The Essex Affect
The Boy Who Plays Rebel
ONE MONTH LATER
I sat in the clinic’s waiting room with a dozen other pregnant women. I was the only dude in the waiting room that was pregnant. The only men that were in the room were the women’s partners and my partner, Oliver. Mum offered to come with me, but I told her I would rather have Oli go since he was the daddy. I was sitting there with nothing in my hands except my phone. I was scrolling through Instagram on certain accounts. Specifically, I was scrolling through Jack’s page. All over his account was pictures of him, Austin, Alan and Taylor. Since they all made buddy with Taylor, they were inseparable. Honestly, I was beginning to become jealous. I missed his company. He grew fond of me and cared about me so much, and I threw him away. I should have just given him the break instead of running to Oliver.
Oliver caught on to me looking through Jack’s account, and he snatched the phone right from my hands. I jumped from being startled, and I turned my attention to him. Oliver was pressing all kinds of buttons on my phone until he finally declared, “There, done.” He then handed me my phone back. I looked down at my phone with pinched brows.
“What did you do?” I asked.
“Blocked him. I don’t want him talking to you anymore, and I don’t want you looking at his accounts. You got me now; you don’t need some pussy in your life anymore. Now, I suggest you forget about him.” Oliver’s words towards me were harsh and uncalled for. I looked at him with such annoyance in my expression.
“Excuse me? Do you think you run me or something? Like, you’re my father?” I spat. Oliver’s eyes widened at my words, and he took his hand and grabbed my face. He yanked it towards his own. People around us were staring and wondering what the hell Oliver’s problem was, but none of them grabbed a clinic staff member. Wow.
“You listen to me, and you listen good. You’re fucking staying away from that jerk-off. You will not look at his accounts, talk to him, talk about him, or even think of him. If you do, so help me, I will teach you a lesson that no one will ever want to be taught. You fucking understand me?!” Oliver scolded me through a mere whisper to not cause anymore of a scene. I was shaking from fear, and out of my fear, I nodded hurriedly. Oliver shoved my face back, so my back was pressing against the chair again. I looked down at my stomach with tears filling my eyes. What made it worse was, after him scolding me like I was his child, he had the nerve to reach over and caress his growing child.
I didn’t move his hand because I didn’t know if he would hurt me if I did. Minutes after my scolding, a nurse came out and called, “Alexander Gaskarth?” I stood up slowly and walked towards the door. Oliver followed close behind me. The nurse took us to a room that had a ultrasound monitor beside a padded bed. A male was in the room waiting for me which was my doctor, Dr. Wentz. Dr. Wentz stood up and held out a hand to me.
“Alexander! Welcome back, hello! Come have a sit on the bed, we’ll take your blood pressure, and then we will get to see how your baby is developing.” I followed his instructions and sat on the bed. Oliver sat in a seat across the room with his headphones in -- really? I just let out a sigh and allowed Dr. Wentz to put the plastic wrap around my arm to take my blood pressure. “So, Alexander,” Dr. Wentz started to converse with me, “how has the pregnancy been going so far?”
“It’s fine. I haven’t felt any kicks yet, but I have been feeling little flutters. I know I have been dealing with morning sickness still and mood swings.”
“Ah, well, you probably will start to see your morning sickness stop around the fifth or sixth month. As for a kick, keep waiting -- you’ll feel one very soon!” When the strap got to its maximum expansion, Dr. Wentz let the air be released from it. “Your blood pressure is a little high. Nerves? Sugar?” Dr. Wentz questioned. Of course Oliver would get me all worked up right before my appointment and raise my blood pressure.
“I’m just nervous is all.” I lied. Dr. Wentz nodded and laid me back.
“Just lift up your tee, and we can begin!” I lifted my shirt and shivered. My stomach had grown much in the last month, and it was “adorable” says my mum and dad. Dr. Wentz squirted the warm gel on my stomach and pressed it down with the monitor remote. I looked up at the screen to see a black and white filmy picture. Nothing on the screen resembled a baby. “Let’s see where your little one is.” Dr. Wentz slid all over my stomach to try and find my baby, and he finally found it’s head right above my groin area. “There it is!”
