I keep seeing pregnant women everywhere. It's almost like I'm being stalked by baby bumps and I simply cannot escape them. This is probably an exaggeration but I can't deny the fact that it seems as if every woman in London is expecting. Sam laughed when I told him of my theory and tried to assure me that I only thought that because I have baby on the brain. There weren't more pregnant ladies roaming the street, I was simply noticing it more because I was now one of them.

I'm in the eggo is preggo club!

"Why are you crying now?" Sam asked in his irritated voice. His tone did nothing to calm me down as I burst into even more tears. "God, if this is what it's going to be like for the next nine months, I think I might actually have to move back into my own place."

My head snapped up at hearing those words and while they would have been music to my ears a few weeks ago, right now, it was the worst news I've ever heard. "You can't leave me!" I wailed. "I'm pregnant!"

Finally understanding what was behind the waterworks, Sam laughed in amusement and came over to where I was sat to wrap his arms around me. Since he broke the news to me that I was pregnant- with Isaac Fletcher's baby, no less!- I've flitted between being ridiculously excited about being a mum and equally terrified that I'm going to be a mother to a real, live human baby. 

I wasn't cut out for motherhood. I could barely keep a cactus alive when I was a teenager and those buggers need only the minimal amount of care and attention. Imagine me having a dependant! You hear those stories about parents forgetting their babies in cafés or losing them in Tesco or locking them in the car and having to phone the police to come and break the window. The worrying thing is that all those scenarios would be my reality once the baby arrives. 

"Char, you're going to be ok," Sam reassured me, his voice having lost the annoyance it held previously. When I'd calmed down enough, Sam slumped down on the sofa next to me and watched me carefully. "I know you don't want to hear this but I really think you need to tell-"

"No!" Cutting him off, I send him my best death glare. "I am not telling Isaac. He doesn't need to know."

Sam arched his eyebrows. "He doesn't need to know? Charlotte, are you even listening to yourself? He's the father of your baby and he's going to find out eventually. Would you rather that he hear it from you or just randomly bump into you in a few months time and it's like, 'Holy shit!'? Because those are your options." 

I knew what Sam said was true but there was no way I could tell Isaac. I was just a one night stand, after which, I was supposed to flit away and the whole thing would become a distant memory. Turning up and announcing that I was having Isaac's baby wasn't part of the deal and even if I did grow a set of balls and pluck up the courage to tell him, he wouldn't be interested. He has his own life and I'm pretty sure that I do not register in it, let alone a baby being part of the grand plan. 

Despite reassurances from Sam that Isaac would be happy with the news of impending fatherhood and assume his role with great enthusiasm, I wasn't entirely sure that I wanted him to do so. If there was anything worse than parenting, surely it would be co-parenting. When would Isaac have the baby- every weekend or every other weekend? Who would have the kid for Christmas- me or him? What type of school would the child attend- state or private? It will be a logistical nightmare and Isaac and I would fight and the child would be in the middle and we wouldn't be able to reach an agreement and... Nightmare of the worst kind.

"Char-"

"Fine!" I suddenly find myself shouting. For a reason that I couldn't entirely explain in that moment, I felt backed into a corner and the tears were threatening to make an encore appearance. "I'll tell him. I just need to figure out how I'm going to drop that bomb, that's all. I mean, is there really an ideal way for your one night stand to announce that she's knocked up?"

Sam shrugs. "Probably not. I do, however, know that it's better that you tell him sooner rather than later," he tells me with a frown. He looks away, his eyes casting downwards at the watch that adorns his wrist, and then he sighs heavily. "I better go. It's Valentine's Day and I've made reservations for Jasmine and me at Duck. Are you going to be ok?"

After fifteen minutes of trying to persuade Sam to leave- of which, eleven minutes consisted of me crying- I forced him out the door and put the latch on. I'd love to see him try to come back in now. 

