"Oh!", I let out in surprise as I turn over to see Cappie awake. "Hey Cap".
"Hey", He smiles, watching me wake up. "Well… at least this time I didn't end up with my arms around you when we woke up".
He gives me an awkward laugh then as I come to from sleeping, moving my messy blonde hair out of my face.
"Yeah", I laugh. Although… I probably would've welcomed that, it felt pretty good the other morning, really good. But I know he thinks that I just want to keep us friends right now, because of course, that's what I kept telling him. "How come you seem to always wake up before me now Cap?"
I give him a laugh then as I look over at the clock. It was just after 10am.
"Well I'm sort of conditioned to wake up early now… you know since I've taken early classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays", He explains, grinning mischievously. "Plus you've been sleeping so much more than usual the past week".
"Yeah… you're right about that, I can barely stay awake half the time", I sigh and sit up in my bed, reaching beside me to get a drink of water.
The events of last night come back to me, me making up with Ash, me calling Cappie over here, me kissing him in appreciation… Then us actually having an honest and vulnerable conversation about our relationship. Which was good.
Sitting up now I feel my stomach turn, hear it gurgling.
Uh oh…
"Crap… I think I'm gonna be sick", I groan and then get up quickly, rushing up to my feet and running to the bathroom.
I empty the contents of my stomach into the toilet, coughing as I feel burning on my throat.
Yep, I'm still pregnant.
"Well someone must've found a way to get drunk last night without even going to Doblers", I hear a snarky voice behind me and turn around to see Rebecca standing with her arms crossed, still in her pajamas just like I was.
"Ugh it's not that… I just… I have a bug or something Becs", I sigh, my knees hurting from kneeling on the cold, hard tile floor.
I attempt to get up then, still feeling a little lightheaded and sick.
"Ew… well don't get too close to me", Rebecca gives me a grossed out look and backs away from me. I just give her a playful roll of my eyes.
"Don't worry, I won't", I tell her.
"Is this why you've been missing classes?", she raises her eyebrow at me. "Evan told me".
"Yeah it's been… this flu bug, it's made me feel terrible all week. Hopefully it uh… goes away soon", I stammer out.
Although I knew it was definitely not going away. But eventually the nausea should… or at least I hoped it would as I got further along.
"Gross. Well I'm going to Calvin's party tonight, as well as running the best house on campus, so I definitely can't afford to get sick", She sighs and then plays with her hair in the mirror. "Are you going tonight?"
"Maybe. I… I don't know, it depends how I feel", I shrug. "Anyways I'm gonna go lay down for a bit".
"Okay… feel better", She nods and I give her a smile, kind of surprised by her being semi sweet to me, but luckily that was our relationship now.
"Thanks Becs, see you later", I give her a wave and walk back out into the hallway, opening the door to my room and going inside quickly so no one sees Cappie in there.
"Are you okay?", He asks immediately when I walk back in, looking worried. "I wanted to follow you but… that would kind of blow our cover".
I lay back down onto my bed then beside him as he sits up. I sigh as I try to regain some sense of feeling normal.
"Yeah I'm fine… I just threw up", I groan. "And I still feel pretty sick".
"I'm sorry", he frowns.
"Yeah it'll… it'll hopefully only last for a bit longer. From what I've read people find the first trimester the hardest. That and right at the end when you're so big you can barely move", I explain. "I don't know which one is worse".
"Well", Cappie scoffs. "I guess we'll see when it comes to that in a couple months".
I nod, feeling pretty nervous about that. I'd still only known I was pregnant for a few days now. So I definitely didn't have my head wrapped around actually getting to the last trimester, being all huge and stuff.
"Yeah….", I let out nervously.
"Well… you're not kicking me out your window a few minutes after waking up like last time I was here", Cappie jokes, trying to make me laugh I think, seeing the fear on my face.
I look over to give him a joking glare.
"The only difference this time is that we didn't have sex so… ", He laughs then, thinking to himself. "Hopefully that doesn't say something about my performance".
I can tell he's joking with me now as I giggle slightly, us still talking pretty quietly so no one hears us.
