Part of Me: Friendship, Texas #3

by Magan Vernon

  Johnny frowned, his eyes searching the room as if he would find a new solution. Then his eyes lit up. “Wait! Know what’ll help so we can get this done and you won’t throw up?”

  I raised an eyebrow as Johnny sifted through a pile of swim gear before holding up a snorkel looking thing with some sort of weird headband mask on it. “You can wear this.”

  “What is this? Is this a snorkel?” I asked, taking the plastic thing.

  “It’s a bullet-head snorkel. We can adjust the silicone headband, so it fits on you a little better, and then you can breathe through the tube while keeping your nose plugged, so you won’t throw up,” Johnny said matter-of-factly.

  “This sounds like a very weird idea. Weirder than your normal ones.”

  Johnny pouted out his bottom lip, holding the sugaring container in one hand and the snorkel in the other. “Please? For me? Then I promise I’ll do whatever you want in the shower afterward.”

  “Use the coconut oil conditioner on my hair and brush it afterward?” I asked slowly raising an eyebrow.

  He grinned. “Definitely.”

  ***

  I never thought I would spend my nights sitting on my bathroom sink wearing only a snorkel and my bra and underwear while my powder covered boyfriend stood in front of me, ready for me to sugar wax him.

  “Okay, you ready for this?” I asked, securing the snorkel on my nose.

  “Sugar me, baby.”

  I put the mouthpiece of the snorkel in my mouth then opened the warm top of the sugaring container.

  I molded the warm, sugary mixture that felt like gritty honey in my hands before spreading a long strip on Johnny’s back. “How does that feel?” I said through the snorkel which sounded more like “ha das dat feew?”

  “It’s not as hot as wax but way grittier, like you’re putting wet sand on me,” Johnny said, shaking his shoulders.

  “Did you understand what I said?” Di you undastah whas I saih.

  Johnny laughed. “You’re not making much sense, but I think with years of swimming and talking to people wearing snorkels, I can kind of decipher the language.”

  “Okay, here we go.” Ohkigh, hewee go.

  I pulled quickly at the stretchy goo and the little hairs soaked into it like a honey-sponge, each strip coming up with more little hairs. The more I pulled, the stickier the ball became and turned white and foamy like meringue.

  “Wow. This doesn’t feel at all like waxing. I mean not a ‘good, this is gonna make me orgasm’ feel, but not something that makes me want to swear at you,” Johnny said, letting out a deep breath.

  “Want me to keep going?” Wah me to ha gowee?

  “Yeah. Believe it or not, I kind of like this.” He laughed slightly.

  “You like this?” You why dis?

  “I mean a lot of times when it’s just us hanging out, it’s the two of us watching a movie or me inside you, but this way, it’s just us having something no one else can do. I’m sure I could have someone else wax my back, but this way, I get to have time with you. Even if you are wearing a snorkel. But that’s better than you throwing up on me. When the baby comes, we’re going to look back on this and think ‘Man, remember when we had all this time to get together and wax? Now, we’re filling bottles and putting together baby furniture.’”

  I laughed, but the snorkel muffled it, so it sounded like a weird chortle.

  “Speaking of time together...” His words trailed off.

  “What?” Whuck? I should have known our little moment was too good to be true. I thought maybe he would ask me for a favor or something mid-orgasm, but this was new.

  “Okay, I’ve been trying to figure out a way to bring this up, but your birthday is Easter weekend, and I’d been planning to go home for that...”

  So this was it? That he would not be around for my birthday? Normally, I would have been ecstatic for my twenty-first birthday, but with being pregnant, I had nothing exciting planned. Stephanie wanted to make me a cake, and Dad would probably get takeout from Conti’s and hand me a check, just like most of my other birthdays. I figured Johnny would probably give me some good birthday sex, so that would be different at least. That, and well, we had our ultrasound that day to find out the gender of the baby. Sex and baby gender for my twenty-first was better than margaritas anyway.

  But he was planning to go home, so did that mean he wouldn’t be here for the appointment? No sex? No Johnny. My hand tightened, pulling a little harder on the sugar than the last time.