The baby’s head showed up on the screen, and I gasped. By instinct, I placed my palm right under my chest where I now knew my baby’s feet were. Dr. Wentz went down a little further and pressed down. Immediately, a heartbeat emitted throughout the room. “That, Mr. Gaskarth, is your son’s heart beat.” My eyes looked up at Dr. Wentz.
“M-My son?” I stammered in disbelief.
“Congratulations, Mr. Gaskarth. You will be having a beautiful baby boy in five months.” His words made me begin to cry. I looked over at Oliver who was too busy with his phone to care. That made my happy tears turn into depressed tears, but I hid it well.
Dr. Wentz cleaned my stomach up and wrote some stuff down. I sat up and clutched my hands tightly together as I tried to gain my composure back. “So, Alexander, how many prints of the baby should I make for you?” I looked up and thought for a moment.
“Um, I would like four, please.” Dr. Wentz nodded.
“Well, you and your boyfriend can wait in the waiting room while I make the prints, and you’ll be on your way!” I got up and walked towards the door. Oliver got up, still not paying attention, and followed out with me. When we got into the hallway, Oliver finally pulled out his headphones and asked,
“So, how did it go? What are we having?” I stopped and looked at him.
“If you must know, we’re having a boy. Does that matter? Probably not considering your music meant much more.” I said nothing more. I spun around and walked back to the waiting room to sit and wait for my prints.
The next day at school, I walked through the halls and went to Jack’s locker. In my hand was a print of my son and a letter. The letter read:
Jack,
I found out I am having a little boy. You said that you wanted to know what the gender was when we dated, so I kept my promise. If you want to ever stop by, come to my place and we can hang. I still want to be friends, Jack. It’s your choice if you want to be or not. When you see this and want to work things out, meet me at our tree at lunch.
Alex.
I slid the letter and print into the locker slits and headed towards English.
When lunch rolled around, I walked outside with a bottle of soda and sat at Jack and I’s spot -- our tree. I sat against the back of the tree, so I couldn’t tell if anyone was coming out to the tree or not. Deep down, I hoped Jack would come see me, but I was also hoping that Oliver would find out I was waiting for Jack and come out to kill me.
I sat in the clinic’s waiting room with a dozen other pregnant women. I was the only dude in the waiting room that was pregnant. The only men that were in the room were the women’s partners and my partner, Oliver. Mum offered to come with me, but I told her I would rather have Oli go since he was the daddy. I was sitting there with nothing in my hands except my phone. I was scrolling through Instagram on certain accounts. Specifically, I was scrolling through Jack’s page. All over his account was pictures of him, Austin, Alan and Taylor. Since they all made buddy with Taylor, they were inseparable. Honestly, I was beginning to become jealous. I missed his company. He grew fond of me and cared about me so much, and I threw him away. I should have just given him the break instead of running to Oliver.
Oliver caught on to me looking through Jack’s account, and he snatched the phone right from my hands. I jumped from being startled, and I turned my attention to him. Oliver was pressing all kinds of buttons on my phone until he finally declared, “There, done.” He then handed me my phone back. I looked down at my phone with pinched brows.
“What did you do?” I asked.
“Blocked him. I don’t want him talking to you anymore, and I don’t want you looking at his accounts. You got me now; you don’t need some pussy in your life anymore. Now, I suggest you forget about him.” Oliver’s words towards me were harsh and uncalled for. I looked at him with such annoyance in my expression.
“Excuse me? Do you think you run me or something? Like, you’re my father?” I spat. Oliver’s eyes widened at my words, and he took his hand and grabbed my face. He yanked it towards his own. People around us were staring and wondering what the hell Oliver’s problem was, but none of them grabbed a clinic staff member. Wow.
“You listen to me, and you listen good. You’re fucking staying away from that jerk-off. You will not look at his accounts, talk to him, talk about him, or even think of him. If you do, so help me, I will teach you a lesson that no one will ever want to be taught. You fucking understand me?!” Oliver scolded me through a mere whisper to not cause anymore of a scene. I was shaking from fear, and out of my fear, I nodded hurriedly. Oliver shoved my face back, so my back was pressing against the chair again. I looked down at my stomach with tears filling my eyes. What made it worse was, after him scolding me like I was his child, he had the nerve to reach over and caress his growing child.
