A few weeks had passed, and I was beginning to show a bit, not too much, but if you stared at me long enough you could notice it. I was in the last week of the first trimester, at least that's what Elizabeth told me. Justin had been sending more and more letters, I was starting to get them at work now, and they were getting more and more violent. I just kept hiding them and trying to ignore them because I had bigger things to focus on.
“You'll be turning 15 soon, sis,” Soda said. “Any idea on what you want?”
“My birthday's not for another two months, Soda,” I said, looking up from the book I was reading, trying to enjoy my day off.
“Still, it's not too early to think now,” Soda said.
“I guess you're not wrong,” I said, setting my book down.
“And it can't be stuff for the baby. Think about what you want,” Soda said.
“You're not making this easy, are you?” I asked, looking up at my brother.
“Nope,” Soda said, chuckling a little.
“Okay, I've been wanting a new hair accessory. I left my other ones in Louisiana,” I said. “The only one I have now other than the one for work is the one Mom and Dad got me for Christmas that one year.”
“So like hair bows, headbands, clips?” Soda asked.
“Yeah, I'm happy with anything. You know I'm not picky,” I said, picking my book back up.
“Okay, where's Johnny?” Soda asked.
“Dallas came to get him this morning to do a job,” I said. “He should be back before dinner. That is, if Dallas doesn't do anything stupid.”
“Oh, okay. Do you have any plans for today?” Soda asked.
“Not really, I was just going to read for a little bit and wait until Johnny got back,” I said. “Why?”
“How about we hang out today?” Soda suggested, “We haven't been able to actually spend some real time together since you got back.”
“Yeah, okay. What should we do?” I asked.
“We could go into town and just look around. Maybe you'll find something you really want for your birthday,” Soda said.
“You're really determined to get me something,” I said, chuckling a little.
“Well yeah, you're my kid sister, I want to get you something nice,” Soda said.
“Alright, alright,” I said, bookmarking my book, before getting up from the table. “Let me go change my clothes, and we can go.”
“Okay,” Soda said. I walked into the bedroom with my book, setting it down on the bed, before I closed the door and changed my clothes. I put on a pair of jeans and one of my bigger shirts. It wasn't too big on me, but it was enough for me to conceal my baby bump. I knew many people wouldn't notice it, but you never know who would be watching. I just didn't want Justin to find out and start threatening Johnny or hurt my baby. I brushed my hair and pulled it back into a ponytail, as I left the room. I picked up my sneakers that I left by the front door, and put them on.
“Ready to go?” Soda asked.
“Yeah, let's go,” I said, heading outside, Soda following me behind. We headed off the porch and down the path, past the fence.
“So, how's work been?” Soda asked, walking beside me.
“It's been good, I'm making pretty good tips, no one has been giving me too much trouble. I did have a guy who came in and complained about something he ordered but didn't like,” I said.
“That's good. He paid at least, right?” he asked.
“Yeah, and he even tipped me pretty good,” I said.
“Good for you,” he said, walking with me. “Shante's been telling me that you're doing great.”
“You two talk?” I asked.
“Well, yeah,” he said. “She's over at the house a lot, and she comes to the DX sometimes to get her car checked.”
“I owe her a lot,” I said. “She's helped me out so much, hopefully I can do something for her soon.”
“There you go again,” he said.
“What?” I asked, looking over at him.
“You're always thinking about others,” he said.
“Well, yeah. Isn't that the point of helping out?” I asked.
“I mean, yeah, there's nothing wrong with helping, but you're gonna be having a baby soon, you need to start thinking about yourself and the kid. Mostly you because if you're stressed, then the kid gets stressed,” he said.
“I know,” I said. “I've been doing pretty good so far. My doctor says that we're fine.”
“I know, it's just that,” he began. I stopped and looked at him.
“What?” I asked.
“I've been seeing you getting those letters,” he said. “You don't read them when we're in the room, and you just hide them away.”
“It's nothing, Soda,” I said. “They're just empty words.”
“Is it Justin again?” he asked. He had this worried look on his face.
“Yeah,” I said. “I just ignore him. He won't do anything to me if there are people around. He doesn't want to risk his reputation.”
