Seated on her couch, she found refuge next to Marcus as he mended her continuous morning sickness with hot chocolate.
All the while, she observed Cora pacing in the middle of the living room as she kept her phone to her ear in frustration.
"She's not picking up."
"Why would she?" Lulu responded with grogginess in her voice. "She's probably hiding from the guilt with her phone off while she and Julien have make-up sex."
"Can you just run it by me again? What did she say to you? What the hell happened?"
At first, Lulu dug into her pocket to pull out the key Greta handed to her, then handed it to Cora. Calming the fumes in her system, the pregnant girl kept herself from losing it as she recalled every bit of the conversation she had back at the apartment.
"She said something about trying to make it right with Julien again. Talking about how even though she didn't love him now, maybe she could in the future."
Marcus kept himself to the edge of the seat, listening on a little longer before asking, "Hold up, and she just left you there?"
"Yes, but-" And Lulu sighed. "I didn't react in time; I should've stopped her or something. I know."
But Cora looked down at the two of them intensively. The fire of rage melted the blues of her eyes the moment she tucked her phone into her back pocket.
"You shouldn't have to do anything," She fussed. "this is typical-Greta! I knew something like this was going to happen! She's like fucking poison and doesn't care how many things she has to fuck up to get what she wants."
The room was flooded with distress and uncertainty. With Kelly and Malik had gone to pick up the rest of their friends for Christmas dinner, that left the three that remained to wonder what next.
But they were too stressed to figure it out. Cora wanted to hurl things at her sister. Lulu just wanted to sleep. Marcus just wanted to console one of them in hopes that their anger wouldn't be taken out on him.
However, time to recollect their thoughts was at an end. The locks to the front door were clicked away, and stepping in had been two more people than had left.
"You know what? This place doesn't look half as bad as the pictures y'all were sending me."
The sound of the stranger's voice alerted the three of them until Lulu became the one to sigh in utter relief at the sight of Miles. Standing up, she reached out to hug him. "Gods, this day just got so much better!" The blonde-haired girl proclaimed. "How are you, sweets?"
And after surviving the tight embrace she wrapped him under, Miles managed to breathe and get a better look at her. "I'm ready to stop moving around a lot; I'll tell you that much," He says.
"By the way, you're still bi, right? Cause after little Chadwick is born, me, you, and Kelly can definitely work on baby number 2 the old-fashioned way."
Helpless, Lulu surrendered to her giggles, only to laugh harder as soon as Kelly slapped Miles in the back of his head. "The next time you even hint at having another threesome with me, I'll make sure you can never make a baby the old-fashioned way."
Though, amid Kelly's seething threat, she was taken back as soon as Malik acknowledged what she had just said. "Hold up, another one? So you actually had sex with a nigga, and it wasn't me?!"
The rest of the room laughed in hysterics, though. And that left Malik to storm off bewildered and envious towards the kitchen.
Miles went around the rest of the room, greeting Cora first; and then Marcus. "So you're the long-lost brother Kelly never told us about, right?"
Marcus chuckled and shook his hand. "You'd be surprised how many times I hear her friends say that." And then, he was joined by Cora, who kissed his cheek.
"Not that I'm complaining, though." She muttered to her boyfriend, not expecting the flabbergasted look on Miles's face.
"Okay, there is no way in hell I'm about to be the only person in this house not getting some. Now y'all got Little Abney and Kelly's long-lost brother hooking up? And where is Greta anyways? Had I known she had a thing for chocolate niggas, I would've hollered at her years ago."
Everyone either laughed or rolled their eyes at the new guest. Everyone, except for Lulu, however. She couldn't help but look back to the kitchen with worry in her eyes.
When she had the moment to break away from everyone's talking, she trod towards the kitchen, finding Malik as he pulled out the pan of baked Mac'n'cheese from the oven. "Malik?"
He turned back at her, smirking as he believed she only just came in for some food. "See, now if I sneak you a slice of ham, everybody gonna get jealous."
