Chapter 27
Elena
We've seen two condos so far, but neither were up to Damon's standards. I thought they were great in my opinion but no…not to him. Not good enough.
We are walking to the third condo. "Maybe 3rd times the charm." Lily says enthusiastically.
"I just don't get what was wrong with the first 2." I complain.
Damon pulls me into his side; "the layout was all wrong and the second bedroom was too small."
"We don't even need that big of a second bedroom. It's just going to be used as an office." I say looking up at him.
We make it to the 3rd building and he pulls me around to stand in front of him. He looks down at me; scraping his teeth over his bottom lip. "Is that what you want it for?"
I shrug. "Yeah…." I answer unsure of what he's saying.
He looks behind me to and I follow his gaze. Mom, Emma, Lily and James (our realtor) are standing there. Obviously pretending not to be listening.
He leans down, lips grazing my ear as he speaks; "we will be living in our place for at least the next 4 years."
I nod against his cheek. "I know. And?"
He shakes his head and laughs sarcastically pulling back.
I stomp place my hands on my hips. "I'm not a mind reader Damon. I don't understand what you're saying."
He bites on his bottom lip and runs his hand through his hair. He grips his hair. "Four years. At least for four years Lena."
Four years. Yeah, I got that. I don't get why he's making a big deal out of a small second bedroom and what it has to do with four years. Unless…oh. "Ohhhh. I get it now."
"Yeah?" he asks unbelieving.
I hug him around his waist and kiss his jaw. "For our baby."
"For your what?" Mom questions.
"Oh my god. Really?" Lily questions happily. What the hell?
I quickly shake my head. "I'm not pregnant. I promise."
"Yet." Damon whispers. I glare at him, but it turns into a grin.
"Right. Yet." I add looking back at Mom and Lily.
"Thank god. I almost had a hard attack. I mean you're still in high school;" Mom says with a phew motion.
"Okay. Ready to look at this one?" he asks me.
"You want to have my baby." I whisper still grinning.
He rolls his eyes and laughs. "Correction. Babies. Now let's go."
We walk into the light-colored brick building, the doorman greeting us. Introducing himself to him as James. We follow him to the elevator. "Now this building has laundry, storage and a building accessible garage."
He puts a key in the lock on the elevator; pressing a button for PH. My eyes flick over to Damon. He is stand nonchalantly while holding my hand.
The elevator doors open, and we step into the living room. From the living room you can see all the way to the kitchen. A few post beams in place.
James smiles walking around. "This is a 2-bedroom 2 bath home, 1200 square feet and a list price of 1.575. These are newly installed wide Brazilian teak hardwood floors. A renovated kitchen with granite countertops, maple cabinets, stainless appliances, stone floors and custom lightning."
We follow him to the first open door down the hall. "The bathrooms are both marble. The master bath has a soaking tub and this bathroom has large walk in shower. Brand new Kohler fixtures."
Damon hums. "Nice."
We enter the spare bedroom. It is larger than what we've already seen. The hardwood floor flowing throughout. We look at the master and I gasp. "Oh my" I say admiring the built-in shelving.
"Hey Lena," Damon says and I follow him. A huge walk in closet with the complete organization system.
"Wow." I whisper looking opening drawers.
Damon stands behind me. Arms wrapping around my middle. Resting his chin on my shoulder; "So, what do you think?"
"It is amazing." I tell him as I turn around to face him. He nods and leans down to kiss me. I push into him as he swipes his tongue over my bottom lip. His hands move down and he rubs my ass. I moan and he slips his tongue in my mouth; slowly massaging mine with his.
"God." he groans pulling away. I place a kiss on his neck. "I love you Lena."
I smile up at him. "And I love you."
He chuckles and pulls me out of the closet by my hand. He walks over to James. "I want to place an offer. 1.5 cash deposit."
I squeal and jump into his Damons arms. He laughs at my antics.
"Follow me and I'll bring you to the office. I'm sure the building owner would be more than happy to accept."
I grin and mom, Emma and Lily. We follow James onto the elevator.
Our offer for the condo was accepted after less than 10 minutes in the office. We walk out of our brand-new building and I'm on cloud 9.
I tap on Emma's shoulder and hold out my hand. She shakes her head but takes my hand. I grin; "ready."
She laughs, "set."
Emma and I look back at our mom. She laughs and yells; "GO!"
Emma and I skip down the sidewalk ahead of everyone else. Both of us laugh as we spin around in circles. We skip back to mom and skip in a circle around her.
Mom, Damon and Lily are laughing at our antics. We freeze in front of them and I dip Emma at the waist. Emma then dips me. We flip our hands upright and jerkily fix our posture to pretend we're doing a formal dance.
