Next in Line

by R. L. Wilson

  We spent about an hour in the shop picking out all the different things that the puppy would need. A food and water bowl, a big cushion for a bed, food and a collar and lead. Holly had picked the blue collar and lead for the puppy. I had no idea if it was a boy or a girl but Holly had decided that if it was going to be living with Coop and I then it would have a much better chance if it was a boy. I was so glad to be finished getting everything. I really didn’t like shopping. I was the perfect gentleman carrying all of the shopping in and opening the front door for Holly. She didn’t say anything about it to me. She would just have a big smile on her face every time I would do it for her. I placed all of the stuff that we brought on the couch and plonked myself down next to it. It was only a second later when I heard the puppy coming racing into the living room and he jumped up onto my lap, trying to lick my face. Holly laughed and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling back at her. She kneeled down on the floor and the puppy jumped off of my lap and ran straight over to her. Jumping all over her and trying to lick her face. She seemed to be enjoying it though. Thinking that the puppy could probably do with some water and something to eat, I started to unpack all of the things that I had brought. “What are you going to name him?” Holly asked me as she pulled silly faces at the puppy while he still jumped all over her. “I have no idea. Do you think that I should name him? I mean, he isn’t really mine after all. The Chief gave him to me because he didn’t know what else to do with him” I said. “Of course you have to name him” Holly replied sounding a little shocked. “I always wanted a puppy when I was younger but I never got one” She said. After I placed the food and water down on the floor, the puppy jumped off of Holly and ran over to start eating. I saw this as an opportunity to try to get closer to Holly so I sat down on the floor next to her and asked “Would you like to name him?” A giant smile spread across her face and she looked at the puppy. I could see that she was deep in thought. I loved looking at her smile. I moved in a little closer to her to try and close the gap that was between us. She looked back at me and said “What about Toby?” She still had that smile that I loved so much spread across her face. “It’s perfect” I replied. I hadn’t even realised that I was leaning close to Holly until I could feel her breath on me and at the exact moment that I was about to close the distance, Toby jumped up between us and started licking my face. Holly and I both jumped back and she started giggling. “Great, he’s just like Coop” I said as I started to chuckle a little myself.

  Cha

  pter Five

  Holly

  5pm on Friday. Yes, finally it was home time. I had been back at work for two weeks now and I wasn’t enjoying it at all. Everything bad kept happening to me there. I kept tripping over and we had a new child who would kick, punch and scratch me whenever he had a tantrum. Every time Mr Sullivan would come in to either drop off or pick up his child he would ask for me but the other girls would tell him something like I wasn’t here yet or I was in an important meeting and I couldn’t be disturbed. I didn’t like seeing him. It was too awkward. I said a quick goodbye to everyone, grabbed my stuff and almost ran out of the door. I was just so happy to be going home.

  When I walked into the apartment Sophie was pacing up and down in the living room. I threw all of my stuff on the coffee table and looked at Sophie. “You ok Soph?” I asked her. She stopped pacing and stared at me with a worrying look on her face. This couldn’t be good. “Holly, I’m late” Sophie said. “Well leave then. You’ve already been late to work once this week, you can’t really be late again” I replied. Sophie looked puzzled. She shook her head and said “No Holly. My period. It’s late”. Sophie was flapping her hands around while she started pacing again. Oh god. How did I not get that? I felt stupid for a minute for not understanding what she was saying. Then I felt worried and I had a sick feeling in my stomach. If this is how I felt then I couldn’t even imagine how Sophie must have been feeling. She didn’t handle things well so I tried to act as calmly as I could. “Ummm ok Soph. Don’t panic. We will just casually get in the car, drive to the supermarket and buy a pregnancy test and find out. It will all be okay”. Sophie nodded her head at me but didn’t move so I linked my arm in hers and walked her out to my car. She made me go into the supermarket myself. Sophie just sat in the car hugging her legs. I stood there for a minute looking at all of the different pregnancy tests. Why were there so many different kinds of them? This was so confusing. They all seemed to be pretty much the same. Early detection. 99% accurate. Results in three minutes. I grabbed the pink box with three tests in it thinking that was the smarter option just in case we needed more than one for some reason. I grabbed some juice, ice cream and chocolate before heading to the checkout.

