These Coming Years

Chapter Eleven: Time Passing

"So!" Rudy began as I hopped into his car. "Tell me why I'm picking you up at the airport, and why you aren't still in Vegas getting wasted and broke."

"You're not going to believe this," I urged him, somberly. I told him all about Vegas. Seeing it for the first time. My date with Brendon. How beautiful the hotel room was. And the last day; discovering Spencer's little secret.

"You're shittn' me!" his wide eyes averted between the road and me.

"I mean it, Rudy. He looked terrible," I shook my head at the image of my poor friend. "It just... I decided to leave. Give the boys time to straighten themselves out."

"What did B say?" Rudy asked, cautiously.

"He agreed," I shrugged. "He apologized, and told me he would call me." There was sadness in my heart for my early departure from Brendon, but it was overpowered by my anxiety for Spencer. It would be a terrible waste for him to ruin his life with drugs. Losing him would break us all.

-----

Marisol almost begged me to continue living with them until the baby arrived. Even then, she'd still want me to stay in town. If I was going to do that, I needed to call my mother. Putting it off wouldn't help the situation at all, but that's what I decided to do.

"I thought you and your mom would have outgrown this phase," Rudy commented. I told him I was going to wait to get in touch with mom until after I decided I was really going to stay in town. "Even if you leave tomorrow, you should still go visit."

"I..." I ran my fingers through my hair. "I don't think that's a good idea. I mean, if I wait to see her, then I can make my own decisions, and not be swayed by her guilt tripping me into staying." Rudy rose an eyebrow at me. "Don't look at me like that, man. She'll do it. My 'poor, old mother'. How dare I not take care of her?!"

"It's your choice," his brow surrendered. "Just don't wait until you accidentally run into her." Rudy had a point. If I stayed, I'd eventually have to face my mom. Better sooner than later. I'd have to suck it up and be the bigger woman some day.

"What are you two doing tonight?" I asked, watching Marisol from the bed. She was applying a soft coat of blush to her coco cheeks.

"Anniversary dinner," she replied, taking the time to give herself a good long look. Her makeup was perfect. Her lashes were curled just so, giving the perfect frame to her deep chocolate eyes. Her plump lips reflected with her gloss as she worked them up into a smile.

If Rudy hadn't married her, I would have.

"We haven't had a fancy dinner for a while," she continued.

"Seems like a good occasion ," I commented.

"It's almost the only occasion," she pointed out. "We just can't always find time or energy. Especially with my pregnancy. It's like, I work all day, and my feet swell up, and the last thing I want to do is dress up to go somewhere nice."

"I'm sure it's not easy." She replied with a soft mm-mmm. I noticed her free hand always fell to her belly. Sometimes she'd take the time to stare down at it, probably imagining what her child's life would be like, but other times, it was an absentminded motion. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

I thought about how I wanted to phrase the question. "Did you two...plan to have a kid?" I asked cautiously. "Like now?"

My friend sighed deeply, and it was the first time I had seen genuine sadness on her face in a long, long time. "No," she answered. "No, we didn't. We knew we wanted to have a child together at some point in our lives, not now. But we started getting complacent when we had sex. It didn't seem like accidentally getting pregnant would be a real problem." Her fingers traced lines on her belly. "I cried when I read the test as positive."