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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

ARI

Sitting on the table in Dr. Wyatt’s office, I just stared at all the pictures of pregnant women, babies, and big tummies. The whole bulletin board was covered in pictures. I smiled when I saw a picture of my mother holding Matt from nine years ago. I was standing in the picture next to them, holding up rabbit ears behind my mother.

Dr. Wyatt came and sat down on the stool. He smiled at me, and I smiled back, but I felt like I wanted to throw up.

“Well, Ari, we drew all the blood we needed, and I should get the genetic tests back in two weeks. Your urine test came back positive for pregnancy. The next thing I would like to do is a transvaginal sonogram, so that way we can take a look and maybe see how far along you are. From our earlier conversation and the date of your last period, I’m guessing that you’re about nine weeks. That would put us at a due date of January thirtieth.”

My head was spinning. Nine weeks! Oh. My. God. I have a little baby in me…growing inside of me...holy hell.

“Um, when do you think I’ll start showing?” I asked as I pulled at the gown I was wearing.

Dr. Wyatt reached up, taking my hands in his.

“Ari, I know you’re scared for a number of reasons. Let’s just take this one step at a time, okay? There’s nothing we can do about Fragile X until we get the results back. Don’t stress yourself out. Now, to answer your question, you’ll probably start showing around the first week of October. Keep in mind though that everyone is different though.”

I shook my head. Dr. Wyatt asked me to lie back on the table. He stuck his head out and called for a nurse.

As a nurse joined us, Dr. Wyatt said,

“I need you to relax now, Ari.”

I kept my eyes on the monitor while I started to take deep breaths. Then, I saw it. It looked like a little peanut. I could hear it’s heart beating like crazy. My eyes started to tear up, and I looked away.

“Ari, honey, are you okay?” The nurse asked me.

I looked back at her and smiled.

“He should be here. I should have told him,” I said while tears poured down my cheeks.

The nurse took a hold of my hand and gave it a little squeeze.

“Honey, there are tons of women who come in here and get the first sonogram alone. You’re not always one-hundred percent sure that you’re pregnant. Some women like to wait until they know for sure before they tell the fathers.”

I tried to smile at her. When I looked back at my peanut, my smile grew bigger as I saw her little arms moving back and forth.

“She’s waving to you,” Dr. Wyatt said with a laugh.

“She?” I asked as I looked at him. There’s no way they can tell this early.

“Well, I usually call them all she until we find out for sure. It’s an old habit I picked up years ago,” He said with a laugh.

***

After Dr. Wyatt and the nurse left the room, I sat there for a few seconds, looking at the picture I held in my hand of my peanut. I placed my hands on my stomach, I closed my eyes.

“We just need to hold off another month, baby. Once Daddy finds out that the evil witch is not carrying his child, we can tell him about you. There’s no fucking way– oh god! Oh. My. God! I just swore at you. Oh, holy shit, I’m gonna make a piss-ass mother. OH! My! GOD! I did it again!”

I jumped down off the table and quickly got dressed.

I wondered how Heather doing with the use-your-boobs-on-Bruce– to “find-out-any-information-about-Rebecca. I couldn’t believe how much she belly ached about wearing a low cut-shirt. I’d simply asked her to flirt with him and then ask her friend, Rebecca. Somehow I was counting on tit-loving Bruce to spill the beans.

The moment I walked out into the waiting room, I heard Ellie raising her voice. Who the hell is she talking to that loud?

“Listen, you don’t own this doctor’s office, lady. Ari has been coming here for years, so you need to back the fuck off!”

Holy hell. I stopped dead in my tracks.

Rebecca.

Ellie looked up when she saw me. She immediately came over and stood next to me.

“What are you doing here? Your appointment isn’t until next week,” I said in a stunned voice.

Rebecca just smiled at me and tilted her head.

“So, Jeff shares that information with you, does he? He really is excited about this baby. I wish you could have seen the way he smiled at me when he had his hands on my stomach Saturday. Oh wait…you can’t because you’re not supposed to be anywhere near me.”

“Listen here, bitch,” Ellie started to get in Rebecca’s face.

As I pulled her back, I said,

“I had a doctor’s appointment, Rebecca. How was I supposed to know that you would be here? Wait, where is Jeff? Does he know your appointment is today?”

