Chapter 9: Through the Looking Glass

Sean's POV

"Hey sweetie!" I called out when I heard Ellie come through the door. I glanced at the clock and saw that she was home an hour later than she said she would be. "Where've you been?"

Ellie stumbled into the living room area with a huge bag in her hands. I darted off the couch to grab the bag just as it was about to fall out of her hands. "Thank, Sean."

"What's this?" I peered into the bag and saw, no kidding, probably a hundred DVDs. "Are you serious?"

Ellie grinned sheepishly, "I couldn't help it. You know how I get in these moods and I just have to go buy something."

"Next time, buy one dvd. Not the entire store. Okay, what do we have here?" I rubbed my hands together and started pulling all of the movies out one by one. "Mary Poppins... The Little Mermaid... Hercules... Mulan... Sleeping Beauty? Uh... Ellie?"

She sighed and kneeled in front of me. "I know, I know. You probably want to throw up looking at all these Disney movies, but I love them, okay? And, they'll be great for the baby!"

"Did you get anything that has a higher rating than G?"

"Oh, hush. I sure did. Look at the bottom of the bag."

I took out all of the Disney movies and threw them to one side of the coffee table. Alright. Here we go. "Troy... the Seinfeld DVDS!... Ocean's Eleven... Garden State... Can I say how happy I am that you got actual movies that I like?"

She laughed and headed into the kitchen shaking her head. "Do you want a drink? Or a snack? Or how about a hint on what I want for my birthday?"

I groaned and scratched the top of my head before sneaking a peak at her. Just as I expected, she was standing in the doorway, hands on hips, and a scowl on her face. "Okay, so I choked. We've been so busy lately, I haven't had time to think of what to get you for your birthday."

"Well, you better find out soon. It's only a few days away."

"I know this. Believe me."

She went back to cleaning up around the apartment. "I can't believe this... We've had sex, we're living together, and we're having a baby, and you don't know what to get me for my birthday? Lame!"

"I know! I'm not trying to justify it. Forgive me?"

"It's not like I'm pissed, Sean. You don't need me to forgive you. I'm just a little disappointed and I may drag this out and make you feel guilty for a long time. But I'm really not angry with you."

"Please don't put a guilt-trip on me. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's your guilt-trips."

"Are they that bad?"

"Brutal even," I remarked, borrowing a little of her vocabulary.

Ellie could tell I was slightly mocking her and gave me a mock glare. I got up from the couch and wrapped my arms around her as she folded some laundry on the kitchen table. "Mmm, you don't have to do that."

"Why, are you going to do it?" she responded sarcastically.

"Hey, I help out around here..." I knew that wasn't true, but I would seriously make the attempt to change that.

"Okay, then help me fold these clothes. Some of them are yours, you know."

She threw a pile of clothes over on my side of the table and went back to working. I watched as she briskly folded a t-shirt, then a pair of my jeans, and then she held up some boxers. "Oh, so cute."

I blushed because they were my Spiderman boxers. Tracker gave them to me as a joke last year... Hey, boxers are boxers. As revenge, I sifted threw my pile of clothes before I spotted a pair of Ellie's underwear. I held them up and adopted her same tone. "Oh, so... wow..." I took a better look and grinned at the sexy, see-through boy shorts in front of me. Very, very short boy shorts.

Ellie raised an eyebrow and grabbed them from my hands, quickly folding them up and placing them back on the table. I looked at her and grinned. She met my eyes and cocked her head. "I'm wearing the red pair right now..."

We stared at each other across the table before both throwing ourselves across the table at each other. Needless to say, we toppled the table over. We landed in a heap on the floor, but didn't care. I just kept kissing her and she kept running her hands through my hair, tugging at it every now and then. Just for this, Ellie is going to be getting an extra good birthday present.

Ellie's POV

"Sean!" I yelled for the third time through the apartment. Seriously, was that boy hard of hearing or something?

"What?!" Sean strolled in from the bedroom with a totally annoyed look on his face.