I didn’t move his hand because I didn’t know if he would hurt me if I did. Minutes after my scolding, a nurse came out and called, “Alexander Gaskarth?” I stood up slowly and walked towards the door. Oliver followed close behind me. The nurse took us to a room that had a ultrasound monitor beside a padded bed. A male was in the room waiting for me which was my doctor, Dr. Wentz. Dr. Wentz stood up and held out a hand to me.
“Alexander! Welcome back, hello! Come have a sit on the bed, we’ll take your blood pressure, and then we will get to see how your baby is developing.” I followed his instructions and sat on the bed. Oliver sat in a seat across the room with his headphones in -- really? I just let out a sigh and allowed Dr. Wentz to put the plastic wrap around my arm to take my blood pressure. “So, Alexander,” Dr. Wentz started to converse with me, “how has the pregnancy been going so far?”
“It’s fine. I haven’t felt any kicks yet, but I have been feeling little flutters. I know I have been dealing with morning sickness still and mood swings.”
“Ah, well, you probably will start to see your morning sickness stop around the fifth or sixth month. As for a kick, keep waiting -- you’ll feel one very soon!” When the strap got to its maximum expansion, Dr. Wentz let the air be released from it. “Your blood pressure is a little high. Nerves? Sugar?” Dr. Wentz questioned. Of course Oliver would get me all worked up right before my appointment and raise my blood pressure.
“I’m just nervous is all.” I lied. Dr. Wentz nodded and laid me back.
“Just lift up your tee, and we can begin!” I lifted my shirt and shivered. My stomach had grown much in the last month, and it was “adorable” says my mum and dad. Dr. Wentz squirted the warm gel on my stomach and pressed it down with the monitor remote. I looked up at the screen to see a black and white filmy picture. Nothing on the screen resembled a baby. “Let’s see where your little one is.” Dr. Wentz slid all over my stomach to try and find my baby, and he finally found it’s head right above my groin area. “There it is!”
The baby’s head showed up on the screen, and I gasped. By instinct, I placed my palm right under my chest where I now knew my baby’s feet were. Dr. Wentz went down a little further and pressed down. Immediately, a heartbeat emitted throughout the room. “That, Mr. Gaskarth, is your son’s heart beat.” My eyes looked up at Dr. Wentz.
“M-My son?” I stammered in disbelief.
“Congratulations, Mr. Gaskarth. You will be having a beautiful baby boy in five months.” His words made me begin to cry. I looked over at Oliver who was too busy with his phone to care. That made my happy tears turn into depressed tears, but I hid it well.
Dr. Wentz cleaned my stomach up and wrote some stuff down. I sat up and clutched my hands tightly together as I tried to gain my composure back. “So, Alexander, how many prints of the baby should I make for you?” I looked up and thought for a moment.
“Um, I would like four, please.” Dr. Wentz nodded.
“Well, you and your boyfriend can wait in the waiting room while I make the prints, and you’ll be on your way!” I got up and walked towards the door. Oliver got up, still not paying attention, and followed out with me. When we got into the hallway, Oliver finally pulled out his headphones and asked,
“So, how did it go? What are we having?” I stopped and looked at him.
“If you must know, we’re having a boy. Does that matter? Probably not considering your music meant much more.” I said nothing more. I spun around and walked back to the waiting room to sit and wait for my prints.
The next day at school, I walked through the halls and went to Jack’s locker. In my hand was a print of my son and a letter. The letter read:
Jack,
I found out I am having a little boy. You said that you wanted to know what the gender was when we dated, so I kept my promise. If you want to ever stop by, come to my place and we can hang. I still want to be friends, Jack. It’s your choice if you want to be or not. When you see this and want to work things out, meet me at our tree at lunch.
Alex.
I slid the letter and print into the locker slits and headed towards English.
When lunch rolled around, I walked outside with a bottle of soda and sat at Jack and I’s spot -- our tree. I sat against the back of the tree, so I couldn’t tell if anyone was coming out to the tree or not. Deep down, I hoped Jack would come see me, but I was also hoping that Oliver would find out I was waiting for Jack and come out to kill me.
Notes
ok so i hated this chapter bc i thought i sounded choppy and dumb
but
is jack gonna be at the tree? or oli?
uh oh
xoxo krys
@ApathyforSympathy
@ashleywinter
@SophieGaskarth
I'm glad you guys enjoyed the story! Thanks so much for your endless support<3
5/19/16