Shaking her head, though, Lulu attempted to hide the trouble on her face. "Can you talk to me outside?"
"What's wrong?"
"It's about Greta," She said quietly, hoping not to alert anyone else to their proximity. "Just meet me outside, please?"
This time, he wore his smile down. And Lulu felt her heartbreak at the sight of it before they snuck out to the front porch.
"Where she at?" He asked her, though he felt it was all but inane.
Lulu remained silent, conflicted and riddled with a kind of guilt that made her colder than she should've been.
"She say something?" Malik wondered. "What did she do?"
But Lulu thought of doing nothing more than pull the key out from her pocket. As soon as Malik caught sight of it, he looked away as if the key outside of Greta's hands was a haunting image.
There was something about this that felt like history repeating itself. It was like he's been here before, lived this pain over and over again. Yes, from Greta, but nearly everyone else as well.
He clenched his jaw as the urge to scream was overwhelming. Just when everything had finally felt to be put back in place, they shattered.
But at this point, Malik was only starting to wonder if maybe this was how things were supposed to go. He was supposed to lose the girl or the father or mother.
Even now, he began counting down the moments before he'd lose Kelly too, or even Lulu for that matter.
But slowly, Malik took the key from her, and Lulu looked down to hide the excess tears that were making their presence known along her cheeks.
"Go inside," He told her. "I know it's cold."
"Malik..."
"I'm alright, Luna," He lied.
And as Lulu decided to turn towards the door, they saw a car pulling up to the driveway, and out of it ran Greta. Seething at her, Lulu stepped down the stairs to stop her destination. "You're not stepping into my house."
Greta murmured quietly to her friend. "What all did you tell him?"
"Get back in that car and go."
"Lulu, just let me talk to him, alright?"
"Are you out of your fucking mind? No!"
She didn't feel Malik's presence behind her until he touched her shoulder, calming Lulu down only slightly but not enough to leave them alone.
When she managed to look up at him, Greta smiled kindly. "I have something."
Malik shook his head, though. "I don't care what you got; get away from me."
Confusingly, she narrowed her eyes at him. "Just trust me, alright?"
"Trust you?!" He boomed out. "Where the hell did you go? Back to him?"
"What?"
"You know what, if that Julien nigga's the one you want, then go spend Christmas with him, cause I don't wanna see you anymore."
"Malik, just listen to me. Baby, please!"
"Nah, don't call me that no more!" He shouted at her. "I don't want anything to do with you! All you do is lie and pretend! But you know what? I'm done. Go do that shit to someone else."
"I DIDN'T GO BACK TO HIM!" She shouted back. The helplessness in her eyes had been far more apparent now than ever before. But before she could lose the floor to speak, Greta pulled out a piece of paper. It was a check, and she pushed it to Malik's chest.
As he glanced down at it, he remained confused. "The fuck am I supposed to do with this?"
Sighing, she told him. "I went to sell my engagement ring! That's all. I sold it so me and you can get a place together." Then, she dared to take his hand in hers. And it was to her luck that he didn't object. "Don't you see? We can start fresh. We can live in a place that's ours and can be ours for years to come."
Feeling even bolder, she reached her arms out to embrace him. Then, her eyes stared at the frustration strewn about Lulu's face.
They said nothing to each other. It was like their eyes could give their own secret conversation. And that mental connection was all cold and bitter. That'll have to be something Greta needed to deal with in the future. But for now, she attended to touching Malik's face and bringing his forehead down to linger upon hers.
"I chose you. Probably for my whole life," She confessed. "Can you handle that?"
At first, he nodded. But then he only kissed her. The ravaging of her lips left her pressed tight against his body, with her fingers cradling the back of his neck lovingly and tenderly before she smiled.
"I love you," He reminded her.
And to that, she whispered back to him through the cold air. "I dare you to love me for the rest of your life."