Wild, Wilder, Wildest

Ninth

I had begun school with Jackson again, and I have been working out and eating healthy as well. I had lost a few pounds already, not including the baby that was no longer in my stomach. I sipped from my bottle of water as Wilder day in my lap as Bray, Cole, and I played Mariokart. Janelle and Dom were at a hotel in the cities for Janelle's art presentation. They had already met Wilder and absolutely loved him. Today, Bray, Cole and I are going shopping for Wild. We went to Walmart first and got diapers, bottles, bibs, pacifiers, the whole deal. After wards we went to Macy's.

"Oh my god this is perfect." I sighed. There was a black onesie with a sun on it, that had sunglasses on it. I also got him yellow sweatpants to go with it, and I got him a pair of black converse and rain boots. Cole and Bray found five other outfits for Wilder, and we got a few toys for him. A huge rainbow slinky, a dog that squeaks when you squeeze it, a huge stuffed lion, that was almost the size of me.
After we go Wilder clothes, we went to the store and got him different kinds of baby food and formula. The last thing we did was go to Menards and get pale gray paint, and dark, forest green paint. We had someone come in and change his hard wood floors, to a soft white carpet. This is one of the best days of my life. We finally went home, and we started to set up his room. All of the furniture was dark brown, like his crib. Janelle and Dom were home now, and they were looking after Wilder in the basement. Bray, Cole, and I began to paint.

"I swear to God, Bray. Stop getting painting on me!" I whined, and took the paint roller I was holding and rolled it across her back. She froze then turned around with horror plastered on her face.

"Oh, you're so going gonna get it." Her eyes narrowed into me like I was her prey; a target, and she never misses. As soon as my thoughts ended, paint splattered all over my chest.

"EUUUGH!" I screeched. I quickly grabbed the wet sponge and chucked it at her. I watched as the sponge smacked her right in the face. When it dropped to the ground her face was stone cold, and she looked just about ready to kill me. Before she could do anything else, we heard a soft cry on the baby monitor. We all froze.

"Everyone shut up." I whispered.

"Who don't you, you walnut?" Camille sneered.

I raised my eyebrow in her direction, "Really? Walnut? That's your best insult? That's pathetic. Now paint."

To my surprise, Bray no longer protested and we continued painting. An hour or so went by and we were done. We cleaned up the papers and tape on the ground, along with the supplies we used. We moved the furniture and his crib back in. We let a few days pass to make sure the paint was dry, and the fumes were no longer there. I put Wilder on my hip and brought him upstairs as he leaned on my chest, asleep. His eyes fluttered open for a second, so I put his pacifier in his mouth, and he went back to sleep. I kissed his soft cheeks, then set him down in his crib.

I walked into Cole's room, or at least the guest room, and sat down next to Cole.

"What's up, Juno?" He asked, scorching closer to me.

"I don't know. I just felt like hanging out with you."

"Okay," He paused for a number of minutes, "Are you happy?"

I smiled, "I think I am."
"At first, I never really thought I could be happy with a kid. I mean, I just thought my life would be ruined, or something. But... now I know how stupid I was being. I mean, I just absolutely love Wilder. I haven't even known him that long and I already can't imagine life without him."

"Wow," Cole lied Down next to me, and I reciprocated his actions. "I haven't told Bray this yet, and please don't tell her, because I want this to be a surprise. I was thinking about getting an apartment in this area. You know, so I could still be close to Bray even when we're done working out, and... yeah."

"Wow," I didn't really know what to say, "That's big, that's cool. That's- uh, well I really hope you go through with it."

"Thanks." He murmured.

"Yup."

"You can start doing more hardcore workouts now." He added.

I nodded, "Yup."

"Yeah."

I sat up, "Gotta dash, see you later." I walked out of the room without another word. I don't even know why it was so awkward between us; I've talked to Cole so many times. What is wrong with me? I was caught in my train of thought when I heard Bray talking to Dom and Janelle.

"Hey, you guys!" I plopped down on the couch.

"I'm bored." Bray said.

"Ditto."

"Juno, come here!" Jackson yelled.

"Time to do some homework," I grunted, "Yay..." I trudged down the stairs and greeted Jackson.

"What's up?" I said.

"Before I go, I was wondering if you would like to have dinner at my house. It's not as fancy as yours," He smiled. "But, I felt like I should."

I grinned from ear to ear, "I would love to. When would that be?"

"How about tonight?" He said.

"Okay, sounds good. Just let me change."

"Hadrian will be there, and so will my wife. My oldest son, though, is in Russia. He's doing language immersion, so he can become a translator in Russian, too. He's fluent in American sign language and French, as well." Jackson stated proudly, even puffing his chest out a bit.

I smiled and turned around. Walking back up the stairs, I went to my room and took a shower, then picked my outfit out. I chose a black turtleneck, a long gray cardigan, and pale blue high-waisted jeans. I found myself in Wilder's room waiting for the right time to go over to Jackson's house. I rested my arms on the crib, and my chin on my arms, looking over at Wilder. My alarm on my phone went off, and I walked out of the house and drove over to Jackson's house. I walked onto his porch and halted in my steps. The door opened right as I knocked on it.

Jackson's face smiled back at me, "You're here!"

"Yup, here I am." I said.

The rest of the night went by smoothly. The dinner was fantastic, as was Jackson's wife, Emiliana, and his son, Hadrian. I drove back home feeling fulfilled. When I walked in, there was Wilder, sitting in Matthew Kelsa's lap.