by Cookie Jones
“Oh, yeah…sorry.”
I covered up my slight embarrassment at being caught by smiling at her, then I made sure to take one of the ultrasound photos for Buddy. It would definitely blow his mind. When I got out and Clary rounded the car, I had the weirdest urge to pull her close to my side. I didn’t like how guys did a double take or stared at her when she walked past them. I mean…she was pregnant with my baby after all.
“You ever been to this place?” I asked her and she shook her head.
“No, I try to find new places to try at least every week, but there’s just so many restaurants and food trucks in the city, I don’t think one lifetime will be enough to try all of them,” she said and I smiled.
“Well, the ones you do get to try should be worth it,” I said and she nodded.
“Oh yeah, I’ve yet to be let down,” she said and we walked into the rustic looking pizzeria.
“Hey, Nick!” Buddy spotted us as soon as we were through the door and we walked back to the table he picked for us. Buddy gave me a tight bro hug and then he hugged Clary like she was family.
“Buddy, you know Clary,” I said by way of introduction and he loosened his hold on her.
“Yeah, I know Clary, so how are you?” he asked her directly and she glanced at me for a second.
“I’m well, we just came back from the first official doctor’s appointment,” she said and Buddy looked at me with wide eyes and an eager smile.
“How’d that go?” he asked and I grinned then handed him the picture of the baby. His eyes widened further and he ran his hand through his hair.
“Holy shit…that’s your baby, it’s really in there,” he said in slight awe and then he hugged Clary again. “Congratulations,” he said and she smiled at him crookedly.
“Thank you,” she said bashfully and then we all finally sat down in the booth. Buddy was still studying the picture of the ultrasound.
“This is so cool…” he said and I glanced at Clary who chuckled. “So how far along are you, Clary?” he asked her and they talked about the pregnancy some.
“Anyways, I have to thank you for knocking some sense into this one,” Clary said and I tuned into the conversation.
Buddy laughed and glanced at me. “Trust me it wasn’t easy, and a long time coming. I think the baby pushed him over the edge,” Buddy said and then a waiter came around to take our orders and such.
“So, uh, we’re gonna be going to New Haven to tell our parents about the baby tonight,” I told Buddy and he looked at me in shock.
“'Our' as in your mom, too?” he asked and I nodded.
“Clary called to invite her, she doesn’t know I’ll be there,” I said and Buddy let out a low whistle.
“I wonder how that’ll go,” he said and I snorted.
“Anywhere from horribly wrong to okay, to I can’t believe that went so well,” I said and Buddy chuckled.
“So…what about other things. If you go to dinner and you guys announce the baby. One of the first questions will be asking what you’re doing, Nick,” Buddy said and I nodded.
“I haven’t started looking for jobs yet, but I was thinking something in architecture is up my alley,” I said and Buddy nodded thoughtfully.
“That does seem more you than anything, any other ideas, just in case?” he asked me and I shrugged.
“Surprisingly good with the stock market, I am,” I said and Buddy cracked up, Clary smirked at my crappy Yoda impression.
“It would probably be easier for you to get a job as a stock consultant or something on Wall Street than going down the architecture route, but you never know. I’m pretty sure between the two of us we can find some opportunities here,” Buddy said optimistically.
I glanced at Clary, she was quiet, looking around the surprisingly large interior of the pizzeria.
“People watching?” I nudged her and she smirked, her eyes lighting up when they met mine. I never got over how cool her eyes were; they were like…lion’s eyes.
“Yeah, people are funny,” she said and Buddy snorted.
“Got that right. You have no idea how funny this one is, I can tell you some stories,” Buddy said and I gave him the death stare.
“Don’t you fucking dare,” I said and he laughed.
“What, you don’t want to look bad?” he asked me and I just shook my head. Buddy sobered and took a sip of his root beer. Then he asked ‘the question,’ “So are you guys gonna get together at some point, or what?”
Clary sort of froze and I glanced at her, unsure as all hell. Mostly because seventy-five percent of me wanted her and the other twenty-five knew it and knew I wasn’t worthy of her. I had already complicated her life enough.
