Consequences of a Party (1)

-17- Bumps and Smiles

The past couple of days had been going well. Ever since that day when Mason's mum and brother rocked up, and Mason gave them a piece of his mind, he felt great.

Ben was also not getting on Mason's nerves. Which was weird... but welcomed. He enjoyed having his best friend back. Not only that, but Mason felt like this whole pregnancy thing had settled down a little. He hadn't felt sick for a while. The nausea had just decided to miraculously stop, and the constant cramps had halted on their pursuit. The vitamins must have been working.

The bump had grown bigger as well, so now, Mason was forced to wear sweats and large jumpers, but the fact that all the shitty stomach pains and vomiting had stopped, brightened his mood considerably.

He was actually getting use to the whole "being pregnant" thing. Babies were cute anyway. They just sat there and giggled, how bad could it actually be?

"Ben?" Mason calls out as he hears the sound of the front door opening and shutting.

No response.

Standing from his little desk chair, Mason makes his way down the creaking hallway and out into the lounge room.

Ben sits sprawled on the couch, still in his greasy work overalls, stinking of sweat and oil. He could smell it from the hallway.

"Seriously? You could've gotten changed first." Mason scolds, standing in the doorframe.

Ben grunts, head lolling on the backrest tiredly.

"What's wrong with you?" Mason asks, scrunching up his eyebrows.

Ben was never one to feel down. Well, usually. He was the one to look at the positive in a situation. It was especially strange to see him come home from work with a frown on his face.

"Mrs O'Neil, brought in her stupid bucket of bolts back. Again. She just won't get rid of the thing!"

"So?"

"Martin, the jackass, passed it onto me, and now I have to spend over two weeks working on the stupid piece of shit, instead of working on the ex-racer out the back that I spent so long trying to fix!"

He didn't even take a breath.

Mason pauses. What did he have to say? He didn't see the excitement in building a  car... it all seemed pretty boring, and who the fuck was Martin?

"Right..." um, "Well, I'll be in my room studying, so if you need me. You know where I am." Mason awkwardly smiles, before turning back to his room.

Surely Ben would figure it out.

Waltzing back to his room, Mason sits back down, picking up his pencil as he beginning his diagram for a fake project he was designing, scribbling notes along the side. It had to have a certain criteria to fit into and everything, but despite missing most of his lectures, Mason thought it was turning out pretty well.

"Mace!" Ben yells through the apartment.

"Yeah?" He calls back, pausing from his work.

"You want fried rice for dinner?"

Rolling his eyes, Mason continues his work, yelling out a confirmed yes to his roommate. He was lucky that Ben could cook really, otherwise he'd be living on cup-o-noodles for the rest of his life. Since Ben was also frustrated as well, it meant there would be plenty of food left over for lunch tomorrow.

Ben had a tendency to over-cook when he was upset.

Twiddling the pencil in his hand, Mason continues his work, listening to the occasional clatter of utensils in the kitchen. he was actually getting a little bit excited. He'd almost reached twelve weeks, in fact, the twelve weeks mark was just around the corner.