There's Always A Plot Twist | Wattys 2023 ✓

6| The Egg

Kenna ducks her head into the Starbucks on campus, trying to convince herself that her sudden craving for nuts is because of her pregnancy even though she is aware that it is way too early for that to be true.

She idly scans her eyes across the menu, backing up once she sees some of the prices, accidentally bumping into a familiar face on her way out the door. "I'm not cranky, I'm pregnant!"

Kaizen holds his hands up, giving her time to collect her bearings. "I just got here. What did I do wrong?"

"The world doesn't revolve around the damn Blakes!" Kenna screams, alerting everyone within a ten-mile radius of her existence. 

When she realizes her mistake, she squeezes her lips tightly together before hurriedly fleeing the store, striding away with her head hung low whilst folding her arms across her chest to get the most warmth from her woolly jacket.

Sprinting through random thoughts in her mind, Kenna stumbles onto a tiny pug wandering the campus. She looks around to see if the owner may be nearby but every passer-by either ignores the dog's existence or simply smiles before continuing on their journey. 

"Hey little guy, are you lost?" she asks in a sickeningly sweet voice as she bends down to check for a collar. 

However, once she gets closer the pug's big round eyes vanish, replaced by imaginary devil horns as he chooses to run into a nearby puddle, splashing Kenna in the process.

Kenna lands on her butt, wiping the water out of her eyes. "Great...just perfect..." she mumbles after shaking off the droplets that cling to her woolly jacket.

When she looks up at the pug, she catches it staring at her, waiting by a bush a few meters away. She tilts her head, seeing the devil spawn in a new light when it perfectly mirrors her. 

This was no accident and that is no average pug.

"You need a hand?"

Kenna looks up at the source of the shadow blocking her light, smiling kindly at Kaizen's offer to help her up. "Thanks, I'm fine, I just..."

"...you just what?" he inquires, following her line of sight but seeing nothing out of the ordinary next to the bushes.

"I think I was just attacked by a bitch wearing a collar."

Kaizen sputters, quickly swallowing the sip he took of his beverage. "Come again?"

"It's nothing, really." she mutters, unconvinced by her own words.

"Uh huh, here."

Kenna takes the smoothie from her ex, her eyes latching onto the mockingbird symbol on the bottle. "What's this for?"

"Drink it. Its full of vitamins and stuff. It'll be good for you and the...uhh."

Kenna notices him staring at her stomach, reminding her of everything that went wrong over the summer. "Yeah...thanks."

"I'm sorry!" he shouts as she tries to leave but when she doesn't stop, he blurts out his truth in a last effort attempt. "I'm sorry, I just...I was scared!"

It works, she stops, but the flash of annoyance that he catches isn't what he expected from her. "Scared...scared of what?"

"Kenna-"

"-No, I told you I wasn't with you for your money. I told you from the very beginning that I'm not like these other girls that you've dated before, I-"

"-you don't think I know your special?" he asks, closing the space between them. "You don't think I know exactly who I fell in love with?"

Kenna hates her heart for betraying her in the moment, wondering if her veins would do the same, wondering if they are showing him the hold his words have over her. "Well, do you?"

"Of course, I do."

The worst of it is knowing that he isn't lying, knowing that he knows her just as much as she knows him, knowing that every quirk or action is loved even when despised.

Kenna looks down at her arms crossed over her stomach, not ready to let go of her frustration because of a few sweet nothings. "I told you I was pregnant. Instead of celebrating, you called your parents...the very next day I got papers-"

"What?"

"-and then after we broke up, they sent me another set of papers threating to take me to court if I didn't let you see her."

"You think it's a girl?" he inquires, getting slightly distracted.

"I'm manifesting."

"Right, there's no way you could already know that." her utters, shaking his head. "I didn't ask them to do that."

"You didn't have to." Kenna sighs, closing her heavy eyelids, realizing that right now nothing she will say will make him understand. "You're a Blake...it's what you do isn't it?"

And then, just like in the movies, a crack of thunder summons the rain.

Kenna lets it take her, wondering if her bad luck is being done at the behest of a vengeful god.

God doesn't give us more than we can handle.

At another time her mother's favourite saying may have brought her a little comfort, but as of now it only fills her with more rage and bitter sadness.

When the rain suddenly stops drumming on her face, Kenna opens her eyes, not surprised to see Kaizen holding an umbrella over their heads. 

He reads the weather forecast, something that Kenna regularly forgets to do but always promises she will. It will never happen but that doesn't mean she doesn't see the value in it.

"Where you heading?"

"Home." she replies, saying nothing else as she turns on her heels.

The pair walk side-by-side silently underneath the large wings of the black umbrella, snuggling into the warmth underneath the magical portal that shields them from their cold surroundings. Romantic? Perhaps, but not under these circumstances, certainly not after everything.

By chance, Kenna looks into the first three parked cars they walk past. The first is empty, the second a lot messier with crumbs and discarded bottles all over the floor, but the last one forces her to stop.

"Kenna, seriously, get under the umbrella. You're going to get soaked."

"Kai, look, isn't that...?" she trails off, doubting her own eyes.

Kaizen knocks on the driver-side window, waking up the sleeping driver sitting in the front seat, resting with a pillow behind her head, two thick blankets over her body and a bonnet protecting her Caribbean locks.

When Amara winds down the window, Kenna looks up at Kaizen who shares her concerned expression, the clouds overhead darkening. "Have you been...have you been sleeping in your car?"