Nobody's Business (BOOK ONE)

Chapter 20

Aubrey sits in a big blue cushioned chair in the doctors office, she just went through a basic health examine and is now waiting for the pregnancy specialist to come in. Keenan sits adjacent to her, gazing around at the yellow walls of the office with his leg bouncing up and down nervously. They hadn't spoken much since he first arrived and even then, Aubrey didn't greet him very warmly. He may have been cold to her this passed weak but that doesn't mean she has to doubt him about everything, especially something as serious as a doctors appointment for his baby.

There's a light knock on the door before it opens and in walks a black lady with her hair pulled back into a ponytail and glasses perched on her nose. She wears scrubs with kitten patterns on them. "Hello Aubrey, I'm Doctor Gloria." She says reaching for Aubrey's hand.

Aubrey shakes her hand and smiles politely, "Nice to meet you. This is..." she trails off looking in the direction of Keenan. How is she supposed to introduce him when they're not even together?

"I'm the baby's father, Keenan." He says holding out his hand.

"Oh I see," Gloria looks between the two of them, a smile still on her face. "Nice to meet you both." Gloria walks over to the sink and picks up her clipboard, flipping through some of the paper. "Your blood pressure is good, your urine sample is clean, your weight is in a good position and your over all health is fine." She sets the clipboard down, "So now I'll do an ultra sound and afterwards you can ask me any questions and voice any concerns."

"Sounds good." Aubrey comments. Gloria washes her hands before pulling on a pair of blue gloves. She pushes a pedal on the floor that reclines and raises Aubrey's chair. She lifts her shirt before applying a cold gel on her stomach and placing the round wand on it. Their heads turn to the monitor as they try to decipher what they're looking at. All Aubrey sees is bunch of grey and black space.

Gloria points to a small grey area on the screen, "Thats your baby." She tells them with a smile. "Tiny stubs are beginning to grow for the arms and legs."

"It looks like a chicken nugget." Keenan blurts out. Aubrey can't help but laugh, causing the image on the screen to move around. It's unbelievable how a small little chicken nugget is actually a baby inside of her.

After a few moments Gloria turns off the monitor and wipes off Aubrey's stomach. "Now by the looks of things I'm going to assume that you're in month two of your pregnancy, which means you've been experiencing a lot nausea, dizzy spells and morning sickness. Correct?" Aubrey nods her head,"Fun times isn't it?" Gloria asks sarcastically.

"Yeah right," Aubrey scoffs. "I can barely hold down a bowl of cereal and I've gotten so tired lately."

"Those are all normal symptoms." Gloria tells her.

"Well is blacking out normal too? Cuz I've fainted at least three time since getting pregnant." Aubrey admits and Keenan looks at her curiously. He knew about the first fainting spell but not the other two.

Gloria scrunches up her brows, "Fainting usually occurs when a mother is under stress. How's life been treating you lately? Anything that could cause you to worry or strain yourself?"

Aubrey immediately looks at Keenan, wondering how much she should reveal. Keenan understands her look and decides to speak up. "Actually, the baby wasn't planned. We weren't even together officially when it happened so it was a surprise to both of us. A lot of relationships and friendships ended when Aubrey told me she was pregnant and I was in a denial at first."

"Oh...so you were seeing other people when the baby was conceived?" Gloria asks and Keenan nods his head, knowing she's judging them in her mind.

"Plus I got into a big fight with my sister and parents before moving here. We haven't been on good terms since then so I guess that could be putting strain on me." Aubrey admits, fiddling with her nails. Gloria nods and scribbles something down on the clipboard before looking back up at the teenagers in front of her.

"A little bit of worrying is normal during pregnancy, but intense stress isn't good for your health or the baby's. I suggest you try and work things out with your mother and sister, try to ease the stress. By doing so the fainting should let up." Gloria tells them. "Now are you keeping the baby?"

"Yes," Aubrey answers immediately and Keenan glances at her questionably.

"Seen as how you two are so young and this is your first child, I suggest you take a few pamphlets from the folder outside and buy a few baby books to guide you during your pregnancy." Gloria instructs them. "And Aubrey if you have have any questions or if you feel pain give us a call."

"Will do," Aubrey assures.

"Good, I'll see you in three weeks for another check up." Gloria gathers up her folder and clipboard and opens the door. "Have a nice day you two." She waves and disappears out the door. Keenan lets out a sigh of relief, glad this was a quick visit.

