Chapter 15
    

The final days of the New York trip were spent sight-seeing and shopping for the most part. Occasionally, Justin got roped into a short interview here, or a quick autograph signing there, but it wasn't anything that bothered him; he knew it came with the territory. As the events went on, Gabrielle became more comfortable with the situation, and it bothered her less and less when Justin would step far away from her whenever he was recognized. He'd explained to her and she knew that neither of them was ready for a relationship in the public eye, so in most situations, he acted like he didn't know her or that she was just a nameless face in the entourage.     

There had even been a night after they'd returned from New York when Justin had promised that it would just be the two of them alone for a quiet evening.  The evening hadn't even come close to just the two of them, and it was a far cry from a quiet night. During the dinner that she'd prepared for him in her apartment, his cell phone continuously rang, and by the end of the night, Justin had become so frustrated by it that he cut the night short and went in to work; he'd mentioned something about a last-minute unnecessary rehearsal.     

After that night, Gabrielle learned to take things in stride. She began to realize that complaining to Justin about their situation never helped them; it always stressed them out even more and put an angry pressure on the relationship. After about three yelling matches over the subject, Gabrielle gave up, and sat by as things happened; she no longer tried to control the out-of-hand situation.    

On top of the stresses she'd put on the relationship, her nausea problem hadn't calmed itself down. For the first two weeks after their trip home, she'd spent her mornings throwing up as quietly as she could. Whether they were staying at Justin's place or hers, they always spent the nights together, which meant she had to hide her vomiting from him in the mornings. When she wasn't vomiting, she had a headache, and keeping her irritability from Justin was proving to be taxing on her and the relationship.     

She knew her answer before she even took the test, but to be safe, she opened another of the pregnancy tests she had bought and took the test to find its result positive. She'd been delaying the inevitable; she'd almost felt as if it wouldn't be true if she didn't see it on a test. One afternoon while Justin had been working, she scheduled an appointment with her doctor to take a blood test and she spent the hour until she had to be at the doctor's office thinking of what to tell Justin when she got back.    

"Definitely. There's no doubt about it, Gabrielle. You're pregnant." Her doctor said as she examined the test results, "You're a little over two months at this point."    

"I know." She said, disheartened. Inwardly, she'd been praying that she'd just had a really bad stomach flu. She silently laughed at the absurdity; she'd have to have had the stomach flu for well over a month, and that just didn't happen.    

"Since you know you're pregnant, are you taking care of yourself? Are you on vitamins yet?"    

"No, I haven't done anything."    

"Well, I'll write you some prescriptions and give you a list of suggested reading. Get ready, Gabrielle, you're in for the most exhausting seven months of your life. Do you have any questions?"    

"No." The frown on her face couldn't have been more evident.    

"Was this not good news for you?"    

"Not exactly. I'm in no position to be raising a child, I'm barely twenty-two. I'm still a child myself."    

"Well, your body doesn't think you're a child. You've reached maturity. Have you considered your options concerning the baby?"    

"What do you mean?    

"Well, you can choose to keep and raise the baby or there's adoption or abortion. Here, I'll give you some information on adoption and abortion so you can consider all of your options." Gabrielle began to protest, but then she realized that she needed all of the options available to her. She quietly thanked the doctor after being told that everything would work out fine, and she returned back to her apartment.    

As soon as she walked in the door, Justin was sitting on her couch waiting for her. She subtly covered her booklets in her coat and smiled as she walked passed him.   

"Where were you?" he asked, eyeing her suspiciously.    

"Oh, I just went to the doctor. I'm not feeling well. She gave me some prescriptions."    

"You're still sick? My God, Gabby, you've been sick since we left New York over a month ago."    

"I know, she said I was allergic to some of the foods I'd been eating, so she gave me some medicine and let me know what foods to stay away from," she lied. Nonchalantly, she went into her bedroom and hid the booklets underneath a dresser drawer and hid the prescriptions as well. The books were obvious, and the prescriptions clearly read Prenatal Vitamins; the last thing she needed was Justin finding out about her pregnancy. She decided she wasn't going to tell him anything until she figured out what she was going to do herself.    

"Do you feel really bad or do you want to go out tonight?" he asked, "There's this club opening I have to go to, and I thought you might want to come, too." Gabrielle thought for a minute before she agreed to go.    

"First, I wanna take a nap, though. I'm so tired."    

"That'll be good for you. You look tired."    

"Thanks, Justin. I can't hear that enough. You flatter me so successfully." He laughed at her sarcasm and covered her with a blanket as she lay on her bed.    

"I'll wake you up an hour before we'll leave, okay?" She nodded.    

"Good, I'm going back to my place to change. Rest up, baby." Again she nodded, and she was out before he'd even walked out of her front door. 
   

As soon as they walked into the club that night, the pounding music started to wear on Gabrielle's head; she could feel a bad headache starting in the middle of her forehead, and the nap had done little to rejuvenate her. As tradition, she and Justin made their way first to the bar. They sat down and Justin ordered their usuals. Without thinking, Gabrielle took a swing of her martini into her mouth, then realized her absentmindedness and instantly spit it back into the glass.    

"What's the matter with you?" Justin laughed as Gabrielle dabbed her lips with a napkin.    

"It’s too strong, it’s gross," she lied, "Plus, it probably won't make me feel good."    

"Why, is that one of the things you're allergic to?" he smiled at her and slid his thumb over her cheek, "Wanna dance?" He pulled her to the middle of the floor without waiting for her response and she willingly let him. After five or six songs, Gabrielle felt the need for a rest and she let Justin know.   

"You wanna go back to your place? I need to stay for awhile, but I'll be there in a few hours." He suggested.    

"Yeah, that sounds good. I'm sorry; I'm just so tired all of a sudden."    

"But you took a nap today so you wouldn't be tired tonight. What's wrong with you?"  He eyed her suspiciously.    

"Who knows?" She smiled and instinctively moved in for a quick kiss goodbye. Justin responded with a disapproving look and he backed away before she could kiss him.    

"Right...the public eye thing. Sometimes I forget."    

"I know you're not used to this, but it's not so hard to deal with once you're used to it."    

"Right." She said sarcastically and nodded her goodbye. As she began to walk away, he flashed her that million-dollar smile and winked. She forced a fake smile, despite her hurt feelings, and turned to walk to the exit. She turned to get one last glance and was disappointed to see Britney all ready walking up to him. She watched as they hugged and instantly saw the camera flashes go off. Whatever, she thought; it's all just for the publicity. She walked out before watching anything more and was in her bed asleep within the hour.