by Cookie Jones
“Yeah, this is a hugging moment,” I said and held her close.
She felt so vital in my arms, warm and snug and perfect.
“You’re kinda weird you know that?” I told her and she laughed.
“Well, so are you…I wonder what our kid will be like,” she said and it was my turn to laugh.
“If it’s a girl then she’ll be just as amazing as you are, if it’s a boy we have to keep him away from the girls,” I said and Clary snickered.
I let her go so she could finish her bagel.
“So where were you all night? You’re like my body pillow,” she said and my chest swelled. Hell yeah, I was her body pillow, that meant one step closer to being someone she couldn’t live without.
“I had about five espresso shots of Cuban coffee at this little café I found, so apparently that means staying up past five in the morning.”
Clary smiled fondly and shook her head back and forth.
“Ah sweet Cuban coffee, Café Bustelo or Pilon?” she asked me and I thought about it.
“I think the first one.”
“I used to have an unhealthy addiction to that coffee, but boy did I get a lot done…” She sighed as if she missed it and I had to laugh.
“Hey, after the baby is born, you’re not going to become a coffee addict,” I told her and she shrugged.
“I’ll try, but I’ll need a support group,” she said in all seriousness and I cracked up.
“Don’t worry, you'll have me and the baby,” I said and Clary looked down, but I caught her secret smile. “Thing is…I think I’m gonna have to have more coffee to stay up from the coffee crash that’s bound to happen sooner or later,” I said and Clary shook her head.
“No, if you worked all night, then technically you did a full day’s work and you can catch up on sleep,” she said and I shrugged.
“Makes sense, are you going to be working late today?”
“No I’m taking off early to pick Gina up from the airport and then we have dinner with Buddy again, remember?” she reminded me about the day’s plans and I nodded.
“Yeah, totally, alright can you be my alarm and call me when you’re leaving work?” I asked and she nodded then hopped down from the breakfast bar and kissed me on the mouth.
“I’ve got you, now go to sleep,” she said and I followed her to the bedroom. She got ready for work and I knocked out as soon as I pretty much saw the bed.
* * *
I woke up to the blaring sound of my phone ringing directly into my ear. I answered it a bit more harshly than normal.
“What?” I growled.
“Whoa, someone doesn’t like to be woken up…” Clary’s voice came through and I calmed down instantly, it was like a cool rain on the desert.
“Clary…” I said happily and she laughed.
“This is more proof that you are weird, one second you sound like you’re about to plan the world’s destruction and the next you’re all happy,” she said and I grinned.
“No it's you, you’re like my antidote,” I said and she giggled.
“Alright, whatever you say. So I’m on the way to pick up Gina, we’re gonna stop by her hotel so she can get checked in and such then come by the apartment to pick you up. I already called Buddy, he should be there soon,” Clary said and I nodded.
“Alright, boss lady, whatever you say,” I grinned and she laughed.
“K, I’ll see you later,” she said and just before we hung up I wanted to tell her that I loved her, like a natural normal thing that I really meant. But she didn’t seem to catch that after my speech telling her the things I loved about her. Plus, I didn’t want to outright say it and have her shy away from me or anything. Buddy got to Clary’s apartment about a half hour later, looking like he wanted to punch something.
“Dude, what’s up with you?” I asked him and he shrugged.
“Bad day is all, woke up on the wrong side of the bed. When are the girls getting here?” he asked and I shrugged.
“Probably another half hour or so, not sure.” Buddy stalked over to the fridge and pulled out the pack of bacon of all things.
“Hey, you shouldn’t cook that, the smell gets to Clary,” I said and he sighed dramatically.
“And I can’t even have bacon to make me feel better,” he grumbled and my eyebrows lifted.
“Are you having some sort of moment right now…?” I asked and Buddy just put the bacon back and snagged a yogurt.
“It’s just like a bunch of little petty stuff that built into one extremely over it attitude,” he grumbled and opened up the yogurt a bit and slurped it like it was a damn smoothie.
