twisted ✔️ (being edited)

11 | amber's baby shower

three days later

Jessica stands in front of the mirror in my room and scrunches her nose as she tugs on a light blue covered-in-white-clouds sweater. It's cute. I'm going to have to borrow it. "I can't believe Amber is making us wear pink and blue." She adjusts her pink leggings. "A little on the nose, don't you think?"

"Pink and blue are my favorite colors," Stephanie chimes in, spinning and her multi-pastel colored dress twirls. "So, what do you think she's having?"

Shrugging, I tell them, "I don't know. Does it really matter? As long as the baby is healthy."

"I'm kind of excited," Stephanie admits, grinning. "Amber's revealing the gender at the baby shower. I'm going to say a boy."

"We're betting on girl," Jessica says, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. "And my girl Codi never loses."

I roll my eyes. "Honestly, it doesn't matter what Amber's having. All babies are cute."

She nods. "They are! They're adorable."

"Until they start getting clingy, popping, and screaming," Jessica mumbles. "Another reason I will never have kids."

"And we still love that for you." I hug her from the side and walk over to my closet to change my shirt. I got a cheap pink and blue tie-dyed shirt from Target. "Good thing this shirt was only like five dollars. I had to buy this because I don't even own anything pink or blue."

"I think that shirt looks cute on you."

Jessica grins. "Yeah, you don't look like cotton candy at all."

There's two knocks on the door. Mom walks in. "Hey, girls—wow! It looks like Gender Reveal threw up in here. Umm, can I speak with Codi really quick?"

"Sure thing, Mrs. C." Jessica grabs Stephanie's hand. "We'll be in your kitchen eating your snacks."

"What'd you want to talk about, Mom?"

"First, that's a cute shirt." She picks at the fabric and slowly rubs my arm. "And second, my job is still fairly new and bills need to be paid, so Uncle Paulter is permanently moving in right away."

"What?" I ask, confused. "I-I thought it was just temporary, for a few months."

Mom sighs. "With all these bills coming out of my ass, I didn't have a choice, Codi. To save the house, I needed a dependent for the mortgage, and your uncle agreed to help, but it only sticks if he's listed as a part-owner. Are you okay with that?"

I cross my arms over my chest. "I guess. It's weird, you know. Uncle Paulter stepping up and acting like Dad."

"I know." Mom kisses my forehead. "It's a little weird for me, too, but he is family, after all."

I check the time on my phone. We're going to be late if we don't leave now. "I have a baby shower to get to."

"Have fun."

I jog downstairs and find Jessica and Stephanie in the kitchen sharing a bag of chips and salsa. "You do know there's going to be food there."

"Well, we're not there yet," Stephanie counters, eating a chip.

Jessica nods. "And we're hungry now."

They have a point. I step forward and grab some chips.

***

I've never seen Coach Jackson wear pink, especially not a pink tracksuit. Definitely a weird sight. Jessica and I donated ten dollars to opt out of gift giving. I didn't not want to get Amber a gift; I'm just not great at knowing what people want. Amber's baby bump is bigger than I expected it'd be. She's wearing a white, puffy dress with the words 'It's A...' across her chest. Jessica found out how the baby's gender would be revealed. Outside, Amber's going to hit a soft—and safe—softball pitched by Coach Jackson, which will explode on impact with a non-toxic powder. Her dress will either be covered in pink or blue. I think the softball part is cute, especially since Amber and Oscar had sex in the dugout, which led to all of this.