Surprise
"Hey handsome! Chloe invited me out to lunch, so I'll be back later!" Aubrey said, kissing Jesse's cheek before walking out of the door.
"I love you!" he called after her.
"I love you too!"
"Hey Chlo!" Aubrey squealed upon seeing her best friend. It's not like she hadn't seen her lately. They just loved getting together and talking about what was happening lately. They made sure they had time set aside for each other just to relax and catch up.
"Hey bree!" Chloe said cheerfully, looking up from the menu.
Not long after Aubrey sat down across from Chloe, the waitress came up for their order.
"The usual?" she asked Aubrey.
She nodded and looked at Chloe as she decided which meal she wanted this time.
"I think I'll have the grilled chicken salad as well." She finally told her.
"Okay! I will have them put that in right away!" the waitress said cheerfully.
"So what's up Bree?" Chloe asked, her eyes round with curiosity.
"Just keeping myself busy between work and school, plus Jesse. Well he's not really busy, but I feel like I'm not spending as much time with him as we would both like."
"Oh, I see! Well, things will start to slow down eventually. Don't worry too much. I know how you get."
"Thanks Chlobird. I wish I could just slow down for a minute or two and catch my breath. I'm just going and going. It doesn't seem to end." Aubrey sighed, stirring around the straw in her water.
"I know. It's just a little bump in the road, Aubrey. How has your week been?"
"Stressful. I have two recitals on Saturday and an assessment next Monday, so I'm having to prepare for that. I'm freaking out because I don't want to mess it up and have them fire me."
"I believe in you. And hey! At least it's not your cycle week! I've really just wanted to stay at home and eat chocolate and watch movies these past few days." Chloe sighed, looking down at her slightly bloated belly. "I still find it hilarious how we've always been two weeks apart for almost our entire time." She giggled, looking back up at Aubrey. "Aubrey? What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost?"
"What day is it?" she asked strangely.
"Um the 27th I believe. Yeah! The 27th."
Aubrey froze. She looked like a deer in headlights. Before Chloe could stop her, she made a beeline to the bathroom. Chloe ran out of the booth and followed her into the tiny room, but she barely missed her as Aubrey locked herself in the stall.
"Aubrey what's wrong? Did I say something? Are you sick? Is everything alright? Do I need to call Jesse?" Chloe kept asking all of these questions, knocking on the stall door.
It was silent for a few seconds, making both Aubrey and Chloe feel awkward. The time ticked passed before Aubrey sighed and muttered one word under her breath, "shit."
Aubrey collected herself and slowly unlocked the stall door, facing Chloe.
"What's wrong? Are you sick?" Chloe asked, trying to figure out what was wrong with her best friend and why she was being so weird all of a sudden.
"I'm late." Aubrey muttered with a stunned expression on her face.
"You're what?" Chloe asked softly.
"I'm late."
"Aubrey, you're never late. Never in your entire time of having a period have you been late."
"I know that, Chloe." She muttered.
"How long?"
"6 weeks." Aubrey mumbled.
Chloe, unsure of what to say or do, wrapped Aubrey in her arms and held her tight. She held her for what seemed like an hour but was probably more like two or three minutes.
"Come on. Let's get out of here." Chloe told her, ushering her out of the bathroom. She ran and dropped money on the table plus a pretty decent tip since they just left. She met Aubrey back at her car. "Here. Get in my car. We can come back and get yours later." She added.
Aubrey did as she was told and climbed in the passenger seat of Chloe's compact car.
"It's going to be alright, bree. Just breathe deeply. Don't worry about anything, okay?"
Aubrey nodded her head slowly, not really moving her focus from the interesting spot off in the distance outside. A million things came flooding through her head that very instant. They were always very careful about stuff like that. Jesse used protection, and she was taking the pill just to be safe. She tried to think back to about two to three months ago, making sure they didn't do anything weird and unusual. She couldn't really remember that far back. Two months ago it was Jesse's birthday, so who knows what actually happened that night?
Aubrey's attention snapped as the car came to a halt but not at Chloe's.
"Wait in the car. I'll be right back." Chloe told her before she got out and ran inside Walgreens.
Tears formed in Aubrey's eyes. Emotions ran through her body, but she couldn't tell if it was fear or excitement. Sure, she'd always wanted a kid, but she figured that she'd be married and would be teaching full time. Not still working on her degree. She thought she'd have time to figure it all out and it would be planned when they were both ready. That's what she wanted.
"You can't always get what you want." Her father taught her that lesson, and it stuck in her mind.
"What do I do?"
"I think you just pee on it and wait. That's what the box says."
"Wait, so you don't know either?"
"You're the one with the boyfriend. I don't have this problem." Chloe said jokingly.
"Good point."
Chloe pulled out the test and handed it to Aubrey, ushering her to the bathroom back in her little apartment.