Alone in the flat, I kept myself occupied so that my mind wouldn't wander to the situation currently happening in my uterus. I cleaned the kitchen and bathroom, changed the bedsheets in the master bedroom and was attempting to organise the bookshelves so that my book display was now in alphabetical order based on the author's surname. I was just about to start on the Ps when my door buzzed, causing me to jump. I wasn't expecting anyone, especially this evening, and people knew better than to randomly turn up at my door unannounced. 

Reaching the intercom, I picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Want to be my Valentine, Lottie?" The accent was unmistakable. It also made my blood run colder than cold. "Are you going to leave me standing out here all night or am I invited up?"

My hands moved of their own accord and before I could stop myself, my index finger pressed down on the button that opened the door, allowing Isaac to enter my building. Panic rose in my chest and I could feel the fight or flight instincts kick in, screaming at me to get the hell out of here. The only trouble with that plan is that I didn't have an escape route. Even if I did, the sound of Isaac knocking on my door merely three seconds later put paid to any vanishing act that I wanted to pull on him. 

"I know you're in there, Lottie," he teased from the other side of the door. Working up the courage to open the door, I took my time in releasing the latch and turning the lock, pulling the door at a speed that was slower than a snail's pace. Finally, when the door was open, I peered out to see Isaac smiling down at me. "So, I figured that you and I could spend Valentine's Day together."

"Why?"

"Why not?" He countered, pushing his way passed me as he sauntered to the kitchen. It annoyed me that he knew his way around my personal space but compared to the other personal space that he'd invaded, my kitchen was the least of my worries. "I didn't think you'd be here."

"Then why are you here?" I challenged him as soon as I caught up with him in the kitchen. "Unless you knew that I'd be here. Did Sam call you? Did he tell you to come over? Did he tell you that-"

I stopped short when I caught Isaac's confused frown. "Why would Sam call and tell me to come over?" Like a rabbit caught in the headlights, I was frozen in place and I couldn't formulate an answer, not that Isaac really gave me much time to vocalise one. "I was hoping that you'd be here but it wouldn't have surprised me if you weren't. I'm sure you have men beating down your door wanting to go out on a date. Still, on the off chance that I was a lucky enough to spend this evening with you, I came prepared."

He winked at me- damn him!- and then began to unpack his supermarket bag. He'd brought strawberries dipped in chocolate, a selection of cupcakes, enough caviar to feed hundreds of people, oysters with tequila butter, chocolate and coffee truffles, and Valentine's Day heart-shaped biscuits. Oh, and a bottle of Piper-Heidsieck Rare Rosé Champagne. 

"What do you want to start first?" Isaac asked, turning to face me with an expectant look on his face. When he noticed my wide-eyed stare, he frowned and looked back down at his offerings. "What, you don't like any of this stuff?"

"No, the food is fine," I reply. "The Champagne not so much. That's beside the point, though. What are you doing here, Isaac? Surely you had better propositions for tonight."

I couldn't help but flinch when I saw the hurt flash in Isaac's eyes. "You're always thinking the worst of me, aren't you?" He muttered. He took an exaggerated step away from mean leant against the counter, dropping his gaze to the floor as he shook his head. "It's Valentine's Day and I just wanted to spend it with someone I genuinely like. And for the record, I don't do Valentine's so, no, I did not have a better proposition for tonight."

I let his words hang in the air, not knowing how to react. I knew what he said was true; I did always think the worst of him, despite him trying to show me otherwise. I had been the one to run away from him, not the other way around, so who is to say that maybe this thing between us couldn't have worked out? I'd let my prejudices get in the way and now I looked like the bad guy. Especially since Isaac said that he genuinely likes me. Of course, that's subject to change once-slash-if I drop the baby bombshell on him. He'd run a mile at the prospect of having a child, no matter how much he tells me that he likes me. 

Pushing all those thoughts out of my head, I decide to live in the moment and put aside any judgements I may have of Isaac. He's forever on at me to give him a chance and so far I've denied him that. Now, I suppose it's time for that to change.

"Well, I don't like caviar," I finally speak as I step towards the goods that Isaac had brought with him. I spied the cupcakes with their delicious chocolate swirl icing, the chocolate and coffee truffles and beamed as I gathered them into a pile before me. "You can eat anything but these are mine. Now, grab whatever you need because I think my living room is far comfier than the kitchen."

