The Things I Love About You Part 2 (Completed)

C h a p t e r O n e

The first thing we do in our 'new' house is start to move all of my stuff into Scott's room, since we decided that we will share a room, now. It is odd to think that we just moved into a different house without bringing anything with us. I heaver an enormous pile of clothes out of the closet in the room that was once mine and carry it into mine and Scott's. He is clearing space for me to put my things. Once I drop them into their spot, I turn and catch him by surprise by wrapping my arms around his waist and pressing a gentle kiss to his neck.

"What's that for, baby?" he asks, running his fingers through my hair.

"Nothing in particular." I say with a small smile before going back to get the remaining things in my old room. All that's left is a stack of old books, ones I didn't even remember were still in there. They are from when I was a little kid, probably from one of the first few years we had the house. "Scott!" I call, wiping some dust off of the top book.

"Hmm?" he says, poking his head in.

"Look what I found." He breaks into a grin and comes in, grabbing a book from the stack and laughing when he sees what it is.

"I can't believe you still have these."

"I know." I open one and flip through it, noticing the yellow starting to invade the outer edges of the pages. "This one's from when my mom was little. My grandmother got it for her when she was young."

"We should put these somewhere we can see them." I nod and carry them into our room.

"Where?"

"How about..." He walks over to a half full shelf above the bed. "Here?" I nod again and climb up onto the mattress to reach the shelf, smiling with satisfaction when the books are secured on the shelf.

"There. I'm officially moved in." He lifts me down my my hips and lets me settle on the floor before planting a kiss squarely on my lips. I hook my arm around his neck. "I love you so much."

"I love you, too. I'm starving. Do you wanna go get some food?"

"Sure. Out or shopping and then cooking?"

"Either one. I'm not the one who can cook, you are, so I'll leave it up to you."

"Can we get Chipotle?" I ask, biting my lip in the hopes that he says yes. After a few torturous seconds of contemplation, he nods. I squeal and drag him by the hand out to the living room. After I slip on my coat and boots, hat and gloves, and Scott does the same, we leave the house and drive over to Chipotle.

****

I sit at the table while Scott orders for me so I can call Kirstie.

"Hi." she answers immediately.

"Hey."

"How are you?"

"Good. We moved in today. It's weird, knowing that our vacation house is just our house now."

"Yeah, I bet. Hang on." I hear her set the phone down and her muffled voice says, "Jer, can you go get me some ice cream?" After a few seconds of apparent silence, she picks the phone back up and says, "I'm back."

"Ice cream, huh?"

"Girl, I love dairy."

"Not usually. Last time you actually wanted ice cream was when you were pregnant." She is silent. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bring it up."

"No, it's okay. I know how to talk about what happened. And by the way, I have definitely wanted ice cream since then."

"Okay, fine. You've only ever wanted ice cream when you're pregnant or if it's 'that time of the month'." She laughs. "And it's not your time of the month. So all I can conclude...is that you're pregnant?" She is quiet for a few seconds.

"God, you know me so well." I squeal, earning me looks from surrounding people.

"When are you due?" Scott sits down at the table, giving me a questioning look, but I hold up my finger to tell him to wait.

"August 28th."

"Do you know the sex yet?"

"No. Oh, that reminds me. I need to talk to you about Peyton."

"Uh, can we talk later? I'm about to start eating."

"Oh, sure. I mean, it's not all that important. Well, it kind of is. I mean...I'll call you later, okay. You can tell Scott if you want to."

"I will, babe. I gotta go. Bye, love you."

"Love you, too."

****

Scott's eyes nearly pop out of his head when I tell him that Kirstie is pregnant. His fork stops somewhere between the table and his mouth and his jaw falls open.

"You look like a crazy person." He puts the fork down.

"I don't know whether to be happy or scared."

"I know." I say, twisting my hands together in my lap. "I mean, I obviously want to be happy for her, but I'm scared of what could happen if she miscarries again. Or how Peyton would react. Again. He's so young, and to see his mom go through that, even once, is bad. Twice would be traumatizing for him, and obviously for her, too."

"I guess for now we should just push the fear aside and be happy for our friend."

"Sounds good to me."

"What are we going to do tonight?" I ask, changing the topic. He bites his lip a little and looks down at his food.

"I was thinking we could maybe hang out at home and play cards and blare Beyoncé?" My face lights up and I grin.

"Yes, please."