  Johnny winced. “Okay, I’ll spit it out. I was hoping you would go home with me for Easter. We can leave after your classes on Friday and be home early Monday before your classes start again.”

  I blinked, dropping the white ball of wax. Johnny hopped away, so it didn’t hit his foot then turned around to face me. “What? You don’t like that idea?”

  I pulled the snorkel off slowly and set it on the bathroom counter next to me. “You want me to go and see your mother, who hasn’t called since she found out about the baby and me and is barely answering your texts? The woman who I’m pretty sure hates me?”

  Johnny sighed, putting his hands on my shoulders. “Sofie. She doesn’t hate you. She just doesn’t know you, so this will give her a chance to get to know the girl who I’ve been spending all my time with. The girl who’s the mother of my child. The girl I sort of, kind of like.” He said the last part with a smile before leaning in and kissing me on the lips.

  “I’ll have to talk to my dad and Stephanie and see about a plane ticket...” I muttered, chewing on my bottom lip.

  Johnny put his hand under my chin and forced my eyes to meet his. “Sofie. Don’t worry about the ticket. Don’t worry about meeting my mom or money or anything else. I’ll take care of it, and I’ll always take care of you...and you...” he said, his hands sliding down to my stomach and resting on my belly button.

  I put my hand on his and let out a breath. “Okay.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “Okay?”

  I nodded. “Okay. We’ll go to Arizona.”

  Chapter 17

  The day of my gender ultrasound had finally arrived. This time, I made sure Johnny drove with me to the appointment, so no one was late.

  And so he had less time with Emily. Okay, I wasn’t jealous...maybe a little. I knew soon I would be showing and maybe Johnny would look at the other end of the pool for a girl in a full swimsuit to occupy his time instead of me.

  Many people were having these grand gender-reveal parties or baby announcements on social media, and I had done nothing like that and didn’t plan to. I’d barely told anyone I was pregnant. My professors and classmates didn’t even know, and it had been easy to hide so far since I wasn’t even showing. Sometimes, if I ate too much, I looked like I was bloated, but that was it. I figured one day I wouldn’t be able to hide it, but right now, I was okay, for the first time, without the attention being on me.

  “So we get to see little swimmer and his little swimmer,” Johnny said, putting his hand on mine as we pulled into the parking lot of the doctor’s office.

  “You referred to our baby and the baby’s genitals as swimmers?” I asked, swinging our hands back and forth as we walked to the building.

  “Is there a better term I should use? The swimmer and his snorkel?” He wiggled his eyebrows before opening the door to the doctor’s office.

  “Let’s save this conversation for later,” I said before checking in at the front desk.

  “Save it for when we’re planning to paint the baby’s bedroom ocean water blue?” Johnny asked, squeezing my hand as we took our seats.

  “A girl could have an ocean water blue bedroom too. I know there are girl swimmers,” I said, not naming the girl swimmer who had just sent him a text I saw on his phone as we were pulling into the parking lot.

  I absently put my hand on my stomach. I’d thought that by now I would feel the baby moving or some kicks or something. Only these feeling I always had were just like I was excited. Like a mi
llion little butterflies were in my stomach and flying around to get my attention.

  I thought maybe that was the feeling of love—a feeling I’d been trying to keep down and not let out. I knew I was in love with Johnny. I couldn’t spend so much time with a guy—not just sexually, but also emotionally—and not be. I knew more about him than I did anyone, including Lia, who was my best friend.

  I was sharing a future with this guy and having his baby, yet I still couldn’t get myself to say those three little words. I mean it was not like he’d said them either, but I think he knew it would freak me out. It was why that night in Target when I said I kinda, sorta liked him, he said it back. I knew we both felt something more, but when to say it out loud was the struggle.

  “Sofie White,” called an older nurse in scrubs.

  Johnny and I stood up and followed her in to stand on the scale and get my weight, which was a whole five pounds heavier than last time. Then she led us back to the ultrasound room.

  “Okay, so strip down?” I asked, already unbuttoning my pants. It might have only been a five-pound difference, but I was feeling bloated every time I wore jeans. Like I ate too much Chinese food.

