At the sound of his alarm, Ricky woke up hugging his pillow and groaned with frustration. He'd been having a wonderfully inappropriate dream about Amy and he wasn't ready to wake up yet, not that his alarm would care. He dragged himself out of bed and headed towards the shower, wondering if he was losing it. This wasn't the first less than innocent dream he'd had about Amy but they seemed to be happening more frequently and he couldn't figure out how to stop them. As he rinsed off his body wash it suddenly hit him: he hadn't had sex since Amy got back from New York. While that realization surprised him, he quickly did some calculating as he dried off and got dressed and realized that meant he'd been celibate for two months and he couldn't remember ever having done so for that long. He finished getting ready for the school day with Amy on the brain. It didn't help that as he ate his French toast and scrambled eggs he sat facing the refrigerator, which was cluttered with magnets holding up pictures of the woman he loved and the child they'd created. He suddenly found himself missing Amy more than he ever had before and he couldn't understand why. Underwood you are so gone over that woman you could be committed he thought to himself with a smile as he got up to carry his dishes to the sink and wash them.
Across town at the Enriquez household Adrian was taking a cold shower. She'd woken up from a rather steamy dream that had featured Ben, much to her own surprise. She had still felt flushed and aroused when she'd woken up and hoped the cold shower would calm her down. She felt much calmer when she stepped out of the shower and dried herself off. She looked at her belly with a soft smile and rubbed it a little, smiling even wider when her daughter gave a small kick beneath her hand. All on its own Adrian's mind drifted back to the night her daughter had been conceived and then flashes of her steamy dream the night before came back to her. Adrian actually blushed when she realized she felt aroused again but knew she didn't have time for another shower. She quickly got dressed and gathered her school things so she could head downstairs. She managed to make small talk with her parents before she headed off to school. As she drove closer and closer to school, her mind kept thinking about Ben and that thought kept bringing flashes of her dream to mind. Adrian was at a loss. She had prided herself on having control of her libido but for some reason today it had a mind of its own. I wonder if these pregnancy hormones are throwing everything outta whack she wondered as she pulled into the school parking lot. Maybe I need to avoid Ben today until I can get a handle on them. As Adrian set her car's alarm, Ricky was making a beeline for Amy's locker. She felt his stare and looked up in his direction, giving him a small smile as she placed her jacket in her locker. When Ricky reached her he pulled her close and gave her a kiss, not caring who saw them. Amy could tell from the way he kissed her that he was particularly happy to see her.
"Someone's in a good mood this morning," she told him with amusement.
"I missed you." Amy just smiled.
"You saw me last night," she reminded him with a chuckle as she grabbed out her morning textbooks and notebooks. Ricky nodded in agreement.
"Yeah." He got closer to her so he could whisper in her ear. "But I woke up alone this morning and I didn't like it." Amy remembered waking up next to him the previous day and the memory made her shiver and blush, which caused Ricky to smile as he was too close to her not to notice her reaction. Ricky took a step back and Amy released the breath she hadn't realized she was holding. "Yesterday was nice," he said quietly, so only she could hear. Amy shut her locker and Ricky put his arm around her waist as they began heading down the hall towards their first class.
"Yeah, it was," she agreed, leaning her head on his shoulder.
"So what do you want for dinner?" Amy shrugged, her head still on his shoulder.
"Surprise me." Ricky smiled and kissed her temple as they continued walking. They were oblivious to the angry stares several females were shooting Amy's way and the looks of disbelief they were giving Ricky. Some felt angry at Ricky for being so affectionate with Amy but only wanting to hook up with them. Others felt angry at Amy for possessing something they didn't, something that made Ricky Underwood want to date her but not them. Some simply couldn't believe what their eyes were seeing: Ricky Underwood being a perfect affectionate gentleman to the girl he wanted nothing to do with when he first found out he'd gotten her pregnant. As Amy and Ricky turned a corner, Jack walked past them, glancing at them briefly and sighing inwardly.
