Indestructible: Reinforced

Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

     September 2012

     Present Day

     The door opened and I felt my pulse jump. He was here. Finally.

     He looked so good. I hadn’t seen him in a couple of weeks, and only now had I realized how much I’d missed him. I wanted to cry, my eyes were filling up with tears, but I wasn’t going to cry infront of him. I needed to keep whatever was left of my dignity.

     Drake walked over to my side and my dad relinquished my hand for Drake to hold it. He bent down and kissed me on the cheek. He looked so worried, and it almost pushed me over the edge. “Hey.”

     The word sounded like a caress. “Hi.”

     “I’m sorry I’m late.” He held my fingers up to his lips and kissed them. “Horrible traffic. How are you?”

     “I’m fine.” I whispered and nodded reassuringly at him. “It’s all good. Just glad you’re here.”

     “How’s everything going?” He asked my mom and dad. The OBGYN had left a couple of minutes ago. “Is everything alright?”

     “Yes.” Mom nodded. She wasn’t angry with him, Dad was. “She’s fine. And as far as we know the baby’s fine as well. She’s just taking some time.”

     “We’re going to be here for a while.” Dad sighed. “But if you have more pressing matters you should go.”

     “Dad.” I warned. I didn’t want him and Drake to start fighting. I didn’t like it when they fought.

     “I’m not going anywhere.” Drake looked at him. “I’m not leaving, Zachary, do you understand that?”

     Dad snorted. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

     “Dad, seriously!” I snapped. “Just drop-ow!” I bolted upright as another contraption hit me. God, it was painful. I squeezed Drake’s hand real hard and he had the decency not to yell out in pain. He just winced and squeezed back lightly.

     “It’s alright.” He cooed. “You’re going to be alright.”

     It passed and I sagged against the pillow. “I hate you so much right now, Drake.”

     “I know.” He groaned. “I’m sorry.”

     “Not about Amelie.” I panted. “I hate you for knocking me up and causing me all this pain.”

     “Oh.” He looked a bit confused. “Oh, sorry, I guess.”

     “But yeah.” I nodded. “I do hate you because of Amelie, but that’s beside the point.”

     He chuckled. “It’s a sticky situation, for sure.”

     “Where is she, anyway?” I asked. I didn’t know why, but we always talked about her when we were together. She always came up.

     Drake cleared his throat. “She’s uh…She’s outside.”

     I glared at him. “What?!”

     “You brought her here?” Dad snarled as he, too, glared at Drake.

     “We were together when I got the call.” Drake said defensively. “She insisted and I wasn’t in the mood to talk her out of it, obviously. I just needed to come here as fast as I could.”

     “If she so much as tries to get into this room…” Dad trailed off. The warning was clear in his eyes. “I’m serious, Drake.”

     “She won’t.” Drake reassured both of us. “She won’t try to get in here. She knows what could - and probably will - happen to her.”

     “And is she going to stay here till you leave?” I asked. “You said you’re not going, or was that just for dramatic effect?”

     “I don’t know what she’s going to do.” I answered. “I’ll ask her to leave in a bit when I tell her that I’m planning to stay.”

     “Sure she won’t break up with you?”

     “Oh, Aves.” He sighed. “If only it were that easy.”

     I laughed inspite of all the shit that was going on in my life right now. “She’s still clinging onto you with both hands?”

     He nodded and fidgeted. He didn’t like talking about her that way, even though he probably hated her as much as I did. “Anyways, can I get you anything?”

     “A baby laxative.” I answered and he laughed one of his hearty laughs that made me laugh as well. He was beautiful when he laughed, and the tension eased out of him a bit.

     “It’ll pop out when it’s ready.” He said. “Don’t rush it.”

     “I really don’t like when we call it an ‘it’.” I laughed. “It’s very demeaning.”

     “The baby or the ‘it’ thing?” He teased.

     “Very cute.” I punched him lightly and he laughed. “I hope it doesn’t get your sense of humor.”

     “You like my sense of humor.” He muttered to me and I smiled shyly and blushed.

     Dad shook his head and walked away. “Unbelievable.” He sighed. “His girlfriend’s outside and he’s flirting with you. Pick a side, Drake.”

     Drake closed his eyes and turned in his seat to face Dad. “Will you just give me a break?”

     “I’m her father!” He snapped and his eyes flashed. I got my menacing look from him. Weird, he was usually a very calm person. He was never angry. “Ofcourse I won’t give you a break! You’re toying with her emotions! Don’t you have any respect for her or your twenty-four-year-long friendship?”

     “I have every respect for her and our friendship.” Drake snapped back. “But you have no idea what’s going on. So don’t judge this, please.”

     “Dad, please.” I said before he could reply. “Just drop it. It’s fine, really.”

     “I just don’t like how he’s-“

     “It’s fine.” I said with an edge to my voice. I gave him a look that told him the discussion was over and that I didn’t want him to talk to Drake about it again. He gave me a reluctant look then walked away.

     “I’m sorry, Avy.” Drake whispered to me. “I’m sorry about everything.”

     “Hey.” I leaned towards him and he leaned in so he could hear me better. “Don’t you worry about that. It’s my fault, I’ll deal with it.”

     “I just hate it.” His eyes were full of pain and he looked like he was going to cry. A tear ran down my cheek and I sniffed. I couldn’t see him like that. It killed me. “I hate how everything is.”

     “It’ll be alright.” I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself down. I couldn’t break down now. “We just need to get through this and it’ll be alright.”

     He nodded. “Get us our baby.”

     I smiled a watery smile and nodded. “Sure thing.”