"Don't act like that. Come look at these paint colors." I held up a few samples of paint I had my mom pick up from the home store. "What do you think of one of these for the nursery"

Sean sighed and scratched his neck, "I think... that whatever you pick out will look perfect."

"Sean!"

"What? Isn't that what I was supposed to say?"

"No."

I shook the paint swatches in front of his face and he grabbed them to look at them more closely. After a few minutes of critiquing each color he finally held up a dark green one. "I like this one."

"Well, I hate that one!" I gave out a frustrated groan and snatched the paint swatch from his hand and started to tear it up.

"Hey! I thought you wanted my opinion."

I shrugged and crossed my arms. "Not anymore. Not if you're going to give bad opinions. Okay, I'll tell you what my mom and I decided on the phone earlier." I picked up a swatch that was a light khaki color and then another that was a deep red. "See these together? They look great. We were thinking to paint the walls the khaki and then accent with the red. And then, when the baby comes and we know what sex it is, we'll use either a light blue or a light pink to accent. Doesn't that sound great?" I couldn't help it, but I squealed.

I know, I know... everything seems to be going just too perfect. It shouldn't be like this. Sean and I are still in high school, we're not even married, and we're supposed to be nervous wrecks. But seriously, what good will worrying and stressing out about our situation do? There's nothing we can do about it now. Well, there is something we could do about it, but we're not going to. So we have to be strong and make the best of it. How else are we supposed to be happy?

Sean sat down in the chair next to me and leaned over the baby magazine I was looking at. "I like it," he remarked.

"Like what?" I turned the page in the magazine and smiled at all the different cribs I saw.

"The color scheme."

I smiled at him and wrapped my hands around his. "I'm glad. I want your opinion on everything."

"But what if my opinion is stupid?"

I blushed and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. "I was just kidding."

"Sure..."

He kissed me on the nose and I scooted my chair closer to his. "Now, about these cribs. I really like this one over here because..."

Emma's POV

I walked out of the store and wrapped my hand around my mom's arm. "That scarf looked great on you, mom."

"Yeah, but could I ever afford it?" She laughed and I did the same. I love going shopping with my mom and going into all the expensive stores. Places we could never afford to buy anything from. Maybe I could save up my money, though, and buy the scarf for my mom. She really looked great in it.

I lifted my head and looked around the boulevard. My mom and I had discovered this little shopping district just a few weeks ago when we had gotten lost coming back from a Farmer's Market. It was probably an hour from Degrassi, but it seemed worlds away. Name brands such as Gucci and Besty Johnson screamed out at me, but there were also some great antique stores and vintage shops. Very expensive, but very great.

All of a sudden something caught my eye. I never thought I'd see this: Sean and Jay were walking straight towards me. They looked completely out of place in their sweatshirts and worn jeans. I straightened up a bit and let go of my mom's arm. She noticed the change and followed my eyes.

"Well, there's Sean! Who's that kid with him?"

"Jay Hogart. One of his friends. Total bad-as... apple. Bad apple."

"Aren't you going to say hi?"

"Yeah, I'll be right back." I walked towards the two just as they looked into a window, putting their faces against the glass and getting a total dirty look from one of the ladies inside. They started laughing hysterically and I rolled my eyes at their immature behavior. Walking in this district takes a little class. Oh God... I sound so pretentious... "Hey guys!" I called out.

Jay and Sean whipped around and looked at me surprised. "Hey Emma," Sean responded. He gestured towards my bag. "You're shopping here?"

I looked at the bag and lifted it up in front of me. "Just a pair of earrings. That were on clearance. At the cheapest store we could find here."

They both nodded and I clasped my hands in front of me. "So what are you two doing here?"

"Shopping for Sean's ball and chain," Jay piped up.

Sean elbowed him in the ribs and looked back at me. "It's Ellie's birthday coming up. You should come to the party we're having. It's at Jimmy's this Saturday."

