Erin had been so fixated on the small font in the prenatal pamphlet that she didn't hear him rush towards her. She'd been so engrossed in the reading material that she doesn't even feel him take a seat beside her. She honestly doesn't bother to look at him because she assumes the person that had just sat down was a stranger. It wasn't, and it took him nudging her with his shoulder for her to pull her eyes away from the pamphlet and look up, "Oh, hey," she smiles.
"Sorry I'm late," his eyes are drawn to the light pink and blue unfolded pamphlet in her hands, "I had to drop Abby off at her appointment."
"Technically you aren't late."
His eyes glance up at the clock on the wall before falling to the watch on his left wrist, "You're probably only saying that because you haven't been called to the back yet. You text me last week and then a reminder again last night that the appointment is at 11 in the morning."
"It's at 11:45," she admits, attention going back down to the pamphlet, "I just told you 11 so you would actually be on time."
Jay chuckles as he shakes his head while staring at her with such wonder in his eyes, "You are something else, you know that right?"
"I've heard it once or twice," she shrugs it off while her eyes remain on the pamphlet, needing to reread the last sentence because with him talking, he's proving to be a distraction, "So," she says, multitasking with glancing at the photos of mothers holding their newborns and talking to him, "you said you had to drop Abby off for an appointment. Is she here?" She tries to sound nonchalant and indifferent, "On a different floor?" This floor is for OBGYN.
He shakes his head, leaning back and crossing his arms over his chest, "No, not here. She has a therapy appointment."
Despite how curious and nosey she is, Erin doesn't probe. She doesn't want to overstep with a man she's only just starting to get to know. He's the father of her baby and she has to remind herself that it doesn't make them friends. It's none of her business so she forces herself to continue reading in order to suppress the urge to ask.
"What's that you're reading?"
"One of the many pamphlets they have on the stand," she nods towards the different varieties ranging from prenatal care, exercising while pregnant and sleeping when pregnant to adoption, labor and what to do when home with the baby, "this section right here is on what to bring to the hospital. I'll probably have to pack a baby bag closer to my due date."
He leans over her shoulder to read for himself, "Robe and slippers. Why do you have to bring that? Don't they offer some here?" She can feel his breath against the side of her face.
"Jay, you can't just read a few words and then ask a question before reading the entire sentence. It says here," she points to the line, "some women bring their own, right here," she taps at the line, "I can use the robe and slippers the hospital provides or bring my own."
"Which are you going to do?"
"I don't know. I haven't thought about it until this very moment."
His eyes go back to the list, "It also says to bring whatever will help you to relax."
"So, I guess that means I'll have to leave you at home then?"
That loud cackle of laughter that he emitted made her jump and caused for the pamphlet to fall from her lap. She didn't expect it. She cracked a joke, and maybe thought she'd get a smile but a laugh this hard and this loud was something she didn't expect. It was nice though. Erin reached low to grab the pamphlet, folding it back up and tucking it into her purse to go back to later. The two of them sit silently, twiddling their thumbs and hoping that the time would go by at least a little bit faster. It didn't seem like too much to ask. But knowing how the progression of time works, it's nothing either one of them can do to speed it up.
"So," Erin leans back, the back of the waiting room chair pressing into her, "Abby didn't break up with you. If I'm being honest, I was completely surprised to hear that."
His breath gets caught in his throat at the sudden change of conversation, "…you and me both."
It seems their best conversations always happen while in the waiting room, patiently waiting to head back to be examined and updated on their baby.
"…and you don't think that's weird?"
Slowly, he turns his body to face her, feeling his knees brush against hers but this time -unlike the first time he accompanied her to her prenatal appointment where their legs brushed together and he pulled away- he doesn't, he allows his legs to make contact with hers, "No…not really. I figure a lot of couples have stayed together after one of them have had a baby outside of the relationship."
"Okay," Erin accepts his answer with a nod. It wasn't her place to offer her opinion; they weren't friends. And she was the last person to judge someone else's relationship when she can barely keep one. Instead, she turns her own body to face him, smiling up and meeting his eyes, "…then I guess it was no use in freaking out, huh? At the end of it all, she stayed."
"I think she blames you."
Erin's head falls low, chin pressing against her chest as she tries to hide her smile, "Honestly, that's not surprising," and when he looks shocked by her acceptance of it, she continues to explain, "I just mean that…it probably makes it easier to stay in a relationship with you, to overlook your role in all of this, to pretend that you weren't responsible and that it was all my fault means that there's nothing to forgive you for, it's nothing to work through because technically you did nothing wrong," she shrugs, "I don't know what lies she's telling herself but you know what they always say, if you keep telling yourself the same lie then you'll start to believe it."
