Chapter 15: Ready for Publishing!
TWO MONTHS LATER!
All seemed to be going way too fast for the Miller's and Seville's. It seemed like yesterday that the Chipmunks and Chipettes just graduated from high school and started their move to college. Finding out about Jeanette's pregnancy had been a total shock, especially to Simon and Jeanette. The big question of all was how they were to handle this situation. For the first few weeks there were a lot of confusion and worry. The though of an abortion was passed on, but instantly was rejected by Jeanette. She just couldn't live with herself if she had to sacrifice a life any reason.
Dave and Miss. Miller sat with Simon and Jeanette and had a long discussion on what they could do next. The next move seemed obvious. It is decided that Simon and Jeanette will get married in order to secure a stable future for the new baby. The wedding will be held as soon as everything is more organized and planned out better. After the marriage, Simon originally wanted to have him and Jeanette move into a small apartment. He wanted to try to be more responsible about this. But Dave and Miss. Miller thought that it might not be a good idea.
The four of them argued long and hard, until finally they all agreed to rebuild Alvin, Simon, and Theodore's old room, and turn it into Simon and Jeanette's suite. It was mainly decided for that room, because it was the only other bedroom that had a bathroom. To make sure they were going to be treated like adults, Simon and Jeanette had Dave charge them rent and half of the bills. Dave then agreed to that.
After a few months past, and the room has now been fully renovated. Simon and Jeanette now officially moved in. The three single beds were replaced by one queen size bed. A spot is left in the corner so they would be ready to put the crib there. They would at least have five more months to prepare for the new arrivals, so there was no major hurry to get the baby stuff in the room.
Simon also went to Nathan and asked him to start giving him full-time hours so he can be able to afford the rent, bills, and all the new baby things. Nathan was more then happy to give Simon more hours, plus more responsibility at the shop that would guaranty him some over-time pay.
Even with more hours at work and dealing with his new responsibilities, Simon still was able to finish his book on the schedule he planned out. Now he has Dave reading through it before he could go over some fine-tuning then to have it published.
The next night Simon comes in late after a long hard day at work. He is grateful to now be home. After he parked the car in the driveway, and walks up to the front door. As soon as he locks the front door, he then goes upstairs. All he wants to do now is to take off his oily blue jump suit and hop in the shower then go straight to bed. Simon lets out a sigh knowing all too well that this is only the beginning of many days like today.
Simon walks in the bedroom he sees Jeanette already in bed reading something. She slowly glances up at him and smiles. He returns a smile back at her and starts to head for the bathroom. Fifteen minutes later Simon finished his shower and comes out looking cleaner then when he did coming home. With only a towel rapped around his waist, Simon heads for the top dresser drawer and opens it. He pulls out a pair of pajama pants and heads back into the bathroom. Simon only has the bathroom door partly closed as he finishes getting himself cleaned up and dressed for bed. Suddenly he stops what he is doing when he hears Jeanette sniffing. It sounded a lot like she's crying. This is puzzling; Simon wasn't too sure why she would be crying. He pokes his head out the door and suspiciously looks at Jeanette. "What's wrong?" He asked.
Jeanette looked up at Simon then lifted Simon's pre-published book. Simon instantly frowned. He had been aware that he only made one printed copy and gave it to Dave to look at. "W-where did you get that?"
"I asked Dave if I could have a look at it. H-he wasn't finished looking at it so I asked if I could get it photo copied. Please don't be mad."
"Well...I was hoping that I could get it published before anyone, besides Dave, reads it."
"I couldn't wait. I'm sorry."
"*Sigh*, fine. So what do you think so far?" Simon shrugged.
"Oh, so far I really like it. Mind you, I'm at a really sad moment right now, but other then that it's really well written." Jeanette says with another sniffle.
Simon walks up to Jeanette and sits down on the bed beside her and places a hand on her lap. "You really think it's good?" He asks.
"Yes I do." Jeanette gives Simon a reassuring smile that made him feel more confident about his book.
Just then they heard someone knocking on their bedroom door. Simon raised an eyebrow and called out, "Who is it?"
"It's me, Alvin!"
"What do you want, Alvin? It's late!" Simon said as he walked up to the door.
"I-I just want to ask you something about this one chapter in your book here."
"Oh?" Simon quickly turned to Jeanette that now was giving off a guilty look. Jeanette quickly looked down on her lap to avoid eye contact. "Is nothing sacred here?" Simon asked her.
"Well, I ran into Alvin on my way to the store to get this photo copied. He found out that I was going to make a copy of your book and asked if I'd make a copy for him too."
In knowing Jeanette all too well, Simon began to shake his head. "As in 'finding out', meaning, you told him about the book...right?"
"I'm sorry." She squeaked.
