by Sam Crescent
“You’re still refusing to figure out the sex of your baby?” Aria asked.
“Hello, yeah, I want it to be a surprise.”
“How are things with you and Branson? A baby must be a huge deal?”
“It is. I’m not going to lie, it’s stressful. We’re both young, and the whole baby thing was actually not planned for ten years.”
“You planned your life?” she asked.
“Down to every single little day. I like that. I liked that we had a plan, and of course, that plan has changed, and with it, we’ve had to adapt. He hates that I get called a slut at school.” Mary shrugged.
“You married him?” Aria asked.
“I know. I think it’s because people are jealous.” She pointed to Tiffany, who was the other girl that had gotten pregnant. She was also showing, but Brad, the guy that knocked her up, refused to marry her.
“She’s just bitter that your guy is sticking by your side, and her guy is a loser,” Aria said. “There’s no other reason for it.”
“How are my favorite girls in the world?” Eli asked, dropping a kiss on Aria’s lips as he took a seat.
“Brilliant,” Aria said.
“Peachy,” Rachel said.
“Bloated, and in pain,” Mary said, scrunching her face up. “Ouch.”
Branson sat beside Mary, putting his hand on her stomach. “Are you okay?”
“I don’t know. Maybe our baby is telling me that I’m about to be a terrible mother?” she asked. “He … or she keeps kicking me.”
Branson kept his hand on her stomach, and Aria was watching her friends. He looked worried.
“I want to take you to the hospital to see if this is normal.”
“The baby isn’t due for another five weeks. I can wait to go to the hospital.”
“Mary, sweetie, you’re pregnant, and you’re struggling here. Let me take you to the hospital, just so I know you’re okay.” Branson kissed her hand. “Please.”
“And if there’s nothing wrong?”
“I’ll rub your feet, and we can watch your favorite romantic movie tonight, deal?”
Mary took a second to think about it. “Deal.”
“Can you guys cover for me?” Branson asked.
“Cover for you?” Aria asked, getting to her feet. “We’re a family, right? We’re coming with you. Show you support in case Mary decides to change your mind.”
“How can I change his mind? I’m a beached whale here. I can’t even touch my toes. Branson has to help me get dressed in a morning. Do you know how horrible that is?” Mary asked.
Helping Mary to her feet, Aria shook her head. “Nope, and I hope I don’t have to find out any time soon.”
They took Chris’s and Eli’s cars toward the hospital. Aria was so nervous, especially when the nurse in the emergency room took Mary straight through.
Chris and Rachel were snuggled up against each other on one set of chairs. Aria leaned against Eli.
“It’s kind of surreal, don’t you think?” she asked.
“What is?”
“All of us, in the hospital. Four of us already married, we’re engaged, and a baby is on the way.”
“It sounds like one of those crazy assed soaps that are on during the morning.”
“We’re all still kids,” Rachel said. “I can’t believe Branson and Mary are going to have a baby. It’s going to be so tiny, and they’re going to be parents.”
“We’ll make awesome uncles and aunties.”
Aria smiled. “I intend to spoil her or him, whichever they have.”
“I want to know what sex our baby is,” Eli said.
“Why?”
“So I can get a nursery ready. It has been driving Branson crazy picking neutral colors.” Eli rubbed at his eyes.
“I saw the nursery the other day. It looked amazing. You did a really good job.”
“Thanks, babe. Branson needed some help. He’s finishing school during the week, working in the evenings, and then at weekends he’s doing everything he can to catch up,” Eli said. “It was the least we could do to help.”
“There’s so much stuff. I know he’s freaked out,” Chris said.
“We all are, but we’ll be there for them. Always.” Aria took Eli’s hand and took a deep breath. They could do this together, as a team, as a family.
An hour passed before Branson came out, looking a little tired.
“What is it?” Eli asked.
“She’s, erm, the baby is showing signs of distress. They’re monitoring her, and keeping her in overnight.”
“What does that mean?” Aria asked.
“They may have to induce labor.”
“Five weeks early?” Rachel asked.
“It’s better than me losing them both. Mary’s tired, she’s exhausted. I had no idea that she had been stressing out.” Branson stopped. “I’ve got to call her parents. It’s the only thing I can do.”
Sitting down in the waiting room, Aria released a breath, hoping and praying that her friend was okay.
“How are you today?” Eli asked, whispering the words against her ear.
“I’m fine, why?” She frowned.
“No soreness? No regrets?”
She glanced over at Rachel and Chris to see if they could hear. She shook her head. “No to everything. I’m fine. You don’t have to worry about me. I loved this weekend.”
“Good, I did as well.”
With their hands locked together, they sat in the hospital waiting room as the time passed. Branson came back in, and waved at them as he headed back toward Mary.
Aria didn’t stop praying inside her head. She knew some women could still die because of the shock of labor, or other complications.
“What if something happens to her?” Rachel asked.
“Don’t think it,” Aria said. “We can’t. She’s in the hospital, and that is the best place for her.”
