The Boy Next Door

Chapter 35

"Thanks," I say to Dylan as he hands me the cold bottle of water, his face beaming as he goes to sit down beside Adeline. His hands lay on top of hers, both palms resting on the sides of her stomach.

"No problem," he replies. "I'm going to be treating you just like this one." He rubs his nose along her neck, Adeline's eyes closing in content. As Adeline puts it, Dylan's been in a complete 'no stress for you' mode; trying to keep Adeline off her feet as much as possible.

He's not the fondest of her beginning her job and carrying Lily around so much, scared she's going to put too much strain on her body. "You don't need to be treating me any kind of way." Adeline mumbles while lacing her fingers with his.

He looks between the two of us with wide eyes, "the two of you are pregnant...together. If anything, I'm going to treat you better than I did before." I giggle under my breath, the cute interaction between them making me get a sense of relief for when I tell Aiden about the pregnancy.

Dylan's taking it well so far, and the glint in his eyes shows he's more excited than words could ever express. It's been three days now, and I feel I've worked all my extra nerves out to be able to tell Aiden.

Soft rustling sounds from the connecting room, it being a small bedroom for Lily. "She must be awake." Adeline says while trying to stand from the couch.

"I've got it," Dylan voices, his hands stopping her from moving an inch off the cushions. She tilts her head up at him as he smiles widely, acting as if he's oblivious to the reasoning behind her look.

"Dylan, honey, I'm pregnant not injured." Adeline states as Dylan begins walking towards the room, his hands stuffed deep in his front pockets.

"I know." He chirps before slipping past the frame of the bedroom door. Adeline shakes her head gently, a small grin on her face as I look over at her. "And since you're not injured, you should go do that thing you need to do today." Dylan voices, causing us to look over at his head peeking out before disappearing again.

Adeline keeps her eyes on the door, Dylan's voice faint as he gets Lily up. She turns her gaze to me, her hand moving up to play with the ends of her hair. "What?" I ask, her nervous tick making its presence known.

She shakes her head, her bottom lip poking out as she stands from the couch. "I just need to stop by my parents. You wanna come?"

"Mm hmm," I hum with water in my mouth, our feet carrying us towards the door of the apartment. Adeline grabs Dylan's keys, jingling them in the air as I look over my shoulder to see him holding Lily in the doorway. He mouths an 'okay', his hands running through Lily's hair as we exit the apartment.

Arriving at the James' household, Adeline let out a breath as we walk past the threshold. "Are you okay?" I ask as we ascend the stairs, my eyes looking her anxious frame up and down.

"Yeah, yeah," she replies quickly as we walk towards her room. Her lips are tucked inward, her eyes looking over at me but not making contact with my own.

"Adeline, what's-" I begin to ask, my words falling short as I scan over the large boxes littering her room. "What's all this?" I ask, my eyes glancing over at Adeline with her arms wrapped around herself.

"I..." she says while wiping her hands down her thighs, "Dylan asked me to move in with him."

"Oh." I say softly, her nervous state since the apartment finally making sense. I walk further in her room, my hands pulling on the closet handle to see majority of the clothes were gone. "This is good, Adeline. Why do you look so anxious?"

She picks up one of the boxes, Lily's toys filling it up halfway. "He actually asked after that double date we had, but you...I didn't want to up and leave you. And then you started not staying here as much at night so I stayed over at Dylan's, and then I find out about Aiden so..."