Allegro con fuoco

XXI

"Lils!"
"Eddy!" she shrieked, and before he knew it he was catching her in his arms.
"It's been too long!" she said as she let him go. He held her at arm's length and looked her up and down.
"Wow." he said quietly. He remembered going to the hospital with her, it didn't seem like very long at all ago, and seeing the little bulge on her flat stomach. But now? His pregnant best friend was... well, clearly pregnant. Like she had a volleyball under her shirt or something. She was looking good, though. Her skin shone, and had a healthy, rosy glow, and her hair was thick and shiny.
"You look awesome, Lils. Are you feeling okay?"
She nodded.
"Yes. Nausea's gone. I'm fine. I'm even dancing a bit again. How was your flight? How was it in Taiwan?"
He almost laughed as he thought back on the week he had had. How was it even possible to put so many experiences in one week?
"Flight was long. Week was awesome. And weird. I guess the biggest bit of news I can share with you is that Todd and Ian are now a couple."
Her eyes pretty much bulged out of her head and it took her a moment to answer.
"What? But Ian... he's straight, right?"
Eddy shook his head.
"Not anymore."
"Did... did you know that?"
"That Todd liked him yeah. That Ian liked Todd? Nope. Surprised us all, Todd the most."
"Wow!"
Eddy nodded.
"Yep. That was the general consensus. And you should see them now, Lils. They're so much happier, both of them. Todd has his swagger back, and Ian seems... well, he seems lighter. I don't know. His eyes have changed. It's... something else."
"I'll have to come over soon and see them."
"Yeah, I think there's a barbecue happening soon."
Lily smiled.
"As long as the meat is properly cooked." She rubbed her belly, and Eddy could see it was an automatic thing, but his heart jumped and he put his hand on her shoulder.
"Mama Lily. I still can't believe it."
She nodded.
"I'm starting to. Anyway. You ready for this?"

His heart jumped again, but now in a nervous way.
"Sure." he said, his voice sounding a lot more confident than he felt.
Lily had been his best friend for years, since they were classmates, since before he was even with Brett. He had been there through her relationship with Matt, he had been there to pick up the pieces of her broken heart when Matt cheated on her, and he had been there as she found out she was pregnant with the arsehole and decided she was going to be a mama.
To be honest, he couldn't imagine anyone better in the world to be someone's mama. But there was Matt. Eddy had promised that he would come with her to talk to him, about how they would handle things. And he had to, of course he did. Didn't stop him being so nervous he felt sick though. Hadn't stopped him from not eating today because his stomach felt like it had a brick in it. Wasn't stopping his heart from pounding now.
"It's in that lunch café we've been to before, right?" he asked as neutrally as he could.
"Yup. I figured home turf was better."
"Are you... are you alright?"
She eyed him suddenly and gave him one of her sweet smiles.
"Yeah. Nervous. But I know what I want out of the situation. And I have someone to do this for. I'm not alone in this."
She rubbed her belly again, her eyes shining. Is that what pregnancy was like? The unborn baby already the most important thing in the world?
"You're definitely not." he said.