I wake up the next morning, light streaming in through Cappie's window.
I take in the situation around me.
Crap, I'd fallen asleep here last night.
I looked down then, my leggings and sweater still on, shoes off though.
I look over to see Cappie still sleeping. He always looked so peaceful and soft while sleeping. Finally taking a break from smirking and making jokes 24/7.
He was still wearing his clothes, except he'd taken off his button down flannel and was just in black jeans and a tank top.
I sit up, my hair probably a mess.
I immediately could tell I was starving. And I had to pee, of course.
I get up slowly, trying not to wake Cappie up. I see my shoes on the floor beside me. Cappie must've taken them off me after I'd gone to sleep.
I get up and tip toe off to the bathroom down the hall, not the one off of Cappie's room, as to avoid waking him up. But I'm caught by surprise when I get to the bathroom door to see Katherine walking out of it.
"Oh!", She looks surprised and then smiles. "Casey? I didn't know that you didn't go home either. Look at us, how bad are we?"
She gives me an excited smile.
"Oh um, me and Cappie didn't do anything Katherine", I laugh. "I just fell asleep by accident".
"Sure", She gives me a wink. "I just fell asleep too".
"No...", I shake my head with a slight laugh. "I really did just fall asleep, see look I still have my clothes on".
That's one thing I had going for me. Since Katherine was standing here in only one of Beaver's flannel shirts and knee socks, the shirt fitting like a dress on her.
"Sure ZBZ", She gives me a look.
I have to pee too bad to argue with Katherine right now trying to beat the allegations of me and Cappie being a full blown couple.
"Katherine I really really have to pee", I wince slightly, holding my legs together. "You know, the whole baby pushing down on my bladder thing".
I gesture down to my stomach, giving her an awkward look.
"Oh god! Sorry, look at me losing my mind after just one lust filled night of passion", She shakes her head with a laugh, scolding herself.
"It's no problem", I laugh and she moves out of the way of the door. "See you in a bit Katherine".
The main washroom upstairs has that KT charm to it. It's dirtier than Cappie's, his having a slightly cleaner appearance. This one truly embodied what you'd imagine a frat house washroom to look like, not a single piece of evidence that a girl could've ever set foot in here.
I wash my hands and then make my way downstairs.
Katherine's in the kitchen looking in the fridge.
"I was thinking I would surprise Walter with breakfast in bed but it appears the only food they have is an old pizza slice, some velveeta cheese slices, and something in a container with a green sponge like appearance", Katherine turns around to give me a grimace.
"Yeah", I laugh. "If there's one thing you're not gonna get at KT it's a gourmet meal… or any meal really".
"Well…", Katherine shuts the fridge, wiping her hands on Beaver's shirt, noticeably grossed out. "I suppose we'll have to find food elsewhere ZBZ".
I laugh then.
"So…", I give her a look, grinning. "How was last night? I hope everything went okay".
"Oh Casey", She sighs, her hand on her heart. "You would just not even believe how sweet Beaver is, really, it's impeccable".
"Yeah I wouldn't believe it", I smile, trying to keep a straight face, although I was genuinely happy Katherine had had such a good experience since losing your virginity was sort of a mixed bag of outcomes for people. I knew I had been one of the lucky ones to have lost it to Cappie years ago.
"He's just so attentive…. reminds me of the erotica romance books I read", She smiles.
"Oh…", I immediately feel awkward, biting my lip with a nod. "That's nice".
"Yes it is", She smiles.
"Hey guys", Cappie comes down the stairs then, immediately looking to my face.
He's got his flannel back on now, hair a tousled mess though.
"Well I had to get you to fall asleep against your will but look… you stayed over here for a night", Cappie jokes, coming over to me.
"Yep, you win", I laugh. "But we have a problem… me and Katherine are starving and…"
I open the fridge to show him the sad contents of their frat house.
"Oh yeah", He looks in and picks up the container with the oddly shaped, most likely moldy, piece of whatever food it used to be.
He takes the container and throws the whole thing right out in the garbage, a grossed out look on his face.