Jay stares at her as she stares down at her lap. There's a smirk on her face, one of disbelief because while she owed no one her celibacy, she's the one that's going to get the blame for sleeping with a man she didn't know was taken. Shaking her head, and sighing, she draws both of her hands to the slight curvature of her stomach. And he watches with such an intrigue that has him wanting to reach out and touch it for himself. But he doesn't because he's heard the words of warning from women to never touch a pregnant woman's stomach without permission. And he's too chicken to ask right now, not when she's processing the fact that the woman he's dating, a woman she's never met probably pictures her as the devil incarnate.
"Abigail," he says his girlfriend's whole name so formerly that it draws Erin's attention, pulling her eyes up to meet his, "she uh, she may not have wanted to break up with me but telling her the truth, all of it, it uh, it was far from easy. I got home and she was there and I didn't expect her to be home," he notices a strand of hair out of place and he desperately wants to move it, to put it back, but out of fear that he'll be crossing a line, he keeps his hands at his side, "and she wanted to celebrate getting a new job but I broke her heart instead. I couldn't wait another day. I told her on one of her happiest days and I don't know if that was selfish of me or not. She got," he swallows roughly because he's still bothered by this, "she got a tattoo of my name on her chest which really rubbed me the wrong way, I didn't like it at all, and she was just so angry about everything I said, rightfully so, but she took it out on my apartment, specifically my living room."
He doesn't tell her about the threat she made on her own life. He doesn't mention that he practically had to convince her to go to therapy. He refuses to tell her that he chose not to end things with Abby because he does care for her and he doesn't want to see any harm come to her. She just needs help. And the least he can do after everything he's done is help her get help.
She should be at her third therapy appointment today. It was scheduled around the same time as their prenatal appointment.
Erin raises a hand to move the loose strand behind her ear, shifting in her seat uncomfortably because now they're entering new territory. It's an area that she's not sure she, as the mother of his child, should be in. There was a feeling in her gut, and it wasn't a symptom of her pregnancy, but a sinking feeling of apprehension. She's not the person he should be talking about this with because she's not his girlfriend, she's hardly his friend and she's pretty sure that Abby wouldn't approve of this current topic of conversation. That piece of hair, the one she had just pushed behind her ear was now back in her face forcing her to shove it back again. And as she does it, she sees his eyes following the strand, watching it as he waits for her to say something about what he just said.
All she can do is chuckle nervously, "Do you think it's a good idea to talk to me about your relationship with Abby, you know, considering everything that happened?" Her eyes cast down towards her stomach, filling in the imaginary blank in case he couldn't make the connection.
"It's not a good idea at all," he admits, but she gets the sense that his sentence is unfinished, "but who else can I talk to?" He shrugs. And now he's turning away to face forward, his leg no longer touching hers the second he's back in his initial sitting position.
"You don't have any friends here?"
He doesn't face her when he shakes his head. He stares at the clock that she was obsessed with staring at a few prenatal visits ago. He doesn't even take a glance in her direction when he offers a verbal answer, "No," he whispers, suddenly feeling naked and immersed in a vulnerability that he isn't used to being surrounded in, "…not really."
And she's still learning about him. Slowly, but surely, she's learning about him, -his body language, his facial expressions, his unsaid words and so much more. She's learning.
But, it doesn't take a genius to know that he's feeling vulnerable. He admitted something to her that appears to be a sore subject for him. He's putting himself in a position where her next words could possibly help or hurt him. He's offering an olive branch, the idea of wanting to be friends and opening oneself without giving away too many details offers a shield of protection around him, one that she understands because she's done it before. She knows that he isn't close to his family but she doesn't know if he has any supportive relationships -besides Abby- and she's not too sure about using the word supportive to describe that relationship but he's alone. That much she can sense. He's alone and he's scrapping for a relationship, no matter the kind, whether friendship or romantic but he needs a healthy one.
And Erin can be that person for him, the friendship that he needs, "So," she bumps shoulders with him and smiles, "why were you freaked out about the tattoo? I thought couples do stuff like that," she smiles when he tilts his head to meet her eyes, "…or at least some of them."
"I don't know," he turns back to face her, his knee brushes against her leg once again, "maybe it's not weird for other couples, but us…" he sighs, thinking of their relationship, especially after these last couple of months, "if you knew our relationship then you'd probably agree."
