73. SKINNY ASS KNEECAPS
SITTING IN THE DOCTOR'S OFFICE, cold gel over her bump and a hand holding Elijah's, Aliyah exhales softly as she watches the monitor.
"There's your baby's head," Dr. Tyler points towards the figure on the screen, "Right there."
"Oh my God, baby," Aliyah turns to her boyfriend and gasps, dramatically. He raises an eyebrow at her and waits for her to finish her sentence, "They got your big ass head."
Elijah rolls his eyes and points, "Yeah, and your skinny ass kneecaps."
The wedding planner scoffs at his insult, hitting his shoulder gently, joking, "You know I'm insecure about them."
The gynecologist chuckles before moving the ultrasound wand lower, "I understand you guys would like to know the sex of your baby?"
The couple nods in unison.
The ultrasound hovers over the deciding factor and before she can say anything, Elijah exhales, shakily, a smile growing on his face. He's seen enough ultrasounds to know what he's looking at, "Lee, we're having a —"
ELIJAH HAS NEVER FELT SO nervous in his life. Sat in his car, biting his bottom lip and tapping his fingers against the steering wheel, he can't help the rush of anxiety that flows through him. It's like he's moving full-force, his body throttled by the prospect of what he has planned.
When he kissed Aliyah goodbye in their bed this morning, he almost shed tears at the sight of her peacefully asleep. With just ten weeks left in her term, she had been silently suffering with back pain and all the things that come with a healthy pregnancy.
Elijah always tries to do what he can to make her as comfortable as possible, including watching and rewatching How The Grinch Stole Christmas over and over again despite it being mid-April.
"Wait, you want me to do what?" Toni's voice cuts through the silence of the car. He'd called her just moments ago with a simple request.
The man runs a hand over his fresh trim. Stopping by the barbershop is one of the many errands he told Aliyah he had planned for today — along with things he left out on purpose. When she asked to come with him to get out of the house, he told her that he was probably gonna hit up the gym.
That did the trick — she took herself right to bed.
"I need you to take Aliyah to get pampered." He repeats, looking out at the cars on the freeway into the city.
"Hmm," Toni hums, trying to ram through reasons her best friend's boyfriend is asking her to take said best friend out. "Usually we do spa day on her birthday, not the day before. And I have a feeling you know that."
Elijah does know that. But, his girlfriend's turning twenty-nine tomorrow and he has something exciting planned — hence his request to change it to today.
"I do, and I'm sorry, but I kinda need you to do it today."
"Oh, I was gonna do it today either way," Toni laughs, "I'm in need of a manicure. Hair too?"
Elijah tilts his head as he runs a hand over his beard, "Up to you guys."
"Oooh, yay!" Toni squeals, "By the way, make sure you call me when you propose."
Elijah raises an eyebrow at her words. Yeah, Toni's smart but he didn't expect for her to get it so quickly, "Who told you?"
"No one had to tell me anything. I'm just that good." The woman pauses, "Kendrick."
"Of course," Elijah chuckles. When he told his best friend, he kind of expected him to tell Toni. "Alright, thank you for doing this, Toni. I owe you."
"You can pay me back by keeping my girl happy and getting her a pretty rock."
The conversation doesn't last much longer before Elijah hangs up and he's parked in front of Kiara's house — calming his breathing to a reasonable pace.
You got this... He tells himself before exiting the car.
"THIS IS RANDOM, BY the way," Aliyah trails off. Her eyes are closed and her feet are in a basin of clean water. When Toni picked her up to take her to the nail salon, Aliyah wasn't really sure how to feel. They usually save their spa day for her birthday — not that she's complaining. She's long overdue for some pampering.
But, imagine her surprise when Toni was at her front door, car key and purse in hand. All Aliyah had time to do was slip on her slides and grab a jacket in case North Carolina weather decided to switch up on her.
Hally and Maddox had moved back to New York after their honeymoon where she gave birth to a beautiful son, Micah Kingsley.
Toni arches an eyebrow, barely conscious at the feeling of the nail technician scrubbing her heel, "It's not random. Tomorrow's your birthday. Oldie."
Aliyah scoffs and scratches her nose, "I'm only six months older than you."
"Eh," Toni snickers, "Twenty-nine, baby girl — 365 days away from thirty. Speaking of babies —"
"Yeah, I know," Aliyah sighs, a smile growing on her face as she recalls the appointment just last week. "You're about to ask about the nursery — and don't ask me how I know 'cause that's all you've been asking since we first told you the baby's sex."
"I'm just saying," Toni holds her hands up in surrender, "All little babies like pastel colors — like green."
Aliyah shakes her head in amusement. That's all Toni has been pushing when she said that her and Elijah would be going gender neutral with the nursery.
"And by that, you mean — you."
Toni grabs her flute of champagne and downs it, "How'd you know?"