Not bothering to wait for Isaac, I picked up my cupcakes and truffles and moved into the living room, slumping down on the sofa while flicking through the channels on the TV. Reaching some random movie channel, I caught a glimpse of Beauty and the Beast playing and decided to stay with the film. 

"Are we seriously watching this?" Isaac's mildly annoyed voice grumbled as he entered the living area and set all his food down on the coffee table. From the corner of my eye, I saw Isaac slipping his suit jacket off and draped it over the back of the sofa before loosening his tie and kicking off his shoes. He then sat next to me, so close that his hip touched mine. "You know, seeing as it's Valentine's Day, I could show you the best of two of the world's most romantic cities."

"Really?" I scoffed. "By all means, please do so."

Reaching across me with a wicked smile on his face, Isaac picked up the TV remote and pressed a few buttons until Beauty and the Beast was replaced by a Champion's League football game. "Paris Saint-Germain versus Barcelona," he proudly announced.

"You're an idiot," I scolded him but didn't demand that he turn it back to my TV choice. Instead, I opened up the truffles and popped one into my mouth, biting down in anticipation for the deliciousness. However, it never came. Instead, all I could taste was bitterness and it made my stomach churn. "Oh, no."

Placing my hand over my mouth, I clambered to my feet and climbed over Isaac's legs as I rushed to the nearest bathroom. From behind me, I could hear Isaac call out my name before the heavy footfalls followed me to the master bedroom's bathroom. When I finally reached my destination, I barely had time to pull back my hair before my stomach contracted and purged. 

Suddenly, I felt a hand on my back, a circling pattern soothing me as I continued to vomit. "Hey, it's ok," Isaac's softly spoke in his distinctive accent. He slumped down next to me, resting his chin near my shoulder blade. "You're alright, Lottie. I'm here."

After five minutes, my stomach settled and the sickness stopped. Coming to my senses, I turned my head from Isaac as a feeling of embarrassment came over me. "Sorry," I managed to mumble as I shakily got to my feet. This morning-noon-night sickness was a real drain on my energy supply and it always left me feeling depleted. Flushing the toilet and closing the lid, I quickly turned to the sink to splash some water on my face and swill my mouth with minty mouthwash. When I spat it out, I caught Isaac's reflection in the mirror, a furious glare in his eye. "Are you ok?"

When I spun to face him, I instantly regretted it. In his hands, he held the Clearblue box that had been sat on the cabinet top since last week. His gaze shifted from my face to the box and then back up again, the furiousness replaced with a flurry of questions. "What's this?"

I opened my mouth to speak but all that come out was a strangled, "I-"

"Charlotte, stop pissing about," Isaac's voice took on a serious edge that instantly made me feel wary of him. "What the fuck is this?"

"A pregnancy test?" I'm not sure why it came out as a question but the intensity in Isaac's eyes had my heart racing in panic. "Issac-"

"Was it positive?" His abrupt voice cut me off. When a beat passed in silence, Isaac suddenly stood and waved the box in front of him. "Was it positive, Charlotte? Are you pregnant?"

I couldn't speak. It would have been futile to try. Instead, I nod. 

For all Sam's promises that Isaac would step up, that he would support me, that he wouldn't desert me, he lied. As soon as he'd had the confirmation that he needed, Isaac threw the box back where he found it and stormed out the door. I was frozen in my place but I could hear Isaac rattling around, gathering his belongings before his footsteps neared the front door. There was a brief pause and for a moment, I thought that he'd come back and apologise, tell me that he'd over-reacted and that he was delighted by the news- it never happened. 

The next sound I heard wasn't an apology but rather the door slamming shut as the cheers from the football game echoed around the house. 

Uh, oh! 

What do you think will happen next?

Did Isaac over-react?

Will he come back?

Is he a total jerk?

What do you make of Charlotte so far?

Will Sam and Jasmine make it?

Tons of questions... 

Until next week!

Sarah, xx