Three hours later, by C-section, Mary’s baby girl, Elizabeth was born. If Branson hadn’t gotten Mary to a hospital when he did, she wouldn’t have made it.
****
Eli was grabbing the last of his kit out of the boys’ locker room when someone cleared their voice. He turned to find Wayne, waiting.
“If you’ve come to start a fight, you can forget it. I have no interest in fighting you, or in dealing with whatever crap you want me to deal with.” School was over, graduation was done, and Aria was waiting for him by his car along with his friends.
“I don’t want to fight,” Wayne said. “We both know I couldn’t win anyway. Besides, what would be the point in fighting? School is almost over, and the contract is null and void. Not that Harvey Dean had much of a business left.”
Slamming his lock closed, Eli placed his bag on his shoulder, and stared at the jock. “So, this was all about being forced to marry some girl you didn’t like?”
Wayne looked around the locker room. “You’re popular without even trying. Man, I just wanted what I was promised. Didn’t give a shit about Aria.”
“Because of that fucked up contract?”
“Business is business. Making money is what my family is all about.” He blew out a breath. “For more money, more power, I’d do whatever it took, even marry a girl I didn’t find attractive. Besides, I should have known it would never work. She wouldn’t even look twice at me. It was always you, and your friends.” Wayne held his hand out. “I don’t want to leave high school with bad shit. I like this town, and I intend to stay in this town. Friends, or at least, not enemies.”
Eli stared at the offered hand, wondering what the catch was, so he asked.
“No catch. I guess all of us have to grow up some time. It just took my dad nearly losing everything for me to see how fragile shit is.”
He took Wayne’s hand, giving it a shake. “You’ll never have Aria.”
Heading out of the gym together, Eli walked toward his girl and his friends.
“Did I see that right?” Aria asked. “You and Way
ne actually left the building without either of you screaming, fighting, or bleeding.”
“I’m a grown up now. Us men, we only deal in contracts and deals,” Eli said, slapping her on the ass.
“We’re going to head over to the lake,” Chris said.
Eli slammed his lips down on Aria’s, and moaned as she melted against him. “What do you do to me?” she asked.
“The same as what you do to me.”
“Can you believe high school is over?”
“I can believe it.”
“There were a few moments I thought it was never going to end.” He tossed his bag into the trunk of the car, and opened her door.
“Everything is going be different now,” she said.
“It’ll be different, but it’ll still be us like it always has been. You shouldn’t worry so much. I got through my final year of school. It pissed Redgrave off.”
Aria laughed. “He wanted you to disappoint him so he could send your ass packing.”
“Once you’ve got me, there’s no way you’re getting rid of me.”
For the last time at the high school, he climbed behind the wheel of his car, and drove out of the grounds. He headed to the lake where their friends were already waiting. Mary and Branson were able to graduate along with them. Their grades hadn’t suffered too much, and their parents had taken turns to look after baby Elizabeth.
“Chris said you guys would be forever, making out and even having s. e. x,” Mary said. She held Elizabeth against her chest, smiling at them.
“Nah, we’ll save the dirty times for when we’re alone,” Eli said.
Chris sat down on the large blanket. “So, I’m curious, when you two want to do the dirty, do you spell out what you want to do because that can be awkward seeing as Branson can’t spell.”
“Screw you, Chris,” Branson said, covering his mouth, and staring at Elizabeth.
“I doubt she’ll remember a few cuss words,” Rachel said.
“So? I don’t want her to get used to them,” Mary said. “My parents did the same for me, and I turned out okay.”
“A pregnant teenager, who is now married,” Eli said. “You turned out perfectly.”
Mary glared at him. “I graduated, didn’t I?”
“That’s because we rock. Mary turned out okay. She has us as friends, and we’re like her extended family,” Aria said.
Eli pulled Aria between his thighs and pressed his face against her neck. “We are family.”
“Hey, what did no-dick want?” Chris asked.
“Chris!” Mary snapped at him.
“Sorry, sorry.”
“Wayne wanted to end on friendly terms. It seems his dad’s company nearly going bust showed him the error of his ways,” Eli said.
In the past few months Harvey Dean’s company had been declared bankrupt, causing thousands of people to lose their jobs. Bad management, weak contracts, and deals that never materialized were the cause. Connected to that business was also Wayne’s father’s. The way Eli saw it, it was just a bunch of bad karma.
“That’s nice of him,” Aria said. “I still don’t like him, or what my father did.”
“You ever going to forgive him?” Eli asked. He knew Aria and her father went out for coffee every now and again. When they went out, he kept a safe distance to make sure his girl was safe.
“I don’t know. Mom’s moved on. She’s dating some computer genius. I don’t know who, and Dad is Dad. It’s complicated, and I’m not going to concern myself with it.”
“They were both at graduation,” Eli said.
“I know. There’s just so much bad blood between us. I don’t know if I could trust him again. Besides, we’re moving on with our lives. College is next.”
“Work for me,” Branson said.
“I’m not going to focus on the past. I’m going to focus on the future,” Aria said.
“That’s a pretty positive way to look at it,” Rachel said.
“Thank you. It’s my new motto in life, always think positively, and look ahead, not backward.”
