I walk in through the doors of the coffee shop down the street from the Paramount lot to meet Dianna. I see her wave to me from a corner table and head over to her. She always looks so cute and has such a great fashion sense, especially in comparison to my sweats and v-neck t-shirt that I threw on right before I left the house.
"Nay! I'm so happy to see you! It's been weeks," Dianna says with a smile as she gets up and embraces me in a hug.
"Good to see you too," I reply.
She looks down at the bump in my stomach, "And munchkin is getting big. Look at you!"
"I know. I feel like I just woke up one morning and I had this huge baby bump. I'm all lumpy now," I reply as we both take a seat at the table.
"You're not lumpy, you're pregnant," she replies. "Speaking of which, I got you a decaf." Dianna hands me the cup in front of her.
"The joys of motherhood," I reply as I take a sip and set it back down on the table.
"So, update me. I mean, Heather has been telling us what's going on a lot when we see her at dance practice but I'm sure there are things she's left out. So spill," Dianna says.
"Hmm well, recovery went fine from the surgery. I can use my hand and wrist again with just a little bit of lack of range of motion. The baby is doing good, just sucking the life out of me lately and giving me major mood swings. Poor Heather," I reply.
"Isn't that what babies are supposed to do?" Dianna chuckles.
"I swear, if I hadn't seen ultrasounds I'd think I had a tapeworm or something with the amount of food I consume. I'm hungry all the time! Like all I've thought about are those pastries since I walked in the door," I say as I nod over to the counter filled with pastries.
"Which is different from when you aren't pregnant?" Dianna replies. I laugh at her remark.
"Not much really. I just can eat a lot more now that I'm eating for two," I say.
"Poor Heather. Having to run around and get you wheelbarrows of food," Dianna jokes.
"Please, she would do anything for me and not even be upset about it. She loves taking care of me. She's my knight in shining armor," I reply with a smile.
"Look at you, Miss. People might think you're going soft if you keep talking like that," Dianna smirks.
"Shhh…don't tell anyone. When it comes to her, I'm just a big pile of goo," I reply with a smile. I realize how ridiculous I sound but I really do melt with her. I love my friends and all the cast is like family to me and I would do anything for them. But it's different with Heather. It always has been different.
"Naya 'whipped' Rivera," Dianna says. A blonde figure catches my eye standing outside the window on the sidewalk. I realize its Heather talking to….no it can't be….Taylor.
"Hey," Dianna says, "Nay what's wrong?" She follows my gaze and sees the sight in front of me. The two have now taken a seat at one of the outdoor tables are a talking while ordering their coffees. It looks like they intend on staying here a while.
"Look, don't freak out maybe they just ran into each other or something," Dianna says trying to calm me. But for some reason, I don't feel like that's the case.
"Do you just have coffee randomly with your exes when you run into them?" I say with a bit of an attitude, clearly frustrated by the situation.
"Well, no. I try to get as far away as possible. But Heather isn't me and she and Taylor have known each other a really long time," Dianna explains.
"I know you are trying to be reasonable with me. But I'm really pissed about this right now, Di. She told me she had a meeting with a dance company. So first, she lied to me about this. Secondly, for the past four years, every time she and I get close she pulls out the 'I'm with Taylor' card. I get that things are different now that we have been together, but it just stirs up old feelings to see her around him. He was a total ass to her about our relationship when she did break it off so I have no idea when they became so friendly," I say as I feel my face getting flushed with anger. This hurts, especially because she is supposed to meet me in an hour to go to my ultrasound. I don't like being angry at her especially because we don't get angry with each other like this. But right now, I've never wanted to be further away from someone. My emotions are running wild and I feel like I'm about to burst into tears at any moment.
"Look Nay. You've got to take a deep breath and try to think rationally about this okay. Heather loves you very much. She wouldn't do something to mess that up," Dianna says.
"She loved Taylor too. But she was sleeping with me for most of that relationship," I say, realizing how horrible it sounds as it leaves my mouth.
"Look, just talk to her about it. Let her explain. Don't shut down and get angry. You've got to give her a chance to at least tell you what's going on," Dianna replies.
As she says this, I see Heather look in my direction and make eye contact with me. She looks flustered and quickly excuses herself from the table and walks straight inside towards Dianna and I.
"So, how's that meeting going?" I say quietly, trying my best not to cause a scene. I can feel the anger boiling in me and I know I'm going to say something I'll regret if I don't get out of here soon.
"It's not what you think Nay," she says as she comes over to me but keeps her distance when she sees how upset I am. "He called me and said he needed to talk. That he wanted to apologize so I agreed to meet him for coffee."
"Looks like you two are having a good time. I wouldn't want to keep you from that," I say coldly as I get up from the table. "By the way, don't worry about coming to the ultrasound. Dianna is coming with me."
Dianna mouths sorry to Heather and gets up to walk towards the door with me. I decide turning around is the worst option because I'm sure the look of hurt on her face would be something I couldn't bear seeing. We get into my Land Rover and I start the car and head to the doctor's office. I feel bad for not letting her explain, but I'm so angry and hurt that I doubt I could have spent another minute there without overreacting. There she was, out with her ex-boyfriend and she had lied to me about it. That's not something Heather and I did. For the first time in a very long time, I felt like I had no idea what was going on with her. I hear my phone buzz in my purse.
"Check it for me please?" I ask Dianna. "It might be the doctor's office." She pulls it out and reads the screen.