"It's not that Cap, you know that", I laugh and roll my eyes at him as I swat at his arm playfully. "Last time I was hungover… and kinda freaked out about us waking up together half naked… realizing that we had hooked up. And mostly I was just really worried Ash was going to come home and walk in on us and then give me a long lecture about sleeping with you again. This time I know she's not gonna barge in because she got her own place now… and this time I'm a little less freaked out about us".
"Because… you're starting to… trust me again?", he asks, looking kind of serious now.
"I've always trusted you", I assure him. "But this time we've aired things out, actually talked more. Not to mention we have basically committed now to knowing that we're going to have to be pretty involved in each other's lives again so we might as well get used to it… But I hate to say it Cap… you still might have to leave out the window".
I give him an awkward look then as I giggle at him.
"Dammit!", He sighs jokingly. "See this is why if you and I got our own place…"
He trails off and I remember our conversation last night.
"I know… we… we will at some point, I know it's what makes sense now that we're… going to be doing this together", I nod. "But at least for right now you can stay here sometimes or I'll stay with you sometimes. During the week I have to be here actually being the house mom but I could stay with you on the weekends. As long as you don't mind me getting up to barf in the morning".
I give him a joking look now, watching as his expression turns amused with me, him biting his lower lip and then letting out a scoff.
"I definitely don't mind", He settles on, looking at me sweetly. "Want me to go over to the KT house, get some saltines and warm gingerale? I keep them stocked in my room for hangovers… not that I've been having many of those lately".
"Yeah that would be good… but why don't I just get ready and then meet you over there? Then we won't have to sneak around here", I suggest.
"Yeah okay, sounds good to me", he nods, a smile forming on his face as he realizes that we're now set to spend another day together.
It was Saturday so neither one of us had classes. I probably should be using the weekend to study with Katherine, I know she's probably already even texted me, she got up at like 6am even on weekends. But I don't know if I could bring myself to delve into my law school stuff right now, not when I didn't even know if I'd be able to stay in the program.
"Okay well, I hate to say it Cap but… you're going to have to get acquainted with Mr. Window again", I look at him with a giggle, him sitting up in my bed as I stay laying down, still trying to recover.
"Ugh", He jokingly sighs. "Alright, anything for you".
I feel my stomach flip flop at his words. He always said sweet stuff like that to me so causally. My stomach was already on the fritz and now he was just adding butterflies to it.
I watch him get dressed then, sort of taking pleasure in watching, and he couldn't see me staring which was even better. Obviously he was still insanely hot to me, not that I'd ever want him to know that I felt that way… otherwise I'd never hear the end of it.
I sit up then, cross legged on my bed, grabbing a hair elastic to put my hair up.
"Alright, looks like I'm ready to make the jump… let's hope that tree branch doesn't scrape my butt cheek like last time", He looks at me with that devilish smirk of his and I can't help but giggle.
I get up off my bed then and come over to hug him, feeling a little awkward still since we had no idea what we were to each other, but still feeling good against him, like home.
"Thanks for doing this", I look up at him when we pull away. "I promise we'll get a more… permanent situation worked out soon and then you won't have to perform stunt work just to spend a night with me".
I look at him with a smirk now, unable to hide my smile.
"Eh", He shrugs like it's no big deal. "It's no problem, I'd jump out of here every morning if it's what I have to do to wake up next to you".
He looks at me with his usual smirk still when he says it but I know him well enough to be able to see the serious undertones of what he's saying.
I blush now, not having expected him to have said that. I lean up then to give him one last quick squeeze and then pull away.
"Alright I'll text you when I'm coming over", I tell him as he steps up on my window seat, getting ready to leave out my window.
Hopefully none of the girls would see him walking across the lawn. But at least he was actually fully clothed this time. And besides… the girls would know soon enough about what was going on between me and him… that we were having a baby together.
"Okay cool", He nods. "Alright… let's hope I don't die and leave you as a single mom".
He sighs jokingly then and I watch him, trying not to laugh as he attempts to get his large 6'2 frame out my window.
I watch him fall down to the grass, looking down to make sure he hasn't hurt himself. Luckily he stands up a moment later, brushing some grass off his pants and giving me a thumbs up, smirking.
I can't help but giggle as I smile down at him, giving him a wave as he smirks back and then walks off down the lawn.