Erin wants to take his hand, or rest her hand on his knee or maybe even squeeze his shoulder but she doesn't know how he'll react. To keep her hands still, she pushes and traps them between her legs, smiling awkwardly at him when his brow raises in curiosity as to what she's doing. She doesn't answer, instead she resumes the conversation where they left off, "You don't sound happy, Jay, not about anything you've just told me. You never sound happy when you talk about her."
She hopes she isn't crossing a boundary with her words. She's just being honest, calling it like she sees it. It's an engrained aspect to her personality.
"I am happy," is his response.
"I don't believe you," and that's her reply. Short, simple and straight to the point. She doesn't believe him. She may not have had a successful relationship but when she thinks of a happy, successful and healthy relationship, she thinks of her parents. For all their flaws and their arguments, at the end of the day, they're happy and they love each other. It's the kind of love that she wants and hopes to have one day.
"Abby and I," he chooses his words carefully, "we have problems just like every other couple and sometimes I'm happy in it."
"…and sometimes you're not.?" She poses it as a question even though she knows the answer.
"Just ignore what I said about the tattoos." He sits up straight but he doesn't turn away from her, he leaves his knee pressed against her leg. And she couldn't help but smile softly.
It's obvious that he wants to shut down the conversation. It's tipping into a territory that's uncharted. It's only been explored by him in his own mind, never with someone else to get an outside opinion. Erin can kind of understand, for a moment she thinks of her last boyfriend before pulling her hands out of their trapped position between her thighs to stare down at her hand, to stare at the scar spanning across her wrist and before she can get trapped in the flashback, she blinks out of the dark path her memory was starting to take her down. She looks up to find his eyes and she follows his gaze back down to the wrist she was just staring at, she smiles, it's a fragile grin because she knows he's looking at the scar and it's the first time he's ever seen it. He wants to ask about it but he doesn't know how she'll take it and she appreciates his silence, him biting his tongue and suppressing his investigative nature.
Erin reaches out to rest her hand on his thigh, not even thinking about the reasons why she didn't want to touch him in the first place but the act causes him to blink back into focus and pull his eyes away from the scar blemishing her once perfect skin, "Okay," she whispers in response to his last words and she notices that now he isn't looking at her wrist but is instead looking at her hand on his thigh and a part of her expects him to ask her to move it, but when a minute passes without another word, she keeps it in place and continues her earlier thought, "then tell me about when she destroyed the living room."
He's still staring at her hand when he answers, "She didn't really destroy it," he doesn't like that choice of word she used, "She just made a mess of it." Jay reaches up to scratch behind his ear, a nervous tic that she picked up on early on, "I guess it was the only way she could express her anger. I felt bad for her. I feel bad about this entire thing."
"I uh, I don't want to overstep."
"…then don't."
Erin sighs, "…but if we're going to be friends then we have to be honest. Friends don't lie to each other. And I don't want to lie to you," her hand squeezes his thigh, drawing his eyes down towards it, "but I think the guilt of you having a baby with someone outside of your relationship makes you think its justified for you to be unhappy in that relationship, like you deserve it or something. It's torture to force yourself to stay with someone that you don't want to be with, and it's going to be even harder to merge two worlds -the one of you being a boyfriend and the one of you being a dad- that I don't think will be able to coexist. That's just my opinion though."
He's still staring at her hand on his knee, "She thinks I'm going to resent the baby."
"…that's one of my fears too," she pulls her hand away and his eyes follow it. He tries to force himself to look anywhere but at the scar but now that he sees it, now that he knows it's there, it's hard to ignore it. It's hard to pretend that it doesn't exist.
Jay knows there's no way for him to reassure her because he doesn't know if it'll be true or not. He doesn't want to resent his baby, and right now he doesn't, but he doesn't know what the future holds. He raises his hands to rub his hands roughly against his face, briefly thinking back to when their conversations were about simple things like food and hobbies, but now they've opened up pandora's box and he doesn't know how to close it.
"I think," his words are a little muffled by his hands being pressed against his face, "it's a little unfair to judge Abby or my relationship with her without knowing her," and that causes a brow of hers to raise as she considers his words, "Have you given the bonfire invite anymore consideration?" He invited her two weeks ago and he hasn't brought it up again until today.
"…not really if I'm being honest."
"…because of the whole Abby mess?" He holds his breath as he waits for a reply.
"That's a big part of it," she honestly admits. She's kind of scared about looking the woman in the eyes, about meeting the woman whose heartbreak she played a part in whether she knew about it or not. She's a coward because she's too afraid to face her.