"It's Hemo. You have like five missed calls from her," she replies.
"I can't talk to her right now. Can you just text her that we will talk later? I need to cool off before I try to have a rational conversation with her," I say, still fuming over the situation.
"I'm sure there is a good reason, Nay," she replies as she types the message to her.
"There better be," I say.
We arrive at the doctor's office and I'm soon called in, bringing Di back with me to the examination room.
"Miss Rivera, how have you been?" the doctor says with a smile as I walk in the door.
"Good," I reply. I definitely don't feel like small talk right now. I want to forget what happened this morning and just enjoy seeing my baby again. Dianna helps me up onto the exam table and sits in the chair next to it as the doctor prepares for the ultrasound.
"Okay, so we are a little past the point where we usually ask if you want to know the sex or not but with your accident and everything I guess we overlooked it for that time period. Would you like to know?" the doctor asks. It hits me how bad I wish Heather was here right now. I want her to be here holding my hand finding out the sex of the baby with me. I am so angry with her still, but she still deserves to be a part of this. I look over at Dianna and she smiles knowingly.
"You want me to call her," she asks.
"Yes," I reply as I feel tears well up in my eyes. "Can we wait about 15 minutes? I want my girlfriend to be here when we find out."
"Of course, I have a few other tests I can run until she gets here," the doctor replies. He steps out for a moment and Dianna calls Heather.
"Hey it's Di," she says. "Yeah, she's okay. She wants you to come over here. Oh you are? Okay well I'll come out and get you then." She hangs up the phone and smiles.
"She's outside. I'll be right back," Dianna says. Of course she is. She wouldn't miss an ultrasound for the world. Even if I am steaming mad at her right now, I know she still loves me and this baby more than anything. A few minutes later Dianna comes back with Heather. She walks over to me cautiously.
"I'm really sorry baby. I should have told you I was meeting him. I just felt like you were going to react badly," Heather says quickly.
"Let's just talk about it when we get home," I reply. Somehow, I can't be as angry at her anymore now that she's here with me. The doctor comes back in the room.
"Alright let's see what we're having," he says as he looks at the ultrasound machine.
"Looks like you are going to be the proud parents of a little boy," he says with a smile. I look over at Heather who is smiling at me and tearing up. I feel my own tears start to hit my cheeks.
"We're having a boy!" I say with a smile.
"He's gonna be such a lucky boy. He gets two mommies," Dianna chimes in as she squeezes Heather in a side hug. Heather's face lights up when Dianna says this. So much so, that I forget for a moment that I'm even angry at her at all.
We make our way back to our apartment and I drop Dianna off at the studio before heading home. Heather is in the kitchen cooking dinner for us both, most likely in an effort to apologize for her actions today.
"Hey honey," she says as she leans over and kisses me and continues cooking the stir-fry concoction she has on the stove.
"Hey. So spill," I say, ripping off the band-aid as usual.
"There isn't much to say really other than I'm really sorry I lied to you. He called me and said he wanted to apologize for how he acted when we broke things off. So I agreed but I didn't want to upset you so I decided not to tell you. I honestly didn't think you would run into us like that," she explains.
"Heather, I don't get it, though. We don't do that stuff. We never lie to each other. I don't understand why you thought it would make me so upset that you couldn't tell me," I respond. She sighs and looks away from me for a moment before explaining.
"I know. I don't know why I decided to not tell you. I just feel like I already put a lot on you with all the issues with my mom. I didn't want you to be feeling guilty or upset about anything else so I figured it would be better if I handled this myself," she says. I nod in reply as she turns down the stove and covers the food to let it simmer. She takes my hand in hers and makes eye contact with me as she continues.
"I realize I shouldn't have lied to you and that it probably looked awful for you to see me with him when I told you I would be somewhere else. I know I hurt you and I know you probably are going to be upset about it for a while," she says sincerely. I can see tears welling up in her eyes. I suddenly feel awful for making her feel like she couldn't talk to me about what was going on in her life. She sometimes tries way too hard to protect me. I know she only does this because she cares so much about me, but it shouldn't come down to us lying to each other.
"I'm sorry for overreacting. I should have let you explain. I just…I just got afraid and all these memories came back to me. All those times that you said 'but I'm with Taylor' as an excuse just replayed in my head. I sometimes forget about all the things we've been through and that you would never just pick up and go back to him," I explain.
"And I would never do that to you. I love you way too much to hurt you like that ever again," she says as she tugs my arm to pull me into a hug. I lean into her and settle my head on her shoulder.
"I think we made it through our first big fight," Heather whispers.
"We are doing pretty good seeing as that's the first big fight we've gotten into since we've known each other," I reply as I pull back so I can see her face. She looks like she is considering it then smiles.
"I guess you're right," she says, "You know there is one thing really great about today despite our fight."
"And what's that?" I ask.
"We got to see our baby boy," she emphasizes. I smile at her and place my hand on my stomach. As I do this, I hear the doorbell ring which completely breaks the moment. I give her a quick peck then walk to the door. I open it to find Gabe's seventeen year-old sister, Alex standing in front of me sobbing. She and I became very close over the past couple years while I was dating Gabe because she lives with him. Their parents died a few years back and Gabe was left practically raising his sister because they didn't have any other closer relatives.
"Alex? Is everything okay?" I ask sincerely as I lead her inside and over to the couch. I sit down beside her and let her try to calm herself down so she can answer.
"Gabe's dead," she says as she falls apart in my arms.