“You’re in rare form, Buddy…rare form,” which also translated to me telling him he was being weird. He just grumbled to himself and I shook my head.
“So hey, my mom called, the air has been cleared and whatnot,” I told him and that sort of snapped him out of his mood.
“Holy shit, that’s great,” he said and gave me a hug.
“Yeah, now I just feel like…I don’t know, things are settled,” I said and took a deep breath.
“That’s great, man, I’m really happy for you,” Buddy said and I simply bobbed my head in a nod…yeah, I was happy, too.
Chapter10
Clary
“So who’s Buddy again?” Gina asked me as I drove back to my apartment.
“He’s Nick’s best friend, and really cute, easy going…you’d like him I think,” I told her and she continued combing through her hair with her fingers.
“That’s good that he’s there too, a man’s friends say a lot about him,” Gina said and I knew she’d probably analyze Buddy just as much as she’d analyze Nick. The more I thought about it, the more I figured I should’ve warned him about her.
“Man, I can’t believe this whole…month, it’s been like ups and downs for the both of us,” Gina said wistfully and I snorted.
“Yeah, difference is you get to drink coffee to get ready for your day and drink wine after a crazy one,” I said and Gina laughed.
“Don’t worry, before you know it the baby will be born and you’ll have a whole new life to adjust to,” she said and I sort of froze as I thought about that.
“Yeah, I’m going to have a…a child, a little person who depends on me and…cries and needs to be changed and…” My eyes widened and Gina glanced at me with a cautious expression.
“Hey, we’re not going to have a freak out right now are we?” she asked and I shrugged.
“I don’t know…I mean…what if the baby gets sick? Then I’ll have to pump out its snot with those little blue pumper thingies and—”
“And you have Nick to help you through it remember? You guys will be a team,” she said and my chest sort of constricted.
“But what if when the baby comes he realizes that it’s all too much for him and he…and he bails, what if he leaves?” I asked and was grateful we were pulling into my building’s parking garage, because I was about to panic a little.
“Hey, from what you’ve told me, I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Gina said and I tried to take deep breaths.
“I’m going to have something living shooting from my vagina in eight months!” I said and Gina tried not to laugh, bless her, and tried to comfort me.
“The baby won’t shoot from your vagina, I’m a doctor and can assure you of that,” she said and I laughed.
“I’m freaking out a little,” I said and she nodded.
“Yes you are…deep breaths and why don’t we go on upstairs?” she said and I nodded.
“That sounds good…yeah.”
Different scenarios kept running through my head as we got to the apartment. Buddy and Nick were in the living room watching TV. Nick took one look at me and knew something was wrong.
“Hey, what’s up?” he said and I shook my head and faked a smile.
“She’s freaking out about the baby, I’m Gina by the way,” Nick shook her hand and greeted her politely, but he had a co
ncerned frown pointed in my direction.
“Wanna talk about it?” Nick asked when Gina went to introduce herself to Buddy.
“I don’t know…” Nick took my hand and led me into the kitchen. “I was just thinking that in less than eight months really the baby will be here and alive and wiggling and needing things…”
“We’ll be here to take care of the baby no matter what, what’s this freak out for?” he asked and I shrugged.
“I don’t know, I’m just…being a girl I guess,” I said and Nick pulled me in for a hug.
For some reason I became really scared then. There he was hugging me and making things better and a warm feeling was spreading through my chest and secretly loving that he was there and…I just didn’t want to get hurt or anything.
“There’s no such thing, you had a momentary lapse, I have those all the time,” he said and I giggled.
“You have girly moments?” I asked and he held up a finger.
“Momentary lapse,” he said and then flipped his curls and I cracked up. “I think Buddy was having one of those today actually, came in all grumpy and ate yogurt straight from the container, no spoon or anything,”
Nick’s green eyes cut over to the living room and Buddy was acting strange. He was rocking back and forth on his heels with his hands shoved deep into his pockets…he was actually blushing while talking to Gina.