"100% that was Dumptruck's old sandwich", Cappie looks at us. "I'm gonna have to talk to him again. Sorry guys".
I laugh then.
"It's all good Cap".
"Well Case…", Cappie gives me a smirk then. "I was going to see if you wanted to go out today, do that shopping for our unborn spawn that you've been talking about".
He gives me a joking look.
"That's a good idea Cap", I nod. "We can store it in both our rooms until we move".
"Yeah and we can get breakfast on the way", Cappie suggests.
"Oh man I just love shopping", Katherine smiles, butting in. "And babies".
We both give her nodding smiles then, unsure what she's insinuating.
"So I'm sure I would love shopping for babies. And I have no plans today", She looks at us.
"Oh…", I say awkwardly with a shrug. "Would you like to come with us Katherine?"
"Oh well I'll have to see… ", She thinks to herself for a moment before looking back at us with a smile. "Yeah I think I should be able to help you guys out!"
Me and Cappie share a knowing glance with each other then.
"Let me just go wake up Walter. I think he would love to come too", She smiles and runs to the stairs.
"Yeah he's probably pretty comfortable in children's stores", I mumble.
"I caught that", Cappie looks to me with a laugh.
"Here's some sweet syrup for my sweetie", Beaver pours syrup on Katherine's waffle with a lovesick look on his face.
"Aww", Katherine chides and me and Cappie exchange awkward glances.
We're sitting in the food court at the mall, all four of us having somehow all piled into Cappie's car and made our way to the Cyprus Galleria.
I'd gotten pancakes and eggs, Cappie a bacon and egg platter, Katherine a Belgian waffle, and Beaver had just gotten a plate of sausage and bacon, oddly.
"So Casey how big is your baby now?", Katherine asks.
"Well according to everything online she's between the size of a zucchini or a cauliflower", I smile. "I'm 27 weeks on Monday".
"I love how they measure babies in terms of fruits and vegetables", Beaver gives us a dumbstruck smile. "Like we're gonna eat them or something".
"That sounds oddly like the plot of a horror movie Beav", Cappie laughs.
"Oh Casey, this is a bit of a personal question…", Katherine lowers her voice then and I prepare myself for the usual Katherine awkwardness I'm probably about to endure. "I was going to ask you when we were alone, but we're all friends here so I just thought I'd get it out".
"Oh, okay", I nod then.
"Well I was just going to ask you which birth control you were using?", She asks quietly. "You know since me and Beaver have now taken our relationship to the next level, I want to be 100% covered".
"Oh…", I nod awkwardly and look over to see Cappie choking on his food slightly, the topic having caught him off guard. However Beaver doesn't look fazed at all. "I was just using the generic one my gynaecologist at CRU's health centre recommended. I think it was called Ortho-Cyclen".
"Oh perfect, thanks Casey. I'll make sure I avoid that one when I go to pick one up next week", She smiles, not at all being sarcastic, which made this even funnier.
Cappie can barely stifle in his laughter now, coughing.
"You need help there?", I look beside me at him giving him a look.
"No, no I'm good", He composes himself.
"Well…", I say, giving everyone an awkward smile. "What do you say we start shopping?"
"Yes, I can't wait!", Katherine gets up then, taking her tray over to the garbage and Beaver follows her like a puppy.
Me and Cappie are left alone finally, behind them as Cappie grabs both our trays.
"Wow…", Cappie lets out a laugh. "She really doesn't beat around the bush".
"Nope", I say with a shake of my head. "Anyway I guess we should be happy for them that they found each other".
"Oh definitely", Cappie nods with a laugh, throwing away our garbage.
"C'mon Cappie and Casey! We've still got a lot of stores to hit up on my itinerary!", She calls out to us.
"I can really see why she was the president of Panhellenic now", Cappie gives me a look as we walk over to them quickly.
"Right?", I confirm.
"Okay so first stop, Babies R Us", Katherine smiles as we walk to the store, the whole place full of crying and screaming children as we stand in the entrance.