“Uh…um, we never talked about that,” she said and then glanced at Buddy who looked at me pointedly.
“I mean, you can’t force a relationship,” I said slowly and Clary nodded.
“Plus parents raise their kids without being together, it happens all the time. All that matters is that we’re both in his life,” she said and I smirked.
“Her life,” I said and she smiled.
“Right, ‘her’ life,” she said and Buddy smirked at us, but didn’t say anything. Clary’s gaze was open and happy, but then some thought crossed her mind and she turned away from me.
“So Buddy, what do you do?” she asked curiously and a bit suddenly.
“Me? I’m a traveling consultant. I actually have business in the city, so I’m here for business, too,” he said.
Our pizza came and we had lunch, talking about this and that. It was mostly Buddy and Clary getting to know each other. Buddy seemed delighted by her, which was good…and bad. It was another reason for me to want Clary, because Buddy liked her, my mom liked her…I’m sure my dad would have liked her, too. That thought scared the crap out of me, was Clary the type of woman I didn’t want to be with? The type I had been running from as well as taking up my dad’s business? Yet there I was, talking about types of careers I could go into and whether or not Clary and I would end up together…
“Yo, Nick? You okay over there? You just got all pale,” Buddy called my thoughts from their dark turn and I attempted to smile as if things were fine.
“Just, uh…worrying about facing my mom tonight is all.” I only half lied, I was worried about that. I wanted to make things right, but there was clearly this side of me that still wanted to push back against everything.
“We’ll just go one step at a time, don’t worry,” Clary said, being sweet and caring and whatnot.
It was almost odd; I’d seen another side of her the night before. I’d seen her pissed off and frank, the fact that she was normally soft spoken and sweet made me realize that I had a lot of making up to do. I couldn’t give in to that side of me I was trying to squash so I could better myself, I had to keep looking in the right direction.
“Easy to say now…” I mumbled and Clary rubbed my shoulder.
“So are we gonna try these cannoli or what?” Buddy asked and flipped the dessert menu around to show us the picture.
“Oh my gosh, yes,” Clary practically moaned.
Buddy cracked up, but my cock twitched at the sound of her voice.
“Get her the damn cannoli,” I told Buddy who gestured the waiter over.
My eyes were glued on Clary though. She was this person who’d turned my life inside out and upside down, yet was quickly positioning me into the palm of her hand in just a few days’ time. And she had no fucking idea. Even though it was weird, I watched Clary eat the cannoli and it was oddly sexual. The way she decided to do away with a fork and knife and break off pieces of it, the way she licked off extra filling from her fingers or from the corner of her mouth…
“Nick, you’re drooling; you need a napkin over there?” Buddy asked and nudged me with his foot underneath the table.
“Oh, did you want some, Nick? I’m sorry, I’m not exactly sharing,” Clary said bashfully and I shook my head at her.
“No, no that�
��s all for you,” I said and she grinned before going back to her dessert.
I glanced at Buddy who chuckled under his breath and shook his head at me. Yeah whatever, soon I’d be a goner, it was inevitable. After lunch with Buddy, he went to go to a meeting while Clary and I were left to get ready for dinner with our parents.
“We should bring these for them to have shouldn’t we?” she asked me as we parked at her building’s garage and she took the ultrasound pictures from the cup holder.
“Yeah, it may…soften the blow maybe,” I said and Clary smirked. “Hey, you’re lucky, you’re actually carrying the baby. Me? I’m open for target practice and a possible beat down by your dad,” I said and she rolled her eyes.
“It’s not like we’re sixteen, Nick. Yeah, we aren’t married and…the circumstances of the baby’s conception are pretty messed up, but the baby will be taken care of,” she said and I nodded.
“That’s for sure, several, hell maybe an infinity of Price generations should be taken care of with what my father left me,” I commented and she looked at me in mild surprise. “Oh yeah, gave me everything apart from mom’s house and her cars and a few other things he set aside for her.”