Rebecca’s face fell for just one brief moment. “I tried to call him a few times today to let him know I had to move it.”

I looked down at her stomach. No way. This bitch was about to pop.

Smiling , I walked up to her.

“I’m on to you, Rebecca. Whatever game you think you’re gonna win, you won’t. You see, I don’t play very nice on the play-ground with other kids I don’t like. I win when I choose to, sweetheart, and I don’t like to lose. If you think for one minute that I’m to just gonna sit back and let you take Jeff away from me, you have another thing coming. Pregnant or not, bitch, I will take your ass down.”

Rebecca’s smile faded. She looked over my shoulder at Ellie and then over at Heather who was still standing by Bruce. Heather really does look like a slut dressed the way she is.

“Bruce, can you please call the police? She just threatened me, and I actually have a restraining order out against her.” Rebecca said.

I looked at Bruce, who looked totally confused. The new girl sitting next to Bruce immediately picked up the phone and started to talk to someone.

I turned back to see Rebecca smiling at me.

“I hope you have fun sitting in jail, Ari.”

The next thing I knew, Ellie was pulling me out of the way as she got all up in Rebecca’s face.

“You will get what is coming to you. You will not get away with this. You’re not only messing with my best friend, you whore, you’re messing with my brother. Have you ever heard of karma? That bitch is going to come back around and bite you in the fucking ass, you douche-twat whore!”

“Ellie!” Heather said as she tried to pull her away from Rebecca.

“Um, miss I’m going to have to ask you to leave. I can’t have you…um, yelling at our patients.” Bruce said.

“What?” Ellie yelled at Bruce.

“Can’t you see that she’s the one who egged it on? She’s taunting Ari. She’s trying to get an excuse to put her in jail!”

Just then, the door opened and two APD officers walked in.

Fuck me. This wasn’t going to turn out good.

***

“I cannot believe they arrested all three of us. I’ve never even been in detention before for fuck’s sake!” Heather said as she paced back and forth.

Ellie and I both glanced at each other and smiled.

“Wow, being in the slammer really has given you a mouth, sweets!” I said with a laugh.

Heather spun around and glared at me. I quickly stopped laughing as I looked down at the floor.

“Heather, it’s going to be okay. Ari called her father, and he’ll get the charges dropped. Don’t worry. You’re not going to have a record.” Ellie.

She started to laugh and then I lost it.

“Oh yeah, the two of you just keep laughing. I want to be an elementary school teacher you bitches. What am I going to put on my application? Oh…well, you see, this one time my crazy-ass friend talked me into dressing like a slut. She told me to flash my tits around at a male reception guy…who by the way…is gay as all get out! Oh, and I was supposed to somehow magically get him to tell me how far along my friend is. Even though if she was really my friend, I would already fucking know that information! Then, my other friend went crazy and started threatening a pregnant woman by poking a finger in her chest and calling her a whore. The best part of all is that, we all got arrested, and now, I’m in jail looking like a goddamn hooker! How in the hell is this not that bad, Ellie?”

Ellie sat there with a stunned look on her face as she stared at Heather. I, on the other hand, lost it again and just about died from laughing so hard.

“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph…you swore like seven times just now, Heather!”

When I looked over at Ellie, she glanced at me and let out a giggle. I had tears running down my face. I peeked up at Heather, who was now smiling. She started to laugh, too. Oh my god, I so needed this.

I laughed so hard that I was pretty sure I might have pissed in my pants.

Just then, I heard voices. One sounded like my father. I looked up to see my dad standing there with Jeff, Gunner, and Josh.

“I’m glad to see you find the humor in this, Ari,” Jeff said with a dead-ass straight face.

I immediately stopped laughing and tried to get Ellie and Heather’s attention. I stood up and looked at my father. He didn’t look very happy either. Oh shit.

After Ellie and Heather got themselves composed, Heather leaned over in my ear and whispered, “Holy hell, your dad called Josh?”

I let a small smile play across my lips. I turned and shook my head.

“I bribed the officer to let me have two phone calls, I called Josh. There was no way in hell that I was going to pass this up. I had to let him see you dressed like that! I just didn’t realize that he’d bring Jeff and Gunner with him,” I said as I turned back to look at Jeff.