I shut the window then, going back to my bed for a moment to just catch my breath, to try to come down from the way I was smiling giddily at my morning so far. I'd need to return back to my normal expression or else the girls may suspect something. Suspect that the guy that always made me laugh, always made me feel like this, had somehow made his way back into my life again.
"Ugh…", I can't help but groan as I stare in the mirror, fixing my mascara with the tube I kept in my purse. "You're sure this is a good idea for me to go tonight?"
I look back then at Cappie, who's sitting on the edge of his bed waiting for me.
I'd come over here to the KT house in the afternoon and then hung around with him all day, Rusty joining us for an hour or so too. Rusty had only gone home about an hour ago to help prepare his apartment for Calvin's party.
"I'm still happy to stay here and watch a movie or something if you really don't feel like it", Cappie offers. "But if you're worried about going because you're pregnant, I don't think anyone will even suspect it Case".
"Yeah?", I confirm with him. Because of course that was my biggest worry.
"Yeah", Cappie shrugs like it's obvious. "You don't look pregnant at all, it's way too early for that. And I don't think anyone will think anything of you not drinking, it's not like you drink much anyway. Well… except for that one very fun night".
He smirks at me now suggestively and I just roll my eyes at him.
"It'll be fine", He puts his arms out to grab onto my hands, bringing me towards me, I can tell trying to ease my anxiety.
"What about… what about them suspecting that you and I are back together?", I bring up then.
"Well… we're not back together", Cappie shrugs. "Unless you've changed your mind?"
He raises his eyebrow then as he gently pulls me closer to him so I'm standing between his legs, him staring up at me with a smirk.
I can't help but blush now, feeling myself start to want to give in to him.
"I…", I sigh then, not knowing what to say. "Not yet Cap, but if we show up at this party together and act like we have been with each other lately then people will be confused as to why we're not acting like exes".
"Well you and me never really act like typical exes", Cappie shrugs. "Except for right after we broke up… but we're usually pretty friendly with each other even if we're not together".
"Okay", I nod. "You're right. Let's just… let's just go in separately so people don't think we drove together. Oh and no touching me or anything or looking at each other or talking to each other too much".
I ramble on now nervously.
"So we're going to act like we've never met then?", Cappie jokes with me.
"Cap", I whine.
I feel his arms wrap around my waist then, feel his gaze set on me. He's looking me up and down like he wants to pull me down on this bed, forget all about this party and just stay here tonight in bed.
"It'll be fine", He drags out the words, trying to assure me as he pulls me closer to him, my still flat belly now at his eye level. "No one's gonna know you're pregnant".
"Okay", I sigh out deeply then and then take a breath in.
"Okay so are you finally ready to go?", Cappie laughs slightly.
"I know, I know", I roll my eyes playfully then. "You've been ready for like twenty minutes. I was just… having a minor freak out".
"It's fine, don't worry", He grins at me and then stands up, much taller than me now as he looks down at me. "Let's go, I'll drive".
"Really? Aren't you gonna drink?", I put my hand on my hip as I question him.
"No I won't drink either", He shrugs like it's no big deal and then he gives me his classic smirk. "Solidarity".
"Wait…", I shake my head now, grabbing his arm and stopping him from walking to the door of this bedroom. "No way Cap, if you're not drinking then they'll totally suspect something!"
I give him an alarmed look.
"Yeah… I guess you're right", Cappie nods now, taking this in.
"I'll drive", I nod.
"Okay. Let's go", He nods, giving me a smile and putting his hand on my back as we walk down the hall of KT to the stairs. "But you've gotta be careful driving tonight Case, it's snowy out there. This is like a freak storm, it never snows here in November".
"I know", I sigh. "It's gonna be freezing out".
"You brought a good jacket with you right?", He confirms with me.
I look at him quizzically as we walk down the stairs together.
"Yes Dad", I give him a teasing look, speaking sarcastically. "I have a warm jacket".
I can't help but giggle at the look he gives me, going to get my pink felt jacket from where I'd left it in the KT living room and then holding it up as he helps me put it on.
Then Cappie grabs his own coat from the front hall closet next to the front door.
"Okay", I take a deep breath in. "Let's go".
