2: Breakfast

BLAIR

I’m woken up by the shrill ringing of my phone.

My eyes feel heavy and my body heavier. I snuggle my pillow closer, having no intention of picking up the phone.

Whoever is calling should know not to wake any living being up before ten on a Saturday. That should be a crime against humanity.

I throw my hand from side to side until I palm the phone. Meaning to switch the annoying device off.

I must have mistakenly sent it to voicemail because Mikayla’s loud voice fills the small bedroom.

“Where are you, Blair?! I have been calling you for the past hour. Call me back as soon as you get this. It is very urgent.”

I prop one eye open at the sound of Mikayla’s voice. If it was Sasha, I would have passed it off for her being her usual dramatic self. Kayla hates leaving Voicemails because she thinks she always sounds weird.

It must be really important.

With a heavy sigh, I throw the comforters off my body and push myself up. My eyes are a bit groggy from sleep and tiredness from last night.

Not that I did anything apart from laze around in my pajamas. I finished a tub of Ben and Jerry’s then binge watched the new season of YOU. Although I’ve watched it.

In my current state. I find that maybe spending time with Joe Goldberg and his problems will be better than facing mine.

They were.

I rush to the bathroom and brush my teeth, then waddle back to my room, rubbing at my sleepy eyes.

I hop on the bed, sitting crossed legged then drag my phone up and see the million missed calls Mikayla left me.

God, did she kill someone or did someone die?

That should be the only reason she will call me twenty times. I must have been fast asleep because I only heard the last two. 

Without wasting any more time, I called her back.

She picks up on the second ring and her loud voice almost threatens to stop my hearing. I pull the phone away from my ear and breathe in before putting it back.

“You’re speaking too loud for my ear drums and I can barely make out what you’re saying.” I said, stifling a yawn with my hand.

“Oh, I’m sorry. It is pretty loud where I am. Can you hear me?” she screams again.

I shake my head and put the phone on speakerphone before dropping it beside me. If there is even a chance we’ll communicate through this call, I need to put some distance between me and the device.

I stare at my bare thighs, the shorts I’m wearing have ridden up so high that they could be mistaken for panties. I sleep alone so I’m not really bothered.

Something catches my eyes and it once again distracts me from Mikayla’s loud voice.

“Kayla, where are you? I’ll come meet you because I can’t hear Jack shit you’re saying.” She says something but I don’t hear because I’ve already pressed the end button.

A dark mark in my thigh gains my attention.

My brows furrow as I spread my legs widely on the bed, trying to get a better angle.

“Shit,” I curse in a small whisper.

I’m staring at what seems to be a bite mark in the middle of my thigh, right above the bitemark I have there.

“Where did this come from?” The question comes out louder than I intended.

I throw my legs off the bed and stand up, then I crouch to see if maybe it was the trick of light or something. But there it is, a bite mark right in the middle of my thigh.

How the hell did it get here?

The same way a man’s semen made it into your womb. I roll my eyes at the sassy voice in my head.

I ball my hands into fists, getting angry at the nameless and faceless man that I know slept with me that night.

How dare he leave a fucking mark on my body?

Was it not enough that I was carrying his child without my consent? He had to go and do this too!

I’m going to break all his bones when I get my hands on him. I vow as I angrily stomp to the shower.

I shoot a quick text to Mikayla asking for her location so I’ll just meet up with her.

I’m craving pancakes from a little café downtown.

If she is close by, we can just meet up or I’ll go and see her after.

I bathe quickly and dress in jeans and a band t-shirt. Feeling too lazy to do anything for my hair, I braid the ends and let it rest over one shoulder.

Thanks to my dad’s African roots, my hair is a little curly and looks really go in braids. And I loved how they looked so I learnt.

It  is usually my go to style for everyday but I couldn’t be bothered with it today. I just wanted to look as presentable as possible.

Or at least good enough that no one will question my sanity.

I grab a jacket, my purse and phone before stepping out. Sasha is out too from how quiet the house is. I slip on my sneakers when I get to the door and lock the apartment.

We live on the twelfth floor of a fifteen floor apartment building. It has about forty other three bedroom apartments similar to ours.

