cornelia street | ethma

13

Ethan

It was early February when Emma and I were at the bar with Lena, Chase and Fisher. Of course, Emma was only drinking water, but she still hung out at the bar with all of us.

At this point, our friends didn't know about Emma being pregnant except for Lena.

But Fisher being Fisher sat down at our booth in his pulled up chair and his eyes scanned Emma. "Knew it." He said.

"Knew what?" Emma asked.

"You're pregnant, aren't you?"

"Hey, don't look at her like that." I said, getting a little protective. Fisher pays a little too much attention to women's bodies. A little to much attention to Emma's in particular. Well, Lena's too, but I was only worried about Fisher looking at Emma.

"Hey, if one of my friends' boobs is getting bigger, I'm gonna notice."

Lena shook her head. "Gross, Fisher."

"I'm still convinced. Emma's pregnant everyone."

I laughed. "Yeah. I got her real good."

Emma lightly hit my arm with the back of her hand. "Ethan! Don't say that in front of the child over here." She said, gesturing to Fisher. I laughed again. He does in fact have the maturity of a twelve year old boy, although he's almost 27.

I just turned 24, and Emma's still 23. So are Lena and Chase.

"Wait, she's actually pregnant?" Fisher asked.

I moved my arm from Emma's shoulder down to her waist, pulling her closer to me. "Yeah, Fish. Emma and I are having a baby."

"Wait really?" Chase asked. Emma giggled and nodded at him.

Fisher stood up from his chair. "Chay, we're gonna be uncles!" He said. "High five."

Chase smiled as he high-fived Fisher, and then they sat back down.

"Congratulations, you guys." Chase said. "When's the baby due?"

"The doctor said late August or early September." Emma said. "Most likely the end of August."

I smiled at her, and she put her hand above my knee.

I was happy knowing that our child was gonna grow up with lots of love and support.

-

Emma

The next day was Ethan's day off, but not mine. He always had Wednesday's off, and depending on the week, I had random days. But he works more hours than I do on normal days.

I didn't necessarily have a bad day, but I was really tired and super happy to simply go home at the end of the day. I knew Ethan was waiting for me, and I knew that he'd make me feel better.

I stepped into the apartment, and he was watching tv on the couch.

As soon as he saw me walk in, he stood up and smiled.

I walked over to him, and wrapped my arms around his neck. He pulled me closer and gave me the hug I've been needing from him all day.

Feeling his warmth and smelling his familiar scent comforted me. I was home.

"How was your day, sweetie?" He asked. My heart skipped a beat. He has the tenderest heart. I love him.

I lifted my head to look at him, feeling myself relax even further when I saw my favorite color in his eyes. My favorite hazel eyes in the world.

"It was okay. I'm tired, and I missed you all day."

Ethan tightened his arms around my waist before lifting me up and spinning around. Then he set me back down, but still held me close, softly kissing my forehead. "I missed you too, Em. What can I do to make your day better?"

"Can we get ice cream?" I know it was the middle of winter, but cravings are cravings. Plus it's not like we were going to be eating the ice cream outside or anything. Ethan smiled.

"Of course. We can go to the grocery store, and you can pick out any toppings you want. Then we can come back here and make the best homemade ice cream sundaes ever."

I smiled up at him, raising onto my tiptoes to kiss him.

"That sounds amazing, E."

His smile grew bigger. "And I just fell even more in love with you."

I felt my face flush. "You did?" I asked.

He chuckled. "You suggested ice cream in February, sweetie. Of course I fell more in love with you. You're my dream woman."

I took his hand and smiled before we walked over by the door to get our shoes on. I still had my jacket on, but Ethan quickly slipped his hoodie on, and we walked the two blocks to the grocery store together.

I felt like a kid in the candy store, but quite frankly we were in the sugary snacks/candy aisle, and Ethan was letting me go wild.

At first I was a little hesitant, holding up the snacks and toppings until he gave a nod of approval, and then he told me I didn't have to ask, so I just started putting things I wanted in my ice cream in the cart.

We bought two big tubs of vanilla ice cream so that it would last a week or two, and then we checked out.

As we were walking back to the apartment, Ethan chuckled. "I can't believe we just spent over fifty dollars on ice cream sundae toppings."

"You didn't stop me." I teased.

Ethan blushed, smiling at the ground as we kept walking. "I wasn't going to, babe. The whole point was to make the best sundaes ever."

And that's exactly what we did.

Mine was filled with chocolate syrup, caramel sauce, Oreos, pretzels, whipped cream, and even a little bit of peanut butter. I mean, we seriously went ham with these sundaes.

I don't remember exactly what Ethan had in his, but I do know that he had hot fudge and peanut butter cups. And a mountain of whipped cream.

We sat down on the floor in front of the couch, and ate our sundaes, making it like a little ice cream picnic in our living room.

These are the days I always cherish the most with Ethan. Just the two of us talking and hanging out.

Even though we weren't outside of the apartment, I'd totally count this as a date.

I mean, it was just us doing something we don't really do that much. Enjoying deeper discussions than usual, and simply just making each other laugh.

That's what the foundation of our relationship was built from. We always seemed to understand each other in a way that nobody else could.

So much has changed, but at the end of the day we're still best friends.

The best part is that we're more than that too.