I miss that he thought sadly. If only I hadn't screwed things up with sex he chastised himself ruefully as he turned down a hallway towards his class. Why does sex and relationships have to be so hard? As he neared his classroom he spotted Madison and her new boyfriend kissing each other goodbye. Things were pretty good with Madison too he thought as he walked into his classroom and got ready for class to start. Was I just too hung up on Grace to really make it work with her or did sex just make things too complicated all around? He didn't have too much time to chase that line of thought as the bell rang. When the bell rang again to signal the end of the class period, Jack quickly gathered his things and sent Madison a text: Will u have lunch w/ me? He was almost to his next class when she responded: Ok. He quickly sent a text right back: Meet me out front. He breathed a little easier for the rest of the morning, hopeful to make sense out of what had gone wrong with his past relationships.
Jack was anxious as he made his way towards the school's main entrance and he only became tenser when he saw Madison already waiting for him.
"Hey, Madison." She turned towards the sound of his voice.
"Hi, Jack. So why'd you wanna have lunch together?" Jack nervously ran a hand through his hair.
"Why don't we find an open table and I'll tell you," he said instead of answering her question right away. Madison followed Jack towards the back part of the courtyard as he searched for an empty table. He finally spotted one and sat down, Madison joining him warily.
"So....." she pressed as she began opening her lunch bag. Jack cleared his throat.
"I wanted to ask you something."
"What's that?" she asked curiously.
"Well....do you think we could've worked out? As a couple?" Madison shook her head.
"No." Jack felt a little ruffled by her quick response.
"Why not?" he asked, genuinely curious to understand her answer. Madison pointed the banana she was about to peel at him.
"I was always just the other woman to you." Jack had the decency to look ashamed, remembering how he and Madison had first hooked up while he was still technically dating Grace. "And it sucked you know." She began to peel her banana. "The second she got back from camp you just kicked me to the curb." She took a bite and then set it down to open her bottle of water.
"Look I'm sorry, Madison. I really liked you; I still do actually. It's just," he scooted closer and lowered his voice. "Sex complicated things." Madison rolled her eyes.
"How?" Jack ran a hand through his hair again.
"I liked having sex," he told her truthfully. "But Grace wasn't interested and I didn't know how to be in a relationship with a girl I really liked and not have sex with her when I really wanted to have sex." He saw the confusion in her eyes and tried to explain himself more clearly. "I mean, if two people love each other and are committed to each other, I didn't see the problem with them sleeping together anymore but Grace did." Jack sighed as he took a bite of his sub sandwich. He and Madison ate in silence for several minutes before Jack spoke up again. "Do you think that makes me a hypocrite?" he asked seriously. Madison shrugged.
"I'm not really the best person to ask since I'm Catholic but I'll tell you what I think about it if you'd like." Jack nodded his head eagerly. "The way I see it, sex is something intimate two people do, right?" Again Jack nodded. "And when you're that intimate with someone you end up giving them a part of yourself, a part you can never get back. If the sex means something to both partners, like a sign of their commitment to each other like you said before, then I've got no business judging two unmarried people who wanna sleep together. But personally, when two people are just hooking up to have meaningless sex, they're cheapening it and I think that's wrong." Jack took a few moments to digest her words as he ate a little more of his lunch. There were a few more minutes of silence as they ate their food before Jack asked her another question.
"So what do you think about what we did?" he asked hesitantly, slightly afraid of her answer, given what she'd just told him.
"When we first," she began but paused, as a trio of students walked passed their table chatting amongst themselves. Glancing around to see if anyone else was within earshot, Madison selected a different choice of words as she continued. "Did what we did, I thought that you liked me as much as I liked you. When we kept hanging out and...stuff, I thought it meant you'd broken up with Grace. So when she got back from camp and you acted like nothing had happened between us that summer, it really hurt, Jack." He opened his mouth to speak and Madison could tell he wanted to apologize so she shook her head and continued. "You didn't make it clear to me what we had, or didn't have. When you and Grace broke up over what we did and we started dating, it still didn't feel quite right." Jack looked at her with surprise written all over his face.
"What do you mean?"
"Sure we went out and made out and occasionally...you know, but I still felt like I was competing with Grace for your full attention. Like you weren't really committed to being with me." Jack's brows furrowed with curiosity.
"Hang on. Is that why you wanted to have a sleepover?" Madison blushed slightly and nodded.
