Lucky Coincidence // Stuart Twombly

XVI

"It's Stuart, leave a message!" Stuart's voicemail said as Lara had tried to call him for the fourteenth time. She groaned and slammed the red button. She threw her phone on the couch.

After the doctor's appointment, Billy had taken her straight home. He had told her she shouldn't be working right now and she hadn't fought him. She was glad to be home but she was mostly worried about her boyfriend. He had ignored her for the past hour, that was something he never did. If he missed one of her calls, he'd call her back almost straight after and now that he didn't, it worried Lara a lot. 

At the sound of the front door opening, she jumped to her feet and raced to the front door. At the sight of Stuart's broken expression, the relieved smile left her face. "Lara, I'm so sorry, I never should've reacted to that. I'm a fucking idiot and you don't deserve me. I just want you to know that if we're having a baby, then I am more than happy to do it with you because I love you so much and I was an idiot for freaking out like that." By the end of his rant, tears were streaming down Lara's cheeks. 

"Stu..." She said, averting her eyes to the floor. "I'm not pregnant." She softly shook her head and looked up to meet his blank expression. 

"Y-You're not?" He breathed and she shook her head. He pulled her in a hug. He didn't say anything and neither did she.

They reluctantly pulled back and Stuart cupped her face with his hands. "I'm so sorry," He repeated.

She smiled sadly and took his hand in hers. "It's okay."

"No, it's not. I'm an idiot for putting you through that and I never should've-"

"Stu, it's okay, really," She giggled through her tears.

The phone ringing caught their attention. Lara exhaled and wiped her cheeks as Stuart grabbed his phone. "Nick, hey." He said with a sigh. 

Lara couldn't hear what Nick was saying. "Yeah, I'm home. Why?" A short moment of silence fell. "Lara's here too. She's fine." Lara focused her ears to try and hear what Nick was saying, but it was too soft for her to pick up. "I don't know, I'll ask her." He lowered the phone. "They want to come over tonight, is that okay with you?" He asked her. 

"Yeah, of course," She smiled. "I think we owe them some explaining." He nodded. 

"You're probably right." He put his phone to his ear again. "Nick? Yeah, great idea. I'll see you at seven? Okay, yeah. Bye, Nick." He pressed the red button on his phone and ended the call. 

"So they're all coming over?" Lara asked and Stuart nodded. 

"Yeah, they wanna check if we're okay or something, I don't know," He shrugged. 

Lara nodded and let out a deep sigh. "Well, if they're coming over, we gotta clean up the house," She said as she looked around. Several boxes of takeout food, clothing items like sweaters and sweatpants, and empty cups were scattered around the room.

Stuart nodded, pursing his lips together. "Yeah, we probably should." 

***

"I know that you're probably very hormonal right now and I don't want to make you cry but I just wanted to say that I will do whatever you need me to do. Changing diapers? I got it. Babysitting? No problem. Cleaning up-"

"Nick, Nick, hold on a second." Lara stopped her blond friend from talking. "I'm not pregnant," She said. 

"You're not?" He asked and she shook her head. "Oh." 

"It's very sweet of you to offer, though. I'll keep it in mind." She sent him a playful wink before she greeted the rest of the interns. "So what are we doing tonight?" 

"I thought maybe we could show the guys who Charles Xavier is," Neha suggested. 

"Great idea!" Lyle cheered and raced through the door, the door that led to the kitchen. Seconds later, he returned. "What way is the TV?" 

***

"Our Charles Xavier was way meaner than this guy," Billy mocked as the group was munching on pizzas. Lara let out an amused laugh before she cuddled into her boyfriend's side, taking a bite from her pizza slice. 

"It definitely wasn't funny at the time," Billy continued. A small chorus of chuckles sounded through the air. 

Turns out that that night at the club was exactly what the team had needed to become an actual team. In the weeks that followed, they won challenge after challenge. They did their ultimate best every time and it started to pay. If they continued like this on the big challenges, they would eventually be able to actually win the program in the end. 

The program consisted of five big challenges spread out over the summer. These were the challenges where the teams could gain the most points. To keep the interns focused and busy, the management team had come up with smaller challenges. They could gain small amounts points with these tasks. 

Lara had been rubbing the team's victories in Sid's face all week since he had been the one who had the least amount of hope in this team. He pretended to hate her celebrations but he secretly felt happy for her. Not that he would ever tell her that. 

***

"And turns out it was only something I ate that made me throw up in Yo-Yo's throw-up," Lara shrugged, stuffing a mouthful of salad in her mouth. 

"Really? That's awful, Lara. I'm so sorry," Dana Simms replied. 

"It's okay, I guess. I'm just happy Stuart and I talked things out."

"Yeah, I bet. It was a real jackass move of him to run off like that." Dana scrunched her nose. 

"I can't blame him honestly." 

"Of course you can. If you were actually pregnant, then it was as much of his responsibility as yours." Dana pointed a finger at Dana. 

"If this is being a workaholic, maybe I should get a glass." A cheerful voice sounded from the distance. Both Lara and Dana looked up from their lunch and work. A joyful Nick Campbell approached them. 

"Actually, I have a meeting in fifteen minutes," Dana smiled sassily. 

Lara puckered her lips. "Yeah, I don't have an excuse." 

Nick chuckled lightly before turning to the dark-haired girl. "Here's the thing, last time we were talking about regret and..." 

"I remember you talking about regret," Dana commented. 

"And I don't wanna add not asking you out on a date because that credit card is maxed out," Nick continued. 

Lara sent Dana a confused frown and Dana replied by waving her hand, telling her to ignore it. 

"Oh, okay. Let's establish that you actually are asking me out on a date," Dana said. 

"Yes, and I figured that since I'm such a mountain of mistakes that going out with me just once this evening will be like packing ten years of bad experiences in one night," Nick stated confidentally. 

Dana nodded. "Yes. Fine." 

"Yes?" 

"I'm saying yes." 

"Great, that's great. I'll leave you to it. Tonight!" 

As Nick walked away, Dana smiled to herself as her friend gaped at her with a dropped jaw. "Okay, what. the hell. was that?"