ride or die // a. trujillo

15 // White with Colored Accents

Baby, baby, baby oh.
Like, baby, baby, baby no.

Sixteen weeks in. Three months. I wasn't like most mother's-to-be, I didn't have any differences with how I look. I look as if, I haven't gained weight. I don't look pregnant at all. "Don't you think it's weird that I don't look like I'm pregnant."

"You're only three months. And a newbie when it comes to this." Luna says as she looks up from her phone in the passenger seat as Stacey drives to the clinic. "Your muscles haven't stretched yet, it's not like when you expect your second child. Your body is still getting used to it."

"Mm. Okay." I answered as I laid my head on the rest.

"According to a myth my mom told me, it's because not everybody knows. Like, it depends on who knows you're pregnant and not." Stacey took a left. "She's Filipino. So, they have a lot of myths. I'm not so sure if any of them are real."

I nodded. "She also told me a story about her pregnancy. She was young, 17? She didn't tell anybody, and nobody noticed. Her parents only found out when she was going to give birth. I guess it kinda is true."

"Oh, wow. That's interesting." Luna says as she looks at Stacey.

"So, Claire, what do you think is the sex of the baby?" Stacey says as she parks the car near the entrance.

"I'm not sure." I shrug as I unbuckle the seatbelt.

Luna gets out first, followed by me and then Stacey. We enter the building, the smell of medicine and gauze entering my nostrils. We asked the lady by the counter where the room was. "It's down the hall, first door to your left." She smiles as Luna leads the way. We followed her directions and was brought to a room with four white walls and a bluish-green curtain in the middle of it. There was a monitor and all the equipment needed by the doctor to find out the results. "You don't look three months, are you sure you're pregnant?" She joked.

I smiled, I think it was a joke. "That's what I'm worried about, doc. What if all this time I've been thinking I've been carrying something that wasn't here in the first place."

"Come on, let's take a check." She answers as she pats on the bed like thing by the monitor. She puts the gel thingy on the thing that supposedly sees the baby's movement. It touched the skin on my stomach as it felt cold. "You are very much pregnant." She smiled as she keeps moving the thingy. "Would you like to find out the gender?"

I nodded, of course I wanted to know. I wanted to prepare for this little human being. I wanted it to be safe for him/her. I want to go shopping for their clothes, and make them look cute and all those motherly things.

_____

"Thanks doc." I shook her hand.

"Well wishes to your family. You'll be a great mother." We exit the room leaving with a smile.

"Any names for baby Trujillo yet?" Luna asked, as we got back inside the car.

"I should talk about it with Anthony first." He has a right to name the baby too, he is the father after all.

Stacey starts the engine, "Ooh. Maybe we should do those surprise reveals!" The car started moving as she backs away from the parking lot. It was a good idea, but how do I do that? "Maybe we could buy a white balloon and fill it up with colored paper that reveals it."

Too cliché. A for effort though. "Maybe, a cake?" It's been done before, whatever we come up with it's probably all done.

"I have an idea!" Stacey exclaims as she brings us back home. "Get dressed. Wear all white."

"Why?" I asked, confusion taking over my body.

"Just do it. It's for the reveal." She brings me to my closet. She brings  her phone out texting Luna which was in the same room. I don't know the gender. I decided to take a different route and be surprised myself. Luna leaves the room and smiles. "Come on princess, not getting any younger here." Now I felt anxious. Was I carrying a boy or a girl? Should've gotten the chance to know earlier, I guess it's too late for that.

I look through my clothes grabbing a plain white tee with a pair of white pants. I don't wear much white, it limits to what I want to eat and what I should do. So, if they were thinking of something wild and crazy I didn't care if they turned it blue or pink. Stacey has her phone in hand, Anthony's name flashed on the screen.

"Hey, Tony. Yeah. Meet us at home. Wear all white. Gender reveal, duh. Okay. See you soon." She hangs up and grins. "Can't wait for you to find out." She sure is good at keeping secrets. I expected for her to lose it, to break the news already. I guess I was wrong about that.

Half an hour has passed and Anthony has arrived, wearing white like what Stacey told him to do. Luna comes after holding two plastic bags. "Are you ready?"

"Wait. Where are we doing it?" I asked. There was no way we were going it at home. I already expect mess coming out of this.

"Don't worry, we'll do it outside." Luna smiles. She carries the plastic bags outside, the veranda just looking out into the sea. Still confused as to why Luna decided to buy a house by the beach. She doesn't like swimming. She lays painters plastic on the sand, big enough for Anthony and I to fit. "Stand here." She points at the center of the plastic. We follow her instructions and stand in the middle.

"What do you think it is?" I asked Anthony.

"I'm not so sure. Boy or girl, I'm gonna love it as much as I love you." He kisses the top of my forehead. Stacey brings my vlog camera out and starts filming.

"Are you ready?" Luna grins and hands us two smoke bombs. The label torn off, they sure do know how to keep me on edge. "On three!"

1.. 2.. 3..

Smoke covered the air as a cold substance splashes on my clothes. The excitement on my face was nothing you've seen before. I was happy. I was excited. There were no words to describe the way I felt. I looked at Anthony, he had the same expression. His smile wide. He gave me a kiss as Stacey continues to film and Luna takes pictures. I can't wait to bring this little human into this world.

***

boy or girl? what do you think?