"It'll be fine", He assures me one more time, looking down at me with a supportive smile as we walk down the driveway to my car.
I go into Rusty and Dale's apartment first, Cappie waiting out in the hall for a bit so it doesn't look like we showed up together.
"Case!", Ash exclaims when she sees me. "Hey!"
"Hey!", I go to meet her for a hug.
"Here I'll take your coat", She grins.
"Right… you're living here now", I nod.
"Yeah, so I'm kind of the hostess!", She smiles and hands my coat to Rusty.
"Hey Case", Rusty smiles at me. "You're the first one here… besides Laura and Abby".
He gestures over to Laura who is attempting to basically sit on an uninterested Dale's lap and Abby who appears to be nervously stuffing pretzels in her mouth.
"Hey guys!", I wave to them with a smile.
"Hey!", Abby looks over happily.
"Casey", Laura nods, not looking much different from her usual annoyed expression.
"So…", Ash pulls me away for a moment to speak to me quietly as Rusty goes to put my coat and hat in his room. "Where's Cappie? Or did you guys not drive together?"
"No we did", I whisper back to her. "He's just… out in the hall. So it doesn't look like we're here together".
I explain to her as she scoffs.
"But you're not together?", She questions.
"I know that", I roll my eyes with a shrug. "But I don't want other people to think we are".
"Well… in a few weeks when you get a baby bump I'm pretty sure people will know that something happened between you guys", Ash gives me a knowing look, putting her hands on her hips. "I know it's approaching Christmastime Case, but no one is gonna buy that you're the next Virgin Mary!"
I groan but can't help but laugh a bit as Ash joins in.
"Ugh god, I know", I cringe now. "But… I'll deal with everyone finding out when that actually happens. And who knows… some women don't even show until they're like 6 or 7 months".
I shrug hopefully but I can tell Ash isn't buying it.
There's a knock on the door then and Rusty walks over from his spot in the kitchen to answer it.
"Hey Cap!", Rusty answers the door excitedly, pulling Cappie in for a quick hug.
"Mmm speak of the devil", Ash gives me a knowing look, I think not fully buying that we weren't getting back together.
I just give her a playful glare.
Rus takes Cappie's coat to bring into the other room and Cappie walks over to me and Ash awkwardly.
"Ladies…", He smiles, giving us a nod.
"You don't have to pretend until Evan and Rebecca get here", Ash rolls her eyes at the two of us. "Me and Rusty already know, Dale's too busy having Laura throw herself at him, and Abby… I don't really know what Abby's doing, trying to talk to Rusty I think".
Ash shrugs then.
"Okay you're right", I nod, nervous for when Evan and Rebecca actually show up. "Where's Calvin?"
"Oh he's just out in the hall trying to get better cell service to get in touch with Heath, turns out Heath got stuck coming back from the liquor store and they don't even know if he'll get here in time for the party because the roads closed", Ash groans.
"Well…", I can't help but smile a bit then. "Obviously that sucks for Heath but… that means there's no alcohol here?"
"Yeah why?", Ash looks confused for a moment until I give her a look, waiting for it to sink in.
"Oh right!", she says like a lightbulb has gone off in her head. "The whole no drinking because of the baby thing. I guess that's like pretty rigid right? You can't even have just one tiny drink?"
"No Ash!", I can't help but laugh then, looking over to Cappie as he gives Ash a shake of his head, laughing too.
"Yeah I'm pretty sure that's like a standard thing if you care at all about having a healthy baby", Cappie scoffs, the three of us still speaking quietly with each other.
"Right", Ash nods. "Which you guys actually do want… which is still kind of crazy to me that you're actually talking about a baby that's both of yours… it's still setting in for me".
"Well… it kind of still is for us too to be honest", I say with a sigh.
"Yeah I was just getting used to graduating this year… let alone becoming a dad", Cappie nods, taking part in the nervousness I was feeling.
"Well… me and Rusty know and we've talked about it and we're fully here for you guys", She gives us a sweet smile.
"Thanks, I'm so happy we're talking again Ash", I pucker my lip.
"Well I am too, you have your… baby daddy to thank for that", She laughs, giving us a joking look as me and Cappie look back and forth at each other. "Oh sorry… too soon to use that phrase?"
