Chapter 35: Present Day IV
A few hours later, I feel a prickling sensation, and I let my eyes drift open. They're heavy with exhaustion, and I realize where that earlier feeling had come from when my eyes meet Scorpius's.
He's running a finger up and down my bare waist and hip as I lay on my side facing him. His other hand is bent up behind his head. My hands are curled in front of me at first, but when my eyes adjust, I reach out and touch his chest.
"Hi."
"Hey," he says.
"What time is it?"
"A little after 6."
"Ugh, you're such an early riser," I tease, running my hand along his chest. God, I missed touching him.
"I just had to look at you."
I smile and I feel my cheeks heat. I'm grateful that the room is dark because he always teases me for blushing at his words.
"I have to go back to Hogwarts tomorrow morning," he says.
I frown. "What? Seriously? McGonagall can't give you a few more days off?"
"She's been very generous already."
"I haven't seen you in a month."
"Rose…"
I sigh. "Okay, whatever." I roll onto my back and stare up at the ceiling. I had so many plans for us when Scorpius got back, but they were all going to be ruined. He scoots closer to me and looks down, running his fingers along my cheek. Like magic, my anger fades and I look at him.
"I have to go to the Manor for a few things today, but I need to see you before I go."
"You can stay here tonight."
I notice a bit of wariness in his eyes, but I don't question it. "Okay," he says.
"Did you do anything fun over there?" I ask. I'm not particularly curious, but I don't want him to think I'm bitter about his extended trip, even if I am a bit.
He shrugs slightly. "Nothing really. I didn't really have the time. I did get to go to a few good museums in the capital."
I smile. "That sounds nice."
"I wish you could have been there," he says quietly. He has no idea that I wished that more than anything when he was gone.
"Me, too," I say.
"You look different," Scorpius then says, changing the subject, I'm guessing because he knows I'm not as okay with the trip as I'm pretending to be.
I shrug. "I'm happy," I say simply. He smiles at me and rubs his hand down my cheek, and I lean into his touch. "Guess what?" I say after opening my eyes.
"Hmm?" he murmurs, his eyes drifting shut as he rolls to his back. I turn over onto my stomach and prop myself up on my elbows so I can look down at him.
"Nate proposed to Lucy."
Scorpius's eyes open, and he looks at me with a grin. "That's awesome."
"Yeah," I say happily. Nate had told the rest of us that he planned on doing it soon, and I'm unbelievably excited that Nate is going to be a part of my family. He is perfect for my absent-minded cousin. "She wants to keep it small so it'll probably be soon. I'll probably be a bridesmaid."
That makes Scorpius's grin widen. "I can't wait to see you in the ghastly thing she picks out for you."
I lean over and nudge him with my shoulder. "Jerk."
His grin turns into a smirk. "So do they know when at all?"
I shrug. "No. I'm just guessing it'll be soon. Maybe September."
"Whoa," he says, raising his eyebrows. "That is soon. It's April."
"Well, I don't know," I say. "But will you be my date, whenever it is?" I shoot him a coy smile.
Something flashes in his eyes. It's the same look I saw earlier when I told him he could stay with me tonight. The look should worry me, but it doesn't too much. Scorpius has always been moody like this.
"Of course," he says quietly. Then he brightens just a bit. "So, how did he do it?"
I grin and launch into the story of Nate's proposal to Lucy—how he took her to Hogsmeade to the spot where they had their first kiss on the anniversary of the day they had their first kiss. He said that Lucy had no idea and that when he dropped to one knee, she fell to her knees, too, asking him if he was all right because she thought he had been injured somehow. Leave it to my cousin to ruin the most romantic moment of her life.
I smile and say, "Well, it wouldn't be the two of them if it didn't somehow get a little strange." Then I sigh. "It was very romantic, though."
I glance over at Scorpius and he rolls his eyes. "Don't get any ideas," he says. I gape at him—arse!—and then I yank the pillow out from under him and swing it at him, but he blocks it with his quick reflexes and a stupid grin. Then without warning, he shifts quickly and pins me beneath him. He plants his lips to mine and kisses me sweetly, his tongue caressing mine and sending lances of electricity through my entire body. When he leans back, I try not to smile and pretend I'm angry about his comment, but his kisses and that goofy grin he's giving me make it difficult.
"I love you," he says, making what little anger I had at him disappear completely.
