Sage

45

Harry.

"I'm telling you, man, you're fucking this up." I whisper-snap to Niall, gesturing to the heap of broken crib pieces. I'm careful not to wake, Ellie, who was fast asleep in the other room and ignorant of our doings. I wanted to have this shit done before she awoke but dealing with her idiot of a best friend had proven that impossible. It didn't help that the music festival we had to attend started in just a few short hours and I haven't even started to get ready.

Dangling the instruction manual in the air, Niall sassily retorts, "Um, no I'm not. I read the manual," 

I narrow my eyes at him before snatching the stapled paper and flipping it right side up since he had it upside down.

"This is in fucking Mandarin," I hiss, tilting my head heavenward and mumbling a string of profanities. My palm comes to my sweaty forehead as I do. We'd been kneeling on this floor for the past hour trying to put a simple crib together. If I'd known it'd take this long I would have hired someone who wasn't an absolute fuckin' tool. The only reason I called Niall is that Gale is filling in for me at work and is undoubtedly busy with double the workload.

"Those pictures are in English," Niall retorts, and I swear I lose it.

"You fuck- oh my God," I run a hand through my hair frustratingly, inhaling a sharp breath through my nose as I do. I need to calm down. This shit is stressing me out and it doesn't help that it's ninety-odd degrees outside and my fucking AC isn't working.

"Wait, look," Niall ignores me and reaches over for a plastic bag. When he pulls it up, I  recognized a white folded piece of paper in it. "I think it 's the English manual,"

I gesture impatiently for him to hurry and open it, and he throws me an unimpressed look before doing so. 

"I should be getting paid just to deal with you. I don't know how the hell Ellie does it."

"Shut the fuck up and read it," 

I grab the front of my shirt and fan it back and forth to provide myself some relief from the hot air, huffing a breath out.

"Okay, so it says this bit goes here. And we were supposed to be needing six A pieces, those tiny screws- where are they?"

I furrow my brows, looking across the scattered mess on the floor. I breathe a sigh of relief when I spot a small baggie of screws near the window sill. 

"Okay, now what," I say, getting back on my knees and grabbing the screwdriver.

Niall reads the instructions out to me quietly, and I do as he says, occasionally checking the paper to ensure he knows what he's talking about.

My eyes continue to flit the watch on my wrist, trying to keep track of the time. I know Ellie will be up any time soon. I want this to be a nice surprise for her since I know our little shit has been kicking her ass the last couple of days.

It wasn't until I was on a video call with our midwife, Ivy, that she asked what we were physically doing to prepare for the baby. 

I had no idea what she meant. It took a couple of seconds of her raising her brows at me before I understood, and then, I was even more confused. Ellie had about ten weeks of her pregnancy and we'd bought nothing for the baby. Not a onesie, diaper, or anything else they need.

As if I didn't have enough to stress about before.

I started looking online for baby stuff but soon realized I had no idea what to buy, so I called Gale. I knew he was close to his cousin Mia before he left Europe so he was my best bet.