  When we got back home I put all of the stuff on the kitchen bench and tried to hand Soph the box of pregnancy tests. She shook her head at me. “You need to take it Soph. You need to read the instructions so you know what you’re doing and find out for sure. You can’t just let this go” I said. Sophie took the box from me and read the instructions while sipping her juice. “Ok, I’ll be back in a minute” she said while getting up off the couch and heading towards the bathroom and closing the door behind her. Just then there was a knock on the door. I opened it and Logan was standing there with that amazing smile on his face. My heart started to race and the butterflies that I already had from what was happening with Sophie started flapping around even more. A big smile spread across my face for a second until I heard the toilet flush. Logan looked at my face before saying “Is everything ok?” I grabbed his hand and pulled him inside. He closed the door and went and sat down on the couch. He picked up the pregnancy test instructions that Sophie had left there. He looked at me with a worrying look on his face but before I could say that it wasn’t for me Sophie walked out of the bathroom and handed me the pregnancy test. “So there is about two and a half minutes left before you can check the results. I can’t look at it.” She said. She sat down in the corner of the couch near Logan and hugged her legs. Logan looked at Sophie after she had sat down and by the look on his face I could tell that he knew what was going on. “Oh my god” Logan said. Sophie just covered her face with the blanket that we kept next to the couch and said nothing. There was complete silence in the room for what felt like the longest two and a half minutes in the world. I looked up at Logan who was still looking at me. I took a deep breath and looked at the little window on the pregnancy test that I was holding. Next to the little window was a picture. One had two lines which equals pregnant and the other had one line with equals not pregnant. I’m so glad it was written on the test otherwise time would have dragged even more while I read through the instructions to figure out what it meant. I looked over to the little window on the test and there it was staring at me. Two pink vertical lines. I looked up at Logan and Sophie who were both staring at me. “It’s positive Soph. You’re pregnant” I said. Sophie put her face in her hands and started crying.

  Sophie finally calmed down after about 10 minutes of non-stop crying. We had all sat there fairly quiet not knowing what to say. It was then that Logan looked at me and said “Is it Coops?” I hadn’t even thought of that. I shrugged my shoulders and we both looked at Sophie who was nodding her head. “Shit” Logan said. “What are you going to do about it?” I asked Sophie. “I have to keep it Holly. You know that I can’t get rid of it”. Logan looked back and forth between me and Sophie. I could tell he had no idea what Sophie meant but he didn’t ask. Sophie’s dad wasn’t very nice to her. Whenever he would get angry at her he would tell her things like you never should have been born and how Sophie’s mother should have had an abortion when she was pregnant because she was such a disgrace. It may not seem that bad to some people but it really use to upset Sophie which is part of the reason why we lived together. She just couldn’t handle being near her dad anymore. She always told me that whenever she got pregnant she would never have an abortion and she would make sure every day that the baby would know it was loved so i
t never had to feel the pain that she went through. I never really understood why it hurt her so much. If it was me I would have turned and smiled at him. Nothing annoyed him more than him not hurting Sophie’s feelings when he was trying to be mean. “We should probably go and tell him now” Logan said as he stood up and reached out a hand, helping Sophie to her feet. “And you should probably bring the proof with you. I have a feeling that he is going to want to see it”. It was then that I remembered that I was still holding the test.

  When we walked into the boys’ living room Cooper was sitting on the couch watching TV. He smiled at us all as we walked in. Without hesitating Logan turned to Cooper and said “Coop, Sophie has something that she needs to tell you”. We all looked at each other for a second before Sophie said “I’m pregnant Coop. It’s yours”. I saw the tears run down her face so I put my arm around her waist. “What?!” Cooper said so loudly that he had almost shouted it. Logan looked at me so I walked over to Cooper and handed him the test. Everyone was quiet for a second while Cooper figured out what the lines meant just like I had done. “WHAT THE HELL” Cooper shouted as he stood up with his fists clenched by his side. I jumped back feeling a little scared at Cooper’s reaction. Logan stepped forward and grabbed Cooper’s arms. “Calm down Coop” Logan said in a deep calm voice. “I am calm. Let me go” Cooper shouted as he pushed Logan’s hands off him and plonked himself back on the couch. Sophie started crying hysterically and ran out the apartment and back to ours slamming the front door. I just stood there staring at Cooper and Logan.

  I realised my hands were shaking a little and immediately felt silly. Cooper had scared me when he yelled but I knew he would never hurt any of us. He kept telling me that I was like his little sister and I felt the same way about him. Cooper took a few deep breaths and looked at Logan and me before saying. “I’m ok now. Really. I’m going to go and talk to Sophie”. I nodded my head and moved out of the way so he could walk past me. Once the door shut, Logan let out a big sigh and ran his hand through his short and spiky brown hair. “Well, that was interesting. I came over to see if you wanted to go out to dinner with me tomorrow night but then all of this happened”. Oh my god. Was Logan coming over tonight to ask me out on a date? The butterflies in my stomach starting flapping around so much that I felt a little nauseous and my heart felt like it was beating a million miles an hour. I couldn’t help the giant smile that was on my face. He walked up to me so we were only inches away from each other. I had to fight the urge to run my hands all over his body. He lifted his hand and tucked the bit of hair that was hanging over my eye behind my ear and then cupped both of my cheeks with his hands. I stared straight into his big blue eyes. “Holly Farley. Would you like to join me for dinner tomorrow night” Logan asked me. My smile got even bigger when I said “Logan Shields. Are you asking me out on a date?” Logan took one of his hands off of my face and gently ran it down my arm leaving a trail of goose bumps where he had touched me. He laughed softly and said “Yes Holly. I am.” I couldn’t help but giggle when I said “I would love to go on a date with you Logan.” The biggest smile that I have ever seen him smile spread across his face and he kissed me on the top of my head. “Excellent. I’ll come by and get you at six.” I was too excited to even move so I just stared into Logan’s eyes until he sat down on the couch. Logan was still smiling when he grabbed my arm and pulled me on the couch next to him putting his arm around me so I was cuddled up into him. He was so warm and smelt amazing. I could stay here forever. Logan flicked through the channels on the TV until he came to a channel which had Die Hard playing. “I love this movie” Logan said as he put the remote down and wrapped his other arm around my body. I put my hand on his stomach and my eyes suddenly felt heavy. Sleep came quickly.