"No it's just… we only saw it yesterday so it still doesn't seem quite real yet. I think it's still hard to be called mommy or daddy by people", I explain. "The receptionist at my OB's called me mommy when we were leaving and I just about had a panic attack".
"Yeah tell me about it", Cappie nods with a sigh.
Before Ashleigh can say anything else there's a knock on the door. Rusty walks over to answer it and the person just continues to knock incessantly.
"Oh god… that's definitely Rebecca", I say nervously.
"Definitely, no one else knocks like that", Ash nods.
"Which means Evangeline isn't far behind". Cappie rolls his eyes in annoyance, using one of his nicknames for Evan. "Crap".
"Coming!", Rusty yells out to the door. "Calm down".
Rebecca continues to knock on the other side nonetheless as Rusty answers it.
"Well…", Cappie whispers, looking from Ash to me. "I'm gonna go hangout with Dale and pretend that we didn't wake up together this morning".
He gives me a devilish smirk as he walks away over to where Dale is.
I can't help but feel exposed now, looking down awkwardly as I know Ash is going to have something to say about this.
"You slept with him again!", Ash whisper screams and grabs my arm tightly, pulling me out of earshot of everyone else, going down the hall and into Rusty's bedroom.
"No, I swear I didn't", I put both my hands up like I'm under arrest as she looks at me seriously, both her hands on her hips.
She raises her eyebrow at me like she doesn't believe me.
"We just slept in the same bed that's all!", I say. "Seriously, I'm not sleeping with him or even kissing him right now, don't worry".
I assure her of this and then think to myself, backtracking a bit.
"I mean… I've kissed him once since we found out I'm pregnant… but just once!", I defend myself. "And we've… spent some nights together but only sleeping! And it's just because we're the only ones that can understand what we're going through and because it's been… it's been really scary Ash".
Ashleigh's expression softens then when she sees the worry on my face.
"Aw Case", She cooes then, moving in to hug me and we embrace. "I know, I'm sorry, I'm not trying to get on your case about him I just don't want to see you having a confusing relationship with the father of your baby. I mean… it was one thing when it was just you and him. But… now you guys have a baby to worry about".
"I know", I nod as we part. "Believe me, that's why I'm being so careful and why I'm not getting back together with him right now. But… Cappie's always been there for me, you know that. So I also don't want to turn away his help since he is the dad… and he's being really supportive".
"I know", Ash smiles at me then. "I think you're handling this well Case. And I know that it's hard for you guys to not want to go there… since it always has been hard for you two to stay away from each other".
"Yeah", I nod. "It… it kind of is. But I have to remind myself that I'm not a kid anymore and… ever since that pregnant plus sign showed up on the test I knew I had to put the baby first. So I am Ash. I'm not going to let things with me and Cappie get messed up before he or she gets here".
"Good", She nods, smiling, I think proud of me for being so sure about what I need to do now that I was going to be a mom. Even if I'm leaving out the part about the fact that it was killing me to not be with Cappie like I want to be… not let nights like homecoming happen again, not kiss him whenever I wanted to. I mean it was already difficult tonight earlier in his room when he pulled me into him and I felt his hands on my waist.
But I knew I was doing the right thing by just focusing on the baby right now, not on trying to be in a romantic relationship with Cappie.
"We should get back out there Ash, I have to act normal in front of Rebecca and Evan", I take a deep breath, getting ready for it.
"Especially in front of Rebecca", Ash nods. "She's like a police dog for secrets, it's like she can sniff them out".
The two of us giggle then as we leave Rusty's room to go back out where everyone else is.
"There you guys are! Thank god", Rebecca looks at us as she rolls her eyes slightly. "I thought I was going to be stuck with the guys all night".
"I'm here too Rebecca", Laura groans, crossing her arms.
"Right", Rebecca turns up her nose. "But… I already see more than enough of you at the house Laura".
Laura just rolls her eyes and goes back to watching Dale and Cappie play a game of Jenga.
When I look over me and Cappie catch each others eyes for a second until we both look away, going back to our respective conversations.
"Well it's nice to see you for once Casey", Evan gives me a look, crossing him arms across his chest, speaking sarcastically, and I already can feel a lecture coming from him. "Since you've basically fallen off the face of the earth".