"She says she wants to meet you."
"At a work event?" Erin furrows her brows.
And he nods, "I suggested dinner at a restaurant," he starts, glancing up at the clock on the wall to check the time because it appears that doctor's appointments never want to start at the actual time it's set for, "but she said," he pulls his eyes away from the clock and cast them back down to the scar on her wrist, "if things don't go well, both of you will be forced to sit at the same table and eat whereas the bonfire will be outside with a bunch of adults who won't have the slightest clue they're running interference if things go wrong."
"What kind of things is she expecting to go wrong?"
"Nothing," he immediately responds, wanting to stop any suspicious thoughts before they enter her mind, "I think it's for just in case."
"And what do you think about this? Did she get your opinion on it?" Erin knows the answer even though she asked the question. It was easy to assume where he stood on it.
"I don't want this to happen but I realize that it'll have to happen eventually," and Erin already knows why this meeting between her and Abby needs to happen without him even saying it, "It's just prolonging the inevitable."
She considers his words, turning forward to stare at the clock herself, wondering if it was an accurate time because if any more time passes without her name being called then she might have to complain to the receptionist. Maybe she'll give it a little longer? Only because this conversation is needed and she doesn't mind having it right now, "She won't try to beat my ass?"
"No," he looks affronted by the thought of that, "but if she did, I won't let her."
Erin chuckles at the look on his face, "I'm surprised she didn't try to beat yours. I mean…I didn't get pregnant by myself. My egg did need sperm to create this baby."
It's so weird that they can joke about this now. Him impregnating her. It's the topic of a joke between them, no one else, because no one else would find it funny.
"For a second, I did think she was going to beat my ass. Instead, as we both know, she just took it out on my living room. I think I'd rather she had just beat me up though."
"Did she break a lot of things?"
"…not many. It can be easily replaced."
"Now that I think about it," she smirks and taps her chin with her pointer finger, "I actually think that's reasonable considering the news you told her." She laughs at the end.
He's telling the story again but this time the two of them are laughing, especially as he continues, "And like I told you, she was planning to surprise me with a tattoo she'd gotten," he starts to laugh a little louder because he cannot believe his life right now, this is actually his fucking life and he's laughing because he's in disbelief but maybe he's laughing too crazily because she's looking at him with concern in her eyes, "of my fucking name, Erin," he starts to calm down, "over her fucking heart," he whispers the last part. This time it's him that covers her knee with his hand and it's her that stares at his thumb caressing gentle patterns into the limb, "What is my life right now?"
"I know you wanted to move the conversation on from the topic of the tattoo but it's obvious it still bothers you. I mean… I figured the two of you were serious considering you're living together and she moved down here to be with you, but I never thought you were permanent ink over the heart serious."
"I didn't either," he exclaims in absolute frustration, "Isn't that strange?"
She decides to take a different approach than the one she took earlier because the last approach made him shut down and want to change the conversation, "Maybe…maybe not. I mean I've heard of people getting a name tatted on them for less reasons," she's trying to give him a different way to look at it, "I mean, you're in a relationship with the girl, she probably loves you and sees herself spending the rest of her life with you. I personally wouldn't get a boyfriend's name tattooed on me but that's just me," she throws both of her hands up into the air, "I only control my body just like she controls hers. And you control yours," his hand that rests upon her knee, she covers it with her own for just a few seconds, "she got your name tattooed, it's not much you can do about it now because it's already done but that doesn't mean you have to get hers. Just look at it like a token of admiration, kind of like when fans get celebrities names and faces tattooed on them because the celebrity inspired them in some way, try to look at it like that…maybe that'll help."
Maybe it will.
Maybe it won't.
But, it's worth a try because right now, he can't bear the thought of looking at his name inked over her heart. He's tired of her hinting for him to get her name tattooed on him.
And before he can ask her a follow-up question to delve deeper into the idea of tattoos, her name is called and they're expected to follow behind the nurse.
With as many prenatal appointments as they've had already, this is just another one with the same routine, just a different nurse since the last nurse they had at their last appointment works different days.
Erin steps onto the scale, standing tall and staring forward as the numbers in red go up and down until they balance out enough to settle on her exact weight in pounds and ounces. She doesn't want to look at her current weight but she feels a gravitational pull that forces her eyes to look away from the wall and down towards the bright, red numbers, "This is the heaviest I've ever weighed in my life," it comes out in a whisper that both Jay and the nurse overhear.