"Yeah," she admitted with a sigh. "I wanted to do something with you that you hadn't done with Grace. Something that would make our relationship different and unique." Jack shook his head at his own stupidity.
"Madison, I'm sorry. I didn't realize I'd made you feel that way. I honestly liked you. You were easy to talk to and fun to hang out with. I guess I was a little unfair to you though huh?" Madison nodded.
"It took my dad forcing us to break up and me meeting someone else to realize that back then you didn't know which one of us you really wanted to be with so it wouldn't have worked out between us." She took another drink from her water bottle. "Sex or no sex."
"So you're saying sex didn't complicate things between us?" he asked, wanting to make sure he'd understood what had been said so far in their conversation.
"No, Jack. The only complication was you not making up your mind about whether you wanted to have sex or a girlfriend. Sex isn't a requirement of a committed relationship you know," she told him with a pointed look. Jack sighed and looked down at the table.
"I know, I know. Or at least I'm figuring that out," he admitted. Across the courtyard Amy and Ricky sat by themselves at another table and Amy was currently looking at Ricky with a look of skepticism.
"You heard my dad. No more sleepovers."
"Nooooo," Ricky said with a slight grin. "He said no more sleepovers he didn't know about. That's why I'm asking you to ask them now," he told her calmly as he ate a forkful of his tuna casserole. Amy reached into her purse and pulled out her phone.
"Bet you he says no," she said in a singsong voice but with a serious face.
"You won't know if you don't ask," Ricky replied, in a singsong voice as well. Amy shook her head with a small smile at her boyfriend's antics as she sent both of her parents a text: Is it ok 4 me and John 2 crash at Ricky's 2night? She set her phone on the table and took a bite of her salad.
"So what exactly do you wanna talk about tonight that might require a sleepover?" Ricky shook his head as her phone buzzed.
"I don't wanna say anything at school," he told her seriously as she looked at her phone for several moments and chuckled. "What?"
"Mom says only if I don't have any homework and dad wants to know why." She looked up at him. "What should I tell him?"
"That we need to talk about something and I don't wanna have to rush the conversation." Amy sent her dad a reply: Ricky wants 2 talk and not have 2 rush.
"I might be a little later than usual since I'll have to pack an overnight bag for us," she informed him, taking a drink from her juice box.
"You don't have to," he informed her. Amy raised an eyebrow questioningly. "What?" Ricky said, lifting his shoulders in a slight shrug. "I've already got whatever John needs to spend the night and you can just wear one of my t-shirts to bed or something." Amy looked at him with amusement.
"Oh really? And what? Tomorrow just wear the same outfit to school? And what about restocking John's bag for the nursery? And packing my lunch for tomorrow?" she challenged with slight amusement as she ate some more of her salad. Ricky caught the teasing challenge in her eyes and smiled tenderly at her.
"Like I said. Whatever John needs for tomorrow I've got at my place, I can take him to the nursery in the morning so you can run home and change, and there's plenty of food at my place you can pack for lunch" He saw her considering his suggestion. "Pretty please? With sugar on top?" he asked, giving her his best puppy dog eyes. Inwardly he was crossing his fingers that she'd go for it; he didn't know how much longer he'd be able to hide his physical attraction to her.
"Okay, but if I'm late for school tomorrow morning I'm blaming you." He could hear the teasing in her voice and smiled at her.
"Noted." As Amy and Ricky and the rest of the student body enjoyed the sunshine, Adrian was in the library searching online furiously. She quickly scanned articles hoping to find both a definitive answer for what was causing her to lose control of her libido and, more importantly, what to do about it. Adrian finally found an article about the hormonal changes women experience during pregnancy that seemed like it might be helpful and began skimming it. She groaned with frustration as she found her answer, a groan that earned a stern look and a "shhhh" from the librarian. Adrian rolled her eyes when the librarian looked away and looked back at the computer screen. Much to her dismay, with all the hormones racing through her system at the moment, she was prone to becoming easily aroused, and frequently, unfortunately. In a nutshell, for the next few weeks her libido would be in overdrive. Adrian closed out the web browser and made her way towards her locker as she called Dr. Atavi's office. She was put through to her in a matter of minutes.