"Oh sick! Look at the little baby footballs Cap!", Beaver runs into the store to look at the display. We follow him as he picks up a foam football the size of his hand, looking elated by it. "I guess babies need something that they can use to play football with too".
"Well actually Beav-", Cappie starts.
"Don't tell him, just let him have this one", I stop Cappie in a whisper as we laugh and I grab a cart.
Opposite of Beaver, Katherine isn't wasting time dilly dallying, she's headed right to the aisle with the cribs, looking at each one thoroughly.
"This one looks good", I pick up a box with the de assembled crib in it.
"You can't just pick the first one you see Casey", Katherine looks at me like I've just slapped one of the babies in here. "We probably should do some research, look at testimonials".
"I just saw that lady over there put it in her cart", Cappie shrugs, gesturing to a woman carting around a toddler in the seat of her cart, she looked to be in her late thirties early forties. "She looks responsible".
"Cool, the price is right too", I nod and Cappie picks it up and puts it in the cart.
"My oh my", Katherine shakes her head like she's worried. "Now I see why you got pregnant, you're a free spirit ZBZ".
Me and Cappie laugh then.
"I've rubbed off on her", Cappie explains with a smile.
"Where's Walter?", Katherine looks around.
"Probably trying out the pacifiers", I joke to Cap's amusement.
"Well he should be, so many of them are just made in China these days, not very durable and potentially very unsafe", Katherine says, not understanding my joke.
"Lets go find the baby monitors", I suggest with a smile.
We find a baby monitor, a diaper pail, a crib mattress and some sheets, and a couple little towels for the baby. I'm already tired of all the walking around this place.
"Beaver has his phone on him right?", I ask Cap. "Because this place is so big I really don't know if we'll ever see him again if he doesn't".
"Don't worry, I reminded him to bring it", Cappie laughs then.
"Okay well…", I look at my list. "Next thing we have to find is a breast pump, bottles, and milk storage bags. They should be together in an aisle I just don't know which one-"
"Aisle 26", Katherine cuts me off, knowing immediately where to find them.
"She's pretty useful actually", Cappie whispers to me and I laugh.
When we get to aisle 26 we see a familiar face.
"Beav?", Cappie finds him looking at some of the fake breast products. "Of course! I should've known you'd flock here".
I giggle then.
"Cap all this time… we could've bought fake boobs just 10 minutes away from the KT house", Beaver looks entranced.
"That's… a little disturbing", I look at them.
"Walter put that down!", Katherine pulls him away from it. "It's for babies".
"Why does a baby need a fake boob?", Beaver looks confused.
"It's for people who can't breastfeed, or for fathers who are feeding the baby. It simulates actually breastfeeding", I explain. "So the baby can still latch".
"Cap you can feed your baby with this boob", Beaver looks to Cappie.
"I'm good Beav… I think I'll leave that to the real boobs", Cappie gestures to my chest with a smirk and I hit his arm.
"Good for you for breastfeeding Casey, there are just so many benefits. There's studies that say even children as old as four or five can benefit greatly from their mother's milk", Katherine smiles.
"Oh well… I'm gonna try my best to breastfeed. Hopefully it works out. It's free at least", I laugh uncomfortably. "Probably only for like a year or something though".
"Your choice but I'll still send those studies your way", She grins.
"Perfect", I grin through gritted teeth. "Thanks".
I pickup the breastfeeding essentials and then find the last few things that I need here.
"Alright next store, Target", Katherine guides us though the mall.
"Apparently Target is a lot more affordable, I'm hoping it is at least", I sigh, the sheer amount of money that things for babies cost making me go into a full blown panic.
Cappie keeps assuring me that he has an abundance of money that his grandfather left him and that he's not worried, but that didn't stop me from worrying. I had money from working in the summer and from being ZBZ's house mom… but I had to make sure it lasted since I didn't want to contribute nothing and let Cappie pay for everything.
We get a high chair at Target, a baby bouncer, and a car seat.
"I love Target", Beaver professes. "I could live here and never get bored. I even did for that day, remember Cap?"
