Disclaimer: Nope, not mine.
Maxoline: And the Dinner Date
"Max, would you come out already?"
"Would you hold on?!" Max exclaims from the bathroom. "I'm having a little trouble fitting ma girls into this dress."
Caroline smiles as she rests her hand on her belly. She couldn't wait to find out what they were having. Even though she was exhausted from all the kicking keeping her up, she was still very excited about finally getting to go on a date night.
Max walks out a minute later looking absolutely gorgeous in her dark red cocktail dress. It was plain and flowy yet still managed to hug her curves in all the right places. The thin spaghetti straps somehow held in her massive cleavage that Caroline couldn't take her eyes off of.
"Caroline, you should probably have dinner first before worrying about dessert." Caroline blushes. "Ready to go?"
"Yeah," she smiles.
Max opens the door for her girl. As she walks through, Caroline lets out a gasp.
"What's wrong?"
Caroline puts Max's hand on her stomach, but for some reason, the baby stops. "I don't feel anything," Max frowns.
"Don't worry. I'm sure it'll happen again tonight."
"After you."
All through the night the baby didn't kick once. Max attempted to play it off like it didn't bother her and Caroline seemed like she believed it. It might seem silly to her, but Max had an anxious feeling deep down.
"May I take your order?"
"Yeah, I'll have the-"
"I'm actually only taking drink orders right now," the waiter says cutting her off. He turns his attention to Max. Caroline caught his eyes glance down at her chest and a pang of rage shot through her. Not wanting to cause a scene, she chooses to ignore it.
"Iced tea is fine."
"And for you?" he reluctantly switches to Caroline.
"Same," she answers through gritted teeth.
"Are you okay?" Max asks.
"Oh yeah. Totally," she lies. Caroline notices her eyes go cloudy again. Something was definitely off about her today. She sighs. "You didn't see that waiter staring at your boobs?"
"He was?"
"Yes, Max. He was practically eye-fucking you."
Max chokes on her spit.
"I just don't like guys checking out my woman," Caroline groans. "Do you want me to ask for another waiter? Perhaps a straight woman? I feel like we should ask. It wouldn't hurt."
"If you feel that strongly about it," she shrugs.
After just about cussing out the manager, Caroline smiles as the new waitress writes down their orders.
"Are you happy? I'm pretty sure you got him fired."
"And I'm pretty sure all the female workers here are thanking me."
The brunette couldn't help but give a small smile. Jealous Caroline was pretty hot. Not long after, however, Caroline spotted that cloudy look again. Max was fiddling with her straw and she wasn't sure if she should comment on it because she was worried about the response. Caroline loved Max and if she was having second thoughts about the baby that would break her heart. It was bad to jump to the worst case scenario, so maybe ignoring it was the way to go. Of course there's always the possibility that Max is silently hoping she brings it up and her ignoring it on purpose could hurt their relationship. All the sudden Caroline wasn't feeling too great. Over thinking made her head ache.
With Max distracted and Caroline lost in space, they both didn't realize their plates of food in front of them.
"You look absolutely amazing tonight."
"Caroline you already said that," Max blushes. She unfolds her napkin and puts it on her lap.
"I know. I just want to make sure you know."
"You don't have to butter me up," she whispers. "If you want sex when we get home, we'll have sex."
"Well, I do believe someone mentioning dessert."
Max gave her bed to Caroline as soon as they got the news that she was pregnant. Caroline offered to share, but Max insisted she needed all the room. Tonight she insisted Max sleep with her.
Max strokes her long blonde hair she finally grew out as they stare at each other. Their cheeks were flushed and their chests were both heaving.
"What do you think the gender will be?"
"Um, honestly… I would love both. It's kind of selfish to hope for a girl, but I kind of have my fingers crossed."
"We need to have names in mind. I've been making a mental list."
Max stops stroking for a moment. She takes Caroline's hand in hers and gives it a little squeeze. The blonde chuckles at the sudden gesture.
"What was that for?"
"I don't know," Max shrugs. "I'm so excited."
"Me too. As much as I love this little tot, I really won't miss all the kicks."
Max puts a hand on her stomach hoping for it to do just that. After a while, she takes her hand off with a sigh. Caroline gives her a sad smile. She wonders if maybe she should bring up the thoughts she had at dinner. She hated seeing Max so blue.
Caroline reached up to touch her face.
"Hey, are you okay?"
"Why wouldn't I be okay?"
"At the restaurant you just seemed so off. I could tell you weren't really into it. Did you just not want to go on the date? You can tell me. I won't get upset."
"It's not that…"
"Then what Max?" Caroline maintains her soft demeanor as she moves closer to her girlfriend. She caresses her cheek.
Max closes her eyes.
.
"Hey Max," Earl waves her over to the cash register. Max sets down a plate of sandwiches at a nearby table before putting a rag in her apron. "How's Caroline."
"She's good," Max nods.
"How are you doing?" he gave a knowing glance. It sucked that Earl always seemed to read her like a book. Then again, she wasn't exactly trying to hide her sadness.
"I'm okay."
"Having doubts?"
"I'm really excited about having the baby. It's just…"
"You can tell me."
"I don't think the baby likes me. Do you think it's all in my head?"
"Darling, this is something you have to talk to Caroline about."
"I can't. I don't want to stress her out."
"I really think you should," he gives a cheesy grin. "You'll feel a lot better when you do."
Max sighs.
.
Max kept that conversation in the back of her mind. Keeping it from Caroline wasn't a good idea. She takes in a long breath. "I know this sounds stupid, but do you think the baby knows it's not mine?"
Caroline wasn't sure what to say. When they picked the sperm donor and she chose to go through with it, Caroline worried about Max feeling unattached. Now she was kicking herself for not talking about this sooner.
"Do you feel like I shouldn't have done it?"
"Oh my god – no. I'm completely fine with you carrying. It's just…" Max exhales again. "You know what? Forget I brought it up."
"You feel disconnected don't you?"
"I mean, obviously I don't have the toolkit needed to get you pregnant, but yeah. I am kind of bummed out that I couldn't help."
"The baby is so lucky to have a mom like you. It's ours no matter how it got here."
"That may be true. What if I'm not a good mom? I have no idea how to be one."
"You will be an amazing parent Max," she reassures sternly. "It's completely normal for you to be nervous."
Caroline felt pressure on her stomach again. Without thinking, she pulled Max's hand onto it and for the first time she felt the baby kick. Caroline smiles as Max's face lights up.
"Thanks Caroline."
