Q's phone rang for what felt like the seventh time, now becoming something so annoying that we could no longer avoid it by hiding our heads under the pillows and covers. He scurried around on the floor, helped by the small peaks of sunlight creeping through the gaps in the curtain. Picking up his jeans, he searched the pocket for the ringing gadget, squinting from the brightness as he looked at who was calling him.
"What do you want?" He moaned to the person on the receiving end. He turned to look at me, still lying comfortably in bed, waiting for them to finish what was an awfully long rant, before rolling his eyes. "Well what do you want me to do about it?" He paused, before chuckling. "No way, I can't do that." I heard the voice of the person on the other end getting louder, before Q looked back at me, trying to hide a smirk. "Yeah, something like that" he said smugly, before looking away. "Well alright, man. See you soon." He hung up, chucking the phone onto the bottom of the bed. "You will never guess what that was about" he smiled, which was a very odd thing for him to be doing since he was pulled from his sleep just moments before.
"What?" I asked through a yawn.
"Turns out a friend of yours got acquainted with a friend of mine last night"
"Shut. Up." I widened my eyes in shock. "Who?"
"Murr" he said quickly, sitting next to me, already awaiting the great reaction to follow.
"MURR?" I all but yelled, sitting up as quick as I could, causing Brian to put his hand on my arm to stop me from yelling anything else.
"You gotta be quiet though. He's still next door."
I shook my head, giggling to myself slightly as I leant back onto my pillow. All I could now picture was Kara and Murray in the act. It was definitely something of the humorous sort. He was not her type at all.
"See, I always pictured her as someone that would go for Sal" I said.
"I don't know. Maybe she was spiked?" Q acted just as surprised, sounding as if the only logical explanation in this situation was down to unknown drugging.
"Typical him behavior, however. Calling his friends to let them know. What were you, 18th friend in the line?"
"Don't be silly." Q interjected. "Murray doesn't have that many friends" he smiled, pleased with his joke. More so when it had made me laugh, also. "He actually called because he wants to dip. But she's not awake and he doesn't want to just leave."
"I guess I'll give him points for that"
"I wouldn't go that far" he laughed, causing me to raise an eyebrow in question. "He wanted me to go round there, spin some lies so he has an excuse to leave. I said no, then he figured out that I was here with you. So he suggested.. you do it.." He finished, looking at me, wondering if I'd be the one to do it or not.
"Why am I getting dragged into this?"
"Hey don't shoot the messenger" Q replied, raising his hands as if he was surrendering.
"Grown as men.." I muttered to myself, lying myself back down completely, pulling the blanket up to my chest. Choosing to ignore the request that Brian had passed on. He slid down next to me, laying on his side so he was facing me, sliding his hand over my stomach and leaving it there. I had to try and hide every part of me that just wanted to smile and radiate the joy I had felt in that excruciatingly cute moment. He was definitely right, he wasn't great with putting how he felt about this pregnancy into words. But his actions were something that spoke for him, making me feel completely at ease, knowing that he had finally accepted the news and seemed to be feeling quite good about it at that.
We laid there quietly for a little longer, Q rubbing his thumb back and forth every once in a while. My arm reaching across the bed, fingertips lightly twisting his shaggy hair.
"What're you thinking?" Q questioned quietly as I sighed.
"I'm thinking that I want some breakfast" I smiled, sliding my hand over his that was placed on my stomach, tapping it gently. "Let's shower and then find something to eat" I suggested, before getting up and making my way into the bathroom, Q soon following.
-
"Better get sleeping beauty up" I groaned, as Q and I left my hotel room, heading towards Kara's. I felt awkward about the whole situation. Not only was I subjected to hearing the pair of them romp the night before with no warning, I was now forced to intervene so that the guy could bail on my friend? It was just weird to me.
Banging on the door, I heard shuffling from the other side, before Kara pulled the door open, barely ajar.
"Wow, you look like"
"A mess, yeah, I know. What do you want?" She questioned quickly, rushing for me to answer. She obviously had no idea that Q and I knew about her and Murr, and I wasn't going to embarrass her by bringing it up, she clearly didn't want us to know.
"I was just coming to see if you were awake." I smiled awkwardly, not sure on how much I could say without letting it slip that I knew. "But now that you are..I'll leave you to it to get ready" I continued my smile, although it was now a lot more forced. She flashed a quick smile back before closing the door.
"Well that was..weird" Q's voice appeared over my shoulder.