This is going to be one long-ass ride back to Mason.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

JEFF

The moment Josh got the phone call from Ari, I was pissed. I wasn’t sure if I was more pissed that she called Josh and not me or that she was in jail for breaking the restraining order against Rebecca. What the fuck was she thinking?

During the whole drive into Austin, I never said a word. Gunner was on the phone with his mother. They were coming in a day early and would be in Mason around six tonight. I could tell Gunner was beside himself. Now, he had to deal with getting my damn sister out of jail.

What in the hell were they doing?

Mark called to say he’d just pulled up to the police department and would meet us inside. I could tell from his voice that he was pissed. Then we heard the three of them laughing. I had never felt so damn angry in my entire life.

After the girls got processed and their items were returned to them, we all walked outside.

Before Mark could even say anything, I turned and started in on Ari.

“Of all the stupid-ass things you could do, Ari, why would you break the restraining order? What in the hell were you thinking by threatening Rebecca? Then, you laugh about it like it’s some joke. What if you caused her to go into labor early? What if something happened to the baby? What the fuck, Ari?”

Everyone stood there and looked at me, stunned.

Mark stepped between Ari and me. Giving me a dirty look, he asked in a calm voice.

“Where did you get your information from, Jeff?”

“Well, Josh at first, since Ari felt the need to call him to come get them out of jail. Then, Rebecca called and left me a message, saying she wasn’t feeling well and was turning her phone off. I called her back and she said Ari threatened her today. She couldn’t even talk.”

I looked at Ari, who had her hands balled in fists. She looked really pissed.

“Fuck you, Jeff, and your baby mama, too! Daddy, can I please come home with you?” Ari said as the tears started to roll down her face.

“Jeff, you’re a prick! Why don’t you at least let us explain before you go off attacking Ari? You don’t even have the facts straight,” Ellie said as she poked her finger in my chest.

“Okay, everyone just calm down. Ellie, honey, just back off your brother for a second, sweetheart. Why don’t one of y’all explain to us what happened.” Gunner said.

I looked at Ari and she was still crying and in her father’s arms. Gunner pulled Ellie back away from me and whispered something in her ear. Josh was…well shit…Josh was trying to look at everyone but Heather.

“Fine, I’ll explain what happened.” Heather said as she also gave me a dirty look.

“We were at Dr. Wyatt’s office, waiting for Ari to finish up with her appointment. Rebecca walked in, and the moment she saw us there, she started asking why we were there and if we were following her. Ellie tried to explain to her that Ari had been seeing Dr. Wyatt for years and that she had an appointment. Well, crazy Rebecca started raising her voice to Ellie, and that’s when Ari came out. Rebecca was egging Ari on, Jeff. I mean, she was really going after her. She mentioned how you had your hands on her stomach the other day and how happy y’all both were with each other. It actually was Ellie who got in Rebecca’s face and started to threaten her.”

Heather looked over at Ellie, who was smiling like the Cheshire cat at me.

“Wait a minute. Y’all didn’t know that Rebecca would be there?” I asked.

“How the fuck would we know that, dickwad? I had this appointment already set up. Her appointment was supposed to be next week. She said she had tried to call you to tell you that she had to change it to today. Funny though, huh? I bet you never got a phone call from her, did you? Oh, but wait. I’m sure she’ll have an excuse. Her call must not have gone through since you were in Mason,” Ari said.

My heart started to beat faster. Shit, I just fucked up big time.

Ari turned to her dad and said something to him. I didn’t even hear what she had said my mind was spinning so fast. Rebecca changed the appointment day? Why? She’d told me she was going to drop the restraining order against Ari first thing this morning, but she didn’t. I looked back at Ari. She was just glaring at me.

“Ari, I’m so sorry, baby. I guess I didn’t realize where you saw Rebecca at and.”

“Just stop. I can’t do this anymore with you. You need to make a decision, Jeff, and you need to make it soon. I’m not really sure how much more of this I can take,”

Ari turned and walked off with her father.

I just stood there. I didn’t even know what to think. What does she mean I need to make a decision?

“Are you just going to let her walk away, Jeff or are you going to go after her?” Ellie asked me with a confused look on her face.

