To Know You

Twelve: Seth

Many say having a baby is a gift from above and I do not doubt their claims but shopping for said baby is more like a nightmare sent from hell. Add a cranky teenager and a confused man and then times that by a thousand and you still won't have an idea of what kind of mess I am currently in.  

"Why am I even here!" Stella whines while she stomps her foot and crosses her arms over her chest. Her pencil-straight, midnight black hair is pulled back into both a high and tight ponytail. While wearing lavender leggings, a white crop-top and then a cropped loosely zipped black jacket. 

Her whole outfit probably coast more than Nakawa's and Blanche's tuition put together.

"Because you are the closest thing to a child I know and therefore I need both your opinion and help." After a night of no sleep, I awoke a very grumpy Stella to accompany me to the nearest baby-store I could find. This store is almost as big as a mall and in a sense, I felt like a bull in a China shop, I didn't know as a man if I was allowed to touch anything in here. 

We've barely even been in here for an hour and already I had three carts filled with the most expensive baby items I could find. Because in a way I felt like it was my job to make sure this child has everything it needs, Olive may become angry with me for stepping on her toes but if she knew what kinds of situations, I grew up in then she would understand. 

Gasping, Stella glares at me, "You did not just call me a baby!" 

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I exhale, "Stella for once in your life can you please just shove your overdramatic and spoiled attitude into a box and act like a normal-minded person?" My words may be discourteous but the entire time we have been here all she has done is complain and have her nose in her phone. 

I barely even got her to push a cart.

Huffing, she rolls her light brown eyes, "Why do we even need all this stuff!? Don't you know the gender of the baby?" 

I may be smart, but I never said I was smart when it came to asking the right questions. During dinner I failed to ask what the baby's gender was and now I am mentally and literally paying for it. 

"No, I don't. But that's why I am doing two nurseries." On the ride over here, I decided to have the rooms on the third floor so that way Olive can have some privacy. I will make sure to personalize a room up there for her as well. As well as I decided if the child was a boy, then the theme would be Noah's ark with the walls being an ocean blue and the main theme being of animals. And if it was a girl then the theme would be flowers, with all the walls being different shades of pinks and I would make sure there was fresh flowers in vases, so that way her tiny nose would only smell the beautiful scents and nothing foul. 

"Seth, why do you even care about her? She's just a random stranger and plus, won't Cheyenna be pissed that you're helping another woman like this?" 

Stella speaks nothing but the truth but just with a hint of attitude. But if Cheyenna was real then, yes, she would be pissed but she isn't, and Olive might as well be her. Therefore, Olive isn't so much a stranger to me then she is to the rest. And I feel like it's my duty to provide for Olive's offspring. However, the teens words left a part of me feeling annoyed for I shouldn't be trying to take care of Olive like this and yet I am.

With no regret...

"If Cheyenna has a problem with what I am doing then she can come tell me herself." 

My words appear to be jarring to the young girls' ears for she frowns and even scoffs at me but says nothing further on the matter before storming off to look at clothes for the baby. Sighing to myself, I gather several different brands of diapers for can one baby ever truly have enough?