"Well..." Would it be awkward if I was there? I know Ellie and I had gotten along better when she babysat Jack, but did that make us friends or just tolerant of each other?

"Oh whatever. Cause-girl would never come to a real party. She'd be too afraid that a beer might spill on her."

I clinched my fists at Jay's words and bit my lip. What's the worst that could happen? I could have a bad time. But maybe I'd have a good time. Especially if... "Can Manny come, too?"

"Sure. Jimmy's, Saturday at 9. We're just here to pick up a present for Ellie. Any ideas?"

I gave Sean a weird look and threw my hands up, "How would I know?"

"Yeah, you wouldn't. Never mind. I'm just completely lost at what to get her."

Jay crossed his arms, "Yeah, we've been to like every store on this street. Everything is way too expensive or... way too expensive." Jay looked baffled by what he just said and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Okay, well, I don't have any ideas, but I'm sure she'll like whatever you get her. So, I'll see you on Saturday?"

"Yeah, bye."

I walked back towards my mom and flipped my hair over my shoulder. Wait until I told Manny that we were going to a party. One where there was most likely going to be drinking and other stuff going on. We were going to have way too much fun.

Sean's POV

"No, I don't think she'd like that."

"No, it looks too... I don't know..."

"No, she's not a fan of gold jewelry."

Everything Jay held up for me was so wrong for Ellie. This was the last store and I still hadn't found anything to get Ellie for her birthday. I glanced at my watch and saw that it was already getting close to seven. Ellie would be suspicious if I didn't come home until nine.

"Well, what about this?"

Jay held something up, but I was too busy looking at the antique jewelry. Maybe Ellie would like a brooch? I don't know... Suddenly I heard a song playing and my head snapped up. "What is that?"

Jay shrugged. "It's that damn music box I held up before. The one you wouldn't look at? It won't shut up now."

"It's perfect. Ellie loves that song!" I picked the jewelry box back up and held it in my hands carefully.

It was perfect. It was a dark wood accented with a lot of gold and colored designs. When I opened the lid up, the baroque figures behind the glass front started to dance. The inside was covered with a deep red silk. I smiled at the song it played.

FLASHBACK

"What are you playing?" I sat next to Ellie at the piano and pressed a key.

Ellie stopped playing and put her hands in her lap. "Canon in D. Pachebel. Do you know it?"

"Nope."

"It's one of my favorites. It's beautiful."

"I think you're beautiful."

"I think you're cheesy."

I chuckled and kissed her on a cheek. "Why weren't you at lunch?"

"I just wanted to play longer, I guess."

She started to play again and this time I watched her. She really was good. Her fingers glided across the keys and she made it look completely effortless. When she finished the piece I kissed her again on the lips. She pulled away and looked in my eyes before pulling me in for a deeper kiss.

After a few moments we parted breathlessly. She smiled and started playing the piano again. A different song this time. I glanced around the small practice room and my eyes fell on a book.

"What's this?" I picked the book up and waved it in front of her face.

She kept playing but looked over at what I was holding up. "Through The Looking Glass."

"What's it about?"

"Alice in Wonderland."

"Alice and what?"

"Alice in Wonderland. You know, like the Disney movie?"

"Oh, okay."

"It's one of my favorites. I've probably read it twenty times now."

"Ellie? What's wrong?"

"It's gone!"

"What's gone?" She sounded completely upset and I held out my arms for her.

She stepped forward and I enveloped her in a hug. "Alice... Through the Looking Glass... My mom fucking gave my book away for a raffle."

"Why would someone buy it from a raffle?"

"It was an antique copy, okay! God!" She pushed herself away from me and started walking towards the bedroom.

"Where are you going? It's just a book."

"Shut up, Sean! It's not just a book. My great-grandpa gave that to me and it meant a lot to me."

She slammed the door.

END OF FLASHBACK

I took the music box up to the cashier and paid for it. God, it was expensive. I looked at my wallet and noticed I had just enough money left from my three paychecks to buy her something else. And I knew exactly what to get her.