I was officially graduated and done with school, and I was very proud to say so.
I was full of a mixed emotions when it was actually happening. I was so so excited but nervous because of all the people who were watching me. Not to mention, my legs were killing me from the long walk up to the stage. Honestly though, all the excitement and happiness over powered the anxiety and stress.
I just looked back on the moment with a smile. It was finally over.
I wasn't exactly sure what was gonna happen, career wise, now that I was graduated but I knew that from current events, I would have an advantage.
The workout sets had been officially out. No more stuff to release, no loose ends to be dealt with. It was all out.
Hollis.green: reminder that set active x HG is out!! I couldn't be prouder 💙💙
And it was selling pretty well, way better than anticipated actually. There was even talk about possibly relaunching more designs and even more opportunities opening up.
Nothing was official yet, though, which I wasn't too upset or worried about. I'd have the baby here soon and wouldn't be able to do much work when she was here.
Nonetheless, life was really good right now. I tried to soak it all in because I knew everything would pick back up again and change really soon.
The baby was thirty five weeks and due in a little over a month. Though, of course, she could come any day now. I was so excited to meet her.
We had even narrowed down our name options. Ruthie, Emaline and Eloise.
We figured once we met her then we'd decide what suited her best.
All day, Luke and I had been putting the house together. That's all our life consisted of when we were together, really.
We'd bought pretty much all of the big stuff we needed like furniture and appliances. Luke and I had put most of the nursery together this morning and the last few nights.
It was coming along pretty nicely, actually.
The theme more modern than anything.
The walls were just painted a really light pink blush shade, not too over the top.
Luke and I didn't really like the concept of blue representing a boy and a pink representing a girl.
So a really subtle shade was the way to go.
There was a vintage looking crib in the middle of the small room. It consisted of many metal bars painted a gold shade.
Behind the crib, were a bunch of black and white framed pictures along that whole wall. It was pictures of the ultrasounds, my pregnancy, and really cool pictures of places that had meaning to Luke and I, like the beach we got engaged.
Under the big window, there was a changing station/dresser and a rocking chair next to it. Throughout the room were miscellaneous things like books on the gold floating shelves and clothes tucked away in closets.
I was really proud of this room, it was probably my favorite in the house.
I was sitting in Luke and I's bed, right now. This room was coming together too, actually. It wasn't completely done, there was a bunch of boxes in the corner of the room but it was looking good. This room wasn't really my biggest focus right now anyway.
I was laying in bed, going through emails on my laptop while Waco was cuddled at my feet. I couldn't really get up whenever he laid down on me. He had grown so much since we adopted him which was insane.
Everything was happening so fast and it was so bittersweet.
I heard Luke coming up the stairs, I leaned up as much as I could.
"Hey, I'm gonna have to head out in a few." He said, as he sat down at the end of the bed.
Luke had another game this weekend, it wasn't too far away this time, though. He was flying out today, playing and then flying back later tonight. Hopefully, he'd be back here around midnight.
I sighed, shutting the laptop, "Alrighty. Are you all packed up and everything?"
I watched him as petted Waco, Waco was loving the attention.
"Yeah, everything's good to go." Luke confirmed, "Not that I needed to pack much."
I nodded.
"The nursery's looking good." He grinned.
I smiled, "I know. I just need to get a few more things today and it's good to go."
"Everything's starting to feel so real." He admitted, "Like the fact that we're gonna be parents is starting to sink in."
My smile became bigger, "We're gonna be parents any day now."
"It's insane. Absolutely insane." He commented.
I watched Waco get up and leave the room. Even as I couldn't see him anymore, I could hear his paws tapping against the wooden stairs.
"What do you think you're gonna do for the day?" He asked, trying to make conversation.
"Oh you know, the usual. I'm hoping to tackle the kitchen and maybe go to the store, we still need things like towels." I explained, "Maybe go on a walk with Waco."
"Careful with all that." He warned, "Wouldn't wanna induce labor while I'm gone."
I laughed but couldn't tell if he was being serious or not. He had a good point though, that wouldn't be good at all.
"I'll try to take it easy." I reassured him.
"Okay." He said, leaning over towards me.
