Crazy Love

Chapter 15

"Yeah well it took me by surprise too. This was hardly planned. But it happened. Jellybean is my responsibility now and I don't want them to ever feel unwanted so you don't get to say things like that!" I sniffle some more before wiping away the tears blurring my vision.

"Jellybean?" Iris asks with a small smile.

"What else do you expect from daddy's 'cookie'?" Mya points out.

This makes me look over to dad whose face is ashen. He looks so disappointed and I cannot bear it.

"How far along are you?" Mel asks.

"Thirteen weeks."

More silence follows. I don't know what I expected, but this is just going all wrong.

"Three babies in one year? You kids really kept me waiting this long just to pop them all out at once, huh?" Mom tries to cut the tension.

"Mya, do you have-"

"Don't even go there, mama." That gets a smile out of me.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

"That could've gone worse." Lynn tries to cheer me up once we are driving away.

"That was a trainwreck."

"If you think that was a trainwreck, you should have been there when Em told her parents she was going to culinary school." She shudders at the memory.
"It's going to take them a minute to get used to the idea. Same way it took you a couple of weeks, and now, you're already in love with the little jellybean."

But they're upset with me now.

"Daddy couldn't even look at me." That was the worst part of tonight.

"Your dad never handles change well. Remember when Mya came out?" Yeah, that was a bad time.

Still.

"Want to go out?"

"Go out where?"

"That new club. What's its name again? You know the one. With the leaves?"

"In case you missed it, I'm pregnant. I can't exactly go out clubbing anymore."

"Says who?"

"Medical science." I swear this girl is just a little dumb.

"Wrong! Medical science says you shouldn't drink. Who says you can't have fun without drinking?"

"You hate clubs."

"I hate being forced to go to a club." She corrects.

"Who wants to go to a club if you're not drinking. Then it's just a loud overly crowded hall."

"See, that's your problem. You need booze to lower your inhibitions. We going out, and we're going to act like drunk sorority girls while sipping on virgin cocktails and hitting on hot guys. Trust me, it's more fun." What? No, it isn't.

"You are a strange girl." Braelynn's just weird.

"Look, I'm not going to force you. I just think if you go home, you're going to end up overthinking and driving yourself crazy until you whip yourself into a depression." She's right. But I still don't want to be going out.

"Maybe we can chill at home. Get some pizza, you can tell me about your latest fictional crush." I offer hoping she says yes.

"I don't have one. All the guys in the books these days are either straight up abusive or too nice." There she is.

"What's wrong with nice?" I would kill for a genuinely nice guy.

"Nothing. I love a good man." I feel like there's more coming and glance quickly at her.

"I do. He just has to have that thing." I roll my eyes because she has been talking about that "thing" for as long as I have known her and it is unrealistic.

"You know real men will never be like fictional men, right?" Men like those anime guys she loves so much don't actually exist.

"I'm not looking for that. I just want a guy who makes me feel the same way."

"Is Braelynn Black a secret romantic?" I cannot help but tease.

"Shut up." That means yes.
No way!

"Wait, since when? Are you finally looking for Mr. Right? Or is it Killian? Is he changing your mind?" Could Lynn actually have met the one?

"First of all, I have never been anti-romance. I'm pro-Lynn. If I meet the right guy, then great. If I don't, I'm still great. What I'm not about to do is settle. I want that earth-shattering, world-ending, paradigm-shifting experience."

"You talking about love or sex?" I inadvertently find myself thinking of J.L. Earth-shattering is definitely the word.

"Who says you can't have both?" Reality. The odds of finding that are next to impossible, even if you do everything right. But I'm not going to be the one to pop her bubble.

"Like this book I read. This guy trained for years, faced his greatest fears and fought death itself for his girl. Well, the physical manifestation of a death curse in their world. He was cursed as a kid and even though he loved her, he knew he couldn't be with her until he conquered the curse which was virtually impossible. No one had ever done it." She then goes on to describe her latest read and I try not to shake me head.

I swear this girl spends her days with her heads in the cloud, but I get it. I do it too. Not to the same extent, of course. I have a job to occupy my days and a social life. But every now and then, I shut off and want to escape too.

Lynn manages to distract me from the disastrous dinner for the night, but I wake up feeling down.

I totally ruined Iris' pregnancy announcement.

I send her a quick text asking when she can meet for a quick bite before getting ready for work.

Lynn is still asleep when I leave, but she keeps toiletries and a change of clothes at my place, so she'll be fine. Besides, she stayed up with me, keeping me from stressing till it was too late for her to go home.

Despite what she says, I know she'll practically move in once the baby is born. Especially since my mom is going to have her hands full with all the new babies. It's nice to know I'm not completely alone.

Iris texts back that she is free at lunch and we set up a date.

Work is as uneventful as ever, but I actually get a chance to work with one of my favourite superiors. Garcia is the baddest bitch in this office with an MBA from Yale to match. She is kind of my role model. I always learn so much when I'm with her.

I am leaving for lunch when I notice someone from the corner of my eye and hide.

Shit.

Is that J.L.?