IT'S CHILLY INSIDE THE restaurant Elijah took Aliyah's mother. The manager dropped the air to 70° but that did nothing to cool Elijah's body heat. He's warm from an influx of nerves — especially from the stare Kiara has on him.
The ambience was barely enough to hold Elijah over as he taps his foot against the tile flooring.
The woman tilts her head, her fingers cradled around the iced tea the doctor paid for, "C'mon, Eli, I know you didn't just invite your girlfriend's mother out to dinner just to treat her — when are you planning to propose?"
Elijah nearly chokes on the water he brought to his head to sip. He realizes just how transparent he is, "What gave it away?"
"Honey, I've been alive for 50 years — I have a little sense." She says, her accent appearing. Kiara tilts her head in thought, "You're planning to propose tomorrow, aren't you?"
Elijah nods and exhales when he pulls his mug away, "Yes, I am. Mrs. Pryce —"
"Uh-uh." She stops him.
Elijah shakes his head with a chuckle before correcting himself, "Kiara, I love your daughter so much and I don't see my future with anyone else but her. She is the love of my life and I don't want to go another day without her having a symbol of my love for her."
Kiara looks him up and down with adoring eyes, "You have a ring?"
Elijah tucks his hand into his pocket and emerges with a small black velvet box. He sets it in front of the mother and watches as she takes it from the table and pops it open, revealing the ring Elijah had picked up a week ago.
A moment passes in which she assesses it, a small smile growing on her face at the thought of her daughter finding lifelong love in the man sat across from her. She's taken back to a time when it was her and Devon. Back then, she was Kiara Thompson — a nineteen year old university student who wanted nothing to do with boys.
Devon Pryce came along and changed that. He was sweet, loving, compassionate, well-mannered, humorous, and all the things their children had garnered, personality-wise. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with him — she couldn't, but she was glad for the moments they had and memories they created.
Most of all, she was glad for the two beautiful children he'd given her.
Seeing as Kiara had been quiet for a while, Elijah nervously begins his tangent — "I wanted to ask earlier but our schedules couldn't really match up and I wanted to ask you in person —"
"Elijah, sweetie," Kiara cuts him off as she closes the box and rests it in his open palm. She closes his fingers around it and holds her hand over his, "You have my blessing."
WHEN ELIJAH GETS HOME from an emotional dinner with his girlfriend's mom, said girlfriend is already wrapped up in her sheets for an early sleep.
He quickly washes himself and brushes his teeth in the bathroom down the hall so he doesn't wake her up before making his way to their bedroom. Planting himself behind her, Elijah rests a hand on her pregnant belly and kisses the nape of her neck since her newly done hair was up in a bonnet.
Just when he thought she was asleep, Aliyah shifts and intertwines his fingers with hers. Bringing their hands up to her lips, she kisses his knuckle and snuggles back into him.
"How was your day?" Aliyah questions, guiding Elijah's hand to rub her stomach. The baby kicks, slightly, making the couple smile in unison.
"It was good, baby." Elijah responds and kisses her again, "How was yours?"
At his question, she turns to lay on her back before throttling to her side to face the doctor. She can make out his figure even in the darkness, "The weirdest thing happened today —"
"Hmm?" At the feeling of her facing him, he kisses her lips now.
"Yeah," She licks her lips, taking in his matching minty taste, "Toni took me out today."
"Really?" Elijah plays it off like he had no clue about it, "Was it for your birthday?"
Aliyah shrugs and wraps her arms around him, her belly pressing comfortably against her boyfriend's toned torso, "Yes. And she made it severely clear that I'm getting old."
Elijah chuckles, "You're just catching up to me."
"Hmm," Aliyah hums, a smile growing on her face, "I'm three years off though."
"Ah, you'll get there, kid," Elijah jokes as his eyes adjust to the darkness. He vaguely sees Aliyah blink. "What did you guys do today?" As if he doesn't know.
"We got our hair and nails did." Aliyah purrs as she unravels one hand from her man's waist to flex her hand in front of his face, "I can't show you my hair right now but look. Can you see it? Should I turn on a lamp?"
Elijah resists the urge to throw his head back in laughter. He's too tired to move and he has a feeling Aliyah wouldn't actually turn to turn on a lamp. Instead, he reaches out a hand to look for hers and when he finds it, he runs the pad of his thumb over her acrylics, feeling the bump of what he assumes to be rhinestones.
"Okay, baby, I see you." He hypes, "Not literally, but I know your nails looking fine as hell."
Aliyah laughs and shakes her head before running her nails along his beard. "You're so annoying."
"You love me though." The man pecks what he can find — which just happens to be her hairline, getting more bonnet than skin. His eyes flutter closed as he tries not to fall asleep but fails immensely.
Aliyah stares up at him, able to see his eyes hiding behind lids — "I do."
do y'all see me trying my best not to expose the baby's sex -
but WHEW this chapter was just so sweeeeeeeettttt
what do y'all think they're having?