"We can't do that...Tutor mom's in bad condition." Brooke sighed, as we sat around the table at the cafe.
"Brooke!" I exclaimed. "I am not in bad condition!" I said crossing my arms over my chest.
"I'd argue with that." I rolled my eyes, as I smelled Rachel's sickening perfume as she approached us. "Hi Natey." She touched his bicep and I almost threw up there and then.
"Wow, baby, when was the last time someone called you Natey?" I asked Nathan, knowing fine well what the answer was.
"My grandma, when I was two." He lied. "Get off me, Rachel." He shrugged her off and moved toward me.
"You know you love me, Nathan. When we go back to school, I'll be head cheerleader-" Brooke sneered loudly. "And you'll be captain of the Ravens, and we'll have to date."
"What the hell?" I questioned. "Do you even care that he isn't interested? Are you that disrespectful of your own body?" I shook my head and Nathan wrapped an arm around me.
"I'm sexy. If you've got it, flaunt it."
"Try flaunting it somewhere else. No one here cares, especially not Nathan."
"Your a joke, I mean get over yourself I'm in a serious relationship." Nathan said, he rubbed his hand on my shoulder trying to calm me down.
"Well when she gets fat and ugly, I'll be waiting with open arms." Rachel said with a sneer smile as she walked off.
"And legs." Brooke smirked.
"Hales..." Nathan started to say quickly. "You're not..."
"I think I'm gonna go home, I'm really tired and you know the doctor said when I get like this the best thing to do is sleep it off."
"Haley don't let her get to you." Brooke started.
"Yeah she's just a bitch who once can't use her money to get what she wants." Lucas explained.
"It's not Rachel! I'm tired, I'm pregnant and tired, it happens you know. Pregnant women get tired, there is a tiny human sucking all their energy out of them." She fired out quickly.
"Okay, we can go home then." Nathan said starting to reach for his jacket.
"No, I want to go home, you stay here with Brooke and Lucas...I just want to be alone. I want to sleep. Have fun, it's okay" Haley said getting up and grabbing Nathan's keys that were on the table.
"Okay" He said skeptically.
"See you later" She said quickly.
"I love you" He said.
"You too" She muttered before waving submissively. and walking out the door.
Nathan looked over at Lucas who reached for his keys in his pocket and handed them to Nathan.
"I'll drop it off later." Nathan said as Lucas nodded.
"Yeah, just be careful with it."
"Will do, thanks Luke" Nathan moved to stand up.
"Pick up some ice cream for her." Brooke said.
Nathan pointed and nodded "Thanks for that too, see you guys later."
Haley switched out her jeans for sweatpants. She could barely fit in her jeans anymore, in a few short weeks she would be switching them out for maternity jeans. Grabbing the remote she channel searched before finding a good chick flic to watch. Although that didn't matter since she wasn't going to pay attention, she propped a pillow behind her back and let a tear escape. "Soon you will be fat and ugly just like she said...what would make him want to stay?" She whispered.
"The fact that I love you and this baby with all my heart." Nathan said leaning on the door frame. "Besides you could never be fat nor ugly. You're the most beautiful woman in the world, and your pregnant. Which means your weight gain means our child is getting healthier and stronger...which by the way is the sexiest thing ever."
"I was wondering if you were going to come." She whispered smiling slightly.
"I would have been here sooner but I stopped for this." He said moving closer and pulling out two pints of ice cream and a rose from behind his back.
"You know me so well." She chuckled.
"I can't take full credit for the ice cream, it was Brooke's idea, but the flower was all mine."
Haley let out a smile and reached for the items. She laid the flower across her lap and instantly dug into the ice cream.
"Now please Hales, don't worry or take to heart anything Rachel says...she doesn't even know we're pregnant."
"I know it just...stupid hormones" She explained wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "I know I'm pregnant and I'm going to get bigger its just...it's hard when someone points it out to you. God, why do I always let her get to me?"
"What can I do to make you feel better?" Nathan asked kicking off his shoes, anticipating what it would be.