He kissed me on the the lips, "I should start getting on the road. Don't wanna miss the flight."
I nodded, "Text me before the flight, okay?"
"I will. I love you guys." He replied.
Oh gosh, I loved when he did that. I loved whenever we said goodbye to each other, he'd say that he loved both of us rather than just me.
"We love you too." I smiled, "Good luck."
...
It was eleven A.M, now. For the last two hours, I had been going through all the boxes in the kitchen. I had surprisingly made really good progress in the last few hours. All the pots, pans, dishes, etcetera, were put away. All the random appliances like the microwave and coffee machine were in the correct places. All that was really needs was some decor to spice things up.
That wasn't really a necessity though so I wasn't too worried.
I was folding all the small miscellaneous dish towels when my music playing on the Bluetooth speaker cut out and my phone began ringing.
Most of my calls were random ones from Luke. He'd call if he saw something for the baby or if I needed anything or if he left something home.
But it couldn't be Luke because he had at least an hour left on his flight.
Maybe it was my mom or something.
I walked to the other side of the downstairs, and grabbed my phone off the living room coffee table.
It was just Mona.
"Hey, what's up?" I asked, picking up the call.
"Nothing much. I was actually wondering what you were up to today." She confessed, right away.
I sat down on the new emerald green couch that was next to me.
"Nothing, really. Luke left for a game earlier, maybe shopping." I told her, "Why?"
"Let's go out." She proposed.
"Go out?" I asked, "I don't know."
"Oh c'mon. It could be a chill lunch thing. This might be one of your last girl days before the baby." She said, rather convincingly.
"I'm kinda tired though, so I don't really know, Mones." I pointed out.
"Just drink a coffe-." She started, "Wait don't do that."
She continued, "I'll come pick you up, you just need to get ready. You can even sleep on the car ride, okay?"
"Can I at least bring Waco?" I asked, I was down to hang out now but I wasn't gonna leave Waco here, all alone.
"Yeah, we can drop him off with Beck and he can play with Pickles." She answered.
"Yeah, okay. I'm in." I told her.
"Okay, I'll pick you up in an hour. Be ready." Mona said, hanging up before I could answer.
So I dropped all the organizing and unpacking and started making myself look presentable, something I hadn't been doing lately.
Quite honestly, after graduation I had no reason to go out. I had just been decorating.
And if I was just staying in, the only person I was seeing was Luke. Not like I had to impress him much anymore.
I hopped into the shower to wash my hair, I had time to spare.
This was one of the good things about living decently far away from everyone. You had time to spare even when given short notice.
I could take my own sweet time while Mona was rushing down.
I got out of the shower and while I waited for my hair I dry, I picked out an outfit to wear.
One of the good things about being pregnant, was you had an excuse to buy more clothes and steal clothes from your significant other.
Most of the clothes I had unpacked where either really cute maternity outfits or Luke's old t-shirts and boxer shorts.
My style really varied nowadays.
Anyways, I picked out a maternity dress I had never worn before. I wasn't going to be pregnant much longer so I figured I'd put some use into it.
The dress fit against my body, tightly but didn't feel tight in a bad way. It really showed off my natural curves and my baby bump.
It was ironic how much I tried to hide my pregnant stomach in the begining and now I loved showing it off.
It was a dark shade of brown and went down to a little under my knees.
I paired that with a frayed light denim jacket that I bought purposely oversized and a pair of white slide on sneakers.
Then I did my makeup. My skin wasn't looking half had so all I did was mascara, a subtle wing and my lips.
Then I had just enough time to dry my hair and quickly feed and take out Waco. I was doing a load of laundry when I heard a car horn honk.
We lived in an area secluded from the main roads and people, there was never random honking car horns. So that was my signal Mona was here.
I slammed the dryer machine shut and cranked the knob so it would run while I was gone. Then I put Waco on a leash, grabbed my phone and purse and headed out the front door.
The ride to Mona and Beck's apartment wasn't that bad, it went by pretty fast with Mona. We just gossiped and blasted our old high school playlist that was way too angsty for our own good.
We got to the apartment and Mona seemed in a rush for no reason.
