“So, there’s actually a reason behind this get together. There’s something I need to tell you guys”, Flora begins nervously her eyes shifting from Riley and landing on mine.

Suprise strings through me and I realise the soaring in my chest, is because I’m proud of her. I’ve been waiting since they got together for her to take this plunge. I had eventually given her some space to come to this conclusion herself and now it was happening. Maybe letting things take their natural course is better than taking the bull by the horns. I give her an encouraging smile.

“I’m pregnant” she announces.

Riley’s shrieks of delight echo throughout the room as she flings herself into Flora with a hug. “That is so amazing. I’m so happy for you…and me, I’m gonna be an aunt!”

I’m stuck rooted to hardwood floor. This…this…is unexpected but it can’t change anything. She’s looking at me again. This doesn’t change anything right? I question- plead with my eyes. Barely keeping myself from pulling her out of Riley’s hold and into the kitchen so I can privately talk with her. But she just tilts her head and softly smiles as if to say, Veronica.

No. She cannot still be staying with him now. Now more then ever. She needs to find it in herself to pack up and leave. Forget that, I’ll do it all for her myself. She gave him all she had and he NEVER changes. THIS won’t change him either. I’m intervening. A tendency I have tried to keep under control over the past few months, ‘letting things just be’ as my therapist would put it. But this, this is my best friends life and Im not watching her be miserable, gaslighted and hit for a moment longer. Even if she hates me for the rest of her life, so be it.

“Your leaving him” I tell her.

“Your leaving him or I’ll tell your family myself, about what type of a man he really is” I say concluding with my ultimatum.