Best Friend's Brother

Chapter Thirteen

My happy mood lasted for about fourteen hours. As soon as I woke up Saturday morning and tried to slip into a favourite pair of pants and they were too tight to do up I was grumpy. This was not going to be an easy weekend no matter how much I wished it would be.

Glancing at the clock I saw it was only eight in the morning but I knew the people I wanted to talk to would already be up.

Changing into a pair of sweats, I thought about who to call first and decided to call Brianne. Normally I'd call Whitney first but she had her brother over this weekend so she'd be out. And of course there was always Nikki.

Nikki was my third best friend and she was always a wild card. She was a fantastic dancer, something no one could ignore, and she loved what she did. Somehow she had managed to do exactly what she had always dreamed of as if there were no obstacles in her path. She was currently a dance teacher in the local arts school and a professional choreographer on the side. Since she was so busy with everything it was hard to find a time when she was free. I'd like to be able to blame that all on her career and family life but the truth is she's always been like that. It was the main reason why I decided to call Brianne first but Nikki would always be my backup.

Brianne picked up the second ring with a cheerful, "Good morning Monkey."

I laughed. "Good morning my Leprechaun. How are you this fine day?"

"Pretty good, just watching TV, what about you?"

I sat down on the edge of my bed and chewed my bottom lip. "Wondering if I could ask you to do me a huge favour. I swear it's not something you'd hate."

"And what would that be?"

"I kind of need to go clothes shopping today. You know, on account of the fact that none of my clothes seem to fit me anymore. I was wondering if you'd be able to come with me."

She laughed. "Claire, of course your clothes won't fit anymore. You wear the thinnest clothes out of all our friends other than Whitney and that's just because she's too tiny to wear anything bigger. And you've got a baby growing in your tummy – of course you're going to need maternity clothes!"

I winced at the thought of wearing ugly maternity clothes. I would never let that happen. "So you'll come with and make sure I don't get anything hideous?"

"Sure thing. Is anyone else coming?"

"I'm going to call Nikki but other than that it's just us two."

Another breezy laugh. "Claire, Nikki's got a huge choreography showcase coming up soon so she'll be busy for the next couple of weeks. You'd have a better chance of convincing Matt to come with us."

I stayed silent for a second and she gasped.  "You still haven't told him!"

"What am I supposed to say? 'Thanks for one night that I'll never repeat and have a wonderful life with your girlfriend. Oh and by the way you're going to be a dad?' I can't do that!"

"Claire, you have to figure something out!"

"I will, I promise. Just promise me that you'll meet me in the food court at ten."

She sighed. "You'd better hurry girl. And I'll see you then."

As soon as I hung up the phone it rang. I glanced at the caller ID and smiled. "Hey Nikki, what's new?"

"YOU'RE PREGNANT?"

I winced at the loudness. "Nice to hear from you, too. It's so great to hear from you after such a long time."

"Cut to the chase, Rayne. I've been busy but not so busy that I wouldn't have time to talk to you about something this important! Why didn't you tell me when it happened like, two months ago?"