Cappie scoffs then and I look at him for the whole story, finding this endearing.
"We came here for one of our grocery store runs", Cappie starts.
"Those must be quite infrequent", Katherine comments with snark which makes me laugh.
"Yep", Cappie laughs. "Anyway, Beav strayed off and… we kind of forgot him here".
"I was scared for a bit when you guys didn't come back but I knew you would eventually", Beaver smiles.
"Yeah we got home, hung around for an hour or so until Heath realized how good the house smelled and we realized you were missing", Cappie laughs and I snicker. "So I hightailed it back to the mall, just about got a speeding ticket".
"When you came back it was dark out and the lady made me sit outside on one of the red balls", Beaver sighs.
"Yeah sorry about that man", Cappie laughs.
"Cap you better not forget our baby at Target", I laugh.
"Don't worry, that was two years ago", Cappie laughs. "I'll be much more careful with our kid".
I look at Cappie now, feeling that love for him I typically had bubbling up in my stomach.
How could I have ever thought he wasn't a good guy? I felt guilty about that, for sure. Because he cared about the KT guys like they were all his little brothers. He was actually pretty fatherly in a lot of ways.
I feel my heart skip a beat when Cappie notices me staring at him.
"What?", He whispers to me. "Starting to get worried about me as a dad?"
He jokes with me but my face remains soft, smiling.
"No, actually just the opposite", I say, blushing, and his expression goes serious at that remark, a smile gracing his face.
If Katherine and Beaver weren't here maybe I'd kiss him. I definitely wanted to.
"Cap, can we get this for the house?", Beaver breaks me out of my thoughts then, forcing me and Cappie to break eye contact.
Beaver's holding up a sign that says 'Beer. Girls. Parties. Repeat'.
"That's fitting for KT", I laugh.
"Yeah sure Beav", Cappie nods with a smile. "But that's it for today okay? We can't buy every single thing you see that you like. Remember when you got that blow up doll last year? Where is she now?"
Beaver looks downcast then.
"I lost her", Beaver admits with a sigh.
"Not that I want to know why you thought you had to have one, but… how do you lose a blow up doll?", I laugh.
"You know, you'd think it would be hard but… it was after Homecoming, she just went missing. Could've been the evil work of the Omega Chis. I put up missing posters all across campus but she was never found", Beaver shakes his head and then looks over to Katherine who is ignoring us, reading the back of a package of diapers. "But Katherine looks just like Justine so I don't need her anymore".
"Justine?", I ask, a wry look on my face.
"That's what Beaver named her", Cappie explains.
"Oh… interesting", I nod, looking to Beaver. "Well how romantic that you found Katherine instead".
Cappie snickers at me.
"Casey it says 9 out of 10 paediatricians recommend these diapers. They're organic", She comes over to the cart with them.
"Okay", I nod. "As long as they're not insanely expensive. Thanks Katherine!"
"You're welcome", She nods. "Now what about clothes for her?"
"Oh don't worry Casey has that covered", Cappie smiles.
"That was pretty much the only thing I did have before today actually", I laugh. "That and the stroller Cappie got".
"Oh perfect!", Katherine nods. "If you hadn't already I would recommend this great hemp clothing store that sells onesies on Etsy".
"Oh cool", I nod. "I'll check them out".
I most likely won't but I loved Katherine for caring.
"Well we got pretty much everything on your list, right Case?", Cappie asks.
"Yep", I nod with a smile. "Now we just have to get all these carts of stuff out to the car".
I had a cart, Cappie had a cart, and Katherine had a cart.
Beaver however… I feared if he had any of the things we'd bought in his possession he'd probably lose them.
"Don't worry, they'll fit in the trunk", Cappie says.
"Well how fun has this been!", Katherine exclaims as we make our way through the Target self checkout.
"Yeah thanks for coming guys", I look back to Katherine and Beaver.
Not that they'd really given us a choice. But this has actually ended up being really fun.
"Of course! We can do so many things now that we're best friends dating best friends", Katherine smiles. "Well I'm dating, you're… doing whatever silly, free spirited arrangement you ZBZs do".