"Never mind. Don't worry about it." Simon said and rolled his eyes skyward. He then turns towards the door and opens it. "What is your question, Alvin?"
"Oh. I was wondering about this one section of chapter 12... Did you really kiss this 'Mary' person? Or did you make that up?"
"Alvin!?" That question took Simon off guard and at the same time in the back of his mind also knew that this was a typical 'Alvin' question.
"Well did you?"
Simon let out an exasperating sigh, "No Alvin. She kissed me. She did that in order to help me remember what I had to do if things went wrong in her plan...It's too complicated to explain now, you'll have to keep reading in order find out why. Now, good night!"
"Hey wait...?" Alvin calls out as Simon closes the door in his face. "I have one more question.? He tried to say from behind the closed door. "Alvin, no more questions, I want to go to sleep now!" Simon could hear his brother mutter something as he walks back to his room down the hall.
"Maybe I should have left that part out?" Simon whines. Before He could take two steps away from the door another knocking is heard. "Alvin, I said 'goodnight'!" Simon growls.
"Simon? It's me!" Called out Theodore from the other end.
"What is it, Theodore?" Simon asks as he re-opens the door. Theodore looks up at his brother with a quivering lower lip and sad green puppy dog eyes. "Theodore?" Simon asks out of great concern for his younger brother. That's when he noticed, yet, another copy of the book in Theodore's hand. Simon then made a grim face.
"Oh, Simon..." Theodore sniffed. "How could those mean people on the Island do all those bad things to you?"
Simon didn't answer, but turned and glared at Jeanette as if to say 'look at mess you created'. Then he turns back to his chubby little brother. "It's alright Theodore, that happened a long time ago. All those people are dead now." He said trying to reassure Theodore that it will be all right.
"But still." Theodore sniffed. "It was very mean of them to do that to you and the other children on that Island.
"I know, Theodore. But most importantly, I'm still here...right?"
"I guess..."
"Good. Now go to bed. We can talk about this later, ok?"
"Alright."
After Simon closes the bedroom door for the third time he again turns to Jeanette that appears as if she would break out in tears in any second. "Is there anybody else you gave a copy too?" He began to scold.
"Hmmm?" Jeanette thought about her day and what she did. Just then the phone rang. She instantly looked up at Simon with wide eyes. Simon raised his eyebrow then shook his head. "Gee, I wonder who this could be?" He sarcastically asked. Simon walked up to the phone and picked up the receiver, feeling that it would be for him anyway.
"Hello?" Said Simon. He let out a sigh as soon as he heard Brittany's voice asking about the book. "No Brittany, I don't know how Mary and the other's smuggled drugs on the Island." Simon paused for a bit while Brittany asked him another question. "No, that was the one and only time, other the time in San Francisco ...yes! I'm sure! ...Goodnight, Brittany!" Before Brittany could sneak one more question in, Simon hangs up on her.
"I knew this was a mistake." Simon muttered to himself.
"What did you say?" Jeanette asked.
"I said 'writing this book was a mistake'." Simon snapped.
"Why? It's really good!"
"Maybe. But I wanted to wait a bit till the book was fully ready for publishing before anyone else got to read it. I still need to fine tune some sections...It's just not ready to be read yet."
"I'm sorry." Jeanette pouted.
Simon looked up and saw the distressed look on his soon-to-be wife's face and began to feel bad for ever yelling at her. "Awe, Jeanette. It's all right. Don't worry, these things happen. Especially in this house." He finished with a bit of a growl and looking back towards the bedroom door. Thoughts and images of his childhood on how his privacy would always seemed to have been invaded by his siblings. Simon shakes off those memories and walks over to the bed and sits down beside Jeanette. "So, what else did you do today? Besides making copies of my book for everybody to see?"
Simon's question managed to put a small smile on Jeanette's face. "Not much. Just sitting and feeling the baby kick."
"Really? Is it's kicking now?" Simon asked with great interested.
"Well, the baby is dormant now. But earlier it was moving around like it was the Olympics or something." Jeanette giggled.
Simon reached over and started to feel her belly that is now beginning to show a bulge. "You know, when you first told me about this pregnancy I was really scared. But now. Now, I'm really looking forward to being a parent." Simon said with a big grin.
"Yes, me too." Jeanette said. She began to stroke her belly affectionately and looked upon it with loving eyes. Simon admired the look on her face and knew she would be a perfect mother for his child. He then leans over and gives Jeanette a kiss on the cheek.
"What was that for?" Jeanette asked with a smirk.
"Ah, just felt like you needed it." Simon smiled back.
Jeanette places the rest of Simon's pre-published book on the table beside the bed and takes off her glasses. She puts them on top of the book and turns off the light on the table. Simon too takes of his glasses and puts them on the table beside his end of the bed and turns off the light on that table. Both of them then snuggled close for a good night's rest.