"Really though? He's your friend and I'm the one that has to deal with the awkward sexual antics?" I joked, yet tried to make myself sound serious. I had to joke in this moment, to stop myself from feeling uncomfortable. The thought of them two together was just...weird.
"Hey, I've had to deal with them for the past 20 years. It's always nice to have a break"
"Yeah, well. You now owe me. And let me tell you, that's gonna take a lot more than just a bunch of flowers and multiple orgasms"
Q laughed in response, knowing that I was playing around, but not about the owing me part.
"I'll see what I can do" he grinned, wrapping his arm around my shoulders as we strolled into the breakfast area.
After our order had been spread out onto the table before us, the smell began to make my stomach twist and turn. Not enough to make me want to vomit, but enough to set my stomach on edge, causing me to unknowingly pull a face whilst I stared at the food before me, much to Q's pleasure, as he began to snigger to himself.
"You look lovely" he smiled as he bit into his bagel.
"This is horrible" I moaned, pouting my bottom lip out like a child.
"It won't be for much longer" he reached out and rubbed my hand gently, seeming more sympathetic compared to the guy that was laughing at me 30 seconds prior.
"So you're a doctor now?" I snapped, but not meaning to.
"14 weeks" he stated.
"Huh? 14 weeks what?" I asked, confused.
"It's supposed to die down at around 14 weeks" he held his hand out as he shrugged slightly, as if what he had just said was a fact that everyone knew. I began smiling, not hiding it this time. "What's that all about?" He asked, questioning my now happy demeanour.
"Just you"
"So I know something, big deal" he took a sip from his drink, trying to play it off like it was only but a coincidence how he knew this. I was the pregnant one here, and even I didn't know that. He had so been researching.
"It won't take away any macho points, you know" I winked at him sat opposite me. He tried to hide the smirk that escaped. "You're going to be a dad, why would I fault you for wanting to know the ins and outs?"
"I don't know..I guess I'm just used to being around guys all the time. Guys that make fun out of everything"
"Well stop. I actually think it's incredibly sweet."
"Which is exactly why my friends can't know" he joked.
"I actually have something for you.." I said almost nervously, pulling my purse onto the table before scanning through it. Grabbing the small envelope, I placed it onto the table and slid it towards Q. Watching as he lifted it into his hands and began to open it. I was definitely wary of what his reaction would be. Only down to the fact that he might have gotten angry that I had gone to the first scan without him. Although that wasn't the case. I was completely unaware that they were going to be performing a scan on that day. As he looked at the photo in front of him, he slid one hand over his scruffy beard, eyes deeply focused on the image.
"So that's..our baby, huh?" He continued looking before looking back up at me. My insides warmed at hearing those words. Our baby. It was the first time that he had acknowledged it in such a way.
"Apparently so" I smiled, voice still sounding nervous.
"It's a lot bigger than I would have thought" he began smiling slighty, still clearly overwhelmed.
"I still hate that we have to call it an 'it', too" I laughed, thinking about how this was an actual human being, and us being the parents of said child referring to it as an 'it'. It had an almost humorous element to it.
"Kinda looks..like a barbeque shrimp... Or a chicken wing.." He slowly stated, twisting the paper to different angels, squinting his eyes.
"You did not just say that our child looks like a chicken wing" I huffed, taking the picture from his grasp, looking down at it. The warm feeling returning as I looked at the picture before me. Placing it back into the envelope, I looked up to see Q smiling at me, looking very content. "What?" I questioned, almost confused by his glare.
"No, nothing" he shook his head. "It's just..Never thought I'd be here, you know? And now that I am, I'm kinda enjoying it."
"That's a good thing" I smiled.
"It really is. You definitely make it bearable."
"Bearable?" I asked, almost not knowing how to take what he had just said.
"Not bearable.. Just..Words, man, words." He slid a hand through his hair, seeming nervous himself. "I look at you and I can actually see myself doing this with you. I don't feel worried, I feel glad. Glad that I actually get to experience it, I guess. I know I've said that I've never wanted this, but of course there were the odd few times where I thought about it. And now that it's actually happening, I'm just glad that it's with you" he smiled, hoping that was enough to make me feel less like a "bearable" burden.
"I swear if you make me start crying in public, I'll hurt you to the extent that you physically won't be able to experience this again" I laughed, fanning my face with the envelope, trying to refrain from any more tears forming.
I saw Q's eyes look up behind me, as if someone was standing there. Swivelling round in my chair, I came face to face with someone's crotch... Lovely. Looking up, I noticed that it was in fact Murray. He began to grab a chair from an empty table, pulling it to join Q and I. Why James, of course you can join us, thank you so much for asking.