“Wow…so really—you don’t have to work if you don’t want to,” she said and I shrugged.
“I wouldn’t want to be staring at the wall for the rest of my days, I may as well be an upstanding citizen of society,” I told her as we meandered back up to her place.
“So you should do what you love then, go into architecture if its what you really want,” she said and I smiled at her.
“You know what, I just might,” I said and had an urge to kiss her. Not a hot and heavy kiss, but a nice, everyday kiss just because. “But the stock market affinity is creepy, I think it’s in the blood,” I said and she laughed.
“What if you can be a stock market whiz and an architect?” she asked and I gave her a cocky grin.
“If there were ever to be a stock broker architect, it would be me,” I said confidently and she laughed. Clary took a deep breath and then slowly backed towards her room.
“Alright…I’m going to get ready,” she said and my mood fell when I was reminded of what was in store for the evening.
“Right…can’t wait for this dinner,” I said and she stopped her retreat and tilted her head to the side a fraction with a small, perfect little half grin. I wanted to jump the space and kiss her, that was two imaginary kisses in like five minutes, talk about having it bad?
“Don’t worry too much and just remember, we get to drive two hours away after so...you know there’s distance in case my dad does decide to kill you,” she said cutely and I cracked a smile.
“You’re right, that is reassuring.”
She winked at me before turning around, giving me the perfect view of her ass in those tight jeans, and disappearing into her bedroom. I took a deep breath and shook my head to myself. How the hell did that happen in like…twenty-four hours? If Clary and I had never had sex and wasn’t expecting a baby would I still want her so badly? Hell, if I saw her incredible eyes at a party, there was no way I’d pass her up, that was for sure.
I went ahead and showered, then changed for dinner. I paced around the living room while I waited for Clary to emerge from her bedroom. When she came out she was wearing a simple black dress that ended above the knees, she also had on killer black heels with tell tale red bottoms. Her hair was silky and curly, pinned over one shoulder, and she didn’t appear to have on much makeup. She was perfect, really from the light brown of her skin to her long legs and pink painted toes.
“You okay?” she asked me as she walked closer and I shook myself out of it.
“Yeah…uh, you look great,” I said and she gave me a small shy smile.
“Thanks, so do you,” she smiled and I wondered if she actually thought so, or was just being polite. Most women I’d be around often stared at me and I had learned to mostly ignore it, but Clary…she didn’t do that.
“I think we should take my car up there, cheaper for gas,” I said and Clary gave me an almost disbelieving look before she laughed. “What?” I asked and she shrugged.
“Nothing it’s just…you’re worried about the cost of gas Mr. Price?”
The way she said Mr. Price had my cock stiff in my slacks and I had to sort of turn away from her so she wouldn’t notice.
“I guess it’s like a habit, being on the road I was always trying to conserve gas and whatnot,” I said and she nodded in understanding.
“Hey, that’s a good thing. I’m just teasing,” she chuckled and I smirked while I followed her out of the apartment.
We got to the Honda and I watched for any reaction from her, but she had none. A car was just a car. I smiled as I got in and only after she was buckled up did I realize I probably should have opened the door for her.
“Okay, so for a two-hour drive…what music do ya got?” Clary asked and I smirked.
“Probably nothing you listen to…all I’ve got is hard core classical,” I said and she did a double take as I pulled out onto the road and began our drive to New Haven.
“Hard core classical?” She laughed when I nodded, my expression completely serious.
“Not just classical, I’ve got stuff from the Romantic period, too. Oh, I also like to listen to trip-hop you know the chill sort of cocktail party music.” Clary laughed again, only harder that time.
“I’m sorry I just can’t imagine you…listening to cocktail party music for fun,” she snickered and I shrugged.
“Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it. Have you even seen that movie, The Devil Wears Prada?” I asked her and she looked at me with wide eyes and a dramatic gasp.
“You’ve seen The Devil Wears Prada?” she asked and I chuckled.
“Yeah, like five times…or twenty, but whatever, my point is…”
“Oh, you can’t just gloss over that; you love The Devil Wears Prada!” Clary cracked up and I smiled.