"I love you, Aubrey." Chloe softened, seeing the fear on her best friends face.
Aubrey sat on the floor of Chloe's bathroom, periodically checking her phone as the time passed. She felt like she was going to be sick to her stomach. She was. Aubrey quickly darted to the toilet and emptied her stomach. Tears rolled down her cheeks, and Chloe came in when she heard Aubrey vomiting.
"Shh Bree. It's all going to be okay. Take a deep breath." She soothed.
Aubrey got up and cleaned herself up before facing towards Chloe. When she did, Chloe was looking down at the test, making sure she didn't pick it. They were close but not that close. Chloe looked up at Aubrey with a huge grin on her face. Aubrey quickly picked up the little stick and looked at it. She wasn't exactly sure what the symbol met, so she compared it to the guide on the box.
"I'm having a baby." She said with surprise and fear in her voice.
Chloe threw her arms around her best friend. "I'm going to be an aunt!" she squealed.
"Is this thing reliable?" Aubrey asked quickly.
"I really don't know. I have an idea though."
5 minutes late, Chloe came and sat down next to Aubrey on the couch, who was clutching a throw pillow in her arms. "I made an appointment with Dr. Kirk for you this afternoon." She said, rubbing her arm up and down Aubrey's. "Just to make sure."
Aubrey nodded her head slowly. "How do I tell Jesse? He's not ready for a kid, Chlo. What if he wants out? I can't do this on my own." Aubrey panicked.
"Aubrey, you know very well that Jesse loves you to the moon and back. He's not going to leave you. He might be a little freaked out and terrified, but he's not going to leave."
"But we haven't even talked about this yet. We didn't want this so soon. It's too much to lay on him and still expect him to stay with us." Aubrey trembled.
"Jesse loves you, and he's going to love this child. You know that. You're just worrying. Don't worry. Hey! Maybe that test was wrong! Maybe you're just late because of stress." Chloe suggested.
"Maybe." Aubrey mumbled.
"Here, let me call Jesse. I'll tell him I'm going to take you out today for Girl Time."
"Hello?"
"Hey Jesse! It's Chloe. I'm just calling to let you know that I'm going to keep Aubrey for a little while longer for Girl Time. I'll have her back to you by 4. I promise."
"Okay Chloe. Take care of my princess for me!"
"You know I will!"
"Alright have fun!"
"Everything is fine with Jesse. I told him we are just having a little extra Girl Time." Chloe assured her friend. "We should probably head to the doc's since your appointment is in 45 minutes, though."
Aubrey sat in silence on the way to her doctor's office. She wasn't really sure what she wanted the results to be, but a small part of her wanted it to be true. She was still afraid of what would happen, mostly how Jesse would react. Sure, he said he loved her, but when you throw a child into the mix of things, stuff changes. You freak out and leave. You avoid any and all responsibilities that one might have to handle during an extremely difficult time like this.
"So! We seem to have a little possibility growing inside of you!" Her doctor said cheerfully.
Aubrey half smiled and nodded her head slightly.
"Well let's run the test and do an ultrasound to see what we can!" she said, handing Aubrey the cup.
"What is it with pregnancy and pee?!" she sighed jokingly while heading to the bathroom.
Aubrey laid back on the table as instructed, Chloe standing right beside her.
"Okay, now I'm going to need you to roll up your shirt a good ways so I can put the gel on. It's going to be really cold. Fair warning!" she giggled.
Aubrey wiggled her shirt up enough for the doctor to apply the gel. It sent chills through her body at first, but she quickly adjusted. She was a Posen. She always adjusted.
Chloe held her hand as the doctor ran the small machine over Aubrey's still tiny stomach. They looked up at the screen, trying to figure out what they were supposed to see.
"There." The doctor said, pointing to a small shape on the screen.
Chloe squeezed Aubrey's hand as they both started to tear up. This was actually happening. There was this whole other person growing inside of Aubrey. I guess you could say it was "Love at first sight" because Aubrey's heart swelled, knowing that she was actually pregnant.
"There's your baby, Aubrey. Jesse is going to be so jealous of me being here."
"That's my baby." Aubrey sighed, looking up at the screen with a small grin on her face.
"It might be a little early yet, but sometimes you can hear it. One…second…oh here it is. It's pretty quiet, but it's definitely there."
The girls listened to the small echo over the screen. That heartbeat was the heartbeat of Aubrey and Jesse's child. It would be the sound that she would look forward to most for the next several months.
"Is there a way I can get a picture of this?" Aubrey asked her doctor.
She smiled and nodded her head. "Of course dearie. I'll print that out for you right now. Congratulations!" She said cheerily.
Aubrey smiled and said thank you.
Chloe squealed and wrapped her best friend in a giant bear hug. "You're going to have a baby!"
"There's still one issue here, Chlo. How do I tell Jesse?" Aubrey asked, being worrisome like usual.
