Quandary | Noah Sebastian |

twenty-two

"Can we name him Nicholas?" Noah asks before shoving another large bite of pasta in his mouth.
I rolled my eyes at his lack of etiquette and shook my head lightly. "No, we're not naming him Nicholas."
"Why not?" He pouts, whining.
I chuckled at his childish behavior, pushing my food around with my fork, shrugging. "We already have two Nick's in our lives, it's just gonna get more confusing, don't you think?" He mulls it over for a second, then agrees with a defeated bob of his head. "How about Nicholas as his middle name?"

I watched his lips curl upwards as he chewed—I knew how badly he wanted to name him after his best friend, but I just knew the confusion that would ensue.

"I like that idea," he says with a smile after finishing his bite of food. "But what about his first name?"
"We got time. It'll come to us," I grinned, shrugging lightly, and went back to pushing my food around leisurely.
He agrees and lays his hand out on the table, palm up. I quirked an eyebrow at him and he nods towards his hand, silently asking me to place mine there.

I do just that, his large hand warm as it encases mine with a gentle squeeze. "You okay? You've just been pushing your food around, not eating it," Noah inquires, tilting his head slightly with worry on his face.
"Oh, yeah," I sigh lightly. "Just tired," I grasp his hand lightly in return, hoping to reassure him.

Truth be told, I was anxious. He and the guys were set to leave in a week for the makeup shows, and even though he would only be gone for about two weeks, I was nervous as all Hell. What if something happens and I need to be rushed to the hospital? Or, god forbid, I get so stressed out that it leads me to have a drink?

I'd hate myself for that, and I'm sure he would, too.

"Hey," he shakes my hand a tad to gain my attention. I must've zoned out. "You'll be okay, Liv. It's only two weeks that I'll be away."
I huffed out a saddened chuckle, averting my gaze to my plate. I'm telling you, this man had a sixth sense. "How can you be so sure?" I asked with a slight tremor in my voice, my emotions beginning to make their way out the longer I thought about it.
"Because you're strong, Olivia." I scoffed and shook my head 'No'. "I mean it. You said yourself that the second you found out you were pregnant, you stopped drinking. That's not easy, and you know that. And we both know that you wouldn't do anything to hurt him."

I took a deep breath and nodded in agreement. Noah may be right about these things, but I still couldn't help the negativity from looming over me, and I didn't finish my lunch because of it. We decided to pack the rest of our food up to go home and relax; staring at it only made me feel nauseous, given the anxiety that was already running rampant within me.

He takes our bag of leftovers and stands, holding his hand out for me to take. I scoot out of the booth after taking his hand in mine and stand, his chivalry causing a light blush to coast across my cheeks as I smile at him, and he grins down at me.

Neither of us were paying attention as we started to walk out of the restaurant, and straight into another person. Noah apologized right away, and I began to follow suit until I locked eyes with a familiar pair of sharp green eyes.

They trail down my body, and I watched a smirk spread across his face once they landed on my belly. My breath gets caught in my throat, and I squeeze Noah's hand with apprehension. "Liv, what's wrong?" Noah asks quietly, and I can feel him looking at me with concern, but my eyes are still trained on Steven's.

"Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise?" Steven greets us with disdain, looking between me and Noah. "This is your husband, I presume?"
I cleared my throat. "Yes, this is my husband."
"Does husband have a name?"
"Noah," he bites out an introduction before I'm able to tell Steven to fuck off, letting go of my hand to stick his out for a handshake. They exchanged what seemed to be a firm shake.