  The nurse turned around, pushing her glasses up on her nose as she widened her eyes. “Oh, no need to strip down. You can just unbutton the top button and sit on the exam table.” She then turned to Johnny. “And, hubby, you can sit on that chair next to her.”

  I didn’t correct her about Johnny not being my husband as I unbuttoned my jeans and sat down on the exam table.

  The nurse sat down on the wheelie stool and pulled a thin sheet out from one of the drawers. “Okay, I’m going to tuck this into your jeans then we’re going to roll up your shirt just to your bra.”

  I did as she said and leaned back as the nurse pulled out a small bottle. “Okay, this is a gel that we’re going to put on your stomach. It’s warm, and it won’t hurt.”

  She squirted out the warm blue gel that was smooth and not gritty like the sugar wax I used on Johnny. She then took a white little plastic thing attached to a blue cord. It looked almost like an electric razor but without the blades.

  She pushed down on my stomach, spreading the gel around on my stomach. The big computer screen next to her lit up with a sea of black with gray surrounding it and a little gray bean in the center. Then my eyes zeroed in on the screen, and my stomach lurched, a feeling like a rolling pin was moving through my stomach.

  “Holy...” I squirmed.

  “Is that...him...?” Johnny said, his eyes wide as he pointed at the screen.

  I looked where he’d trained his eyes to see what looked like the actual outline of a baby with a little head and a little kicking leg. At least, I thought it was a leg.

  “Wait...is that...a...?” I leaned closer, looking at the screen, and then the rolling pin feeling in my stomach started again, and the baby on the screen moved, wiggling like he was actually trying to swim in there.

  The nurse smiled. “Well, do you two want to know the sex, or are you saving it for a gender-reveal party?”

  “Unless that’s his leg, I’m pretty sure that’s a boy,” Johnny said, pointing at the screen.

  The nurse laughed. “Yeah, they do look bigger on these screens.”

  “So I was right? We’re having a boy?” Johnny asked way too excited.

  The nurse clicked a few buttons then typed the words “Hi, Daddy, I’m a boy!” next to the baby’s little legs on the screen. Or well, legs and other parts.

  “Yes!” Johnny yelled, and I turned to see his arms in the air.

  “Don’t act so smug,” I muttered.

  Johnny put his hands down and put his arms around me. “I’m sorry, babe. Wait...are...you?”

  I sniffled, wiping under my eyes. “No. I’m not.”

  “Oh, baby, I’m sorry. You wanted a girl, and now, I’m being an ass. Hey, we can paint the room any color you want,” he cooed, pushing my hair out of my eyes.

  I shook my head. “No. It’s not that at all. These are happy tears.”

  Pointing at the screen, I looked up at Johnny. “That’s our baby in there. That’s our little boy.”

  Johnny smiled and kissed me softly before whispering into my lips. “I kinda, sorta like you.”

  “I kinda, sorta like you too,” I whispered back.

  ***

  We didn’t have too much time to celebrate or think about a baby registry because right after the appointment, we made our way to the airport.

  Since we weren’t flying with Jay in one of his dad’s private chartered planes, this meant we had to fly out of DFW and on a regular flight. Luckily, Johnny was nice enough to get first class seats so we’d have a little bit more legroom.

  “I feel fancy with our free drinks. By free drinks, I mean the fact that the flight attendant handed me the whole can of soda,” I said, taking a swig of my ginger ale.

  “It’s not a chartered plane, but hey, chartered planes don’t have ladies in blue dresses serving you soda,” Johnny said.

  I put my hand on the armrest between us. “Seriously, I don’t need that. I was just giving you grief.”

  “Yeah, I may look into it one of these days, especially if I could crack into some of Jay’s sponsors. Maybe we’ll schmooze them at the wedding?”

  The wedding.

  I’d barely talked to Lia since she announced her engagement. I clicked ‘love’ on all of her pictures on social media from her and Jay’s photo shoot from some photographer in Rome.

  I wasn’t jealous or bitter of my best friend. I was genuinely happy for her. And despite all the crazy things, I was happy with Johnny.

