Pancakes and Paper Planes || ✔ || Under Revision

26|Illegalities and Infants

The next day, I decide to do some research on my mom's pregnancy. That is if she is actually pregnant. Miles gives me permission to use his computer, so I close myself in the office and turn it in. I type in Lauren Tanner's Pregnancy. I scroll through the many links to paparazzi articles, hoping to find something that is somewhat reliable. Unfortunately, there isn't anything beside the dreadful results of LTan on Twitter. Not only do I find a pic of positive pregnancy test but a tweet about pickles and ice cream that was sent at 2 am. Ughh could she be any more cliche? Apparently, this was a bad idea.

I don't give up though. And after about ten more minutes of tireless searching, I find find a link to an article supposedly written by one of the doctors who tested her. I begin to read.

On Saturday, June 27th, Lauren Tanner was found to be pregnant. The gender is still unknown, but Lauren tells us that no matter what, she wants to name the baby James Liam Tanner. We are not sure why, but it may be that Tanner has some family relation with this name.

I snort. Lauren is definitely not the kind of person to name her child after a family member. In fact, we have the same middle name because she named me after herself. And the only reason my name is Micah is because she happens to like rocks, especially Mika.

However, I do believe that Alex's brother is named Liam, so she might have wanted to honor him so Alex won't be as mad at her.

I try calling Alex to see what he knows, but it just goes straight to voicemail. I throw down my phone, sighing. I don't blame Alex. I would be pissed too if I had a scandal will my client and it turned out they're pregnant, and then they publicized it.

When it comes to names, my mom a wide and sometimes dangerous imagination. She heard about the name Micah from one of her friends whose neighbor is named that, and she thought it sounded cool. It wasn't until after I was born that she figured out Micah is most commonly a boy's name, as well as being a kind of rock (although that's spelled differently). I assume that she ran into someone who named their kid James, and some little voice in her head told her it would be a good name for either a boy or a girl. All I can say is I will understand the trauma my little half-sibling is going through they come out having female parts.

Suddenly, I hear the doorbell ring. Before I can get up, I hear Miles footsteps and then the door swings open.

"Oh, hello, Norman!" I hear Miles exclaim.

My blood runs cold.

I try to lock my door, but Miles has already invited him in. I press my ear to the wood and listen.

"What brings you here?" Miles asks.

"I came to see Micah," Norman replies, his tone sounding a little too cheery. But really, cheery is all you can expect from this guy. I bet he's the kind of person who would be confused when people cry at a funeral.

I struggle to shove my bed so it blocks the door, and then I pile on anything that isn't attached to the wall. I really do not have the patience to talk to Norman today.

"Micah? My nephew is here to see you! Maybe he wants to get to know you better, now that your part of the family," Miles calls down the hall.

Pretend to be sick, I tell myself. Coughing loudly, I reply, "I don't think now is the right time, Miles. I - " cough, cough " - seem to have come down with a cold." I sneeze for extra effect.

Miles seems to get it. "Sorry, Norman, it sounds like Micah's sick. Maybe you come back tomorrow?"

Please, God, no.

"That's okay, Mr. Lachowski," Norman says. I hear the door open, and then shut again.

I exhale loudly. That was close.

I am about to get back to my research when I hear a soft rapping on my window. I look up quickly to see Norman's smiling face looking in. He slides the window open and hops down, closing it behind him.

"Woah," I say after recovering from my shock. Did he just climb the building?! I swear he must have Spider-Man powers.

"Did you miss me?" He questions, still grinning.

"Not particularly," I mumble.

"I heard about you and Nick."

I clench my teeth. Did he have to remind me of that. I had almost forgotten - or told myself I had - and now I'm going to freak out again.

"I did it," he says suddenly. The smile is gone from his face and it has been replaced by a  solemn look. That's when I notice how dark his eyes are. They're a deep shade of brown that makes it look like he's staring into my soul.

"Wh - what?" I ask, surprised. "What do you mean you did it?"

"I told the reporters about your anxiety, using Nick's name." His face doesn't appear to be showing any emotion at all.

"Why?" I stammer. "How?" I must sound really stupid right now.

Norman takes a deep breath. "I've always know you're related to me. I figured it out when I looked up your name. There was a site that said that your father is Miles Lachowski, whom I know is my uncle. Your famous in our family. Natalie would always tell stories about how Lauren Tanner ruined Miles' life. He used to be such a sweet man, but she changed him. Everyone hates you. That's why they were so cold about Lauren at the party. So when you told me about your anxiety disorder, well, I saw it as something to get you back with."

"But I didn't do anythi - "

Norman cuts me off with a wave of his hand. "I also knew about the party, so the week before it, I invited you over to see if you would recognize my mom. But you didn't. Then I formed a plan. I kissed you, because I knew when you fir burned out we were related, you would freak out. Then I told the public about your anxiety using Nick's name so you would freak out even more. I knew you would break up with him, and that would throw you into even more anxiety."

I'm frozen. I can't think of anything to say or do. "I - I need to do something," I stammer. Carefully, I reach for my phone and begin to dial Nick's number.