The Hook-up

Chapter 69

She looked down at the shirt hoping he didn't notice the button pop buttoning it back up quickly.

"I saw that." He smiled at her standing in front of her unbuttoning the shirt. "Here...." He reached over grabbing his t-shirt that was underneath the plaid flannel. "You can have this one instead." As he placed it over her head. He backed up a little glancing at her figure. "Perfect." He smirked walking behind her to get something to eat.

"Do you want sweet potatoes, mama?" he asked her reaching into a bowl where she had placed baking potatoes, red potatoes and sweet potatoes. She walked behind him reaching into the cabinet near the potatoes for the cinnamon. "If you put some of this on them." She told him.

"Go sit down, I'll make them perfect." He said to her as she watched him pull out a cutting board.

"Just watch out for the dog...." She said pointing to Geronimo at his feet waiting for food to be dropped on the floor.

"Shhh...don't let her know..." he said seconds after she was out of eyesight dropping a piece of potato on the floor. He glanced over at Lauren seeing her sit down on the couch turning on E! to watch the Kardashians. He finished mashing the potatoes and warming them up placing several heaping spoonfuls of cinnamon on the potatoes. "Hmm...they aren't that bad." He said to himself pushing both the dogs away from him as he walked to sit down next to Lauren. "Here. I think they're perfect." He said handing her the plate of orange potatoes. He watched her bite into it hoping they made her happy.

"Hmm. Not bad." She replied smiling at him. "What do you think?"

He looked down at his plate of potatoes taking the spoon to taste them. "Well, they can't be much worse than cake and salsa." He told her making her laugh.

"That's my favorite so far." She told him.

"That is just so weird...." He responded sitting and watching her. He moved his hand over her to touch her stomach watching her odd reaction.

"What?" she asked.

"Do they hear us yet?" he asked her.

"No. I don't think so." She said reaching over to grab her laptop. She pushed the plate of food over to the side of the couch typing in his question into google. "No...." she said pointing to the website that said that babies don't hear sounds until they're closer to twenty weeks.

"So in like two months I can test the album out on them." He smiled at her taking his hand away.

"You can test the album on them at any time. It's just a matter of them not hearing it." She smiled at him.

"Oh, you're so silly, Lauren." He replied.

She shrugged her shoulders taking the plate back finishing the potatoes. "Bruno...do you wonder about them? Like who are they going to look more like? Or which one is going to be loud and which one is going to be quiet? Will they be good sleepers? Will they be healthy? Are they going to be boys or girls?"

"Okay..." he paused trying to remember her questions. Yes, me, they're both going to be loud, no, yes, and I don't care."

"You don't care if they're boys or girls?" she wondered.

"I mean...I need a boy...but if I have pretty girls like you then I'll be happy too." He replied.

"So you want them to be boys? I knew it!" she smiled. "I knew you wanted boys!"

"That's not what I said! I don't even want to know. I want it to be a surprise." He responded. "Like....yeah. I don't want to know." He told her.

"But what about everything else? Like I mean...showers and buying things for them..you have to know." She told him. He looked at her trying not to laugh at how serious she was being. "Stop!" she exclaimed trying to cry.

"Lauren....stop...." he placed his hand on her cheek leaning next to her. "Just calm down. We have plenty of time to answer all your questions."

"They'll be here in September, Bruno.....that's like....7 months....." she counted on her fingers.

"You just said it, Lauren...we have seven months. In seven months a lot can happen. Everything will be fine." He said keeping his hand on her cheek looking into her eyes.

"Thank you." She answered.

"For what?" he asked moving his other hand to her cheek.

"For calming me down. All those questions keep coming and coming and coming and I can't even sleep. It doesn't stop." She said feeling his head come toward her forehead. He kissed her lightly on the forehead keeping his head where it was. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Lauren." He said to her sweetly.