"What happened," Val asked when Charlie opened the door, she and Rachel entering the house.
They looked at their friend who was now thirty- three weeks. They hadn't seen her since the last time.
"Woah," said Rachel.
"Yeah," Charlie said as she and the girls walked to the kitchen.
"I thought we were meeting at the coffee shop," said Val.
"Dude," said Rachel it's not like we could. Charlie could bust any day now. I'm pretty sure the last place she'd want to do is have the twins somewhere in public.
Charlie grabbed some crackers and peanut butter from the pantry and then pickle slices from the fridge, creating mini sandwiches.
"Ew," said Rachel.
Charlie ignored the comment. "That's if I even go into labor at all."
Her friends laughed.
Val looked at her. "I'm pretty sure they will come out at some point. I mean it's not like they could stay in there forever."
"You'd be surprised."
Val and Rachel looked at each other.
"Okay what is up with you?" asked Rachel.
Val said, "yeah. I mean we haven't seen you in a week, you haven't answered our texts or our calls."
"And when we've come over to check on you," said Rachel, your bother or parents have said you're either not home or you're asleep and haven't wanted to wake you."
"Did we do something wrong?"
"No," Charlie said, "it's not you, it's me."
Rachel looked at her. "Okay seriously you're going with that bullshit line?"
"I'm being serious," said Charlie, "I've just needed time to deal with everything, time to process and get used to the idea. Truth is I don't think I will."
"What the hell are you talking about, Charlie," asked Val.
Charlie took a bite of her cracker and washed it down with a glass of water. She took a deep breath.
"There's something I have to tell you. I know it will be a lot to take in but I love you guys so it's only fair that you know." Her friends waited. "My babies aren't fully human. They were planted inside me artificially."
"So you wanted to have a kid now so you went through IVF?" asked Val.
"Not exactly,"said Charlie.
Val looked at her, "what do you mean not exactly? I mean either way you got pregnant the normal way or through IVF."
"Neither," said Charlie. "My babies were placed inside me, yes, but not in a way you would expect. They're aliens. They were created out of extraterrestrial DNA."
Her friends laughed.
"Good one," said Rachel, "especially since your suck at making jokes."
Val looked at her. "You're not joking. You're actually serious. "
Charlie nodded. "My dad was told by them that if he had a daughter she would get pregnant when she was sixteen. Well surprise!" she said, pointing to her belly. "They also said I could be pregnant for a year so according to them I still have nineteen weeks to go."
"Okay so let's say this is real," said Rachel.
"Which it is," said Val.
"Why didn't you tell us?"
"I was scared," Charlie admitted. "I was having enough trouble accepting it as it was. I didn't think you'd believe me."
Val looked at her. "How long have we known each other? Of course we'd believe you."
"We still do," said Rachel. Charlie smiled at them. "So twelve months. God that's gotta suck."
"Tell me about it. 9 months is bad enough but a full year is down right insane but there's nothing I can do about it but wait."