"Hello, Adrian. What can I do for you today?" Dr. Atavi asked her pleasantly.
"Is it true that about this time a lot of pregnant women get," Arian paused to glance around for any eavesdroppers but chose to lower her voice anyway for good measure. "Horny?" Dr. Atavi had to try very hard not to laugh at the question.
"Yes, Adrian. About this time of the pregnancy most women feel especially aroused." Adrian sighed.
"Well is there anything I can do about it? I mean, I'm in school for most of the day and it's kinda distracting," she admitted grumpily.
"I'm sorry, Adrian, but there's really nothing I can do medically. I can tell you, however, that having sex won't harm the baby in any way and can actually be beneficial for you.
"Say what?" Adrian said quickly, having perked up at Dr. Atavi's statement.
"Sex helps keep your pelvic muscles ready for childbirth and the release of endorphins can help you feel better and sleep better at night."
"Really?" Adrian asked cautiously, thinking this might all be too good to be true.
"Yes, Adrian, really," Dr. Atavi told her with a slight smile. The bell signaling the end of lunch rang, cutting into Adrian's thought process.
"I gotta go. Thanks, Dr. Atavi."
"You're welcome, Adrian." Adrian ended the call and opened her locker, her head spinning with this new information. While Adrian was mentally processing her recent phone call, Justin and Madison were heading back inside from the courtyard.
"So what'd Jack wanna talk about?" he asked conversationally. Madison shrugged.
"Just whether or not he and I would've made it as a couple." Her answer surprised him.
"You two used to date!?"
"Yeah, but not for long. He was just trying to figure out what went wrong I guess." Justin was still curious about her past relationship with Jack.
"Well," he began hesitantly. "What did go wrong?" Madison shrugged again.
"He wasn't really over Grace," she told him as she opened her locker to get out her supplies for the rest of the day. "Plus my dad didn't really like him." She left out the part about her little innocent sleepover. A girl's entitled to have a few secrets right?
"Are you over him?" Justin asked her seriously. Madison saw the seriousness of his expression and smiled before leaning forward to kiss his cheek.
"Yep." Her answer and token of affection made Justin smile and he took her hand as they walked to their chemistry class.
Adrian was glad when the school day finally ended. She was hoping to catch her mother on the phone as soon as she got home. She was pleasantly surprised to find her mom pulling into the driveway just as she did.
"Mom!? What are you doing here? I thought your flight didn't get in until tonight?" Adrian asked as she climbed out of her car and waddled over to her mom.
"Hello to you too," Cindy said with a smile, retrieving her suitcase from the backseat of her car. "One of the flight attendants on an earlier flight needed to switch shifts with someone so she could stay in Denver for a couple more days for some kind of family thing so I switched with her," Cindy explained as they headed towards the back door of the house.
"Great! I need to talk to you about something." Cindy looked at Adrian with concern.
"Everything alright with the baby?" she asked as she held open the door for Adrian, shutting it behind her once they'd entered the house.
"Yeah, yeah, she's good. It's me with the problem," Adrian admitted with a slightly guilty look. Cindy was intrigued.
"Oh? What kind of problem?" she asked, pulling out one of the kitchen chairs to sit in. Adrian did likewise, although a little slower than she would've liked, and sighed.
"Long story short I've been having horny dreams." Cindy tried to hide a smile and failed.
"Honey that normal." Adrian pushed her hair back, sighed and rolled her eyes.
"I know! I looked up a bunch of stuff online just to make sure it wasn't just me. Then I called Dr. Atavi and asked her if she could give me anything to help me....calm down and she said no. But then," Adrian nervously licked her lips. "She said that having sex while you're pregnant can actually be helpful." Cindy narrowed her eyes.
"Where are you going with this, Adrian?" Cindy asked cautiously.
"Well....I was wondering if you'd think it'd be a good idea to ask Ben to...help me out, if you catch my drift. I'm not really sure how to approach him about this," she admitted ruefully. Cindy thought about her daughter's request for a moment.
"I'm not really sure how to answer that, Adrian. I've been there and I know it's not all that pleasant being hot and bothered with no form of release, but I'm not sure asking Ben to help you scratch this particular itch is the way to go." Adrian had kind of hoped her mother would agree with her plan.