"And you'll only be getting bigger," the nurse replies, patting her shoulder and directing her towards the seat so she can check her blood pressure.
The blood pressure cuff is wrapped around her upper arm, and Erin rolls her eyes at the nurse's words, "Way to further bring down the mood." She didn't need to be reminded.
But, the nurse didn't mean any harm by her words, she simply chuckled at Erin's response before replying, "That's a good thing. It means baby is growing." Her eyes stayed on the machine, watching as the numbers went up and down, while the cuff tightened until it received an accurate reading. Once it did, it loosened up enough for the nurse to unstrap it and set it back on the hook of the machine, "I know the idea of putting on more and more pounds while pregnant isn't desirable but it's expected. You should not weigh less than what you did weigh before you got pregnant and you should not weigh the same amount that you weighed before you got pregnant."
"I'm only 18 weeks pregnant and I've already gained ten pounds."
"…and Erin, you'll have gained more by the time you're in your third trimester." Waving for the younger woman to follow her to the exam room to wait for the doctor, she imparts a few words of wisdom, "my advice to you sweetie," and she takes a brief glance at Jay to ensure he was following along as well, "is to not focus on the weight gain, focus on your baby and reminding yourself that all of this you're going through is going to give you a precious little human being. I have four kids of my own, the size of my hips now will never be the size they were before I had my first, but I don't regret any of the changes to my body especially when I look into their eyes. It'll all be worth it once you hold that baby in your arms. Trust me."
"Four kids," Erin repeated to make sure she heard the nurse correctly, "how did you possibly do this," she points to her stomach, referencing her pregnancy, "four times, well I assume four times unless you had multiples at once."
"Nope, it was four times. My oldest just officially became a teenager two weeks ago, I have a ten year old, a seven year old and my youngest will be starting kindergarten this fall, he turns five next month. And I know pregnancy is not easy, and you're only 18 weeks into it so you have a lot left to go through but trust me when I tell you that once you deliver that baby, you look into their eyes, you hear them cry, you listen to them breathe, you witness their first smile, you feed them, you hold them, then those nine months will have been worth it. What's nine months of pregnancy to loving them for the rest of your life?" The nurse takes one hand and Jay takes the other to help Erin up onto the exam table, the paper covering it wrinkling and shifting as she squirms to get comfortable. It's never comfortable in here. Not for her.
"I appreciate you trying to calm my nerves," Erin whispers to the nurse, and she wishes this was the nurse she always ended up with, but with shift change, with different days of the week and with her appointments being so spaced out, she never knows who she'll end up with for a nurse.
"No problem, trust and believe you're not the first expectant mother hung up on gaining weight. I'm surprised you didn't bring up stretch marks. I hear about that a lot from other moms-to-be."
Erin chuckles, leaning back until her back rests against the propped-up portion of the exam table, "Oh, you don't want to get me started about the stretch marks. I have a couple on my thighs now."
"…just wait until your stomach gets bigger then they'll really start to show."
Jay feels like a backseat rider to this conversation. He cannot contribute in no way, shape or form to this conversation because he's never and will never be pregnant and Erin rarely, if ever, talks about the struggles of her pregnancy and symptoms with him. The only symptoms she's ever mentioned to him that he can recall is her increased appetite and mood swings. He makes a mental note to talk to her less about Abby and more about her symptoms.
It isn't long before the nurse makes her exit and the doctor makes his entrance. And just like her previous appointment, she gets an ultrasound and it's weird when the doctor tells her that her baby is sucking their thumb. Baby is growing, baby is at a good size and apparently baby is moving around in the limited space that is her tummy. It wouldn't be any surprise if she starts feeling movement within the next few weeks.
She's 18 weeks; a little over four months pregnant.
Her baby is the size of an artichoke and Erin had Jay google a photo to help her visualize the size.
And she did ask a question about her leg cramps, which apparently are a sign of dehydration so she's advised to increase her water intake. She rolls her eyes, kind of wishing that Jay hadn't heard because there's no doubt in her mind that he's going to bug her about it.
Other than that, it's a quick appointment, it's faster than all of her previous ones.
And by the end of it, she's holding a few copies of the sonogram and he's holding only one, knowing that there is no one else in his life who would probably need one or enjoy to have one. Only him, but that's fine. He happily slips the photo into his wallet for safekeeping.
"I think I'm going to buy a magnet just to plaster this photo on my new refrigerator," she tells him while staring down at the picture. She can't seem to pull her eyes away, "Oh that reminds me," she's still staring at the picture even though she's talking to Jay, "I need to text you my address."