I wiggle my butt, then stand still. Emma mimics me. I dramatically flip my head back. Emma once again mimicking me. I push my chest out, her doing the same and we do a poor imitation of the waltz around the three of them.
We get back in front of them and I bow placing a kiss on the back of Emma's hand. She gasps; hand in front of her mouth and flutters her eyes dramatically. We turn back towards mom, Damon and Lily. Grinning like the fools that we are and blow them all a kiss. Mom claps her hands laughing and we theatrically bow for them.
Damon and Lily are both laughing at us. He rolls his eyes and shakes his head.
Lily is wiping tears off her face; "oh god that was great. Happy dance?"
I nod, "happy dance!"
Damon chuckles, wrapping his arms around my waist. He hugs me hard and picks me up tipping himself backwards some. "God you're too cute."
I laugh into his chest when he puts me down. I wrap my arm around him and shrug; "we were weird kids. Horsed around a lot."
We all squeeze in and taxi over to 5th Avenue. Damon asked the driver to head to Cartier. After a 20-minute ride we pull up down the street from the jewelry store. We walk the rest of the way.
An older man walks up to us when we enter. "Can I help you find something today?"
"Yes actually. We're looking for our wedding bands," says Damon smiling down at me.
"Do you have any preferences?" he asks us.
"I want a matching set." I tell Damon.
He nods, leaning down and kissing the corner of my mouth. "Make sure it goes with your ring too."
I show the store associate my ring and he smiles. "That's a beautiful ring. Right this way and I'll show you our platinum collection."
We follow him over to a glass case. I bite my bottom lip and look at the rings. "Anything here can be sized or inscribed." He tells us.
"Emma don't touch." mom lectures my sister.
"Don't breathe" I whisper looking at some of the prices.
"Hey," Damon says hooking his finger under my chin, so I look at him. "Stop worrying about the cost. This is important Lena."
I nod and he kisses my lips gently.
"Can we see that one first?" I ask the associate.
He nods, "ah yes. That's our 1895 classic. It is a his and hers band." he tells us as he hands the ring to Damon.
Damon holds it between his finger and thumb. He tilts his head and looks at me. "You want to get this one?"
Nodding my head, "yeah I love it."
He smiles at me and looks back at the associate. "Okay. I will get two of these then. I need a size 5 for her and a 10 for myself. I also want them both engraved."
The associate takes out a pad of paper and pen. He hands it to Damon. "If you will just fill this section out. We will have the rings engraved for you. You can pick them up or have them shipped."
He fills out the paperwork and writes down 'you're my forever' to be engraved. I bump his hip with mine when he puts down the pen. He gives me an Eskimo kiss and I wrinkle my nose.
"What did you put to have engraved?" Lily asks him.
He narrows his eyes at her and pretends to zip his lips.
She huffs at him; "oh come on. Please."
He rolls his eyes, muttering; "don't make fun of me."
Mom and Lily both nod, agreeing with him.
He lowers his voice; "you're my forever."
"Awwwwww" they say in unison.
I laugh at them. "It's our thing."
We follow the associate over to the register. "Your total today is $3,348.00."
I cringe. Damon pulls his card out of his wallet and hands it to him. He swipes the card and Damon signs on the screen.
The associate hands him the receipt; "Have a wonderful evening. Thank you for shopping at Cartier."
We got back from NYC two weeks ago. It's Saturday and I'm headed to the spa. Mom, Emma, Lily, Bonnie, Caroline and V are all going as well.
I walk into the Southern Spa and put my name down on the sign in sheet. I go over and sit next to my girlfriends. "So, who's excited?"
"Me for sure. I desperately need a facial." Bonnie says placing a magazine down.
"Yeah. I am getting a facial, haircut and waxing session." I tell them as I accept an offered lemon water.
"Wax?" Mom asks sitting in the chair next to me.
"Yeah. Brows, legs and Brazilian." I tell her taking a sip of my water.
"What's a Brazilian?" she asks unsure.
Emma snorts. "Even I know what that is."
I grip my stomach laughing.
"A Brazilian is when they wax you bare down…." Lily says trailing off; pointing between her legs.
"Ohhhh" Mom says. "Wait…owwww."
I laugh harder. "Oh god. Mommmmm."
"But why would you do that? Isn't is painful?" she questions through a cringe.
"The first strip is always the worst. Afterwards you just kind of go numb." Caroline tells her with a shrug.
"Beauty is pain. Pain is beauty." Rebekah says and we all agree.
"But why though?" Mom questions a second time.
I look away from her. My cheeks are fucking hot.
"Because Damon likes it." Lily says pointedly.
"Damon…" Mom trails off, shouting; "oh god. I could have lived without knowing that!"
