HEAT || Ja Morant

Thirty Three.

"We're having a baby!" Liyah screamed "I knew it!"

Before India could fully process what was going on, her phone was ringing. She looked and seen it was Ja, so she answered quickly.

"Hello"

"25 games bae" she instantly heard the disappointment in his voice.

"25?!"

"Ima miss the whole start of the season. 25 games is damn near Christmas." he said.

"Ja!" She heard someone in his background call his name, causing him to blow out a deep breath "ima call you back." he said, ending the call.

She pulled the phone away from her ear, tossing it on the counter as tears instantly started to fall down her face, she couldn't even control it.

"Oh nooo babes, don't cry" Liyah ran over hugging India

"This shit can't be real right now. I can't believe I'm pregnant, I don't know the first thing about being a parent. Then, Ja just got suspended for a long ass time and I'm sure the last thing he wants to hear is he's about to have another baby... I just -"

"Calm down!" Liyah interrupted her, knowing she was about to go on a full rant. "It's gonna be okay. We're gonna figure it all out. You're gonna be a great mom and Ja will be fine, trust me."

"Yeah don't start stressing yourself out already, we need you relaxed." Ren said "This baby is gonna be a whole blessing, I can feel it. I know it's probably scary right now but you have so much support. We're going to be here through it all and I'm sure Ja will too."

———

India had pretty much been an emotional reck since she first got the confirmation she was pregnant. One of the main things that couldn't seem to leave her mind is what if Ja didn't want another baby? She was also a bit insecure about the whole situation mainly because she didn't have that "woman figure" in her life that could help guide her, and possibly tell her what's it's like to be a mom.

All she had was her dad since she was young. Of course he taught her what he could, as best as he could but at the end of the day, he was still a man. He couldn't give her that same knowledge that a woman could. She knew her friends would also be there through this whole thing but neither one of them had kids either, which gave 'the blind leading the blind'.

The day after she took the pregnancy tests, she called and made an appointment with her doctor to figure out how far along she was and see what the next steps would be to start preparing for the baby. The whole appointment seemed like one big blur. Her emotions were all over the place. Even though she heard everything the doctor said, none of it really processed in the moment. She was still in shock that she was even carrying a baby right now.

Once she left the doctor's office and made her way back to the car, she ended up just sitting there, looking at the early ultrasound pictures she was able to get. There wasn't much to see just yet, just a small speck that the doctor pointed out to be the baby but she still couldn't take her eyes off what was there.

6 weeks, she started to think back on when she would have gotten pregnant.

Right around Ren's birthday she thought to herself.
Right around the same time I-

She couldn't even finish her thought before she broke down crying again. She immediately picked up her phone and texted the group chat telling Liyah and Ren to meet her at her house asap.

How could I be so fucking stupid??

———

"Aww, she's like a little bean right now"  Ren said looking through the ultrasound pictures.

"Not a bean" Liyah said as the girls laughed "I'm sorry I couldn't make it to the appointment with you, but I'll be at the next one if you need me."

"I got a couple of weeks until the next one. And I love how you're already claiming a girl Ren" India pointed out

"I know you're gonna have a girl. Watch what I tell you."

"Ja gonna lose his mind with two girls" Liyah said

"Speaking of... have you told him yet?"

"No" India dryly responded "that's why I called y'all over here.... I might have fucked up. Real bad."

"Oh lord." Liyah huffed "what's going on?"

"Initially I didn't want to tell him because I didn't want to stress him out any more than he already is, but now I have a bigger problem.... It's something I didn't tell y'all."

Both girls were now sitting up in their seats "Spill it!"

"I had sex with Melo and it's a possibility this could be his baby." Tears immediately fell down her face as she spoke.

"India" she heard Liyah start to speak "Are you serious? When did this happen? What makes you think it's his?" She asked a million questions at once

"I'm 6 weeks." India explained "6 weeks ago was right around Ren's birthday. You know me and Ja wasn't together around that time and I ended up having sex with Melo literally like a week before me and Ja made up."

"Did y'all not use protection?" Ren asked as India dropped her head in her hands, now crying harder than before. "No." she responded "I don't know what the fuck I was thinking."

Both girls jumped up and stood on each side of India, hugging her.

"I'm gonna lose Ja if this baby isn't his. What would I tell him? How am I even going to find out?" India asked "I can't go through this whole pregnancy not knowing if this baby is his or not... How could I be so stupid?"

"Stop saying that. You had no way of knowing Ja was gonna come back. Technically he broke up with you, it's not like you cheated on him or some shit. You honestly did nothing wrong." Liyah said

"I know but he's not going to hear that. The only thing he's gonna hear is the baby may not be his. He's literally gonna hate me."

"You said you're 6 weeks right?" Ren asked India for confirmation as she was scrolling through her phone.

"Yes"

"It says here, you can get a DNA test at about 7-8 weeks, before the baby is even born."

"Good! So we don't have to wait. We can find out what's going on now and handle it from there." Liyah said

"How am I gonna do that?" India asked "I can't even work up the nerve to tell Ja I'm actually pregnant. You expect me to tell him and then ask him to take a DNA test? He's gonna immediately know I had sex with someone else and that's not gonna go well. I can't do that."

"Ja's not even gonna know." Ren said

"How would he not?"

"Because he's not gonna take the test. You're gonna get Melo to do it."