“I think he likes her,” I said and Nick snickered.
“I have to take a picture of this sight,” he said and pulled out his phone and took a couple of priceless pictures of Buddy. “He’s absolutely smitten,” Nick said and then snickered again.
“Okay, now you’re being a guy, come on, I’m hungry,” I said and Nick put his phone away.
“Shall we go guys? Clary and the baby are hungry,” Nick said and then winked at me.
I didn’t know why half of me didn’t want to fall for him, but there was another half that was already completely smitten. From his ridiculous, near David Beckham looks, to his goofiness and earnest attitude, I was definitely smitten.
“Yeah, I’m starving too, where are we going?” Gina asked and Buddy spoke up.
“To a nice place on Lexington, it’s gourmet street food,” he said and already my mouth started to water.
“Buddy, how’d you find that? It already sounds like an orgasm for my taste buds,” I said and Nick glanced at me sharply.
“Are you kidding?” he asked, feigning offense and I rolled my eyes.
“Don’t even…go there,” I said and he grinned.
“Blech, let’s go,” Gina said and Buddy laughed.
His eyes were all for her as we filed out and I couldn’t help but smile widely and nudge Nick in the side almost incessantly every time he and Gina said a word to each other.
“Are we all taking one car or what?” Buddy asked once we got to the parking garage and I tried not to grin like the Cheshire cat.
“We can take two cars…” I said and winked at Buddy, which got me a glare from Gina that I wholeheartedly ignored. “Yeah, I have to talk to Nick about something actually so…”
“Oh okay then, do you mind riding with me Gina?” Buddy asked and she hid her annoyance with me to smile politely at him and accept his offer. Once Buddy’s back was turned, I gave her a thumbs up and I swear she growled at me. Nick heard it, too, and he started laughing under his breath and then out loud as we walked to my car.
“She hates you,” he said and I smiled.
“She’ll love me when she realizes she loves Buddy,” I said as if I had all the answers.
“Buddy is an idiot, he’ll say about ten wrong things if he really likes a girl before he says one right thing,” Nick said and I glanced at him.
“Really? He doesn’t seem like it.”
“Buddy can’t really function correctly around girls unless he has his wingman present,” Nick pointed to his chest, I figured already that he was the wingman.
“I can’t imagine Buddy would have to do much, I mean…oh crap we didn’t get the name of the place or how to get there,” I said and Nick waved his hand as if it wasn’t a big deal.
“I’ll just Yelp it, I’m sure gourmet street food is a pretty rare thing,” Nick said as we idled in the parking space.
After about ten minutes of looking through yelp he called Buddy. I couldn’t help but smile, that whole moment reminded me of something my dad would often do. When my chest got all warm again I took a deep breath and pulled myself together. I had to stop getting all warm inside at every little thing Nick did.
“So did it sound like Buddy was having a better day?” I asked Nick after he punched in the address to the car’s GPS.
“Actually, yeah, but let's not get our hopes up just in case nothing pans out,” Nick warned and I shrugged.
“It’s just that ever since Gina started with med school, she hardly ever has time for anything outside of her career…” I said sounding like a complete hypocrite even to my own ears.
“So you’ve had like…boyfriends and stuff before, like after college and all?” Nick asked me and I felt a little awkward that the whole subject came up in the first place.
“I mean…I guess so, nothing too serious though,” I said and Nick nodded thoughtfully.
“This might be weird of me to ask but…am I the best you’ve ever had in bed?” he said and I burst into laughter, tears actually pricked my eyes.
“Seriously?” I asked and glanced at him, he was pretty serious. “Nick I’m not answering that question,” I said and he pouted.
“Why not? It’s a perfectly normal question,” he said and we went back and forth on the merits of his ‘perfectly normal question.’ Our discussion got so deep that by the time we pulled up to valet at the restaurant we were actually talking about Adam and Eve.