“I like it.”
They all lifted their bottles in the air. Branson and Mary had bottle of soda while the others had light beer. Eli kissed her neck, breathing in her scent.
“We found this place when we were ten years old. Do you remember that?” Chris asked.
“It was a lifetime ago,” Rachel said.
“On this very ground we made a pact to be the best of friends, and to never fall out.” Mary laughed. “Was it silly that it meant so much to all of us?”
“Not silly,” Eli said. “We all had each other’s back. Just because school is over, we’re not going to be over. We’re friends, and not just because we were cool, or rebels, or anything. We were friends since we were kids. That has got to mean something.”
Aria leaned back. “I love you.”
“I love you, too. Besides, I’m not going to abandon little Elizabeth. Not now, not ever. She’s part of all of us. Our future, our extension.”
“You ever thought of going into politics?” Branson asked. “I would totally vote for you.”
They all started laughing. Drinking his beer with his girl in his arms, Eli knew every day was worth it to be with these guys. He would fight for the rest of his life to have this.
“The future doesn’t scare you?” Aria asked, later that night in bed.
“No, it kind of excites me. Doesn’t it you?”
“I don’t know. I worry what the future will bring.”
Taking her naked body beneath him, Eli used action rather than words to prove to her exactly how good it could be, not just today but the future as well.
Epilogue
Fifteen years later
“Where are we supposed to be meeting them?” Aria asked as she cut up the last of the Halloween brownies she had made.
“Mommy, I want to stay at home. It’s lame going out,” Robin said.
Staring at her eldest daughter at ten years old, Aria raised her brow. “You think trick or treating is lame?”
“Yes. It’s totally last year. I’m a grown up now.”
“You’re not even a teenager.”
“So? How old were you and Dad when you stopped trick or treating?” Robin popped her gum.
“Eli!”
“Yeah, babe,” her husband said, coming out of the basement. He carried a large cool box that she had sent him down to get.
“How old were we when we stopped trick or treating?”
“Stopped? Babe, we still do it today.” He moved up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her neck.
“You two are so gross. I’m never getting married.” Robin left the kitchen, popping her gum.
“Do you think this has something to do with Boyd?” Eli asked.
Boyd was Mary and Branson’s second kid. He was thirteen going on forty, and believed everything was lame.
“Yep, but I don’t care. We’re all going to the lake. It’s tradition.” Eli kissed her neck once again. “I can’t wait to get you home tonight.”
Aria relaxed against him, knowing tonight was going to go really slow. Fifteen years had passed, and they were still as strong now as they were when they were kids, if not stronger.
Unlike their friends, they did wait to marry until they graduated from college. Eli had a business economics degree, and she was a trained therapist for young people. The truth was, life had gotten so crazy that getting married never seemed a main priority. They had each other, and for them that was enough. Marriage was just an extension of how they felt for each other, and for the world to know they belonged to each other.
Giving birth to Robin had been life changing for Aria, as she loved being a mother. Four children later, she was happy to call it a day, and give her lady parts a rest, at least for giving birth. She wanted more time with just her and Eli, and lots of sex. She was still addicted to the feel of him inside her, and that had never diminished. They still had the passion, the fire,
the need that drove them. When it came to Eli, she knew she would love him for the rest of her life.
Packing everyone up into the car, along with the food, they drove toward the lake.
Chris and Rachel didn’t finish college before their first child was born. Missy was so sweet, and over the past fifteen years, they had all had twelve children among them. It was really surreal to think how quickly their families had grown.
Parking up beside the other two family cars, everyone climbed out, and made their way toward the lake. There was some music filtering toward the car.
“The party has clearly started without us,” Eli said, carrying their youngest boy, Jason, in his arms.
Everyone was down at the lake. Rachel and Mary rushed toward Aria, and the kids took the trays of brownies she had made, and started passing them around.
“You decorated?” Aria asked, pointing toward the webs and Halloween decorations.
“Yeah, it’s not at the house so I thought I would go all out,” Mary said.
They all stood together, looking at their children play. Boyd was playing it cool with Robin, and Aria tapped Eli. “See, I told you it was him.”
“Yeah, he better keep his eyes on hers.”
“She’s ten.”
“So, he’s filled with hormones, and she won’t stay ten for long.”
Turning toward her husband, she smiled up at him. “Did you always look into my eyes?”
He grabbed her ass, moving her back behind one of the trees. It was moments like this that she realized her caveman hadn’t gone anywhere. He always took control, took command of her body, making her yearn for more of his touch.
“What are you thinking?” she asked.
“That I didn’t always look into your eyes. I loved looking at your body, and knowing that it would one day belong to me.”
“You were that confident?”
“No. I knew I wouldn’t let anyone else take what belonged to me, and you belong to me, Aria. There’s no denying it.”
She took a breath, gripping the lapels of his jacket, and slamming her lips on his. He plunged his tongue inside her mouth, at the same time he grabbed her thigh settling over her hip.
“You feel so fucking good. I can’t wait to get you home so I can fuck you,” he said.