I started to jog over to Ari and Mark. “Ari, please wait a second. Please!”

Mark stopped walking which forced Ari to stop. She turned and looked at me. The look on her face about gutted me. She looked so unhappy, and it was my fault.

“Ari, baby, please just ride back to Mason with me. I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions. I really am. Please don’t walk away from me.” I could hear the pleading in my voice.

Mark looked at Ari. Sweetheart, what do you want to do?”

“Fine, but don’t expect me to talk to you for awhile you ass-wipe.”

Ari turned and gave her dad a kiss goodbye. “Thank you for your help, Daddy.”

“You’re lucky that I was able to get this taken care of, Ari. You really need to try and avoid this girl, especially if she’s going to go out of her way to get you in trouble.” Mark said. Then, he looked at me and gave me a look that should have killed me on the spot.

“I know, but I really didn’t expect her to be there, Dad.” Ari hugged her dad one more time before she headed over to where everyone else was still standing.

I needed to take care of something, and I needed to do it right away.

As I walked back over, I heard Heather jumping all over Josh.

“I swear, Josh, if you look at my breasts one more time, I’m going to haul off and punch your ass.”

Josh started laughing. “Wow, a little time in the slammer and you’re all bad ass Heather.”

“Push off, Josh.” Heather said.

Josh walked up to Heather and leaned in to ask her something. Heather took a step back and walked a few feet away from everyone. Josh followed.

Jesus, this group of friends, I swear.

“I’m starving from my time in the slammer. Can we grab something to eat before we head back?” Ellie asked.

“As long as it’s quick, sweetheart. My mom called this morning and said that she and Dad would be in around six tonight.”

Ellie clapped her hands and jumped up in the air. “Oh my gosh! They’re coming in a day early. Let’s just head back to Mason then. I know Heather wants to go home. She plans on coming back out tomorrow and staying until Thursday morning. We can just drop her off on the way home.”

Just then, Heather walked up and kissed Ellie on the cheek. “Thanks, Ells, but I’m just going to have Josh drop me off.” Heather said.

She walked up to Ari and hugged her good-bye.

“Thanks for the interesting day, Ari. If you need anything, you know you can give me a call anytime, right?”

“Thank you Heather. I love you, girl. I think it’ll be okay,” Ari said.

We said our good-byes, and I watched as Josh and Heather walked away. Ari and I stood there, not saying a word.

“You ready to go, Sweetheart?” Gunner asked Ellie.

Ellie nodded and took Ari’s hand. They started to walk on ahead.

We had to stop three times so Ari could use the restroom. What the hell was wrong with her? Ellie kept saying it was her nerves.

I took the opportunity to step outside the truck to call Rebecca.

“Jeff! Hey! I tried calling you this morning, but couldn’t get through.”

“Is that right? What were you calling about?”

“Well, I’m sure you already know the answer to that. I’m guessing you’ve already been to the police station to bail your crazy girlfriend out of jail.”

I instantly got pissed. I didn’t want to get Rebecca upset, so I pulled the phone away from me and took a deep breath.

“I just want to know why you didn’t drop the restraining order like you said you would. In fact, you did a one-eighty Rebecca. Why were you at the doctor’s office today? I thought your appointment was next week.”

There was nothing but silence.

“Rebecca? Are you still there?”

“I um… I had to change the appointment because I was having more Braxton Hicks contractions, and I got worried. But Dr. Wyatt said everything was going to be okay. I just need to take it easy. I’m so sorry you couldn’t go. I wish I had a better way of trying to get a hold of you besides your cell.”

I saw Ari coming out of the store. She was drinking down a bottle of water like she was dying of thirst. Fuck, I hope she’s not getting sick.

“Listen…I can’t talk right now. Yeah, I, for sure, need to be at that next appointment. The next few days are going to be busy for me. Unless you have an emergency, maybe you can lay off the phone calls for a few days okay?”

“Oh yeah, sure. No problem, sweetheart. I’ll talk to you in a few days.”

“Yep, and Rebecca, let’s just stick with Jeff, okay?”