“So…to sum up the discussion, Adam totally would have asked Eve that had there been other Adams in the garden,” Nick said and I simply rolled my eyes.
Buddy and Gina had, of course, arrived at the restaurant before us and Buddy had made a reservation so we were seated right away. I was pleased to see that Buddy and Gina were sitting across from each other, but had their heads close together in conversation.
“Aw, look at them,” I said and then realized that it was probably the baby hormones that was making me so sentimental.
“Hey, guys,” Nick greeted them as we were sitting down and I made eye contact with Gina and couldn’t help but feel a little smug. She rolled her eyes at me, but smirked a little and I knew I was right for forcing them to be alone.
“So what are we talking about?” I asked and Buddy shrugged.
“This and that…” he glanced at Gina and I bet they already had inside jokes.
“Well, Clary and I were talking about whether or not it was okay to ask if I was the best she’d ever had,” Nick said and I groaned.
“Somehow that conversation morphed into whether or not Adam would have asked Eve that, had there been other men in the garden.”
I rolled my eyes and Buddy just shook his head while Gina stared at Nick as if he had a medical condition to be solved.
“Excuse him, just, please…really he’s a smart guy…sometimes,” Buddy said to Gina and she shrugged.
“I think Eve would have answered Adam because she wouldn’t have known better, then all the guys in the garden would have gone into a penis swinging contest and ended up fighting and killing each other. Then Eve would have learned the lesson and passed it onto her daughters who’d know better than to answer that question. Like my dear smart friend, Clary,” Gina broke it down and I couldn’t help but smile. I loved her…I truly did.
“Gina, you’re perfect,” I said dreamily and she blew me a kiss.
“I know,” she said and that made Buddy laugh. Nick just looked like he’d been both schooled and stumped all at once.
“I guess you were right then, Clary,” Nick said and I nodded sagely. “She said the same thing in the car, but I refused to believe it,” Nick adm
itted and Gina laughed.
“Why because if Clary told you that you weren’t the best then you’d take the news in stride?” she asked and Nick shrugged.
“Well, I don’t know, I’d probably look up the best she’s ever had and ask for a lecture, then make sure to take notes,” he said and I cracked up.
“If it makes you feel any better when she told me about when you guys first had sex, she was all waxing poetic for a second, then she was mostly guilty,” Gina said, oversharing of course, but after about ten years plus of knowing her I had learned to expect it.
“Thank you, Gina…we all needed to know that,” I said and she looked a bit guilty and apologetic.
I glanced at Nick, who was then drinking deeply of his water. Thankfully, the waiter had finally come around for our drink order and everyone else ordered something grown up; I had to get a virgin juice cocktail. I nudged Nick’s foot with mine while Buddy and Gina were debating whether or not Adam and Eve got creative with sex positions.
“You okay?” I asked and he nodded.
“We can talk about it later,” he said in a low voice and I took a sip of my own water.
Nick glanced around the dining room and then his eyes were locked on a table in my blind spot. I didn’t want to be obvious and turn around to stare where he was staring.
“You see the boogeyman, Nick?” Buddy asked jokingly when he glanced at him.
“Nah…well yeah, in a way. Just someone I used to know…” Nick picked up the menu and covered his face with it. That’s when I glanced back, as did Gina and Buddy. I really didn’t know what to look for until my eyes stopped on a pair of green eyes that were staring at Nick’s menu with laser focus.
“Man, she’s…gorgeous,” Buddy said mostly as an obvious observation.
“An…ex of yours?” I glanced back at Nick who was still hiding. I flicked the back of the menu and he lowered it and sighed.
“Yeah…she’s…I guess you could say that.”
“What person who looks like that, comes to dinner alone?” Gina asked skeptically and Nick shrugged.
“From the reviews for here I’d say it’s just that type of place,” Buddy said and then his eyes widened as he glanced over my head. I looked up and saw that she had ghosted over to the table.