Just The Girl

Chapter 18

D A H L I A

Spanish Latte, Flat Whites, Mocha Frappe—it has been a torturing five months since the last time I drank those, since the last time I tasted the wonders of caffeine. It wasn't because it dictates that pregnancy shouldn't be associated with caffeine, my mom just didn't want me showering Jellybean with it. My friends were also on mom's side, all of them were now in charge of my food plan. It makes me feel soft all over just by thinking about it.

"One Macchiato for Ivan and a Peach Cooler for Dahlia."

"I'll get it." Ivan had then got up from our table to take our orders.

Me and Ivan are here at the Cozy Bean, a coffee shop near his medical school. He decided to take me out this afternoon before we both would go to the hospital for my monthly pre-natal checkup. Ivan has been accompanying me all throughout my checkups for the past 5 months. And these past months, my baby bump has been growing bigger and bigger.

Today was a special day for me, and I feel very excited about it. I was going to find out Jellybean's gender, and once we all could finally know, it was time to pick out a permanent name.

"What do you think of Chloe?" I asked Ivan as soon as he came back with our orders. "Chloe's a nice name for a girl. But what if it's a boy?" I see Ivan placing the straw on my cup, sliding my drink towards me, not forgetting to tell him my thanks. I pondered on what he had said, chewing on my bottom lip as I wracked my brain for a nice name. "What do you think of Gavin?"

"Gavin is really nice too, Peach." Ivan had patted me on the head, making me giggle.

Ever since the day I knew that I was pregnant, Ivan hadn't left my side at all. He would come to my house after school and would just stay with me. He would drive me around the town during his free time, accompany me to all my pre-natal checkups.

It would be a surprise to admit this, but Ivan was acting more like a father to my child than Jace ever could, and I don't mind any of it. I'm actually really glad that it's Ivan stepping up, I'm very grateful for him, for everything that he has done for me and Jellybean.

While me and Ivan were conversing about mostly anything, at the corner of my eyes, I had spotted a familiar voice walking through the entrance, a smile immediately lighting up my face.

"Alissa!" I called; the said girl then turned her attention towards me. It's been so long since I last saw her. And seeing her now, it brought back a lot of memories of our times together when both of us weren't too busy, and before life's responsibilities had taken both of us apart. It was honestly refreshing to see an old friend.

I stood up from my seat as soon as Alissa started walking towards me, but my smile began to falter as soon as I realized that she wasn't smiling back. Rather, she had a hard expression. But that didn't bother me, I went back to smiling at her. "It's been so long Alissa, how have you—"

"I heard about what happened." She said in a flat tone, looking at me hardly. I blinked at her sudden indifference, looking at Ivan and seeing that he was observing our conversation now. I didn't understand why Alissa was suddenly speaking to me like this, as if all the goodness she had with me had seeped away into oblivion. This girl in front of me...she felt different.

"Hear about what?" I still continued to sound cheery, not wanting to make the atmosphere dappen as it already is. "When you confronted Steffi months ago. Like seriously Dahlia, pinpointing her as a villain is actually so low of you to do." Her voice was ice, her glare evident, and the seething aura was enough to make me take a step back. "A-Alissa, I don't understand—"