Keenan and Aubrey follow after her and walk back down the hallway they came from. "Thank you for coming with me." Aubrey says in a soft voice.

Keenan puts his hands in his pockets. "I told you before Aubrey...I'm here for you and my child. If you need something let me know cuz I'm not about to abandon y'all. We not together but that doesn't mean I'ma leave you hangin either. That's not the type of man I wanna be."

Aubrey looks down at her shoes, "I know that Keenan but its hard for me to really believe that. You obviously still have love for Sevyn so it's hard to believe that you'd be willing to help me so easily." She says.

Keenan grabs her arm and pulls her to the side. The hallway is quiet and empty and he wants to talk to her alone before they go back into the waiting room with her aunt. Aubrey looks up at him and he sees the tears brimming her eyelids, she blinks quickly trying to hold them back. "It's obvious that me and Sevyn aren't getting back together Bre. So why don't we just bury the hatchet for our kid, alright?"

Aubrey sniffs and shakes her head, "Thats the thing Keenan, I don't want to fix things just because we have a baby together. I want to fix things for us."

"What?" Keenan asks. "Aubrey there is no us. There's me and there's you."

"That's not what I want." Aubrey whines, "I have no one Keenan. Sevyn has her brothers, her friends, her parents. Who do I have? My aunt doesn't even like me, my sister stabbed me in the phucking back and my parents want nothing to do with me!"

Keenan stares at her as the tears start falling. Her pretty face stained by the painful tears that won't stop and her big eyes rimmed red. "Tell me something Keenan. If I wasn't pregnant would you even associate with me? Would you still 'be there' for me?" She asks. Keenan doesn't say anything because the truth will only hurt her more. Aubrey shakes her head, "Thats exactly my point. But since I am pregnant, why can't we just work things out between us."

Keenan rubs his face and sighs. "Aubrey we can be friends for now alright? And maybe somewhere along the way something more can happen but right now I'm focusing on the baby."

"It's because you still love Sevyn, isn't it?" Aubrey's voice cracks as she speak.

"Well what do you expect Aubrey?" Keenan asks dryly. "We were doing just fine till you came along."

"It takes two to have sex Keenan and it takes two to make a baby! Stop blaming me for everything that went wring with your relationship. You lied to me, remember?" She yells at him. A few people in the office turn to look at her.

Keenan steps closer to her with clenched teeth, "You better lower your voice, now!" He orders then his face softens when he sees the tears welling up again. Keenan pulls her into a hug and she squeezes her eyes shut to stop the tears as he talks to her. "I'm sorry for blaming you Bre, but I just wanna take things slow for now. Ok?"

Aubrey nods her head and takes a deep breath before pulling away from him and frantically wiping her eyes with the back of her hands. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I don't know what's going on with me. Ive been crying so much lately." She babbles, still swiping at her eyes.

"Its just mood swings." Keenan assures her. She chuckles light and after her tears are gone, turns around and opens the door to the waiting room. She walks out hoping that her face isn't showing any trace of her melt down back there.

Her aunt stands up and puts down the magazine she was reading. "Ready to go?"

Aubrey grabs a few pregnant pamphlets from a folder on the wall before nodding her head yes. They walk out the building and into the parking lot, the hot sun shining down on them mercilessly.

"I'll talk to you later." Keenan tells Aubrey.

"Ok," she replies before following her aunt to the car. Keenan watches her walk, her pony tail swinging back and forth across her slumped shoulders as she goes. His mind wanders to Sevyn, remembering how she would always want to race him to the car for no reason or skip across the parking lot.

Keenan walks to where his sister is waiting in the car and shakes his head. This is why he can't get into a relationship with Aubrey. Because when ever he's with her, he'll be thinking of Sevyn.


Malcolm sits on the couch trying not to eavesdrop on his mothers conversation floating in from the kitchen. He's watching Tosh.0 but bits and pieces of his mothers conversation keep distracting him. Something about money and jobs and his father.

"These bills don't add up Justine." He hears his mother say and panic sets into his body. Are they low on money? Are the bills becoming too much to handle? Sevyn can live without cable in her room can't she? Maybe that will lower the bill. He glances at the light in the hallway, maybe they should learn to save more electricity and the bill will lower. Is his parents jobs not paying enough? How much longer can they keep a roof over their heads?

As Malcolm's head spins with negative possibilities, the front door opens and his mother stops talking. She pops her head into the living room and Ty stops dead in his tracks, looking around like he just got caught red handed. "Uh...hi?" He says questionably.