"Just hold me?"
"Sure"He said. Nathan climbed behind Haley and she then laid between his legs. Minutes later he could hear her breathing level off. He slid out from behind her and laid her down, pulling the blankets up over her and grabbing the ice cream. After stealing a spoonful of it for himself he moved to put it in the freezer.
Walking back into her room he slipped in the bed once more and moved to wrap his arms around her, she jolted lightly and he ran his hand through her hair "Shhh, it's me, go back to sleep I will be here when you wake up."
"Promise?" She mumbled.
"Always and Forever" He punctuated with a kiss to her temple before dozing off beside her.
Jenny had been quiet all night. Nathan had been singing and dancing, while I had been feeling like crap. Nathan offered to watch her himself, but I wanted to do this. I felt like I needed to sit with him, just to convince myself that I can be a parent.
I know babysitting isn't the same, but it's up there. I sighed, as I rubbed my belly and thought of my unborn baby. I watched, as Nathan and Jenny sat together – he held her against him with one arm, slumped on the couch, watching an old bobcats game.
"This is easy." He smirked. "I'm gonna be a great dad." I smiled and nodded at him. Of course he would be – I knew that, but could anyone tell him that?
"I know." I smiled. "You're great with her, but our kid might not be that easy." I insisted. "Vivian's friend had a baby boy around the same time as Viv, and he screamed every time I went near him. It got to the point where he just cried every time he came to our house." I laughed. "Then Viv told me that he did it with everyone – he was an unsettled baby. He just didn't like change."
"Everything will be fine with our baby." Nathan smirked. "Now, I think we should put this one to bed and watch a movie." He suggested.
"Cocktail!" I insisted. "Oh please, please, please?" I begged. "You know how much I love Tom Hanks!" Nathan looked at me for a few seconds, and just started laughing. "What?"
"Hales, do you even know who Tom Hanks is?"
"The guy in Cocktail." I insisted. "He's in Top Gun too!" I told Nathan. "You know who I mean, right? Flannigan and Goose?"
"Okay...Hales." Nathan sighed and shifted, moving Jenny with him. "First off, the guy you're talking about, is Tom Cruise." He told me. "And second...he plays Maverick. Anthony Edwards plays Goose."
"No.." I shook my head. "That's Tom Hanks."
"No." Nathan told me again. I saw Jenny fussing a little, so I took her from him and held her close. "Tom Hanks." He said, as we both stood up and walked towards Jenny's crib. "Is the guy in Forest Gump, and Big, and Sleepless in Seattle-"
"No, the guy in sleepless in Seattle is Tom Selleck." I insisted. "I'm talking about Tom Hanks. He's in Cocktail."
"Tom Selleck is the guy from Friends, he plays Monica's boyfriend, Richard."
"I'm not even going to ask how you know that." I shook my head, and went in for the kill. A quick sniff test to make sure her diaper was OK. It wasn't.
"Wow...um...you know, being pregnant...it probably isn't good for me to be around...well..poop." I passed her to Nathan. "Good luck."
"Yeah...I don't think so." Nathan called me back. "How do you think single mom's change the diapers of their other kids, while pregnant?"
"Well...it's a good thing I'm not a single mom then." I smirked and kissed him lightly. "Thanks for doing this, just for our health." I fought the urge to laugh, and I countered his rebuttal. "Come on, it's easy." I sighed, "I'll talk you through it."
"I guess I need to learn sometime" He sighed. "But you're doing the next one"
"Okay, lay the diaper underneath the baby, before taking the old diaper off." Fifteen minutes later, I was reading from a web page. "Unfasten the tabs of the dirty diaper and fold them over, to stop them from sticking to the baby." I read aloud, and watched Nathan stuffle. "Here." I put one hand on Jenny's tummy while he did as I said.
"Peel down the front of the dirty diaper."
When Jenny was finally changed into a fresh diaper, Nathan put the old one on the diaper bin, and I kissed her forehead softly. "Goodnight little girl." I smiled, before placing her in her crib. I smiled, as I placed the blanket around her and stepped back. Nathan dimmed the lights, and the pair of us made our way back to the couch.