I roll my eyes. "For the record. This is only my second time ever getting a Brazilian. Before I shaved."
Mom makes a disgusted face. "Next subject please."
I'm sitting in the chair getting my hair styled after having the dead ends removed. Less than an inch one cut off. The hairstylist applies a hair moisturizer. I sit under the hair dryer and wait.
"Oh god that was great." Lily sighs sitting next to me.
"Let me guess. Massage?" I ask laughing.
She smiles at me, "oh yeah. I really needed that."
I smile back at her and shake my hair under the hair dryer. "Feels lighter already."
"It looks really good too." She says. "Are you excited for everything coming up?"
I sigh; "yeah. I don't know what I'm looking forward to more. Maybe the wedding."
She taps her nails on the chair arm; "yeah it's going to be great. Damon is excited."
I bite my lip; "he's amazing. You did a great job with him."
Lily fans her face; "oh god don't make me cry."
"I'm serious. He is too good to me. He's my best friend."
The stylist tells me I'm all done and pushes up the hair dryer. "Thank you so much. I love it." I tell her.
"You're welcome" she said to me.
Lily stands next to me and I hug her. "Thank you for everything."
She hugs me tighter, "just be good to each other."
I nod and wipe my eyes. She taps my hand and we laugh. Mom walks out and she's walking crooked. I tilt my head and raise a brow.
Mom puts her hand up signaling a stop; "don't. I'm not in the mood."
"What did I do?" I ask her.
She wiggles her hips; "you're a liar. I didn't raise liars."
Huh? Why am I a liar? Oh. My. God. I laugh hysterically choking out; "you didn't!"
She growls, "Elena."
Lily and I are laughing hard now. I'm bend over holding between my legs; "oh my god. I'm going to pee my pants!"
Mom laughs with us. "I was trying to surprise your father."
"No. Don't say anything more. I don't want to hear it." I say plugging my ears. Yuck.
I'm lying on my bed the next morning, looking over wedding decorations on my iPad. The reminder alarm for my phone goes off and I look at the screen. It's the day I change out my NuvaRing. I grab a new one from my side table draw and head into the bathroom.
I pull off my clothes to shower after changing it. I start the shower and hook my finger inside of me to pull the ring. I bite my lip as I swipe my finger around. I can't find it. Okay no reason to freak out. Maybe it just fell out.
I shower quickly and go back to my iPad. I Google NuvaRing falling out. There is plenty of evidence there that it does in fact happen. A lot. Oh shit.
"Mom!" I yell sitting up on my bed. "Mommy!" I yell even louder.
She comes running into my room, breathing hard. She looks at me and frowns; "oh baby girl what's wrong?"
I shake my head as she sits by me to wipe the tears off my face. I hand her my iPad.
She nods slowly; "okay so…." she trails off. I choke on a sob and she nods even slower. Then shaking her head; "so it fell out?"
I whisper; "yes it fell out."
She places the iPad back down, "and you don't know when it fell out. Right?"
I shake my head.
Mom stands up and claps her hands. "Okay. It's not the end of the world. Accidents happen and there's plenty you can do."
I follow her to stand, "no. Absolutely not."
She hugs me and whispers; "I wasn't suggesting what you're thinking."
I hug her tight. I know Damon wants kids eventually but not now.
Mom rubs my back, "so here's what we're going to do. We will go to the clinic and I will draw your blood for a pregnancy test. If you are pregnant then we'll schedule you an appointment with your gynecologist."
I nod my head. Unable to form words right now. I thought for sure I was being safe. I fucked up.
As if mom hears my thoughts, "it's not your fault and it's not his. Things happen when you have sex."
I groan as she releases me. I go to my dresser and grab a pair of leggings and my dad's old army shirt. I throw on my clothes and meet mom downstairs.
I sit in the passenger seat of mom's car, Emma in the back as we drive to the clinic. I pull out my phone and look at mom as we pull into a parking spot, "should I let Damon know?"
Mom hums as we get out of the car. "Let's find out if there's anything to know first. Then you should call him either way."
I nod, Emma holds my hand as we walk into the clinic.
Mom draws my blood and tells me she will be back. After about a 15 minute wait my mom walks back into the room. I can't tell what she's thinking. Her face is a mask of no emotion.
Mom sits down in the chair and takes my hand. I shake my head no, my vision blurring again.
Mom hugs me and whispers; "you two will be just fine Lena. You will get through this together. He loves you."
"Mom" a tear slips down my cheek as I bite my bottom lip.
"You are. The test showed your about 5 weeks now." she says quietly and Emma gasps.
I nod my head twice. "Okay."
I clear my throat and sit up straighter. "Daddy's going to kill him."
Mom and Emma choke out a laugh as I unlock my phone to call Damon.