I lean up and try to nip at his bottom lip with my teeth. I manage to get a hold of just a bit of it before he pulls away, chuckling. "Prove it," I say huskily.
And with a salacious grin and a shift of his hips, he slides inside me, and proves his love for me for the rest of the morning.
Later, Scorpius has gone, and I'm wandering around my apartment wrapped only in a towel. After he left, I took a much-needed shower, and now I'm just missing him, wishing he was still here and wishing he had stayed long enough to shower with me.
I pull the towel down that I had wrapped up in my hair. My red waves come cascading down my shoulders and I shake them out a bit as I head back to my bathroom to fix myself up and get ready for the day ahead. It was going to be a long day waiting for Scorpius to return and an even longer night when he finally returned from whatever he was doing—probably updating his father on whatever business he'd had to take care of in the States.
I frown a bit then move to stand in front of my mirror in the bathroom. It's easy for me to notice the profound affect having Scorpius back has on me. My eyes look brighter, more alive. My cheeks have more color, and I look far less tense and more relaxed than I have in over a month.
The truth is that I had been feeling stressed and anxious before Scorpius left. He was right last night when he said our issues started before he left. He was angry at me for going on tour. I was angry that he was angry at me and never told me how he felt. I was angry that he was leaving to escape our problems—or so I thought. Everything about our relationship always kept me anxious, but I had to admit that the edge we always had in our relationship always brought a bit of excitement.
I glance down and pull open the top drawer in my bathroom counter. Immediately, I see a plain white box and I pull it out. Inside the box is the key to the anxiety I felt in the weeks before Scorpius left for America.
I open the box and pull out a small stick. On the stick there's a face smiling at me and next to it there's a word blaring at me.
PREGNANT.
On Valentine's Day, Scorpius had come to see me while I was on tour, surprising me with chocolates and roses and kisses. I knew at the time that he was upset about the tour, but for this day when he surprised me, everything was okay. He went to watch my show, and during almost all of our ballads, I felt like I was singing directly to him. He smiled at me the entire show, showing me that he loved me and making all my doubts disappear. After the show, he took me out to dinner, and it was perfect. We talked about the tour and what he was up to at Hogwarts. We talked about random things. We laughed together and he held my hand across the table.
That night, we went back to the hotel that the guys and I were staying in, and he asked so shyly if he could stay the night with me. I rolled my eyes at him and dragged him into the room before I practically ripped his clothes off. He didn't reciprocate—instead, he undressed me slowly, with care, making me so hot for him that I was practically crying with need by the time we were both naked and on the bed.
He made love to me all night—sweetly at first, and then with a desperation neither of us had experienced in months, driving into me hard and fast while I begged him to never, ever, ever stop.
He had to leave early the next morning to catch his train back to Hogwarts, and it wasn't until weeks later when I realized that I'd missed my period that I remembered that I had gone off muggle birth control during the tour since I wouldn't be needing it when I was apart from Scorpius, and I didn't want to worry about dealing with it every day while I was on tour.
I took the pregnancy test the week before the tour was scheduled to come to an end, and I visited a muggle doctor the day after I got back who confirmed the result.
I had a whole plan of how I was going to tell Scorpius. The night that he took me out to dinner to tell me he was going to America—although I didn't know that was the reason for the dinner at the time—I had planned to not-so-subtly order water instead of wine. Then I was planning on ordering a lot and mentioning something about eating for two. He was going to be surprised and shocked and scared and happy and joyous all at the same time. He was going to pull me into his arms and tell the entire restaurant that I was having his baby. He was going to tell me that we should just get married because he loved me and planned on marrying me anyway. In fact, he was planning on proposing that night, and he was going to pull out a ring and propose to me in that restaurant. And everyone was going to cheer and he was going to dip me and kiss me in front of everyone.
At least, that was the image I had created in my head of what would happen.
Instead, I never got a chance to tell him. He told me he was leaving for a month, and that it would give us each time to "think," whatever that means. Instead of tears of joy, I wept angry tears and hurled hurtful words at him, hating him for leaving me, and hating him for ruining what was supposed to be our perfect night.
But tonight I will tell him. Tonight we will get a chance to redo our perfect night, and he will tell me he loves me and that he wants us to be a family and that he can't imagine anything better. And I will tell him that I feel exactly the same.
Next chapter:
Remember how all of you hate Hadley? And how you hate Rose's naivety when it comes to him? ... Yeah you're about to hate them both even more...