TWO MONTHS LATER!
All seemed to be going way too fast for the Miller's and Seville's. It seemed like yesterday that the Chipmunks and Chipettes just graduated from high school and started their move to college. Finding out about Jeanette's pregnancy had been a total shock, especially to Simon and Jeanette. The big question of all was how they were to handle this situation. For the first few weeks there were a lot of confusion and worry. The though of an abortion was passed on, but instantly was rejected by Jeanette. She just couldn't live with herself if she had to sacrifice a life any reason.
Dave and Miss. Miller sat with Simon and Jeanette and had a long discussion on what they could do next. The next move seemed obvious. It is decided that Simon and Jeanette will get married in order to secure a stable future for the new baby. The wedding will be held as soon as everything is more organized and planned out better. After the marriage, Simon originally wanted to have him and Jeanette move into a small apartment. He wanted to try to be more responsible about this. But Dave and Miss. Miller thought that it might not be a good idea.
The four of them argued long and hard, until finally they all agreed to rebuild Alvin, Simon, and Theodore's old room, and turn it into Simon and Jeanette's suite. It was mainly decided for that room, because it was the only other bedroom that had a bathroom. To make sure they were going to be treated like adults, Simon and Jeanette had Dave charge them rent and half of the bills. Dave then agreed to that.
After a few months past, and the room has now been fully renovated. Simon and Jeanette now officially moved in. The three single beds were replaced by one queen size bed. A spot is left in the corner so they would be ready to put the crib there. They would at least have five more months to prepare for the new arrivals, so there was no major hurry to get the baby stuff in the room.
Simon also went to Nathan and asked him to start giving him full-time hours so he can be able to afford the rent, bills, and all the new baby things. Nathan was more then happy to give Simon more hours, plus more responsibility at the shop that would guaranty him some over-time pay.
Even with more hours at work and dealing with his new responsibilities, Simon still was able to finish his book on the schedule he planned out. Now he has Dave reading through it before he could go over some fine-tuning then to have it published.
The next night Simon comes in late after a long hard day at work. He is grateful to now be home. After he parked the car in the driveway, and walks up to the front door. As soon as he locks the front door, he then goes upstairs. All he wants to do now is to take off his oily blue jump suit and hop in the shower then go straight to bed. Simon lets out a sigh knowing all too well that this is only the beginning of many days like today.
Simon walks in the bedroom he sees Jeanette already in bed reading something. She slowly glances up at him and smiles. He returns a smile back at her and starts to head for the bathroom. Fifteen minutes later Simon finished his shower and comes out looking cleaner then when he did coming home. With only a towel rapped around his waist, Simon heads for the top dresser drawer and opens it. He pulls out a pair of pajama pants and heads back into the bathroom. Simon only has the bathroom door partly closed as he finishes getting himself cleaned up and dressed for bed. Suddenly he stops what he is doing when he hears Jeanette sniffing. It sounded a lot like she's crying. This is puzzling; Simon wasn't too sure why she would be crying. He pokes his head out the door and suspiciously looks at Jeanette. "What's wrong?" He asked.
Jeanette looked up at Simon then lifted Simon's pre-published book. Simon instantly frowned. He had been aware that he only made one printed copy and gave it to Dave to look at. "W-where did you get that?"
"I asked Dave if I could have a look at it. H-he wasn't finished looking at it so I asked if I could get it photo copied. Please don't be mad."
"Well...I was hoping that I could get it published before anyone, besides Dave, reads it."
"I couldn't wait. I'm sorry."
"*Sigh*, fine. So what do you think so far?" Simon shrugged.
"Oh, so far I really like it. Mind you, I'm at a really sad moment right now, but other then that it's really well written." Jeanette says with another sniffle.
Simon walks up to Jeanette and sits down on the bed beside her and places a hand on her lap. "You really think it's good?" He asks.
"Yes I do." Jeanette gives Simon a reassuring smile that made him feel more confident about his book.
Just then they heard someone knocking on their bedroom door. Simon raised an eyebrow and called out, "Who is it?"
"It's me, Alvin!"
"What do you want, Alvin? It's late!" Simon said as he walked up to the door.
"I-I just want to ask you something about this one chapter in your book here."
"Oh?" Simon quickly turned to Jeanette that now was giving off a guilty look. Jeanette quickly looked down on her lap to avoid eye contact. "Is nothing sacred here?" Simon asked her.
"Well, I ran into Alvin on my way to the store to get this photo copied. He found out that I was going to make a copy of your book and asked if I'd make a copy for him too."
In knowing Jeanette all too well, Simon began to shake his head. "As in 'finding out', meaning, you told him about the book...right?"
"I'm sorry." She squeaked.