“No, no, I love Anne Hathaway, there’s a difference. It’s acceptable because I watch it for her,” I said and Clary laughed all over again.
“Alright, that I’ll give you, it’s hard not to love Anne Hathaway.” She giggled and I smiled like an idiot.
“So anyways…my point was, in the movie the scene where she goes to pick up that portfolio at the fancy apartment loft?”
“Oh yeah, where she has the ‘punch,’” Clary said and I loved that she knew the movie seemingly as well as I did to remember a small detail like that.
“You know the cool music that was playing in the background, that’s like trip-hop,” I said and her eyes widened.
“Oh, I might like trip-hop,” she said with a bit of wonder in her voice and I connected my phone to the Bluetooth in the car.
“Alright, keep an open mind,” I told her and played some Bitter: Sweet, Nightmares on Wax, and Thievery Corp. It was pretty relaxing music for the drive up, a good pregame for what we were headed into. I just hoped and prayed my mother wouldn’t cause a scene in front of Clary and her parents. When I pulled up to Clary’s mom’s restaurant, ‘Home Dish’, and turned off the car I think we both took a second to prepare.
“I liked the music,” Clary said eventually and I nodded.
“Glad I could broaden your horizons,” I said and she smirked, though the smile didn’t reach her eyes.
“So let’s go in?” she said and I took a deep breath and nodded. As soon as I got out of the car I saw my mom’s Mercedes parked in the row in front of where my car was parked.
“She’s here,” I said and Clary looked at me curiously as we walked to the entrance of the restaurant. “My mom…” Clary didn’t say anything, she just reached out her hand and laced her fingers with mine for support. If it were possible, my heart went out even further for Clary.
Walking into the restaurant there was a definitely homey vibe; it was a little rustic, but with clean contemporary edges, what with the brick accent walls and clean tables. The place
was packed. But as soon as the host saw us walk in, he beamed at Clary and gave her a huge hug, effectively ending our hand holding. Then he led us back to a relatively quiet section of the restaurant, where booths were more prevalent. And there they all were in a pretty big booth, my mom, and Clary’s parents. They had been talking in hushed tones, I’m sure all confused as to why my mom was invited.
“Here you are, the waiter already took their drink orders, but he’ll be back for you guys, okay?” the host told Clary and she thanked him before he hurried back to his post.
“Clary…Nick…” Clary’s mom spoke up as she and her dad scooted out of the booth to greet us. I got a hug from her mom and a firm handshake and cautious stare from Jeff. My mom got up to hug Clary, she simply nodded in my direction and then sat back down. Clary sat in between my mom and I and we faced Ronnie and Jeff.
“So…you’re pregnant?” Ronnie asked and I stiffened next to Clary, she placed her hand on my thigh and I tried to squeeze out a breath.
“It’s that obvious?” I asked and deflated a little when Ronnie smirked at me…I was expecting her to look at me with contempt, at the very least, for getting her daughter pregnant out of wedlock or even…relationship lock.
“Well, yes, she’s glowing and it was kind of obvious from how Jeff explained you came over to our house the other day,” she said without any negative emotion in her voice or in her expression.
I realized then that Clary was a lot like her mom and thanked God that they both were so understanding. I glanced at Jeff who had his hands in a steeple in front of his mouth and was sort of squinting at me, but most importantly, not saying a damn word. Then I leaned forward to look over at Mom, who was staring at Clary and I in complete shock, tears filling in her eyes.
“So it’s true? You’re pregnant? With Nick’s…?” she choked out and Clary nodded, a small smile on her lips.
“Yeah, we’re…we’re having a baby,” Clary said and glanced at her dad briefly, who was frozen in the same position, though he spared a glance to meet his daughter’s eyes momentarily.
“Oh my goodness.” My mom choked on a sob and Clary put her arms around her in a hug before the waterworks really started up. Ronnie watched them with tears filling up in her own eyes and I turned to face Jeff who had snapped out of whatever he was in and took a deep, deep breath.