"We have a few hours to think about it before I send you off to him!" Chloe reminded her.
"Before you decide anything, I must remind you that there are options if you do not want to keep the baby." Her doctor interjected.
"This may have been the last thing I needed, but that's my child in there. A Posen never leaves anyone behind." Aubrey said, sure of herself.
"Alrighty then! While you are here, we can go over some basic pregnancy information like eating healthy and what to avoid and how to not feel like crap every morning. That gets old really fast."
"Sounds good!" Aubrey said sweetly. She was having a baby!
"I love you Aubrey. You call me if you need me, okay?" Chloe told her as Aubrey got out of the car and got in her own car back at the restaurant.
"I will Chloe. I love you. Thank you for being there today."
"I'm always going to be there for you on Bree. Good luck tonight!"
Aubrey smiled and nodded her head, looking over at her purse which was in the passenger seat of her car. Inside was the best thing she could think of in a short amount of time. It's not creative, but it will do.
"Hey Aubrey! How was your day with Chloe?" Jesse asked, kissing her cheek after she walked inside their apartment.
"It was…eventful." She told him with a small grin.
"Fun?"
"I guess you could use the word fun."
"What do you have there?" he asked, pointing at the black bag on her shoulder.
"Chloe is letting me use her camera to take pictures at class for the assessments. She got a new one, so she doesn't use this one anymore. She said we should check the self-timer though in case I need to use it." Aubrey lied. But it was a pretty damn good lie if she said so herself.
"Ooh pictures! I'm in!" he teased, wrapping his arms around her stomach and kissing her shoulder.
Aubrey's heart swelled as she felt his arms around her stomach. He'd know soon enough.
"You want to do it now?"
"Sure! I'd love to take pictures with you since I haven't seen you all afternoon."
"Sorry about that." She giggled.
Aubrey set the camera on the entertainment center and made sure that the aim was in the right location. She double checked the settings that Chloe had shown her to make sure it went correctly. Everything was set and ready to go.
"Okay, so it is supposed to start fifteen seconds after I press it, and Chloe said it should take 5 to 10 photos."
"Okay! Let's go!" Jesse said cheerfully.
Aubrey looked over at her purse which was in its spot on the couch. She smiled over at Jesse who was sitting down, not too far from the purse. "Okay. Ready…go!" she squealed, running over to Jesse and sitting next to him.
He wrapped his arms around her and looked at her kindly. As soon as the red light flashed for the timer, Aubrey leaned up and whispered something in Jesse's ear. "I have a surprise for you."
Jesse looked at her with a confused expression on his face. She grinned and opened up her purse. "Close your eyes." She instructed, and he did so, still confused of course. She took a deep breath and pulled out the surprise. She placed them gently in Jesse's hands. "Okay, open them."
Jesse opened her eyes and raised his eyebrow at Aubrey before looking down in his hands. His eyes grew wide once he put two and two together. He immediately snapped his head and looked back up at Aubrey, who had a small grin on her face.
"Surprise?" she giggled nervously, unsure of how he would take the news since she pretty much just threw it on him.
"Au…Aubrey? Are…are you…"
She nodded her head slowly at his stuttering. "9 weeks."
He just stared at her with a shocked expression on his face. But then, a huge grin erupted onto his face. He crashed his lips into hers and kissed her like he meant it. Aubrey grinned at his response to the news. She was terrified at how he might have taken it, walking out on her and the baby without looking back.
"We're going to have a baby!" he cheered.
"We're going to have a baby." She echoed.
Jesse grinned and looked at her still tiny stomach. He placed his hand on her and pressed his ear against her stomach. "Hey kiddo. It's your daddy and mommy here. I just wanted to let you know that we both love you very much, and we are very much looking forward to your arrival in 7 months." He said softly to the baby that was currently growing inside of Aubrey.
Aubrey couldn't get over Jesse's actions. It brought tears to her eyes as she watched him talk to their baby. This was the beginning of a lifetime of sharing their love for each other with another little person. A person they made out of love.
"So, you're really excited, huh?" Aubrey asked once they were cuddled up in bed.
"I'm beyond excited, Aubs. I am already in love with him or her. Hopefully a her." He explained to her.
"I was terrified. I sort of thought you were going to leave us since it sort of sprang up on us."
"Aubrey, I'm not going to leave you. I may be a little scared right now, but I'm not going to leave you. I'm not that guy that gets you pregnant and then bails. Don't you know that by now?"
"We've never had the thought of having a baby soon, so it freaked me out. I wasn't sure how you'd respond."
"I'm staying right here with you and our little bundle of joy." He cooed, kissing the nape of her neck softly.
"What about if I tell you this means no sex for 7 months?" she said jokingly.
Jesse's eyes got big. He lifted up Aubrey's shirt and placed his hand on her warm skin on her belly. "Hey kiddo. It's daddy again. I figured I would let you know that you're worth the wait."