"Never mind. Don't worry about it." Simon said and rolled his eyes skyward. He then turns towards the door and opens it. "What is your question, Alvin?"
"Oh. I was wondering about this one section of chapter 12... Did you really kiss this 'Mary' person? Or did you make that up?"
"Alvin!?" That question took Simon off guard and at the same time in the back of his mind also knew that this was a typical 'Alvin' question.
"Well did you?"
Simon let out an exasperating sigh, "No Alvin. She kissed me. She did that in order to help me remember what I had to do if things went wrong in her plan...It's too complicated to explain now, you'll have to keep reading in order find out why. Now, good night!"
"Hey wait...?" Alvin calls out as Simon closes the door in his face. "I have one more question.? He tried to say from behind the closed door. "Alvin, no more questions, I want to go to sleep now!" Simon could hear his brother mutter something as he walks back to his room down the hall.
"Maybe I should have left that part out?" Simon whines. Before He could take two steps away from the door another knocking is heard. "Alvin, I said 'goodnight'!" Simon growls.
"Simon? It's me!" Called out Theodore from the other end.
"What is it, Theodore?" Simon asks as he re-opens the door. Theodore looks up at his brother with a quivering lower lip and sad green puppy dog eyes. "Theodore?" Simon asks out of great concern for his younger brother. That's when he noticed, yet, another copy of the book in Theodore's hand. Simon then made a grim face.
"Oh, Simon..." Theodore sniffed. "How could those mean people on the Island do all those bad things to you?"
Simon didn't answer, but turned and glared at Jeanette as if to say 'look at mess you created'. Then he turns back to his chubby little brother. "It's alright Theodore, that happened a long time ago. All those people are dead now." He said trying to reassure Theodore that it will be all right.
"But still." Theodore sniffed. "It was very mean of them to do that to you and the other children on that Island.
"I know, Theodore. But most importantly, I'm still here...right?"
"I guess..."
"Good. Now go to bed. We can talk about this later, ok?"
"Alright."
After Simon closes the bedroom door for the third time he again turns to Jeanette that appears as if she would break out in tears in any second. "Is there anybody else you gave a copy too?" He began to scold.
"Hmmm?" Jeanette thought about her day and what she did. Just then the phone rang. She instantly looked up at Simon with wide eyes. Simon raised his eyebrow then shook his head. "Gee, I wonder who this could be?" He sarcastically asked. Simon walked up to the phone and picked up the receiver, feeling that it would be for him anyway.
"Hello?" Said Simon. He let out a sigh as soon as he heard Brittany's voice asking about the book. "No Brittany, I don't know how Mary and the other's smuggled drugs on the Island." Simon paused for a bit while Brittany asked him another question. "No, that was the one and only time, other the time in San Francisco ...yes! I'm sure! ...Goodnight, Brittany!" Before Brittany could sneak one more question in, Simon hangs up on her.
"I knew this was a mistake." Simon muttered to himself.
"What did you say?" Jeanette asked.
"I said 'writing this book was a mistake'." Simon snapped.
"Why? It's really good!"
"Maybe. But I wanted to wait a bit till the book was fully ready for publishing before anyone else got to read it. I still need to fine tune some sections...It's just not ready to be read yet."
"I'm sorry." Jeanette pouted.
Simon looked up and saw the distressed look on his soon-to-be wife's face and began to feel bad for ever yelling at her. "Awe, Jeanette. It's all right. Don't worry, these things happen. Especially in this house." He finished with a bit of a growl and looking back towards the bedroom door. Thoughts and images of his childhood on how his privacy would always seemed to have been invaded by his siblings. Simon shakes off those memories and walks over to the bed and sits down beside Jeanette. "So, what else did you do today? Besides making copies of my book for everybody to see?"
Simon's question managed to put a small smile on Jeanette's face. "Not much. Just sitting and feeling the baby kick."
"Really? Is it's kicking now?" Simon asked with great interested.
"Well, the baby is dormant now. But earlier it was moving around like it was the Olympics or something." Jeanette giggled.
Simon reached over and started to feel her belly that is now beginning to show a bulge. "You know, when you first told me about this pregnancy I was really scared. But now. Now, I'm really looking forward to being a parent." Simon said with a big grin.
"Yes, me too." Jeanette said. She began to stroke her belly affectionately and looked upon it with loving eyes. Simon admired the look on her face and knew she would be a perfect mother for his child. He then leans over and gives Jeanette a kiss on the cheek.
"What was that for?" Jeanette asked with a smirk.
"Ah, just felt like you needed it." Simon smiled back.
Jeanette places the rest of Simon's pre-published book on the table beside the bed and takes off her glasses. She puts them on top of the book and turns off the light on the table. Simon too takes of his glasses and puts them on the table beside his end of the bed and turns off the light on that table. Both of them then snuggled close for a good night's rest.