"She's been sick Evan, stop being a drama queen", Rebecca rolls her eyes and I honestly can't believe that Rebecca is actually the person defending me right now.
"Yeah I've been sick the whole week", I nod. "I mean you saw me leave class that day to hurl in the trash can in the hall".
I groan at the memory.
"Right yeah. You've just missed a lot of classes, it's gonna be hard to catch up", Evan says and a slight smile crosses his face.
I just glare at him then, honestly annoyed with him lately. He was so much easier to get along with last year, I don't know what happened but he'd kind of been an ass lately.
"Yeah and you look so broken up about it", I give him back a taste of his own sarcastic medicine.
"Hey it's law school", he puts his hands up. "It's cut throat Casey".
"Yeah but you're supposed to be my friend", I sneer. "And… you've sort of been the complete opposite of that lately".
"Let's not fight guys, it's Calvin's birthday!", Ash tries to butt in.
"You know, Ash is right", I nod. "I'm not… that mad at you Evan. I'm just still feeling kind of sick but I'll be in class on Monday".
At least… I think I will, I think to myself. If I was even going to continue in law school at all.
"Good, I'm happy we're done talking about law school, I'm growing pretty tired of it taking center stage lately", Rebecca gives Evan a glare and I start to wonder what's going on there, if there's a rift between them. "I'm gonna go get a drink".
"Oh uh… there's actually only soda right now Becs", Ash gives her an awkward look, cringing.
"Seriously!?", Rebecca looks annoyed as she sighs. "What kind of party is this? Of course, leave Rusty and Dale to plan a party and this is what you get".
"Heath got stuck on the way home from the liquor store", I explain. "There's a lot of road closures with the snow".
"We should've just rescheduled", Rebecca groans. "This whole snowstorm thing is annoying, I knew I should accepted my offer to University of Miami three years ago!"
"Aw but then you would've never joined ZBZ and met us!", Ash grins, putting her arm around her.
"Yeah I guess", Rebecca shrugs half heartedly.
I can't help but look over to Cappie then, stealing a glance at what he's doing. Because even though it sounded stupid and I'd only been away from him for like half an hour, I actually missed him. I missed the way he understood how I felt all the time, how he knew what I was feeling and thinking with just a look.
"Please don't tell me you're still hung up on that idiot", Evan says, breaking me out of my thoughts as my gaze is brought back to him standing in front of me.
"No, I'm just… I was just seeing what game they were playing", I give Evan a dirty look, narrowing my eyes at him. "Since there's not much to do in this apartment right now… And don't call him an idiot, alright? I know the two of you got into some big brawl a couple weeks ago but I think you can find it in you to get along for the sake of Calvin".
"Who… isn't even here?", Rebecca questions.
"He's trying to get service to talk to Heath", Ash explains. "He'll be back in a sec".
"Good, since this is his party", Evan scoffs.
As if on cue Calvin walks through the door, looking a little depressed as he closes it and then walks over to us with a sigh.
"Hey guys, thanks for coming", He tries his best to muster up a smile.
"Well you look pretty glum for someone who's just turned the legal drinking age", Rebecca jokes.
"Well yeah, I can't even have a drink… my boyfriends not here to celebrate with me… and this party…", Calvin trails off.
"Sucks?", Rebecca fills in the gap.
"Yeah kinda", Calvin can't help but let out a sigh, looking at us awkwardly. "I appreciate you guys for showing up though, it's nice to see you".
"Yeah happy birthday!", I say, as if that'll make him feel better.
"I can't believe we're trying to have a 21st birthday party with no alcohol", Rebecca groans.
"Yeah I know right", I nod, playing along in fake disappointment but secretly feeling really relieved that no one else here could drink either. That made it a lot easier than me having to come up with an excuse.
"Hey guys", Rusty speaks loudly, standing in the middle of the room, trying to speak to all of us. "I know this party isn't exactly… what we had planned. Laura and Abby have already gone home so… I just want to say that you guys can feel free to go home too. The storm kind of ruined our whole plan for the evening… obviously there's no drinks… and barely anyone who showed up so…"
Rusty trails off with a sigh, looking disappointed.