She's referring to her new one since she never discussed or gave him Kim's address.
It's hard to believe that at her next prenatal appointment, she'll be 22 weeks pregnant, she'll be five and a half months along, more than halfway through her pregnancy. She'll be closer to the finish line than the beginning. Where is the time? And why is it going by so fast? This cannot be real life; this cannot be her reality. It felt like just last week she was taking a pregnancy test, she was meeting Jay, she was telling him about her pregnancy and now, they're meeting up for appointments and will soon be co-parenting together.
"I'll text you mine too," he informs, even though he doubts she'll ever need it. He lives with his girlfriend and for her to stop by means that she'll have to see Abby. She doesn't decline the offer though because you never know, one day she just might need it. Carefully, to ensure she didn't bend the corners, she puts the copies of the sonogram away before retrieving her cell phone and sending off the text, reciting her address. He stands in front of her, silently texting and sending her the same. She rocks on her feet, side to side as she puts her phone away, "I uh," she hears him start to say, but it doesn't pull her away from reaching for a copy of the sonogram, -she wants to see it again, "I want to get to know you," upon hearing his words, her breath gets caught in her throat, and releasing the sonogram picture, she pulls her hand out of her purse without it, "I want us to get to know each other. I don't want to be strangers when the baby comes."
"I don't either," she agrees.
"Good," he sighs in relief, "I figured we can at least be friends."
"It'll definitely make it easier to raise a kid together."
Erin turns to head towards the exit when his next question pulls her to an abrupt stop, "Have you thought more about the bonfire?"
"…not much."
"I think it would be a good idea."
She turns around to see him walk closer, "I don't know," she shakes her head, "call me a coward but the thought of coming face to face with the woman whose boyfriend got me pregnant has my nerves skyrocketing. I don't know if it's a good idea."
"You'll have to meet each other eventually."
"Do we though," she tilts her head to the right as she peers up into his eyes, "We could both just continue to avoid each other and pretend like the other doesn't exist."
"…please," he murmurs, "You'll be doing me a huge favor. She keeps bugging me about it."
"Why does she want to meet me so bad?"
He doesn't know so he simply shrugs his shoulders before replying, "I think it's her way of trying to prove to herself that she's moved on."
"It's only been a couple of weeks since she found out! No one would judge her for still being upset about this. I mean, this isn't something to be taken lightly. I'm not your girlfriend, she is, yet I'm the one pregnant with your kid. Any person in the world would be angry about this."
"…maybe she thinks it'll help her. I don't know, I'm just guessing here, but she seems to be adamant about the two of you meeting. For me, can you just do this? Please."
A beat of silence passes between the two of them as she looks into his eyes. She can tell that he's holding his breath, waiting to hear her answer and whatever answer she gives, he'll accept whether he likes it or not. Erin takes a small step closer and rolls her eyes before giving in, "Fine," she whispers, shoulders deflating in defeat, "I'll go, but," and she says the but strongly, "remember I told you that if I go I'm bringing my best friend. It's about time the two of you met and if I'm forced to meet Abby then you're forced to meet Kim." The invite came two weeks ago, and most of the time she's been preoccupied with moving that she put thinking about it on the back burner. It wasn't a priority considering they didn't even have a date for the bonfire yet.
Jay throws his arm around her shoulders as the two of them walk out of the building, "That's fine," it's obvious he's happy about this because for him, that means Abby will stop bugging him about convincing Erin to come, it means that she'll stop asking him every single hour of the day if Erin agreed to attend and it'll mean that's one more thing he's done for Abby that she'll be happy about, "bring her. If she keeps you in a good mood, then hopefully the two of you will get along."
She elbowed him in the side and it forces him to drop his arm, "If we don't get along, it has nothing to do with my mood, Jay. I can be a little hormonal but if Abby's a bitch to me, I'm going to be a bitch back whether I'm hormonal or not."
"I didn't mean anything bad by that Erin. I just…" he runs his hand over his face and sighs, "I just want to thank you for even agreeing to do this and I just think that both of you can get along."
Erin sees the desperation in his eyes, the plea in his voice and the anxiety covering his features.
And she feels bad for him.
She reaches out for his arm and carefully wraps it back around her shoulders before looking up to meet his eyes and affirming, "We're two grown women. I'm sure we can make it work…for you."
And she was going to try her hardest. She was going to do everything in her power to at least try and make sure this introduction is a success.