Reasons Not to Fall in Love by Kirsty Moseley

skipped periods before when I was stressed, so I wasn’t too worried about it. But this was now the second one missed. Still, I had tried to tell myself that everything was fine, that my boobs had gotten slightly bigger and more sensitive because I was eating the wrong foods. I tried to tell myself that I didn’t like the smell of grease any more because I’d been around it too much at work. I tried to pretend that I’d just gone off the taste of tea because it was a phase. But this morning, there was no denying the fact that I woke up and had barely made it to the bathroom before I emptied my stomach.
    I hadn’t voiced my concerns to anyone. I’d gone to work as normal, worked my dawn cleaning job, then finished my lunchtime shift at the café, and on the way home I’d made a stop at the pharmacy to buy the little stick that was either going to stop me worrying, or send my life into a spiral of shit.
    I heard door hinges creak a second before the door hit me square in the back. “Oh shit. Sorry, Mum,” Theo apologised. I looked up, seeing him squeeze through the gap and look at me worriedly. “What the hell? What’s happened?” he cried, dropping to his knees next to me.
    I gulped, not having a clue what to say. I’d drummed into him time and time again about being careful with girls, about using protection and not getting himself into the same situation that I got myself into when I was a teenager. It appeared that I should have been listening to my own advice.
    “Nothing’s wrong, I just…” I struggled to come up with something to answer that wasn’t the truth. My mind was totally blank apart from replaying my one night stand with Harrison over and over. I could still picture it perfectly – the caresses, the kisses and whispered words. The only thing I couldn’t bring to the front of my mind was whether he put on a condom or not. In my mind’s eye, I couldn’t see him doing it at all. Which meant that we’d probably had unprotected sex at least four times that night.
    “Why are you sitting on the floor? Did you slip or something?” Theo questioned.
    I shook my head, still clutching at the little box in my hand tightly. He frowned and looked down into my lap, his eyes latching onto the test.
    He gasped and shook his head. “That’s not mine, I have no idea whose that is,” he stated quickly with wide eyes. “That is nothing to do with me, I swear to God, I haven’t even… it’s not mine!” he promised.
    I wanted to laugh because he looked terrified, as if he thought I was going to rip into him at any second or something. “I know,” I whispered.
    He gulped as understanding crossed his face. “Oh no. Please tell me you’re not pregnant,” he groaned, shaking his head.
    I licked my lips and shrugged. “I haven’t taken it yet.”
    He closed his eyes, and his jaw tightened angrily. “Well this is just freaking great. Tell me this happened before you divorced him; please tell me you two aren’t back together or something,” he ranted.
    I frowned, a little confused by that statement.
He thinks the baby is Finn’s?
“We’re not together,” I confirmed, shaking my head fiercely. That would never happen in a million years; I would rather stick my hand into a bucket of acid than take him back again.
    “Good because he’s not good enough for you. He’s a lying cocksucker, and if he’s got you pregnant then fucked off with some whore I’m gonna kill him!” he spat angrily.
    “Language, Theo!” I scolded, shocked by his outburst.
    He scoffed. “Seriously, don’t start to lecture me right now. I’m sitting on the floor with my mother who is worried she’s pregnant by a guy she’s just divorced because he put it around to every girl in town!” he replied nastily.
    I gulped and shook my head. “It’s nothing to do with Finn,” I said quickly, wanting to quash his anger. “Look, I haven’t even taken it yet. Why don’t I do that and then I’ll talk to you, OK?” I