"Why not?"
"Adrian, think about it. You'd be asking a young man that you're not interested in romantically to have sex with you. Would it be just sex for both of you or would it mean something more? If you approach Ben about this, would he feel obligated to sleep with you just because he happened to get you pregnant or would he do it because he's genuinely attracted to you? And what happens to your relationship with Ben once you're no longer unusually horny? Especially if you both aren't on the same page about what sleeping together means for your relationship after your daughter's born." Adrian hadn't really thought about it beyond asking Ben to help her with her unusual problem. Cindy could see Adrian thinking things over and rose to retrieve her suitcase and then head upstairs. Adrian sighed and rubbed her belly.
"I didn't really think this through. I was just looking for a way to...scratch this itch, as you put it, and figured who better than the father of my baby." Cindy gave her daughter a comforting smile.
"I've been there, honey. You take it one day at a time and eventually it passes and you start to feel normal again," Cindy reassured her as she climbed the stairs. Adrian sighed. And when exactly does that happen?
Several hours later, Ricky, Amy and John sat down at his apartment dining room table to enjoy a meal of pork steaks, mashed potatoes and steamed carrots. Ricky and Amy chatted over their dinner like they did every other Wednesday evening but they both sensed that they were avoiding what Ricky really wanted to talk about. Amy's curiosity finally got the better of her.
"So you gonna tell me what it is you wanna talk about?" she asked as she took a bite of her pork steak. Her curiosity was piqued even further when Ricky blushed slightly.
"Not with a kid in the room," he explained, quickly looking down at his plate and taking a bite of his own pork steak.
"Not even a little hint?" she pressed, somewhat amused to watch her boyfriend squirming. Ricky looked up at her from beneath his eyelashes and Amy arched her eyebrows, letting him know she wanted an answer. Ricky looked back down at his plate.
"I need to tell you something and I don't want you to freak out."
"Why would I freak out?" Ricky looked over at John, who was humming to himself as he ate, and then back at Amy. She got the hint: it would have to wait until John was asleep. When they finished eating, Amy wiped John's face and then took him out of his high chair so he could play while she and Ricky cleaned up. They worked silently but quickly to clear the table, wash and put away the dishes, and get the table and counters wiped down, all while keeping an eye on their blissfully unaware toddler. Their tasks complete, they gave John a bath and got him ready for bed.
"No bed," John said before clamping his mouth shut when he saw Ricky approaching his mouth with his Spiderman toothbrush; he knew that bedtime followed getting his teeth brushed and he wasn't ready for bed yet. Ricky sighed.
"John, daddy needs to brush your teeth to get all the food off of them." John turned his head to avoid the brush.
"No bed!" Amy chimed in to help.
"John, after you brush your teeth you get to hear a story." John quit moving his head to avoid the brush and looked at his mother. Amy smiled at him. "I know you like stories and I'll tell you what. After daddy brushes your teeth I'll read you two stories tonight. How about that?" John considered her words, mainly focusing on the fact his mommy had promised him more than one story.
"'Kay!" he said with a smile and opened his mouth so Ricky could brush his teeth. Ricky shook his head with amusement and chuckled as he began to brush John's little teeth. His teeth brushed, Ricky set him down and John scampered to his crib in Ricky's bedroom and sat down, waiting for his story. Amy was close behind him and chuckled at his eagerness. She picked up two of John's favorite bedtime stories and then sat down on Ricky's bed. John went over to her and put up his arms so she'd lift him onto her lap; Amy did just that and kissed his forehead as Ricky sat down next to her.
Halfway through the second story John was fast asleep. Amy and Ricky both gave him kisses on his cheeks and then Amy tucked him into his crib. She paused afterwards to simply gaze down at her sleeping child and smiled. Ricky put his arm around her waist and she looked up at him, seeing a serious yet nervous expression in his eyes; it was time to talk.
"So what did you wanna talk about?" Amy asked in a whisper as they made their way quietly out of the bedroom, Ricky's arm still around her waist. Ricky leaned close to Amy's ear and whispered an answer as he shut the bedroom door quietly behind them.
"Sex."