"Long time no see. You don't even text me anymore." Beckham said right as I entered the small one bedroom apartment.
"I totally text you." I laughed.
"Yeah, in family group chats." Beck specified.
"Well you don't text me either." I pointed out.
"Let's drop the dog off and go." Mona interrupted, "We've got places to be, people, places to be."
"We've got time, Mones. Chill." I said, turning to her.
I still unhooked Waco from the leash and he ran to Pickles, Beck's dog that he spontaneously brought home one day.
Mona gave Beck a look, his expression changed right away.
"She's probably right, Holls. Gotta go to girls day and all that fun stuff." Beck said, not very convincingly.
"Reservations, Lis." She added, in a 'duh' type of tone.
"Right." I nodded, "Well, I guess I'll see you soon."
Beck threw a ball and the two dogs began chasing after it, the downstairs neighbors probably hated Beck for all the noise.
"Don't sound so sad about it. You're gonna see me when you pick up Waco." He pointed out.
"You have a point there. Everything's just slipping my mind, today." I admitted.
"Pregnancy brain, I suppose." Beck commented.
"How do you even know all this stuff about pregnancy?" I asked, "I genuinely want to know."
"Reservations, guys. Reservations." Mona repeated, she was twirling the keys around her fingers in a circular motion.
So that's when we said some rather rushed goodbyes and hit the road, to God knows where. I still didn't know where our girls day was taking place.
She wanted it to be a surprise because this was probably gonna be my last hurrah.
As Mona turned up the music, I laid my head against the side of her car, shutting my eyes. I laid still as the sun beamed down on my face.
It was really peaceful regardless of the Greenday music blasting through the speakers.
The next thing I knew, the music was turned off and I was being woken up to the sound of Mona's voice.
"Wake up, Lis. We're here, now." She told me.
I got up, the drowsiness wearing off.
When I looked outside the windshield, I saw a familiar house. Mona's house before she moved out, or I suppose just her parent's house.
It had the prettiest fenced in yard where we'd always sit on the rope hammock that day in the garden. It was nice to look back on.
I raised an eyebrow in confusion. Why were we here?
I guess she understood my question without words needing to be said because she responded.
"Quick little stop." She shrugged.
All I could think was, "Reservations my ass."
She started getting out of the car, I stayed put. She was just grabbing something and I wasn't really needed to go in. If I didn't need to get up then I really wasn't going to.
She stopped, right when I thought she was shutting the car door, "You coming in?"
"And what about those reservations?" I asked.
She shrugged, "Come on. We'll only be a minute."
We walked into the small house and I expected to see just her mom and dad but sitting in the decently large sun room were all of my close friends and family.
After a quick glance around, it clicked in my head.
A baby shower.
I didn't think I was going to have one, quite honestly. I hadn't planned one because I was too busy and as time went on, nobody else did either.
I suppose Mona was the whole time. I wasn't that surprised Mona took this over either, she had always loved planning parties. After all our twenty first birthdays, it was her unspoken thing.
I looked around at everyone. I saw my sisters, my mom, Bianca, my grandmother, auntie Ayla, and different college friends like Melanie.
A few guys were even here, like college friends, Owen and Liam.
"Beck's gonna come a little later." Mona told me, as if she was reading my mind.
I nodded, "You did all this?"
We were in a corner of the house where I could talk with Mona and collect my thoughts before I walked in there. There was a wall partially in front of us so everybody couldn't see us but we could see them.
"Of course, you only have your first kid once. Plus, I had way too much fun doing this." She admitted to me.
I grinned and pulled her into a hug, "This is perfect, thank you."
Everything was decked out in pinks, whites, and rose golds. Normally, baby showers were decorated in a tacky, generic style, in my eyes.
Here, it was a really classy and modern type of style and I was in love with it.
Mona definitely was proud and not afraid to admit it.
Mona pulled out of the hug, "Alright, alright. Let's get in there, okay?"
I nodded, "Yeah, okay."
Right as we walked in, Mona whispered, "If you need out of a conversation, I'll be watching and waiting. I got you."
I tried to compose myself and not laugh. Although, I'm sure as I was walking in, everyone saw my smirk.