Technically two bedrooms with a guest bedroom but that counts as three, so three.

It has a functional kitchen and two bathrooms.

It was a no-brainer that we picked one of those instead of choosing to stay at the school dorms.

And since most of the people from our highschool back at home come here for college. We see a lot of people we grew up with.

Growing up in a small town where everyone knew each other was not easy, but it was all we were used to.

You had to be from a certain tax bracket to even mortgage a house there.

Yes, I admit, we are that little town filled with rich socialites and mansions on every side of the street. We went to private schools and moved further up to ivy league universities. You have your whole life planned for you even before you’re out of diapers.

My dad wasn’t born into money like mum. But he worked his ass off and started a business in his freshman year of college where they met. It was successful right as they got married.

He easily blended into her lifestyle because he loved her that much. And me, well, I’m the youngest of two siblings and while my elder sister lived her life by a rule book. I was the second baby who got all the freedom she wanted.

And now, dad will certainly kill me when he finds out I’m having the child of a man that I don’t know the name of.

His face is starting to slip from my memory too.

Way to go, Blair. You’ve really outdone yourself this time.

It wasn’t easy growing up being the disappointment in the family.

I mean, my sister trained to work with dad. I didn’t have the brains or interests for computers or whatever he does, and I am not a social butterfly like mum. I’m just the odd one out.

But hey, being unique is a thing and I take the burden of being the cool one in the family.

My phone rings just when I finished with my breakfast. It was very satisfying and improved my mood by a hundred percent.

“Hey, Kay.” We call Mikayla, Kay or Kayla, depending on the mood and you can guess, I’m chipper right now.

“Where the hell are you?! I have been calling you and you just hung up the last time.” She is breathing heavily like someone who just ran a marathon.

“Chill, I’m at Jared’s. I wanted pancakes.”

I say with a smile. She sighed hearing my response.

“Fine, just stay there. I’m close by.” She doesn’t wait for my response before hanging up.

I stare at the phone in disbelief. I huff and drop it back on the table. Nothing is going to ruin my good mood.

With nothing to do, I decided to just look around the place and the people there.

It is no surprise there are a lot of people present. Jared’s has the best breakfast menu here and students especially love it.

You’ll find a family or worker on their lunch break here once or twice but it is not uncommon for it to be this full on a weekend.

I get bored of looking pretty quick so I reach for my phone and decide to go through my socials.

I’m not obsessed with being on social media in the sense of the word but I am pretty active there.

I swivel in my seat and decide it is a good morning to get a good ‘top of the morning’ post.

I would rather act as normal as possible so mum doesn’t suspect anything until I’m ready to tell her.

She swears she is not on any of these pages but I know her more than anyone and I know those her friends won’t shut up about it. They mostly keep their eyes on other kids while putting a blind eye to what their kids are doing.

Forget my dad, mum will kill me first!

He’ll have to bring me back just to kill me again.

I’d just brought the phone down to see which of the selfies I liked most when the hair on the back of my head prickled. That awareness when someone is watching you makes me almost shiver.

I don’t turn immediately. I’m smarter than that.

I rotate my phone in a way that the person wouldn’t really know what I’m up to and then I click the shutter.

When I bring it back down to see what I captured, my heart stops and the phone almost falls out of my hand from the shock.

I can’t believe what I'm seeing.

My eyes bulge and I increase the brightness of my phone, trying to be sure what I'm seeing is right.

I may not remember from the night. But I certainly remember him from the morning after the unfortunate night out.

The surprise soon fades, leaving me to panic only. Multiple questions rush to my mind.

Did he follow me? Is he following me? Has he been following me?

My chest rises and falls rapidly with every succession of my breathing. Knowing his eyes are still on me, I try to get my breathing under control in a bid to look as normal as possible.

The last thing I want is for him to realize that I’ve noticed him.

From the way the picture shows, if he didn’t know what I did, he is already suspecting.

Please show up now, Mikayla. I plead silently, wringing my fingers tightly together.

My prayers get answered immediately. The bells chime and Mikayla enters the café, I wave my hand, motioning for her to come.

Oh, I’m about to have a heart attack.