“Have you seen him since Dally hit him?” he asked.
“No, he just sends the letters,” I said, walking onto the sidewalk. “You know I would tell you if he did. I always tell you if something gets out of hand.”
“I know, I just wish ya'd tell me before it gets to that point. I practically had to pry it outta ya that he was puttin' his hands on ya,” he said. “I don't want something to get like that again.”
“I know, and it won't,” I reassured, walking with him down the street. We made it into a store and looked around for a bit, which lightened the mood a bit.
“You see anything?” Soda asked.
“Not yet,” I said, chuckling a bit. I kept looking around, before looking at a simple silver hair clip. It was simple, but it was enough to catch my eye.
“That one?” Soda asked.
“Something like that, yeah,” I said.
“Okay,” Soda said.
“Can we stop at the pet store?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Soda said, walking out of the store with me.
“Sandy's not gonna be mad that you're hanging out with me, will she?” I asked.
“Of course not. Why would she get mad that I'm spending time with my sister?” Soda asked, looking confused.
'Oh, you sweet naive boy.' I thought. “I don't know. Some girls get jealous no matter what. You never know,” I said, with a shrug.
“I guess,” Soda said, walking down the street with me. We played around and walked into the pet shop. I always loved going into pet shops, especially ones that have animals that you can adopt. This pet shop in particular had an area with puppies that could be adopted, and I went there immediately. Soda chuckled and followed me, knowing that's where I was headed. I walked over to the puppy pen and looked to see what puppies were there today. There were nine small fluffy brown puppies running around in the pen. A few were leaning on the gate, while the others ran about, chasing one another.
“Remember that corgi we had?” I asked, leaning down to pet one of the puppies, which rubbed its face and nose against my hand, taking in the attention I gave it.
“Yeah, you could say that was your first baby. You two were inseparable,” Soda said.
“I think about him every day, I always hoped that he at least got out. Ran off and was found by someone else, someone who took him in and loved him just like I did,” I said, looking down at the affectionate puppy.
“Yeah, they never mentioned what happened to him when they told us about Mom and Dad. They couldn't find him,” Soda said. “So, maybe that did happen. Maybe he did run off.”
“I hope so,” I said. I could feel myself growing sad, but that little puppy fought that sadness away with each little push of its nose against my hand. “I wish we could afford another dog… I wouldn't mind getting another one. Maybe that would help get Pony to smoke a little less. Or I could just be too hopeful, kid's an addict. And I think Johnny is scared of dogs."
“Probably, but we'll get another one eventually. Maybe your baby will enjoy its company,” Soda said.
“Maybe,” I said.
“Should we head off. Get something to eat?” Soda asked.
“Yeah,” I said, before giving the puppy one more pet on the head, before standing back up. Soda wrapped an arm around my shoulder and gave me a small squeeze of comfort, before walking outside of the pet shop with me. We headed down the street again and headed to The Dingo to grab a quick bite, before we headed home.
~~~~
A bit more time passed, and before I knew it, it was my 15th birthday. I didn't expect too much, especially with my now slightly more visible baby bump, but my brothers and friends surely surprised me indeed.
“Happy birthday, Shawna,” Shante said, as I clocked in for my shift that morning.
“Happy birthday,” Nicole said happily.
“Hey, thank you,” I said, smiling at them.
“Any plans for your birthday?” Shante asked.
“Nope, no plans. I'll probably just go home, bake a cake for everyone and curl up with a good book,” I said with a small shrug. “Can't do a lot with a baby bump.”
“Yeah, that's true,” Shante said, chuckling a little. We began our shift, it went by pretty quickly, but we did have some greasers from Shepard's gang that came in, acting like they had no home training, which annoyed Shante and I. They even left the $1 tip under a full glass of water. Very creative, not very funny nor fun to clean up. Thankfully, Nicole was sweet enough to mop up the water for me. Other than that group of greasers, the rest of my customers were very kind, and I didn't do too bad in tips. By the time my shift was finished, it was getting pretty late. I clocked out and waited for Shante and Nicole, before Kimmy called me into her office.
“I hope I'm not in trouble,” I said, walking into her office.
