Baby Fever

Killer Clause

When Jeremiah and I arrived back at his parent's house-after my belly was stuffed with Tiramisu-Alanna's brother's car was parked outside. 

"Oh no, I've got to fix this," I said, hopping out the car.

"I'll be waiting for you inside." He said before making his way to the house.

I marched towards the off-white range rover. Jaden jumped a little when I knocked on his window. When he saw that it was just me, he rolled his eyes and unlocked the back door. 

I graciously slid in and focused my eyes on Alanna, who was in the passenger seat.

She scolded her younger brother, "I told you that I was avoiding her."

Jaden was a year younger than Alanna. I could go into details about how the whole story unfolded with her dad finding out he wasn't Jaden's father, but that'd take ages. He ended up moving in with his biological father when he was 10 but had remained relatively close with Alanna.

"I thought she was your best friend. You don't avoid your friends." He sighed.

"Were you not listening to a single word I said?" She glared at him.

He lifted his shaggy brown locks to show her the air pod that was lodged in his ear. "I wasn't." He let his hair flop back down and closed his eyes. He shifted in his seat as if to get in a position more suitable for a nap.

Alanna took in a deep breath to center herself before acknowledging me. 

"What do you want?"

"What can I do to fix this?"

"You could get out of my brother's car."

I reached over to touch her shoulder, but she quickly shrugged off my hand. She looked down on her shoulder and shrieked when she saw a tiny chocolate stain. Oops. "This is a limited edition!"

"Sorry." I cringed. I wiped my fingers on my pants.

"Great, I waited five whole months before wearing this sweater." She opened the cupboard and pulled out wipes. 

I took this as an opportunity to reason with her. "I didn't mean to call your family problems trivial. I was there when your parents got divorced, remember? I was the one that stayed with you."

"Get to the point."

"There is no point. I love you, and me not telling you my secret doesn't change that."

She gave up cleaning her sweater and sighed. 

"Alanna, I'm sorry."

I thought the silence in the car was going to silence me up. But the ball was in her court now, so I waited patiently for her response.

"I love you too." She fiddled with the napkin. "I haven't been completely honest with you either."

I shifted in my seat. "What do you mean?"

She finally faced me for the first time. "Please don't get mad, Tori, okay? I promise I didn't have any bad intentions."

"Don't tell me you slept with Keon?" I groaned.

"No, ew, stop saying that."

"Okay, then what is it?"

"Remember the sleepover we all had the week before the homecoming game? At Chloe's place." 

I nodded.

"Well, you had to leave early because something came up with your mom. After you left, I thought we were all going to watch a movie, gossip, and then go to bed. Chloe had another plan in mind. After you left, she invited over the football players."