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Cecilia knocked on the door to Wilson's apartment. The building seemed nice enough- not too chic and not too shabby. And the few people that she had passed were as cordial as Wilson had been to her when they had first met. She was definitely living in the wrong spot in Buffalo.
A few moments later the white wooden door opened to reveal a well pulled together Wilson wearing a black knit sweater and casual jeans. With the dark color of his hair and shirt, his eyes really stood out. Even though they were an average shad of light brown, Cecilia felt as if she could get lost in them forever. She had never seen a man who looked like the way he did to her before. This guy was nothing short of gorgeous.
"Hi," he said smiling and moved out of the doorway so that she could enter. She noticed the big space he left for her and slightly took offense to that, until she remembered how truly huge she had gotten.
Wilson offered to take her jacket from her and reluctantly she took off the garment. She could no longer hide her stomach beneath her navy blue down parka- a coat that could easily house four small homeless children if need be.
Cecilia took a look around the place. Toys were strewn all over the apartment, but neatly tucked away into their appropriate bins and baskets. At least she knew he wasn't lying when he said he had an eight year old.
They made their way over to the one table in the apartment and sat on opposite sides, facing one another. They both smiled a little, not really knowing what to say.
Being the older one and the man of the two, Wilson decided to start up a conversation. "So…" However, he had nothing. He really knew nothing about Cecilia. Sure, there was plenty he wanted to know, but now was not the time to ask those sorts of questions.
"You said you had a son, right?" Cecilia said.
"Yup. My landlady is watching him for me. She's really the nicest lady you could ever meet and truthfully I rely on her too much. But it's hard when I don't have any family around and I want my independence."
"I don't have any family here, either. I wish I did…but I don't."
This struck Wilson as being odd. "So, you're eighteen and your living in a town with no family. Why Buffalo?"
Cecilia looked down at her hands. "I wasn't quite…welcome at home anymore. I got offered to move in with someone here, and I didn't know them all that well but I didn't have any other choices. Some days I regret coming here, others I don't."
"Where are you from originally?"
"California."
"Oh really? I used to live there." And that was as far as it went. "Six years I've been here though. Not here in this apartment, but here in Buffalo."
"I could never live here for that long," she said. "I came from barely having winters to this; it's too much for me. First chance I get I'm going somewhere warm."
"The weather is a challenge, but it can be good for some people. It builds character."
She smiled. "Maybe. Sometimes I think that if I see one more snowflake I'm walking back home, whether they want me or not."
He laughed at her. "Things aren't better for you here than they are back at your home?" This aspect of her really intrigued Wilson.
"No, no, they are. But I don't really know the people I am staying with, and most of the time they either act like they don't want me around or they won't leave me alone. It's really stressful."
"You shouldn't be under any undue stress." As soon as he said that Wilson blushed. "I mean…you're pregnant and all. That's not good for you and the baby."
His protectiveness struck a chord with Cecilia. She wondered why he was so concerned for her, especially since they barely knew each other. There had to be a reason. "What, do you know from experience or something?"
"Yeah sort of." Wilson grew silent and she waited for him to say something else. "My-my wife, my son's mother, she was under a lot of stress when she was pregnant. She was in the hospital all the time because of that, probably about a third of the time she was pregnant was spent there."
Cecilia was shocked. "So you're married?"
He shook his head and tears filled his eyes without consent. "Widowed. She died during childbirth. Her high stress level caused her to have high blood pressure, which really didn't help the hemorrhage that killed her any." Wilson rubbed his eyes a little and Cecilia sat with her mouth wide open. "But that was a long, long time ago."
"I'm so sorry Wilson. I didn't mean to bring that up. I feel terrible."
"Don't," he said firmly but agreeably. "I didn't have to tell you if I didn't want to." She nodded. "But, since you know my life story now…" His voice trailed off.
"Ah, you would like to know about me." He nodded sheepishly. This was one way to get information. "Well...it's a long story."
Wilson smiled sympathetically. "I know. That's what you told me before. I'd still really like to hear it, though, if you wouldn't mind."
Cecilia really didn't want to tell him, but since he had just divulged so much to her in such a short amount of time- before they even really got to know each other, she felt bad to keep it from him. Besides, not telling him felt as if she was lying by omission. "Junior year of high school, two years ago, I had this boyfriend. Things were...really intense. We, we almost slept together then, but we didn't. We broke up to try and keep from doing something stupid, and got back together, and everything was always this whole big ordeal with him. Then he, um, had something really terrible happen to him and felt like he had to leave town. So he went to college early and left me senior year. He came back for this summer, this past summer...and I had just broken up with my boyfriend I had that year, and it was so nice to see him and everything. He really comforted me. But he was older now, much more mature, and when things got intense again we couldn't stop ourselves. It didn't feel so wrong anymore since we were so old now. But we were wrong. I was only seventeen...I was still a child." She paused to close her eyes, battling tears. "I told him I was pregnant, and his family, and my family, and they all just decided without me that the best thing to do would be for me to leave town. His grandparents were visiting when I told him, and they said that since everyone was being so heartless to me I could go and move in with them. They had an extra room. So- so I did, and now I'm here."
Wilson reached for her hand and squeezed it, trying to prevent her from sobbing. "I was only fifteen."
"If I wish I could go back- go back and be stronger. Tell him that I wanted to wait."
"I used to think that a lot. Think that if I could do it over everything would be better. It's...it's not like that anymore. My son changed all of that." Cecilia looked so forlorn and young in front of Wilson. It broke his heart.
"I'm…I'm having a girl."
"How far along are you?"
"Six months." He looked at her as if she were lying. "I know, everyone thinks I'm due any day now. Even an obstetrician that I know thought I was at least eight months. I'm huge and I hate it. It makes me so self conscious."
"You have nothing to be self conscious of. You're beautiful."
Cecilia blushed. She could barely remember the last time someone had called her beautiful- it was a memory she was long trying to forget. Nothing was making sense anymore. This guy, man- Wilson, was so much older than her. But she couldn't ignore the way she was feeling. He made her feel scared and unafraid all at once. In short, he was beyond special. Cecilia could feel it in her bones. No way was she going to let the best ting in all of Buffalo slip away from her.
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A/N: I don't even remember what happened in this chapter. I wrote it right after Memorial weekend. The first date, right? Ah yes, now I remember. This chapter was OK. It was all just pre-stuff for the bulk of the story (a.k.a. what I really want to write.) I think this is the last chapter until I start getting into the meat of this stuff.
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Reviews will motivate me to keep working on the half-written fourth chapter.
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