“Of course not, sweetie. I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday and give you this,” Kimmy said, holding out a small rectangular box.
“Oh, thank you, Kimmy, but you didn't have to get me anything,” I said, a little surprised at the kind gesture.
“Oh, it's no trouble. You've been doing so good with working here, I just wanted to get you a little something,” Kimmy said.
“Well, thank you, Kimmy,” I said, carefully taking the box.
“You can open it when you get home. Have a great rest of your night, I'll see you on your next shift,” Kimmy said.
“Thank you. I'll see you later. Give your daughter a hug for me,” I said, leaving with the little box.
“Will do,” Kimmy said.
“Hey, did you talk with Kimmy?” Shante asked, walking up to me.
“Yeah, did you know about this?” I asked, holding up the little box.
“Maybe,” Shante said, innocently. “You ready to go?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Let's go.” Shante and Nicole said goodbye to Kimmy, before heading outside. I said goodbye to Gus and the rest of the kitchen staff, before following them outside, gently holding my baby bump. We loaded up in the car and Shante drove us back to my house, seeming to be taking a longer route to get there. “What's with the scenic route?” I asked.
“Just…wanted to go for a little drive without wasting too much gas,” Shante said.
“Hm…okay,” I said, being suspicious, but leaving the topic alone. We eventually made it back to my house, it being surprisingly dark. “That's weird, Soda or Pony usually leave the lamp on when they leave the house.” Shante parked the car, and we all got out, before heading onto the front porch. I opened the door cautiously and turned on the nearest light, before jolting a little at a loud shout.
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!” I heard many voices shouting. I look over to see my brothers and friends beaming like Cheshire cats at me.
“You guys!” I said, laughing a little.
“You didn't think we'd let you celebrate your birthday alone, did ya?” Soda asked.
“Knowing you, of course not,” I said, chuckling. “Well thank you for the surprise.”
“Oh, it's not over yet,” Soda said.
“Okay, let me change first and then we can continue. I need to get this uniform off,” I said.
“Go ahead, we need to get a few more things set up,” Pony said. I nodded and headed to the bedroom, changing into some comfortable loose - fitting clothes, before heading back out into the living room. The guys had a few gifts set on the table and a cute cake that had some simple decorations and candles on it. They really did try, and I found it very endearing that they wanted to do this for me.
“Okay, how about I get these candles lit, and you work on opening some of those gifts,” Shante said, picking up the cake to carry to the kitchen.
“Alright,” I said, sitting on the couch carefully. Everyone else made their way to the living room, as I picked up the first gift, carefully setting Kimmy's on the table, wanting to open it a little later. I picked up one of the smaller boxes and opened it carefully. I opened the box and inside was a small candle. “It's a candle,” I picked it up to inspect it, “A citrus candle?! Thank you! I was running low on my last one.”
“I figured you'd like it,” Nicole said happily. “I saw how low your last candle was, so I figured you liked it very much.”
“Aww, thank you, Nicole,” I said happily. I carefully set the candle down in the box, and picked up another gift. I opened it carefully and looked at it curiously, before pulling out what was in the box. “Are these…knitting needles?” I asked, holding them.
“Figured you'd want to pick up a hobby, once you're on maternity leave,” Two-Bit said. “Lot of teachers I asked say that knitting is fun.”
“You know what, I was thinking of taking up knitting one of these days. Thank you, Two-Bit,” I said.
“And don't worry about the yarn. It's in one of those boxes,” Two-Bit said.
“Okay,” I said, chuckling. I put the knitting needles back in the box, before setting it to the side, and picking up another box. This one was a little bigger than the first box, but still not the biggest box in the bunch. I opened it and looked inside. “Soda…did you buy all of these hair accessories?” I asked, looking at my brother.
“I didn't know which one to choose,” Soda said. “They all looked nice, so I just picked a few of them. Don't worry, Steve pitched in too. So, it's from both of us.”
“Of course,” I said, chuckling a bit. “Well thank you both. I definitely have plenty to choose from now.”
