
"Don't worry," he shuffled closer to me and held me in a more than friendly embrace, but objecting was the last thing on my mind, "you're not alone," he pulled away and I sensed the reluctance in his eyes as they met with mine, "you've got Tee, Carmen, everyone will be on your side," he placed his hand on my shoulder, smiling at me with an expression that I mistook for patronisation.
"That's bullshit," I shuffled away from him, the trust that I had placed in him fading a little, "complete and utter bullshit," I rolled my eyes and his shocked expression, "oh come on, you know it. Right now, being lied to is the last thing I need," he sighed, guilt instantly thrashing over me like a wave, "I'm sorry, it's just not my day," I sighed, locking my gaze with Rick's and praying he would forgive me.
"I know," he smiled, unfortunately, as usual, I couldn't tell if he was faking or not, "what are you going to do about it?" he gestured towards me stomach in the politest way possible, an air of awkwardness still lingering in the gesture, "how could he just dump you like that? Does he even care?" Rick slammed his fist against the counter top, startling me slightly, "sorry, I'm just annoyed," I nodded, pulling on my best fake smile, trying to reassure him, even though he wasn't the one who needed reassuring.
"I don't know," I muttered, my eyes drifting around the room as I was pushed back down into the hell that was memory lane, "I only kept it because he wanted it!" I coughed, forcing the tears back down my throat, "he can't just change his mind and abandon me! What does he expect me to do now?" I locked eyes once again with Rick and the time that I needed him the most, he didn't have any answers - fuck me.
"Hi," an annoyingly optimistic voice rang out - a voice that couldn't belong to anyone other than Tee Taylor, I glanced across the room at her, sighing as she let out a gasp, noticing my tear stained face, "what's wrong?" she took a seat on a barstool beside me, expecting an answer and turning to Rick after she didn't receive one, "what's happened?" I glanced up at Rick, who seemed to be stuck in the dilemma of whether or not to tell the truth and I nodded at him, signifying that I didn't mind.
"Liam dumped her," I glanced at Tee's expression of pure horror as she placed an arm around my shoulder, "she's not really having the best of days," I grinned at Rick, who seemed overly pleased in the fact that he had cheered me up a little, "someone locked her in there with him as well," he snapped, glaring at Tee like he was accusing her! Tee Taylor was the last person I would have expected to have done something like that, I guessed Rick had a different view on it, maybe one that was not biased by trust.
"He did that!" she exclaimed, not quite believing it herself, but she'd be a fool to deny the evidence in front of her, "but she's like," Tee glanced at my stomach, "pregnant," I nodded, leaning back in my seat and staring up at the instantly fascinating ceiling, "I bet Elektra locked you in there," that was probably true, to be honest Elektra had the most fucked up sense of humour known to mankind.
"I bet she did!" Rick snapped, alerting me slightly and pulling me out of my relaxed position, tensing my muscles, "I'm gonna kill that bitch," he spat, not waiting for me to be rational for once and restrain him and just barged out into the hallway, presumably to find Elektra. I glanced across at Tee, who seemed to share my worried expression - this wasn't going to be good.