Our butts were barely on the seat, when a loud wail erupted. Nathan turned around, and Jenny was holding the bars of her crib, screaming loudly.
"What the hell?" I whispered to Nathan. "She was just falling asleep..."
"Let her cry." He suggested. "I heard Jake say that once. Sometimes a baby just needs to cry." I shrugged, and turned to look away from the crib, but the cries just got louder, and louder.
"We have to do something." I told Nathan, rubbing my head. I moved to the crib and picked Jenny up, rocking her gently from side to side.
"Do the bounce baby thing." Nathan suggested, and I looked at him, confused as to what he meant. "You know, like on Friends." At that moment in time, I couldn't even laugh at him...my head was hurting, and I was already not feeling great.
I began to bounce Jenny gently, but she just stopped crying because she had gas, and started again.
"What about a pacifier?" I asked Nathan. "Does Jake give her one? Have a look around." I continued to hold her close. "Are you hungry?" I wondered aloud, leaving to go to the kitchen, whilst Nathan looked for the pacifier.
"Hales there's nothing." Nathan entered the kitchen to see me trying to give Jenny some mashed banana, but she wasn't interested. "Maybe it's her diaper?"
"You just changed her, Nathan." I sighed, exasperated. "The TV...turn it off." I insisted. "Turn off the TV." Nathan turned it off and the room went silent, all except for Jenny's cries.
"Let me try." Nathan took her from me, and began to sing softly - something I'd never seen him do. Jenny stopped - for a few seconds. "Come on kid." Nathan sighed. "You were easy."
"Yeah." I sneered. "She's a demon child, I tell you." I sighed and hung my head. "Can I phone my mom?"
"What do you mean, can you?"
"Well...we agreed we didn't need help..."
"Call your mom, Hales. I mean, she isn't wet, she isn't hungry, she doesn't have a pacifier, it isn't hot, or cold, there's no noise, she doesn't feel warm..." I sighed, as I dialed my home number.
"Mom..." I felt my voice break. "She won't sleep." I listened carefully, and swiped at my cheeks. The pain of my head, and the nausea in my stomach, coupled with the tiredness I was experiencing right now, was just too overwhelming. "Thank you mom." I sniffed. "I love you." I hung up and looked to Nathan. "White noise." I told him. "Mom said look around for anything Jake might leave on while she's asleep, like-"
"Like the Radio beside her crib? Or the guitar he plays in here at night?" Nathan raised an eyebrow, as he pressed the radio on. Twice. Then three times.
"It must be broken, pass me the guitar."
"Hales-" Nathan knew I hated playing other people's instruments, but I needed to do something. I began to strum softly, and got into a quiet melody, while Nathan rocked her. As I continued to play, she started to quiet down. Once her eyes were fully closed, Nathan placed her in the crib, and I finished the melody.
"Here lets go sit outside with the baby monitor, this way we don't wake her." Nathan said reaching for my hand as he lead me to sit on the porch. We left the door open and took a seat on the porch swing.
"How are you doing?" He asked.
"I'm...I think we're in over our heads."
"Hey listen to me. We can do this. What just happened in their that was because it's not our kid. If it were our kid we would know she likes white noise. We would know she needs it to sleep. We would know because she would be ours. Don't worry about that okay?" He said as I only nodded.
We saw two figured walking up the stairs and heard Jake whisper "Shhh"
"Hey guys." He smiled, and we stood up. "How was she?"
"Well..." Nathan began and I shook my head.
"Can we just go? I need to sleep." I sighed. "We can see you guys in the morning." Jake frowned, but I just didn't have the stamina to stay up.
"Alright...um...thanks." He frowned, and we walked past them out of the house, and closing the door.
"Why is my guitar out?"
"Nathan..." I sighed, as we sat in his car. He turned to look at me, and I closed my eyes, laid my head back and took a deep breath. "I think we need a masterclass."
"We are going to be fine. I promise"