“Yep,” Soda said happily, I could tell that he was proud of himself. Deep down, I knew that he was going to do this when we went to the different shops in town a few months back. I love my brother, but he could be a bit extreme when it comes to certain things, which is why he's not allowed in the kitchen unsupervised.
“Glad you like 'em,” Steve said. I nodded and carefully set the box down with the rest of the opened gifts, before picking up another box to open. I opened it and giggled a bit.
“Found the yarn for the needles, thanks again, Two-Bit,” I said, putting the knitting needles with the box of yarn.
“Should we do an interlude? Get these candles blown out, before you get back to it?” Shante called from the kitchen.
"Yeah, let's do it,” I called back. Soda and Steve carefully moved the presents off the table, while Darry turned off the light and Shante came in with the cake, the lit candles glowing in the dark. Everyone began to sing Happy Birthday, as Shante carefully set the cake in front of me. I waited for them to finish singing and closed my eyes, making a wish, before I blew out my candles as best I could. It took me a few blows, but I eventually was able to extinguish my birthday candles. Everyone clapped for my efforts, and Darry turned the lamp back on.
“Alright, continue. I'll go get this cut into slices,” Shante said, carrying the cake back to the kitchen.
“Thank you, Shante,” I called, before going back to my gifts. I had three left to open, including Kimmy's, the other two being the biggest ones in the pile. I picked up the second to the largest one and inspected it cautiously, before actually opening it. 'What could this be?' I thought, as I opened it. When I opened it, I pulled out a box with some new kitchen utensils in it. “Aww! Thank you! I was just talking about needing some of these.”
“I know, I'm glad you like them. I wasn't sure if those were the right ones,” Dallas said.
“They're perfect, thank you, Dallas,” I said happily. I set that present down and moved the largest present closer. It was a large rectangular shaped box that was big enough to cover my lap, but not big enough to stretch past my lap. I opened it and poked my head into the box a little, before giggling a little.
“What? What is it?” Nicole asked curiously.
“They're books,” I said, chuckling, holding a small stack of books. “Books by Roald Dahl, and William Golding. I've been wanting to get this book from the library, but it was always checked out. Thank you, Pony.”
“Thank my English teacher. I couldn't have found a decent copy without him,” Pony said.
“I'll have to send him a card,” I said, setting them down carefully. “I definitely have a lot to do during maternity leave.”
“Oh, don't forget Kimmy's gift,” Nicole said, carefully handing it to me.
“Can't forget that one,” I said, picking it up carefully, before opening it. Inside was a ring on a necklace. It was a simple sterling silver band with a small silver chain running through it. I picked it up carefully and inspected it. “It's a ring?” I said, visibly confused at first.
“There's a note inside,” Soda said, pointing at a small slip of paper poking out from inside the box.
“There is,” I said, before picking it up. “'Everything will be explained later, just keep that ring around your neck in the meantime. Congratulations! ~Kimmy',” I read.
“It has something to do with something I have to show you,” Johnny said. “Come with me.”
“Okay,” I said, carefully holding the necklace, as I got up and followed Johnny to the bedroom, as soon as Shante came in with pieces of cake. Johnny closed the door behind me and handed me a slip of paper with a time and date on it. I looked it over a few times, obviously missing something. “What is this, hon?”
“It's a time reminder for an appointment at the courthouse,” Johnny said. I looked up from the slip of paper, my heart fluttered a little with excitement. I had a clue about what this could be about, but I wasn't too sure just yet. “Darry took off work that day to be a witness for us, and Soda and Shante agreed to come too. I know we've talked about it, but I think now is as good a time as any.”
“Johnny…are you saying what I think you're saying?” I asked softly. He gave me a gentle smile and nodded, gently taking both of my hands in his.
“Let's get married, Shawna,” Johnny said. “On the date on this paper, let's get married.”
“Yes,” I said, trying to contain my excitement.
“Yes?” Johnny asked, making sure he was hearing correctly.
“Yes!” I repeated happily, before pulling him into a hug. I was so happy, it was the best birthday gift I had ever gotten in my entire life. Johnny hugged me close, being careful of my baby bump.
“I love you so much,” Johnny said.
“I love you too, Johnny,” I said, enjoying his warm embrace.