"Never mind Justine it was just my son, now what were you saying?" Their mother climbs the stairs to her bedroom and shuts the door. Ty plops down in the couch next to Malcolm. "What's up with her?"

"I don't know, she's been on the phone for hours with Justine talkin' about money and stuff."

"Really? Dad was talking about the same thing the other day. Hopefully we ain't goin' broke, how am I supposed to cop them new Jays without an allowance?"

Malcolm slaps him lightly in the face, "Nigga this is serious, we must have some money issues going on in the house. Forget about your sneakers what about having a roof over our heads? You wanna wear the new Jays but live under a bridge on the highway?" Ty shakes his head and Malcolm nods, "Exactly, maybe we should get a job."

Ty gives him a blank look, "For real though Malcolm? What about when basketball season starts up, we're not gon' have time to practice, go to games and work. We'll be too tired and start slackin. Plus, mama doesn't want us workin' till college."

"Man forget what mama says for now, they obviously need the money. And look at Corey, soccer season starts next week and you don't see him quitting his job. I'm sure he'll work around his soccer schedule." Malcolm points out but Ty shakes his head.

"I'm not tryin to get some whack ass job like making donuts or flipping burgers." He says defiantly.

"At the rate you're goin' in life that's all you're gonna amount to." Malcolm mutters. Ty sucks his teeth and stares at the tv screen where some guy just fell off a roof. He sighs and leans on his elbows, turning his head to look at Malcolm. "Alright how about this. When things get really severe, then we talk to mom and dad about gettin a job. It's either that or sellin weed to help out."

"True shit," Malcolm agrees while dapping his brother. Suddenly a sweet scent hits his nose, it smells like girly lotion or perfume. He eyes Ty, "Where'd you just come from?" He asks. Ty chuckles and smirks in his direction, Malcolm shakes his head. "You just came from Talia's house didn't you? That's the third time you been over there. What, she got a golden coochie or something?"

Ty burst out laughing, "You're a fool bro. I was bored, she was bored, so we entertained each other."

"Yeah right, you like her just admit it." Malcolm teases.

"I like what she puts down, ain't nothing more to it." Ty states, folding his hands behind his head. Malcolm rolls his eyes in disbelief. Ty and Shaun have always been the ones who like to play smash and dash with girls, while Corey and Malcolm actually like having girlfriends so they can figure out what they do and don't like. They've both had a few quickies but not as many as Ty and Shaun.

A little while later their father comes home carrying bags of Chinese food. "Wassup, what y'all been up to today?"

"Nothing much, just been chillin here." Malcolm replies and Ty stays silent. Their parents don't approve of Ty running through girls like they're nothing. The last time he got caught with a girl up in the house, their father made him go to their girls house and tell them what happened. She never talked to him again afterwards and he learned that sneaking into a girls house is better than bringing her home if they aren't dating.

Their mother comes down the stairs, obviously done with her phone call. "What are you doing home so early?" She ask, glancing at the clock that reads 4:30.

"My boss let me out early," He replies, walking over to plant a kiss on her cheek.

She gives him a bland look, "Since when do you start getting off early? You've never gotten off early before since you started working their unless it was a serious emergency."

Jared sighs and runs his face. "We've been under a lot of stress lately and all I wanted to do was come home to my family. Why can't I just come home to my family without you jumping down my throat."

"You call it jumping down your throat, I call it being a concerned wife." She replies, "but fine if you want me to lay off then I will."

"There you go again, jumping to conclusions!" He exclaims, glaring at her in annoyance. Ty and Malcolm sit on the couch as they bicker, neither of them daring to jump into the conversation. "You know what? Im not arguing with you again, all I want to do is sit down and eat with my family. Where's Sevyn?"

"She went out jogging with Monica." Malcolm replies.

"Call her and tell her to come home." Jared instructs before grabbing the Chinese food and going into the kitchen. Their mother follows, muttering something under her breath. Malcolm and Ty exchange a glance before Malcolm dials Sevyn's number.

Sevyn picks up on the third ring and Malcolm relays the message that their father wants her home. "Why?" She asks.

"So we can eat like one big happy family." Malcolm replies with a dry tone of voice.

Ty leans close to the phone, "And tell Monica if she's still wearing those tight pants from earlier she can come too!"

Sevyn sighs, "I'm on my way." Before she clicks off, Malcolm can hear her talking to Monica. "Boys, can't live with 'em can't live without 'em."

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