June 11th.
I leave for home the day after tomorrow, I can't wait. But, for now I'm chilling with Nicki. The 9th was supposed to be Nicki's due date, but nothing. Here she is on my couch, in her own words, looking like a beached whale. "You look fucking miserable." I say from the other couch as I eat chilli cheese fritos. "Tell me something I don't know." She says unbothered by my brutally honest comment. She moved in with Austin and left me to be alone in my house, again. It wasn't really much of a difference, she's always over during the day, when Austin is away. Or we're together supporting our Clipper's. Tonight she's staying the night while Austin is away. "Will you help me?" She asks.
"With what?"
"To jumpstart labor."
"Are you ready for that?"
"Yes, please." She begs.
"But what about Austin? Shouldn't he be there for the birth?"
"It takes anywhere from 5 to 24 hours sometimes longer, I'm sure he'll make it."
"Okaaay.." I say unsure.
We Google things to jumpstart labor. A couple of the things on the list, which we start with first are a long walk to get spicy food, aka wings. We barely start walking and she's already out of breath. "Damn bitch, are you sure about this? You're having a hard time already." I double check. "Yes, just please, let's try our hardest to get this baby out. I'm tired of having to pee every minute, I already can't sleep because my belly makes it uncomfortable. Austin refuses to have sex with me for fear that we might hurt the baby. And ughhh.." She stops mid rant and grabs her stomach. "What? What? Are you okay." I ask. "Yeah, it was just a Braxton hicks contraction." We continue to walk. We stop at Jess and Merce's to see if they want to come with. No answer at the door. After we eat wings she finally wants to give up. "Well we don't have a ride genius. You wanted to walk all the way here. Now we gotta walk all the way back. When we get back then you can give up." I tell her.
"Ugh, I hate you. You and your marine pride."
"I'm just trying to help you."
"I know, I know." She says. She starts sobbing out of nowhere.
"What's wrong?" I give her a hug.
"I don't know. I'm just scared."
"Why?"
"Because, I'm going to be responsible for someone else other than myself. And Austin is always on the go and when he is home he's always tired. Who's going to help me?"
"Everything is going to be fine. You'll be fine. I'll help you whenever you need it."
"I don't want us to be a burden on you."
"No, it's totally fine."
"Thanks." She smiles through her tears.
"And you need to have a serious talk with Austin and figure things out."
"Agreed."
Later on that night she shakes me awake. "Hmm?" I say half asleep. All I hear from her in response is a deep breath and a groan. Upon hearing this I immediately snap out of my sleepiness. "Are you okay? What's going on?" I ask. "Oooh, I think that shit worked." She says trying to breathe through pain. "Holy fuck, really?" I ask. She nods. "When did the contractions start?" I question.
"I think the first one was when I thought it was a Braxton hicks contraction."
I look at the clock, it's 5am. "Shit Nicki, that was over 12 hours ago."
