The Kissing Booth: New Love

Alternate Chapter 31

Just like that the summer is almost over and we're at the point where I would be heading to Harvard, if I were going.  I can feel Elle watching me for signs that's I'm upset.  That I'm wishing I was heading off like the rest of my classmates. I can guarantee that she isn't going to see anything from me.  She worries I'll feel like I'm missing out on the college experience when in actuality, nothing could be further from the truth.

I went to lunch with Jayden one day last week before he left for Arizona State, where he was going to try to walk on the football team. Arizona wasn't too far away and I told him I'd do my best to try visit and watch a game, if possible, although I knew I couldn't promise anything. Life as I knew it was going to be changing very soon.  

Elle just doesn't understand my feelings about going away to college. At some point after I got accepted to Harvard, I had been excited about going, but that had more to do with getting away from everything in LA that drove me crazy.  That was, until Elle and I started dating and suddenly nothing about going away seemed like a relief anymore.  It had taken Elle and I so long to end up together and once we were, it didn't make sense to me to ever be away from her.  So even though we didn't plan the baby or everything else that's coming with it, I can't say I regret anything because now I do get to stay with Elle.  And I'm not putting my life on hold.  I am still taking classes this year and if we decide it makes sense, maybe we'll give Boston a try next year.  Or else we can look for schools in California.  I'm not worried about it. As long as Elle and I are together going forward, all that fear and anxiety I used to have is gone.

Elle and I had decided to wait until after the baby is born to tell our families about the promise we made to each other while we were away for the weekend.  We felt like getting engaged was something we were doing for the two of, well three of us really, and that we just wanted to enjoy it for a bit.  Since we were both so young, neither one of us was sure how our families would react and we didn't want them to make us feel like we shouldn't have done it.  And it wasn't like we could really act on it anyway, not until Elle was over eighteen.  So, for now, we kept it a secret. Our secret.

After we got back from our getaway, Mom took us to look at a bunch of apartments and eventually we found one that we could all agree on.  Elle and I didn't have much we were looking for, but Mom had a long list, so we pretty much followed her lead and agreed when she found the one she said would be perfect.  At the top of her list, of course, was location.  She didn't want us to be too far away, so it wasn't a surprise when we ended up at the one that was closest to our families.

Even more important than the apartment hunting was the doctor's appointment Elle had scheduled the week after we got back into town.  During this appointment we were scheduled for a sonogram, where we would get a chance to see our baby again and find out the sex.  As much as I wanted to find out what we were having, I was more excited to get a chance to see the baby again.  The baby was so tiny during the first sonogram, Elle was only 8 weeks pregnant and the doctor told us it was the size of a kidney bean at that point.  This time we'll be able to tell some of the body parts and it will be more recognizable as a baby.  The farther along we're getting, the more and more real this seems. 

The experience was every bit as exciting as I thought it would be.  The sonogram tech was pointing out all the various body parts as she recorded measurements and took screen shots but I could hardly pay attention to what she was saying as I stared at the screen, at our baby. 

But I was pulled back into the room when the tech asked a question, "Do Mom and Dad want to know what they're having?"

"Yes!"  Elle answered quickly, staring at the screen just like I was, squeezing my hand that was holding hers.  I only dumbly nodded both a little scared to hear if we were having a boy or a girl, as I knew that would make this even more real, and also by the fact that she had just called us Mom and Dad, which was terrifying to hear.