  But even though I commented on Lia’s pictures, I still hadn’t spoken to her. I texted her after the ultrasound with a picture of Johnny holding a pair of baby swim trunks with the caption “It’s a boy!” and got a “Congrats,” but that was the most we’d texted in almost a month. Something had to change about that and soon.

  “Um, excuse me?” a girly voice said over Johnny’s shoulder.

  Johnny and I both looked to see a girl with big Texas blond hair and false eyelashes, blinking at us. She couldn’t have been any older than I was, or maybe she’d had a lot of plastic surgery.

  “Yes?” Johnny asked.

  The girl smiled much too wide. “Um, well, like I thought I recognized you from somewhere then my sister was like ‘I think he’s an actor,’ so we tweeted your picture out and found out we know because you’re that Olympic swimmer! The one who won that relay with Jay Morningstar!”

  “Yeah, that’s me. I’m Johnny Laughlin, nice to meet you,” he said, shaking her hand politely.

  I frowned. The guy who hangs out with Jay Morningstar? That was a great way to be known.

  The girl took a selfie with Johnny, and within a few minutes, she was back in her seat, and we returned to normal.

  “Does that happen a lot?” I asked, flicking the tab on my ginger ale can.

  Johnny smiled, shaking his head. “Swimmers aren’t really celebrities, Sofie. Jay’s kind of an exception because he’s like the GOAT, and everyone knew him after smashing those Olympic records and, you know, his car after the Olympics.”

  I glanced over my shoulder to where the blonde was now whispering and giggling with the girl in the seat next to her.

  “Sofie, are you jealous?” Johnny asked, and I turned quickly back to him before shaking my head.

  “No. Not at all.”

  He laughed, pinching my cheek lightly. “You’re blushing. You’re definitely jealous and embarrassed I caught you.”

  “I am not,” I huffed. “Just because they’re cute and blond and checking out my swimmer boyfriend’s biceps.”

  “Wanna make them jealous and join the mile-high club?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

  “Do you really think the two of us could fit into one of these seats? Or even the bathroom together?” I asked, scrunching my face.

  He leaned in and kissed my scrunched lips once then twice. “I�
�d be willing to try.”

  “Attention passengers, this is your captain speaking,” a voice boomed over the intercom. “Please fasten your seat belts at this time as we prepare to land in sunny Phoenix.”

  “I guess we’ll have to wait,” Johnny muttered, buckling his seat belt.

  “I’m totally not having sex with you at your mom’s house. I hope you know that.”

  “Why not? I definitely knocked you up against a goat pen at your best friend’s house. My mom’s guest room is like missionary sex in a marital bed compared to that,” Johnny said a little too loudly, and the flight attendants walking by definitely gave us the stink eye.

  I swatted his arm. “I think you yelled that on purpose.”

  He took my hand and held it before bringing it to his lips. “I wanted to see you blush again.”

  “Do you ever get embarrassed?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “Not really. Sometimes. Like the other day in practice, Emily pulled down my trunks, and I mooned a bunch of senior citizens doing water aerobics.”

  Before I could even respond to that, Johnny raised an eyebrow. “You just made that face.”

  “What face?”

  “That face you always make when I bring up Emily.”

  I scoffed. “I don’t make a face.”

  “You do. You definitely do, and babe, I’ve told you, you don’t need to be jealous of her or any other girl. I’m with you,” he said, squeezing my hand.

  “What if I had an ex-boyfriend or hookup who was always hanging around me? Who was always teasing or texting or de-pantsing me? How would you feel about that?” I asked.

  Johnny’s jaw tightened, and something was sexy about the way his Adam’s apple bobbed when he swallowed. “I would probably be pissed and try to go all alpha male and claim you as mine or something, and no one wants to see a goofy, tall swimmer do that.”

  I laughed, just thinking about Johnny throwing me over his shoulder and making caveman noises.

  “Hey. I can be an alpha. I’m a tough guy. I intimidate people all the time,” he said, puffing out his chest and flexing his arms for good measure.

  “I don’t doubt that at all.” I put my hand on his arm. “You also attract a lot of the opposite sex, and well, I’m just not used to it. This is my first really real relationship, and it’s all new to me to be with someone who gets ogled by girls or has past hookups.”