Last Place You Look

Chapter 36

As if they had secrets to begin with.

I was fine with her telling him though. I knew Dustin wouldn't judge or say anything negative about me not being ready or anything at all about Harry being more than ready.

I put the little blue person in the car next to my pink one and the tension rolled over as we carried on with our game. It seemed like Niall was the only one that was completely oblivious to it. Whether he was too drunk to notice or Harry just hadn't told him was a mystery. I knew it was a lot to him to admit to me how upset he'd been, let alone admit it to Niall too. But he'd given a glimpse into his past that I hadn't yet heard of from him. I wish he'd kept going.

Niall, in his drunk stupor, ended up winning the entire game. I ended with three kids and no husband. Funny how that worked out, huh? We packed up the game and started another. And then another. We treated it like a regular game night.

That was, until Niall passed out on the couch in the middle of Clue. That's when we decided that it might be best to pack up for the night. We packed up the game while Kira tried to wake Niall up and get him to drink some water.

"Before everyone leaves, we have a little bit of an announcement." Dustin wrapped his arm around Kimmy's waist. She gave him an excited smile and rested her hand on her stomach.

"Holy fuck, you're pregnant!"

"Niall!" Kira slapped her hand over his mouth to keep him quiet.

"Thanks for ruining the surprise, Niall." Kimmy rolled her eyes as she laughed. She grabbed something off the bookshelf and held it up in front of her. It was an ultrasound.

"No fucking way. Kimmy you didn't even tell us you were trying!"

"Because we weren't. I was just as surprised as you are." Dustin kissed her cheek and rested his hand on hers.

"When did you find out? How far along are you?" I got up to hug her. I could feel her bump under her shirt. She didn't usually wear overly baggy clothes, but anything tighter would have ruined the surprise. I put my hand on her stomach. It was bigger than I expected it to be. "Kimmy, how long have you been keeping this a secret?"

"I'm almost four months. I'm just really small and we decided it would be better to wait." Her waiting didn't feel right. Kimmy was terrible with secrets. There was a reason she'd waited so long.

Kira moved around me so she could hug Kimmy and Dustin. She congratulated them and moved to where Niall was on the couch.

"Harry, will you help me get him to my car?" He nodded and helped her pull Niall off the couch. He was mostly lucid but definitely needed help walking.

Dustin left the room to start putting food away, leaving me and Kimmy alone in the living room. There was a small sliver of tension sitting around us, just barely noticeable, but definitely there.

"Charlie, I-"

"Why did you wait so long to tell us?" I already knew what she was going to say, but I wanted to be sure. I needed to know for sure I was the reason she waited so long to tell me. Her eyes told me how guilty she felt, like I was going to be me at her for being honest. "You can tell me the truth. I won't be mad."

"We just couldn't find the right time. You've been going through so much... We didn't want you to think that we don't care about what's going on in your life."

I pulled her to the couch and sat down with her. "And I appreciate you taking my life so heavily into consideration, but this is a big moment for you guys. Just because things aren't great for me right now doesn't mean I want you to avoid celebrating. Being happy for yourselves doesn't mean you care less about me. I would have been happy regardless."

"I'm sorry we kept it from you for so long. We found out a couple months after Grandma's funeral and then you were in England and then the job crisis happened. Nothing felt right. You know me. Everything has to be perfect."

"I know you are, I just hate that I was the reason you prolonged it." And I truly did. Me and my mental health got in the way of something else. "We could have been celebrating this entire time. Do you know what you're having?"

"We weren't gonna tell anyone until the baby shower, but it's a boy. Don't tell Dustin I told you though." She looked down at her stomach with pride. She was on the smaller side for four months, which is probably why it was so easy to hide it from us literally all day.

A few footsteps came from behind the wall but the quickly stopped. We both looked over, but I could see two pairs of shoes from where I was sitting. I pointed them out to Kimmy and she laughed to herself. Dustin and Harry were standing behind the wall on either side of the open doorway to let us talk. I suspected Harry had been the footsteps we had heard.

"You guys can come in, you know. We're not talking about anything top secret." Kimmy rolled her eyes as they slowly walked around the corner. Dustin rolled his eyes as he came around the corner, Harry just looked embarrassed that they'd been caught.

"Actually, you were. You were divulging the sex of our baby before we decided."

"Oh shut up. It's just Charlie."

"I mean, I know too now." Harry raise his hand to his waist to remind her that he's heard as well.

"I'm less worried about you spilling than I am Charlie."

"Hey! I'm great at secrets! At least Niall isn't in the room. God, he told us you were pregnant before you could." I stood from the couch to be next to Harry. It was getting late and I could see Kimmy getting tired. "That being said, we'd better get going and let you get some rest."

I hugged her for the second time that night, feeling her hard belly press against my soft one. Harry was hugging Dustin when we let go of each other and we switched. We said congratulations one more time and went home.

I tried to talk to Harry on the way home, but he gave me short responses. I didn't know what was up, but he had the same puzzled look in the car that he did at their wedding. I didn't understand.

We took a shower together, him getting out before me, leaving me covered in soap and confused at his silence.

He was waiting for me in bed though, with one of my manuscripts on his lap and his glasses on. The lights were off, but his moon lamp gave us enough light to get some reading done.

He looked up at me when I entered the room and his eyes trailed down my towel wrapped body. I saw him try to suppress a grin and I walked to my dresser to find clothes. I pulled out one of his shirts. It wasn't something I usually did, but I knew he was watching me. So I gave him a little show.

I stood with my back to him and let my towel drop, throwing my hair over my shoulders so it fell down my back. I looked at him over my shoulder a bit to make sure he was watching. He licked his lips quickly and bit down on his bottom lip.

I slid my underwear up my legs slowly. I could feel him burning holes in still damp skin. I picked up his shirt from where I'd put it on the top of the dresser and slowly pulled it down my chest, only turning around to face him when it hit my stomach.

And then I got in bed like it was nothing.

"You going to explain that?"

"Explain what?" I propped myself up on my elbow and glanced up at him. "Did you want to read tonight?"

He closed the spiral bound pages and took off his glasses, throwing both of them next to his lamp. He slid down a little closer to me.

"I planned on reading tonight, but it seems like you have something else in mind." He scooted closer to me and propped himself up on an elbow as well. His fingers found my waist and and they slid down to grope my ass.

"Wonder what gave you that impression? I thought reading was a good idea. It's my favorite thing to do with you." I have him a fake pout, just to mess with him a little more.

"That's not what your mouth said the other night. I think maybe you need a reminder?" His fingers dig into my skin, sending a chill up my spine.