  Chap

  ter Six

  Holly

  The next morning I woke up still on the couch and still cuddled up to Logan. I lifted my head and wiped the side of my face. I had dribbled a little in my sleep. I looked over to the part of Logan’s chest where my head had been laying and there was a small wet patch. Oh my god. I had dribbled on him in my sleep. I decided that I didn’t want to face the embarrassment so I was just going to leave and pretend that it never happened. I tried to wriggle out of Logan’s arms without waking him but as I did, my foot got stuck on the couch and I fell on the floor with a thud. Logan sat up quickly and looked down at me on the floor. “Are you alright?” he asked as he moved forward and helped me to my feet. So apparently this was a bad morning. “Yeah I’m fine” I replied. “I’m sorry that I woke you. Go back to sleep. I’m going to go home and check on Sophie.” I said. “No it’s ok” Logan said as he got to his feet. “I’ll see you out”. Logan walked me to the front door and as I went to open it, Logan grabbed my shoulder and spun me around so he was holding me loosely. His face was close to mine and I thought he was about to kiss me until he pulled me into him, giving me a big hug and then kissing me on the top of my head. The butterflies were back and flapping around more than ever. I pulled away from him and said “I’ll see you tonight”. He was smiling that giant smile that I loved when I turned and walked out of the apartment closing the door behind me.

  When I walked into the living room Cooper and Sophie were cuddling on the couch and laughing. I was so relieved that they were happy and not fighting and crying. I know it was selfish but I was too excited about my date with Logan tonight to want to have to sit with Sophie while she cried. “What are you smiling about” Cooper asked me. “Oh, nothing much. I’m just going on a date with Logan tonight” I replied with the biggest smile. Sophie did a little squeal and Logan said “Finally”. Sophie and I both looked at him. “He just wouldn’t stop talking about you and it was driving me crazy so I told him to man up and just ask you out already. But don’t tell him that I told you that” Cooper said. I giggled and walked into my room and started going through all of my clothes in my closet. I had no idea what I was going to wear. “What are you going to wear tonight?” Sophie yelled out to me from the living room. It was like she could read my mind. “I don’t know” I yelled back. “I think I’m going to have to go shopping” I said as I walked back into the living room. Sophie sat up quickly looking happy. “Oh yay, shopping! I’m coming too” she demanded. “Of course. I need your help finding something”. Sophie’s smile suddenly disappeared and she grabbed the bucket that was sitting on the floor and began vomiting violently into it. I sat on the arm of the couch next to Sophie, holding her hair and rubbing her back while she was sick. Cooper covered his mouth and nose with his hands and ran to the front door. “Well I should leave so you girls can get ready and have fun shopping”. I looked at Cooper a little confused when I heard Sophie yell from her bucket “You’re a coward Cooper Hutson”. “I sure am” Cooper said before walking out of the front door. “Being around someone who is vomiting makes him feel sick himself” Sophie said to me. I couldn’t help but to laugh out loud at the fact that a man who is about 6ft 5, just like Logan, and looked like he was on steroids because he was so muscly would run away from someone being sick.

  Logan

  Six o’clock. Time for me to go to the apartment next door and get Holly for our date which I was so incredibly nervous about. I straightened my tie and grabbed the bouquet of red roses and headed for the door to the girls’ apartment. I started fidgeting with my shirt wondering if it was too late to go home and change. I was wearing black suit pants with a white long sleeved shirt and a black tie. I felt like it was too cliché and I really wanted to impress Holly. I was crazy about the girl after all. Sophie answered the door and she was smiling at me. It was a little creepy. Hey Sophie” I said giving her a kiss on the cheek. “How are you feeling today?” “Better now thanks.” She said still looking at me with that creepy smile. “Holly” she yelled from the front door. I was breath taken when I saw Holly walk out in a red sparkly strapless dress with red heels on. Her hair was down and curly. She looked amazing. Without saying anything I walked up to her, brushed a bit
of hair away from her face and kissed her on the cheek. She blushed a little when I whispered in her ear “You look so beautiful”. I handed her the bouquet of roses and she sniffed them before going into the kitchen and filling up a vase to put the flowers in. When she walked back over to me I put my arm out and asked “Are you ready to go?” She linked her arm into mine and smiled at me. My heart started pounding in my chest. “I sure am” she said. As we started to walk out of the front door Holly let go of my arm and whispered something to Sophie. She then gave Sophie a hug and linked her arm back with mine.