I laugh then.
"Okay Katherine, yeah we can do this again", I smile.
When we get out to the car Cappie and Beaver lift the heavy things into the car, and me and Katherine somehow manage to jam some of the smaller things into the backseat.
"Well… that was definitely an interesting Saturday", Cappie laughs, looking over at me from the drivers seat.
We'd just dropped Beaver and Katherine off at KT and Cappie was making the short drive to drop me off at ZBZ.
"Yep", I giggle. "That was definitely different than the day I had planned. But it was fun. A little odd, but fun".
"I almost lost it when Katherine asked about your birth control", Cappie scoffs.
"Definitely a low point for me", I giggle with a sigh.
Cappie pulls into the driveway, getting as close as possible to the door.
Cap insists I only carry the bags of light things in and he makes a couple trips to get some of the heavier things, bringing them up to my now very crowded room.
"Man, it looks like a baby store showroom in here", I look around at my room.
"Well it'll just be for less than a week", Cappie smiles. "I'll bring the rest of the things in the car back to my room".
"Just make sure the KT's don't deface all her new stuff in the next few days", I half joke with him. "I don't want my baby sitting in a high chair with a penis drawn on it".
"I will, promise", Cappie laughs and we stand in my room, I think both not knowing what to do.
I didn't want him to go. I got the feeling he didn't want to go, that he was leaving something left unsaid. Like something was on his mind.
"Today in Target… ", he leans in a bit closer to me then. "I really wanted to kiss you".
I can't help the blush that washes over my face.
I think about denying my similar feelings, but I want be honest with him.
"I did too", I nod, talking softly, happy that we'd been thinking the exact same thing in that moment.
"Really?", He smirks.
"Mmm hmm", I admit, nodding at him, although not quite as seductively as I really wanted to.
He moves even closer to me then, so much so, I can faintly smell his cologne.
It was like there was a magnetic force between us. When he looked at me like this, I didn't know what he expected me to do other than kiss him.
But I hold off in favor of trying to suppress that side of us as much as I could.
"Would it be crazy to?", He says in almost a whisper then, up close to my face, not needing to speak any louder.
My eyes look up at him, unmoving, and I shake my head.
"It's just one kiss", I shrug, trying to make this okay. Because if he left and I didn't get to kiss him I truly might go out of my freaking mind.
The last thing I see is his smirk before his lips are on mine, at first softly, the kiss romantic and sweet.
But that wasn't enough for me, and I think Cappie could sense that.
I pulled him in closer to me then, my hands around his neck, my body pressed against his. I mean, as much as it could be, my belly between us a bit of an obstacle.
Our lips mingle together urgently, loving the way he tastes like the mint gum he had on the way home. My one hand touching the same messy tufts of dark hair as always. My other hand holding onto his back, feeling the firmness of his muscles underneath my palm.
We part when I feel like I can no longer breathe and at that point I'm staring into an abyss of two blue eyes searching my face to see how I feel.
"Just one kiss huh?", He grins sarcastically and I laugh, looking down, feeling slightly embarrassed.
"You should go", I purse my lips together, trying to hide the smile on my red face.
"You want me to go?"
"No I don't want you to go", I say with a sigh. "But if you don't I'm gonna push you down on this bed and we're not gonna come out of here all night. And there's lots of girls home right now since it's gonna be dinner time soon".
My hands are on my hips then as I look back at him, a curt smile taking shape on his face, amused by this.
"Right", He nods, his face still inches away from mine. "Well… I'll be waiting to hear your excuse this time next week when we're in our own place, uninterrupted, all alone for hours and hours in an apartment together".
He gives me a smug grin then, his eyes entrancing, knowing he has my stomach in knots.
I just shake my head at his antics.
"Goodbye Cappie", I give him a look, crossing my arms.
"Goodbye Casey", He grins, his look reeling with sin and he gives me one last scoff before he turns, making his way out of my room.
I close the door behind him and then sit down on my bed.
Well. I'm gonna need a second before I go down with the other girls after that kiss.