Partners // l.r.h

DAY FIVE, PART THREE

I had gotten Nathan and Noah into their carriers and sat them on the kitchen counter so I could eat a little supper before I went to the six-thirty game that would start about an hour later. As I was eating, the rest of the family was upstairs except Dad, but he wasn't home yet.

I heard the heavy front door slowly open. I kept eating, thinking it was Dad coming home. Footsteps walked towards the kitchen, and I turned around to see if it was Dad. It wasn't Dad, though. It was Dane.

"Dane!" I exclaimed, jumping from my seat and running towards him, standing at the kitchen door. I hugged him for a minute straight.

"Hey Willow," he smiled, hugging me back. He looked past my shoulder, towards the kitchen counter and the table.

"What's this?" He asked, pointing to the baby carriers. He took a step towards them, but did not go any further than that.

"That's Nathan and Noah Hemmings," I smiled. His head snapped towards me, confused.

"You were never pregnant, Willow Grace Murphy," he spoke through gritted teeth. He didn't want to believe me.

"Are you sure about that?" I asked him. He looked at me sternly, not sure if he wanted to believe me or not.

"You would have told me, Willow," he made a point. We usually were pretty close, and he'd probably be the first person I'd tell if I was pregnant, other than the father. He continued talking, "and even if you were pregnant, it wouldn't have been with Luke Hemmings. You can't stand him."

"Yeah, well.. It was a mistake. Now, we're really close. I mean, we do have twins together," I shrugged, smiling a little. Dane did not take his eyes off of me.

As if to break the awkward silence, one of the babies cried a super-realistic cry. I would've thought it was real.

"Give me a minute," I told Dane, holding up one finger. I walked over to the kitchen counter and grabbed both carriers. It was so funny watching him freak out.

I took them into the living room and I sat down on the couch. I took the "bottle" that we were given, and I placed it in the baby's mouth. I then thought I should add something to this in case Dan walked in. I had the one carrier with the baby still in it facing away from the entrance to the living room, and I grabbed a blanket to place over my chest and the baby I was holding with the bottle. It would look like I was breastfeeding..

"Willow, you need to explain this right now-" he walked in, "oh, oh.. Sorry." He apologized, thinking I was breastfeeding.

"No, it's fine. Come in here, sit down," I motioned to the seat next to me. I smiled as he walked in and sat down.

"So what did you say their names were again?" He asked.

"This one is Nathan, he's sleeping," I pointed to the one in the carrier, trying to play it out as if they were real.

"And this is Noah," I pointed to the baby under the blanket.

"Oh.. Okay," he smiled, "I have two nephews before I even have kids of my own. I didn't think that would happen."

"Yeah, well.. It was sort of a mistake, but we're fine with it. Mum and Dad are supporting us too. They weren't happy at first, but they don't mind now. They like that they have grandkids."

"Yeah, I bet," Dane nodded.

I thought it would be funny if I added something else to this. I got up and acted like I tripped. I fell and dropped the baby.

"Willow!" Dane exclaimed, bolting from his seat and running to get the baby off of the floor.

"Wait.. This is not a real baby," he looked at me as I got up off the floor.

"Yeah, what about it?" I smirked. I had tricked him, and I got him good.

"You- oh my god.." He looked at me, partially annoyed, "how did you come up with the stories like that?" He snapped.

"Well, it's for a project for school, and Luke Hemmings is my partner-" I paused as Dane cut me off.

"Oh.. Sucks for you," he sighed.

"I know. And this weekend, we have to take care of these babies. He's at the school, practicing for a game tonight that I should soon leave for," I told him, "I think Luke would really like if you'd go. He, like, idolizes you. He loves how good you are at basketball."

"Okay, I guess I could go, but I need to say hello to everyone first."

"Yeah, you go ahead and do that. I'll get the stuff for the 'babies' and finish eating, then get my bag for Luke's since I'm staying there at his house."

"No, you're not. You're not staying at his house," Dane snapped.

"Yes, I am. We need to take care of the babies together," I fought him, "Mum told me I could, and so did Dad."

"I don't want you going to a boy's house overnight," Dane explained, "things could happen, like.. You could actually get pregnant and have real babies to take care of, not just fake ones."

"I think I can handle myself. I can even picture doing.. that with him," I told Dane, cringing, "plus, he has a girlfriend."

"Okay. I just want to protect you, Will," he hugged me before going upstairs to say hello to everyone. While he was doing that, I got finished eating and I got the babies' bags ready, and I had my bag ready.

"Okay," Dane stood at the front door just a few minutes later, "let's go watch a basketball game."