I hung up with Rebecca and opened the door for Ari to get into Gunner’s truck. She quickly fell asleep and slept the rest of the way home. I never took my eyes off of her. Something wasn’t right, and I needed to find out what the hell was going on. I had the strangest feeling that she was hiding something from me.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

JOSH

I just needed to get Heather back to her apartment and out of that shirt, so I didn’t have the urge to keep looking at her damn chest.

“Heather, can I ask you one question?”

She let out a long drawn-out sigh. “Yes.”

“Why the hell are you dressed like that? It’s so not you!” I said with a laugh.

“Why are you laughing? You don’t think I have the body to dress a little sexy? Well Bruce certainly thought I had a nice body. He couldn’t keep his eyes off my chest even though I’m pretty sure he’s gay.”

I looked over at her as I laughed my ass off. God, I love this girl.

Whoa…what the hell?

“I’m glad to see I can amuse you, Josh. Really, I am. It’s a long story that I would rather not get into if you don’t mind. I just want to get home and get my boobs off display.”

I glanced at Heather as she looked at me.

“Josh, are you okay? You’re white as a ghost. Listen, I’m not mad at you or anything. Ari wanted me to get information on Rebecca’s due date. She said this guy was a breast guy and that I had the best breasts out of all of us. I mean, it was such a stupid idea. The only reason why I went along with it is because Ari’s pregnant, and I feel bad for her.”

Wait…what?

I pulled into a gas station and threw the truck in park. I needed air.

Heather jumped out of truck and came around to where I was standing with my head ducked down and my hands on my knees. I felt like I couldn’t get any air in.

“Oh my gosh, Josh. Are you okay?”

The moment her hand rested my back, I felt it the electric shock every time this girl touched me. Oh my god, what the fuck is going on with me? And did she just say Ari is pregnant?!

It took me a few minutes to get my breathing under control. Jesus. This had never happened to me before. I looked up at her, and her eyes caught mine.

I love her.

Holy shit, I love her.

Heather bent down to look at my face. “Josh, you’re really starting to scare me. Please tell me what’s wrong.”

I did everything I possibly could to not look at her damn chest.

“I need just a second, Princess. Just give me a second.”

Heather stood up and took a few steps back. Then, she threw her hand over her mouth.

“Holy hell. Oh my god…I just told you about Ari. Is that why you’re freaking out?”

Umm…no…. “Yeah, I guess it just took me by surprise.”

“Josh, you can’t tell Jeff! Ari made us promise not to tell anyone.”

“Heather, don’t you think Jeff has the right to know that Ari is pregnant with his baby? I mean, did Ari not learn anything with Rebecca?”

“Of course, he has the right to know. I don’t disagree with you on that one. Ari just doesn’t want to stress him out. She’s trying to hold off until Rebecca has the baby, so they can find out for sure if it’s Jeff’s.”

I stood up, leaning against the truck. “Holy hell, this is so messed up. I mean, I know that Jeff wants to have kids with Ari so much, and he would be over the moon if he knew she was pregnant, Heather. I don’t understand why Ari is waiting to tell him. So what if Rebecca is having a baby and it turns out to be Jeff’s? He’s a good guy. He’ll do right by both of them.”

I shook my head. I silently thanked God that I’d never found myself in this situation. I looked back at Heather, and she was just staring at me.

She tilted her head to the side, smiling.

“Okay, spill it. What really happened just now? There’s no way you’d have that type of reaction just because you learned that Ari is pregnant. Plus, you were acting funny before I even said she ewas pregnant.”

“To be honest, I’m not really sure what happened, Heather.” That was the truth.

“Okay. Well, are you better now? I really want to get home and change out of this shirt and skirt.”

I let out a laugh as I got back in the truck.

Heather just rattled on and on the whole way to her apartment. I didn’t think I’d ever heard her talk as much as she was talking right now.

I pulled up to her building and parked the truck.

She sat there for a minute, like she was thinking something over.

“Do you want to come in for a glass of sweet tea or something?”

Fuck yeah, I do. “Sure, I’m not in a hurry to get anywhere.”

***

We sat together in her apartment for almost two hours, talking about everything and anything. I told Heather about my desire to take over my father’s furniture-making business, and she told me about her dreams of becoming an elementary school teacher.

Before I knew, it we had finished two bottles of wine.