"Hey guys" he said as he sat down, eyeing up the food on our table, mostly my full plate that I didn't eat.
"You can have that if you want" I looked towards the plate then back at him, watching as he proceeded to pull the plate in front of him.
"So you managed to escape, then?" He asked, trying his best not to laugh at his friends predicament. Murray looked towards me, as if he didn't want to speak about it in front of me. "Relax, bro. She knows everything"
"Heard everything, too.." I muttered, before sipping through my straw. He must have heard what I had said as he awkwardly smiled.
"Am I a terrible person?" He asked, genuinely.
"Yes, you're awful" Q feeding himself with what he believed were hilarious comments. Although, I agreed to some degree, he was bailing on my best friend after sleeping with her, after all.
"Jess, do you think I'm a terrible person?" He turned his back towards Q, solely focusing on me. Definitely feeling like I was put on the spot as both pairs of eyes focused on me.
"Well..I don't know, why did you wanna leave so badly? I find that a little weird."
"It's not that I couldn't wait to get away, I just hate that morning after feeling. I thought I had an easy way out.."
"Definitely siding with Q here" I raised my eyebrows at what he had begun to say.
"She's young, I didn't know if she'd expect it to mean something more."
"Young as in the same age as me? Q, did you have that problem?" I asked, now looking at him.
"Actually if I recall..you pulled a Murray"
Dammit, he had me there. But that didn't make the situation the same, not one bit. Q and I were at my parents house, it was either do that or get caught. And if were to have got caught, we would have never continued this and got as close as we had done now.
"You're no help" I quickly stated, turning back to Murray. I could hear Q laughing in the background. "Look, Kara was clearly drunk.."
"Brutal" Brian chimed, still completely in hysterics at my whole wording of this situation. I shot him a dirty look before continuing.
"..as I was saying, she must have been pretty drunk. She's not the type to just jump into bed with anyone. She probably felt as awkward as you did. But you stuck around, righ? You said bye and didn't run?" He nodded in response. "Then there's nothing to worry about" I smiled at the man.
As the guys finished off their breakfast, I decided to leave them both at the table, before going to find Kara. Hopefully she'd seem a lot less hostile then she had done before breakfast.
As I walked up the corridors, I heard someone mentioning Q's name from around the corner. I slowly made my way closer, leaning my back against the wall, trying to hear as much of the conversation as I could.
"She's twenty years younger, what's she really gonna want? Her friend is all up on Murray, too. One word, man; groupies" the voice added, not a familiar one at that. That was until I heard a guy laughing in response, he I definitely recognized. It was Sal. What a complete and utter douche.
"Nah, I'm gonna give him some benefit of the doubt. He does seem to like the girl. He risked a lot, but she is very young."
"I'm telling you now, it's the sex. What else is it going to be. Really?" The mystery voice continued. I had heard enough, I began walking round the corner, knowing I had to pass the two guys. As soon as he saw me, he began lowering his tone, eyeballing Sal as if to warn him of my presence.
"Hey, Jess" Sal smiled as I walked past.
"Hi" I replied, keeping it short. I know it wasn't necessarily Sal in the wrong, but I was still mad about the whole scenario. I guess it was just another age comment, after all. Something I told myself that I'd need to get used to, yet still had a hard time when such comments presented themselves.
"Do you know where Q is?" He called out from behind me, causing me to turn around.
"He's downstairs eating breakfast" I forced a smile, before turning back around, making a beeline for Kara's room.
As I lifted my arm to knock, Kara pulled the door open, causing both of us to be startled by the other.
"Jesus, Kara" I panted, holding my hand to my chest.
"I could say the same thing to you!" She yelled, stepping out of her room.
"Where are you of to?" I questioned, as I followed her down the hall.
"Food."
I groaned to myself internally. I still wasn't ready to face food yet alone be forced to smell it again. But I followed down to the restaurant with the hopes that Q would be finished and ready to do something by now. I'm not sure sitting at a table, where the guy that had just offended me would be, and the guy that Kara had just hooked up would also be, is something that seemed like an ideal way to start of my day. As we walked in, I scanned the room for the table, seeing Sal sitting himself in the seat that I had been in. Q was now standing, pulling his jacket on. I decided to wait where I was, knowing Q would be coming this way to exit. That was until I saw the envelope containing the scan picture laid on the table where I had sat. I had completely forgotten to put it back into my purse after Murr had distracted me, and Q was paying no attention whatsoever at what was going on at the table as he collected his things. And now, there it was..in Sal's hands.