CHAPTER NINE
"What are you going to have?" Jack smiled across the table at Martha.
They'd gotten up early that morning and had decided to go to the diner for breakfast. Martha wasn't hungry though. She was sure that if she did eat something she'd probably hurl. But if her eating meant that Jack would keep off her back and be happy; she'd at least attempt to eat something.
"Um, I might just have a bowl of fruit salad," she told him.
"That's not much. Are you sure you don't want anything else?" Jack asked.
"No, that's it," she replied. "Just incase you'd forgotten, I was up at twelve o'clock last night practically being force fed by Luc. I ate enough food to feed an army. I still feel full from that," Martha explained, trying to come up with a good excuse. At least her excuse was real.
"Okay," Jack said, sounding defeated.
A few moments later Colleen rushed over and took their order; then quickly rushed back to the kitchen.
"What time do you start work tonight?" Martha asked, while they were waiting.
"Not until five o'clock. So we can hang out today if you want too," Jack answered.
"Okay. But I don't really feel like doing much. Maybe just hang at the beach or at home or something," Martha smiled.
"Sounds good," Jack nodded.
At that moment Irene walked past with a big plate of bacon and eggs. As soon as the smell of bacon hit her nose, Martha gagged. Please not now, she thought to herself.
She jumped up quickly. "I'll be back in a sec. Just got to grab something from upstairs," she shot out, before walking off. She was gone so fast that Jack had no time to react.
On her way past the counter, she almost knocked Tasha over. "Sorry," Martha said, and kept on walking.
Once she reached the stairs to the unit, she bolted. She pushed open the door, and raced to the bathroom. She fell to the floor, and leaned over the toilet bowl; throwing up the entire contents that lay in her stomach.
"Hi Jack".
Jack looked up and was greeted by a smiling Megan. "Hey," he said, not sounding too pleased to see her.
"Mind if I sit down?" she asked. Before Jack could even reply, she was sitting down across from him.
"So, where's Martha this morning?" she smiled.
"She's just upstairs. She'll be back soon," Jack told her.
"Is that your way of telling me that I had better leave before she gets back?" Megan asked.
"No. But now that you've mentioned it; maybe you should go before she gets back," Jack said. "I don't want you upsetting her".
"Upset her? Why would I do something like that?" Megan laughed.
"Stop being smart Megan," Jack snapped at her. "I haven't forgotten what type of person you were. Nobody else could see it, but I always could. You were conniving and nasty, and they were the main reasons why I disliked you so much," he continued.
"That didn't stop you from sleeping with me though, did it?" Megan scoffed.
"I was drunk and I don't even remem….," Jack started, but cut himself off halfway through. "You know what? I don't want to have this conversation with you right now. I think you should go," he finished.
Jack could feel his temper flaring. He was angry and wanted her out of his face right now.
"Okay. Okay," Megan held her hands up in surrender. "Don't get yourself so worked up. I'll move to another table if it makes you happy".
"That would be great. Bye," Jack spat out.
Megan let out a little huff and stood up; sauntering off towards a table on the other side of the diner.
Martha looked at herself in the bathroom mirror while rigorously brushing her teeth. All she could taste in her mouth was vomit, and she wanted it gone. Even the smell of toothpaste was making her queizy. Although she didn't think it was possible for her to throw up anymore. There was nothing else left in her stomach to bring up. Her throat was burning and her stomach felt really tight from all the heaving. She hated being pregnant.
She looked at her watch and realised she had been upstairs for nearly 15 minutes. If she didn't hurry up, Jack would come looking for her soon. She picked up the cap full of Listerine and quickly washed her mouth out, and sprayed her self with some deodorant; just incase the smell of vomit had wafted into her clothes.
She rushed out into the kitchen and was surprised to see Tasha standing there.
"Oh my god. Tash. What are you doing here?" Martha blurted out.
"Well I was on my way to school and I thought I'd drop in to see how you were feeling after your fall last night," Tasha started. "I walked into the diner, only to be nearly bowled over by you. I followed you upstairs, and I've been standing here for the last ten to fifteen minutes listening to you throw you guts up," Tasha finally finished.
"Oh," was Martha's only reply.
"What's going on Mac? You told us last night at the hospital that you were fine," Tasha asked sounding concerned.
"I am fine. I promise," Martha replied, trying to reassure her best friend.
"Then why were you just being sick?" Tasha said, not sounding convinced.
Martha's brain was going into overload. She didn't know what to say. Maybe she should just tell Tasha. But knowing Tash; she would convince Martha to tell Jack, and Martha wasn't ready to do that just yet. So she used the same excuse she used on Jack just before.
"Um, well Lucas cooked up this great big feed late last night. And he seriously wouldn't let me go to bed until I'd eaten it all," She began. "I think I just ate too much, and my body couldn't take it," Martha explained.
"Are you sure you're okay," Tasha asked again.
"Positive," Martha smiled. "Now, you better hurry up. You'll be late for school".
Tasha nodded and the two girls walked back out the door and down the stairs to the diner. When they entered Martha could see Jack scoffing down a great plate of food.
"That's disgusting," Martha laughed to Tasha.
"Tell me about it," Tasha giggled.
"Hey, can you not tell anyone about me throwing up. I don't want everybody worrying over nothing. Especially Jack," Martha said to Tasha.
"Sure," Tasha smiled. The two girls gave each other a quick hug goodbye and Martha walked back over to where Jack was sitting.
Jack looked up and smiled when he saw Martha walking back towards him.
"Hey, what took you so long?" he asked.
"Oh, just talking to Tasha," Martha replied.
"Okay. Well sit down and eat," Jack told her.
"Yes sir," she joked. But before she sat down she noticed Megan sitting in a booth on the other side of the room. "Megan's here," she said.
Jack looked up at her with a frown. "Yeah, I know. But don't worry, she's not here to hassle us," Jack said.
Martha looked back over at Megan and saw that she was looking at them. Not wanting to look rude, Martha gave her a small smile and wave. Megan copied the gesture.
Martha went to sit in her seat across from Jack, but quickly changed her mind. Not knowing what had come over her; she sat in beside Jack and gave him a soft kiss on the neck. She then looked back at Megan, knowing that she was watching, and gave her one of those 'sucked in. He's mine' smiles.
The look on Megan's face was enough to make Martha's day.
"What was that for?" Jack smiled, gaining her attention.
"Just felt like doing it," she said cheerfully.
Martha looked back over to Megan's table. She was gone.
What a shame, she laughed to herself. At least I can eat in peace now.