the girls of the boys

punkin // hard ball

"Hey Kirsten?" Luke called to her while Harry mosied off on his own deeper into the pumpkin patch in search of the perfect pumpkin to carve.

"What Luke?" She asked, sharply inhaling through her nostrils the fragrant scent of hay and crisp fall air. Her boots crunched the dried leaves beneath her feet and left a crackling path behind her as the stray leaves blew across the vast patch.

"Is this a good pumpkin?" He asked, as he let his lower lip slip in front of his front one making his face into that of a pout with his protruding black lip ring. Kirsten rolled her eyes and crossed her arms across her aztec printed cardigan to shield herself from the cold as well as from Luke.

"Yeah, Luke, it's great, whatever" she said shaking her head more towards herself than Luke's vegetation choice. He pouted even further making his lower lip fat and seemingly swallow his upper lip. Yet as he carried the sizable pumpkin his foot seemed to stumble over a gourd and Kirsten found herself stifling her laughter as Luke staggered on his long legs amongst the pumpkins of varying sizes. She pressed her hands to her mouth as his foot lodged itself under the root of a pumpkin and his legs floundered through the air and he lost hold of his pumpkin sending it splattering near his sprawled body. Kirsten couldn't suppress her laughter anymore and she let out a giggle which soon had her doubled over in laughter. She held her sides and placed her palm on the ground to keep her balance while crouching.

Luke's head popped up from behind a pumpkin and he looked at Kirsten for a split second before blushing slightly from the chill and making direct eye contact. He laughed into his shoulder before glancing at Kirsten with light dancing in his eyes from a few rows away. He glanced from his feet to Kirsten who was still crouched and balancing on the balls of her feet like a tigress awaiting her prey.

Luke stood up and left the broken pumpkin in shambles, disregarding it as he approached the row Kirsten was in. She kept her eyes trained on him, watching his every move in silence as he neared her and soon loomed over her like an overbearing presence. She craned her head backwards and looked up at the silhouette against the sun that illuminated his lean frame.

Luke offered his hand and Kirsten delicately slipped hers into his poised hand as he led her to her feet. She looked at him for a long moment and he held eye contact. The moment dragged on and began to become cumbersome as they stood in silence and he played carelessly with his lip ring, perhaps unintentionally, but making Kirsten want to hit him and kiss him all at once.

She would never tell Harry because she was wildly happy but sometimes she missed exchanging the smooth glass ring between Luke and her own lips. The games they would play and he would give it to her without his hands and then she would be able to return in back into the piercing just as quickly as it was slid out. She watched his lips envelope the black hoop in his lips as it disappeared into his mouth and popped back out when Luke moved his lips around it. Kirsten heard her heart beat speed up involuntarily as it rocketed from calm to pounding in her temples. Luke gazed at her intently like he was studying her, scrutinizing every fold in her skin or mole. She suddenly felt self conscious and instinctively took a step backwards. Luke snapped out of his haze and moved his right foot towards her but she took another two steps back, making her point clear. After he stopped trying to walk towards her she spotted Harry carrying a pumpkin snuggly under his arm as he scratched his head and looked out at the sea of orange and second guessed his just like Kirsten, for the first time in years, second guessed her desicion.

---

"Mr. and Mrs. Malik?" A nurse in a child friendly nurse's outfit called from the door frame that lead to the various rooms.

"Mr. Malik, she's my girlfriend" Zayn called and used the arm that had been wrapped around Becca's shoulders to show the gap in last names to the nurse. Becca's cheeks instantly heated and she resisted the urge to turn to Zayn and cut him with her notorious pregnancy smize. She had serious powers when she channeled them, and Zayn knew better than to cross her when pregnancy Becca took over. Yet, this was a tidal wave of nasty turmoil that just hit Becca like oil, it was thick and she didn't want to deal with it. Becca stiffly rose to her feet while the flustered nurse checked her clipboard as to why she had false information. Zayn put his hand on Becca's back and it took all of her will power as well as biting severely into her inner cheek to keep from swatting him off. She knew he had just lost privileges, but who was she to fight in an OBGYN office with her not husband.

"Welcome to women's and babies!" An overly excited nurse recited with an animated face. "So who do we have here, Mr. and Mrs. Malik?" She asked as she looked at the clipboard and held a sheet in the air as she checked what must have been also inaccurate records.

"Actuall-" Zayn started but Becca cut in before he could announce again that they weren't married.

"We're only dating" Becca said with hardened facial features, purposely avoiding Zayn's soft brown eyes that turned to her in alarm at her words that cut through the heavy air.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! Miss Good and Mr. Malik" she blushed for a second before regaining composure and returning to her pre written script that she droned on for. Becca felt Zayn's hand sliding easily up and down the spine of her back as he half heartedly listened to her spiel.

Zayn turned so his gait and upper body faced Becca, opened his mouth to say something but promptly clamped it shut and sat on his hands. Becca rolled her eyes and turned back to the doctor who was talking about vitamins and stuff that Becca planned to buy with the plastic that Zayn gave her access to without limit or restrictions on her spending or what for. That was one guilty pleasure she had, she had a separate closet in her and Zayn's room that was filled with only designer labels and shoes and accessories with real diamonds. Zayn had suggested they start one for their child and Becca's browser already had a dozen tabs of little boy's Nordstrom sweaters, khaki's, and button down bleach white shirts.

"So you plan to deliver with only Mr. Malik in the room?"

"I don't know for sure if I want Zayn in the room" Becca 100% didn't want to be alone and she definitely wanted Zayn present, but he had hurt her without a second look so she wanted to inflict some wound that landed on it's mark and this statement did the trick

Becca could see the shock register in his face but she chose to ignore it because if Zayn Malik wanted to play hardball, two could play and it was her turn at bat.