I left the Obstetrician’s office, my purse heavy with pamphlets and prenatal vitamins. The envelope in my hands held the ultrasound picture of my baby. Honestly, it looked like a jellybean, and the only thing it made me want to do is stop at the store on the way home to get some of those awesome tutti-fruiti jelly bellies.

Loaded with my plunder from the store, I entered my house. Juno and Frank were sitting at the table, eating my ice cream and flirting shamelessly. They stopped when I entered, though. Juno took my ultrasound pictures, and she began to look over them with Frank. The two of them made a few annoying noises as I jumped up on the counter to sit and swing my legs as I gorged on candy.

“It looks like a blob.”

“It’s not even a baby yet,” I explained through a mouthful of jellybeans. I imagined I was chewing on my unborn child, and immediately set the jelly beans aside. Frank took this as his cue to finish them off, and I made no objections. Jelly beans were ruined forever.

“Have you told Gerard?”

“Honestly? I hadn’t thought of it until just now,” I explained, looking to the fridge where his number sat waiting. I knew I should call him but… I’m just so scared. I know he’ll be mad and won’t want anything to do with me or the kid. This was what I wanted at first, but now that I’m pregnant and my hormones are starting to rage, I half wanted some semblance of a family. You know, a husband, a kid, a picket fence and maybe that dog and a cat.

“I don’t want to be mean, but if you don’t say something to him, I will,” Frank said, giving me solid stare before tucking back in to the bag of unborn children.

“I’ll call him tonight, okay?”

“Fabulous.”

---

The phone rang in my ear, and I was so tempted to hang it up. My finger was poised on the button, but I was stopped when I heard the voice that had been moaning my name just over a month ago. My face flushed, but I bucked up and said an awkward hello. He asked who this was, and I sighed.

“It’s Olivia.”

“Oh, hey! What’s up?”

“Frank gave me your number. Said he’d tell you if I didn’t, but I didn’t want to be weird-”

“Tell me what?” The scratching noise in the background stopped, and I wondered what he was doing. Maybe I caught him jerking off? I wanted to laugh, but instead I managed to stumble over my words.

“I uh… I’m pregnant.”

“Is it mine?” he asked without skipping a beat, and I set my face into an angry glare that he wouldn’t see.

“Of course it is, you fuck.”

“I’m just making sure, sugar. I’ve had my fair share of women claiming to have my children,” he explained, and the scratching started again, “They just don’t realize that I don’t sleep around unless I’m in a relationship.”

“I must have been an exception.”

“Well, we’re kind of in a relationship, right? I’m the father of your child, that counts for something.”

“I’m just so lucky. I went to the doctor today. Everything looks good.”

“That’s awesome! I’ll be home in a few days, alright? Is this your number? I’ll put it in my phone and text you,” I was astounded, to say the least. I’d expected just a little hint of anger. But he was so casual about all of this. I voiced my thoughts to him, and Gerard let out a small laugh.

“I was a bit angry at myself at first, because I let this happen. But I’ve really been thinking about it, and I’m already thirty-five years old. I’m kind of ready to settle down, you know? At least be domesticated by a kid.”

“Thirty-five, huh? You’re a cradle-robber.”

“Yeah? How old are you, kid?”

“Twenty-three.”

“Sheesh. I’m an old fart, then. You dig older men? Good, I’ll have someone to wipe my ass when I’m decrepit. I’ll write you in my will for my whole estate if you do.”

“I’ll get the toilet paper,” I joked, and immediately shut myself up. What the fuck was I doing? I hated people. I shouldn’t be friends with this guy, I should be angry at him for getting me pregnant.

But I couldn’t help it. He was so easy to talk to, I couldn’t help but get along with him. At this point, I realized a few more things. One, during the whole night I’d been with him, and on into the morning, there wasn’t a single thing about him that annoyed me. Two, I didn’t feel the need to lock myself away from this guy.

I realized I had a crush.

“That seals the deal, then. I’ll bring the shitty ass. Are you busy at all tonight?”

“I had a hot date with some Jerry Springer reruns.”

“Wanna talk to me instead? The guys went home a few days ago and I’m stuck doing some finishing stuff here, so I don’t really have anyone to talk to,” I readily agreed, without even thinking about it. As I settled myself onto the couch, laughing at something Gerard had just said to me, I decided that even though I barely knew him, I’d be happy to more than just friends, if it came down to it.

---

I rocked back and forth on my feet, waiting impatiently for Gerard to knock on my front door. He came home yesterday, and wanted to around today for us to hang around and get to know each other. I opted to throw on whatever I could find in my closet. I hope Gerard likes cats, I thought as I looked down at my sequin-kitten sweatshirt. As soon as my attention dropped from the door, someone knocked. I opened it a little, before pulling it wider.

“Nice sweatshirt. Can I come in?” Gerard asked, and I graciously stepped aside. He had something in his pocket, and I wasn’t entirely sure what it was. I sincerely hoped it wasn’t a boner, because I definitely wasn’t up for that today.

“Hey, I wanted to talk to you about some stuff, if that’s okay?” he asked suddenly as we entered the living room. I nodded to him and sat on the end of the couch. He sat in the middle, a respectful distance away, but still pretty close. I had no clue what he was playing at.

“So, we’re all annulled and everything, yeah? You sent the papers in?” I hesitated before giving him a nod. As much as I hadn’t wanted to, I did send them in. The gold band was in my jewelry box, since it had started to wear off and turn silver. Cheap.

“Well, I was thinking, uh…” he rubbed the back of his head, and looked at the coffee table in front of them helplessly. Finally, he continued to ramble, “Well, since this kid is mine too, I really want to help take care of it, you know? I want to be there to help for everything,” Everything? I wasn’t sure what he was getting at. Was he planning on fighting for custody once the kid was born? I would fight him tooth and nail. He seemed to notice my hard look, and he raised his hands in surrender.

“I’m not going to do what you’re thinking. Absolutely not. This kid’s yours as much as it is mine, that wouldn’t be fair. I was just thinking maybe we could- shit,” he trailed off and rustled around in his pocket before pulling out a small black box. He shoved it into my hands, and I looked inside to see a small ring, with a simple diamond on top. No fancy arrangements, no cute designs. Just a plain, simple engagement ring.

“We just fixed our last whirlwind romance, and you wanna marry me again?” I asked, disbelieving. He had to be joking. He could have at least gotten me drunk again, like he did last time.

“Yeah just… I wanna do this right, Olivia. You know conserve your virtue and everything. I know marriage is supposed to be out of love and anything, but talking to you on the phone the past few nights has shown me that I could easily fall in love with you if I had enough time,” he reached out for the box and plucked the ring out. Gently, he picked up my hand and slid the ring onto my ring finger. It covered the dark mark from the wedding band easily. Kind of like this new engagement would cover of the dark mark of our scandal.

“I think you could love me too, if I tried hard enough. We don’t have to do it right away. We can wait and get to know each other better. If it doesn’t work out, then I’ll be happy just being a friend,” he sounded so eager, yet so desperate at the same time. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want this. Wasn’t this what I’d been hoping for? Starting a family with this man?

I felt silly; we’d had sex once, and talked on the phone a grand total of five times. I barely scraped the surface of this guy. Not to mention that this man, this Gerard came into my life like a tornado and was fucking everything up. What happened to boring, sensible Olivia? She needed to wake up, because I was getting into some serious trouble without her.

Despite this, I found myself nodding. Gerard quickly pulled me into a tight hug, and as he whispered into my ear that everything would work out fine, I found myself believing him.

Notes

Thank you for reading.