"Hey… it's… it's not that bad Rus", Cappie jumps in, trying to make Rusty feel better. "I mean me and Dale are having fun, Dale said there's still cake to have… we're all together and we're all friends".
Cappie shrugs, trying to come up with reasons why we shouldn't all just give up on this party.
"I mean me and Chambers aren't but…", Cappie scoffs then. "That's besides the point. Everyone else in this room I love. So I think we can manage to have at least some sort of celebration for Cal's birthday, he deserves it".
Cappie comes over to Rusty, putting his arm around his supportively.
I can't help but smile a bit at Cappie, at the way he was always down to help out Rusty, at the way he cared about his friends.
I catch Evan rolling his eyes at this whole speech out of the corner of my eye.
"What do you guys say then?", Rusty looks around the room. "Is Cap right? Should we still soldier on and try to have a good time?"
We all look around at each other for a moment.
"I think we should!", Ash jumps up excitedly. "And I know exactly where we can do it! Doblers!"
"What?", Rebecca looks confused as do the rest of us.
"Doblers!", Ash repeats happily. "If you didn't know, because I've sort of been trying to hide it, I work there now which means I have a key! Which means we can break in! Which means alcohol!"
I can see everyone perk up a little bit at that.
"You'll probably get fired though Ash", I note, one, because I do care about Ash having some sort of income since I knew how much she was struggling. And two, because I didn't exactly want to go to Doblers, because I was tired and cold, and also because there I would have to try to evade drinking.
"Who cares", Ash rolls her eyes back as she groans. "It's honestly the worst job ever. I'll sacrifice my crappy job for Calvin's birthday".
Ash grins at Calvin then, who also has a growing smile on his face.
"Well… my birthday couldn't get any worse", Calvin nods. "I'm in!"
"We're seriously gonna dredge to Doblers in the snow?", Rebecca let's out a sigh, looking put off by this. I couldn't lie, I was kind of with her for once, I also would much rather go home back to ZBZ, or back to KT with Cappie, and just cuddle up in a blanket and watch TV or something.
"Yes!", Ash still looks excited, leading the charge for this idea. "Who's with me?"
"I'm in!", Rusty nods happily.
Me and Cap catch each others eyes then, I think both of us not having expected this to happen tonight.
"Well… I guess I'm in then too, screw it", Evan shrugs.
"Fine…", Rebecca moans. "I'll go I guess… I just didn't really want to get these boots wet, they're designer".
I can't help but scoff at Rebecca.
"Well as long as Laura's not there, I'll go too", Dale adds in.
"Well that just leaves Cappie and Casey, what do you guys say?", Ash looks back and forth from Cappie to me.
"Obviously Cappie's in, he's not gonna turn down a chance to drink for free", Evan sneers, looking at Cappie bitterly.
"Yeah… uh I'm in then I guess", Cap shrugs, still looking over to me, I think it being on his mind to think about if I was wanting to go or not. Now that we were back in each others lives like this and I was pregnant I think I was sort of at the forefront of his thoughts lately. And I couldn't help but like that that was the case… even if I shouldn't.
"Well… I guess if you guys are all going...", I shrug. "Then I will too… even if it's freezing outside".
"That's the spirit!", Ash grabs my hand excitedly.
"I'll go get the coats!", Rusty shares in her excitement.
"I'll help!", Ash jumps in to follow him.
Rebecca and Evan go stand towards the door and Dale goes over to talk to Calvin.
I see Cap walking over to me hesitantly, I think unsure whether to talk to me or not.
"You okay with this?", He comes over to speak quietly to me, everyone else pretty preoccupied, hoping they don't see us.
"Well… I'd rather go home but… it'll be fine, we'll just go for a bit", I nod.
"Okay. Yeah it'll be fine", Cappie nods, giving me a smile.
Yep… fine as long as I can keep everyone unaware that Cappie's baby was currently growing in my uterus.
Authors Note: thanks for reading if you have been! I read all reviews!! For this chapter I also left out Professor Simon Segal just because I felt like he didn't really need to be in this story, so for the purposes of this story he never dates Ashleigh.
What do you guys think, will everyone find out Casey's pregnant in the next chapter??