While we were laughing about them being in jail, I said,

“I have to admit that I was surprised when Ari called me to come and get y’all out of jail. I just figured that my phone was the only one she was able to get through to.”

“Well, you know the only reason why she called you was so you could see me dressed like a damn whore,” Heather said as she laughed.

She must have thought about what she had just said because her head snapped up to look at me.

Now, why would Ari do that unless she thought Heather had feelings for me? I’m done playing games. It’s time to find out.

Heather was leaning up against the counter while as I sitting on one of her bar stools. I got up and walked toward her. Pulling her into my arms, I didn’t even give her time to think before I backed her up against the wall.

As I started to kiss her she ran her hands through my hair. The small moan that escaped her lips made me want to rip off her damn clothes. When I lifted her up, she wrapped her legs around my waist. The kiss was quickly turning more passionate by the second.

Son of a bitch. I’ve wanted to kiss this girl for so long now. She tasted sweeter than anything I could’ve ever imagined.

She pulled back slightly, trying to caught her breath.

“Josh…I’ve… I’ve never been with anyone before, and...” Her voice trailed off as she looked down at my lips.

My knees just about buckled out from underneath me. I had to put one hand on the wall to hold myself up. Holy shit. Heather’s a virgin.

Closing her eyes, she put her head back against the wall. Leaning down, I started to kiss her neck.

Two minutes ago, I’d been ready to ask the way to her bedroom. There was no way in hell that I was going to that now. Now, all I wanted to do was make her feel cherished.

“Princess, look at me.”

As she lifted her head up, her blue eyes captured mine, and I saw was sadness. My heart broke in two.

“I’d never do anything that you weren’t ready to do, Heather. Ever.”

“Josh…I really want…” She paused, stopping mid-sentence.

“You really want what?”

The look in her eyes suddenly turned to pure panic. She started to shake her head.

“I need you to put me down!” she practically shouted.

“What?” I asked, confused.

“Put me down, Josh. Now!”

What the hell is happening?

I put her down, and the moment her feet hit the floor, she pushed me away.

“Heather, I don’t understand. What’s going on? What did I do?”

Turning away from me, she walked into the living room and stopped at the front window, staring outside.

“I really think you need to leave now. This was a bad idea. I was stupid to think that we could ever just be friends. You’ll always want more than this.”

Motherfucker. My head was spinning.

“Um… I’m sorry, princess, but it sure seemed like you also wanted more a few seconds ago. What changed?”

When she turned around, I almost lost my breath. She was crying.

“Don’t ever call me princess again. I don’t want anything more than friendship with you. I’ll never want anything more than that. I had a moment of weakness. It must have been because of the wine or something. I don’t want you, Josh, not in that way. I’m sorry if I led you on. I think it would be best if we just stopped right now.”

I didn’t know what to say. I had seen the look in her eyes. I knew she had wanted me as much as I’d wanted her. Why is she pushing me away?

“Heather…if I walk out this door right now, I’ll keep in mind everything that you just said to me. I promise you that I’ll never approach you again with anything more than friendship. I just need you to make sure that this is what you really want. I have feelings for you. Honestly, I feel things for you that I’ve never in my life felt for any other girl, and that scares the shit out of me. I don’t want to walk away from you, but if you tell me that you don’t have any feelings for me, then I’ll leave. I won’t ever bring it up again.”

I watched her as she just stared at me with tears where rolling down her face. I walked up to her and reached out to wipe them away. When she took a step back, I almost dropped to my knees.

She quickly wiped her tears from her eyes. Looking right into my eyes, she said,

“I don’t have feelings for you other than friendship. I’m sorry.”

My whole world shattered into a million pieces. How could I be so happy one minute and then feel so incredibly sad the next?

I had never in my life cried, but at that moment, I felt like I was about to lose it. Quickly backing away from her, I turned to grab my keys off the counter.

“I’m sorry, Heather. I guess I’ll see you on Wednesday at Garrett and Emma’s party.”

I walked to the door, and every ounce of me was praying that she would stop me. I gave up all hope by the time I got to my truck. Once outside, I sat there for a minute, watching her door.

Then, I started my truck and drove away from the one thing that I thought would finally make me feel happy and complete in this world.