Page 13 of Sloth
“He’s gonna freak out, and what if he thinks I did this on purpose?” She shakes her head.
“He’s not gonna think that.” I try my best to sound reassuring.
“Of course, he is. The man has an ego the size of fuckin’ Texas. He’s one hundred percent gonna think I did this on purpose.” Tears start building in her eyes.
“Then he should have been more careful; it takes two people to make a baby, Liza.” I’ll happily remind Koben of that, too, if he starts trying to place any blame on my best friend.
“My parents are gonna be so disappointed in me; this is their worst nightmare. It’smyworst nightmare. I can’t be a mom, Erin.” She starts breathing like she’s hyperventilating.
“Calm down, you're gonna be just fine. True, your parents are gonna be surprised, and no doubt they’ll have something to say about it. But in time, once they’ve gotten used to the idea, they’re gonna support you. You have me… and I can’t imagine Koben expecting you to do this alone.” I rub her back and try to encourage her to be positive about this.
“How the hell do you co-parent with someone who has the IQ of a baboon?” She throws her head back dramatically.
“Actually, baboons are highly intelligent,” I correct her, and the scowl she gives back warns me to shut the hell up.
“Promise me you won’t tell him.” She narrows her eyes at me more deeply.
“Liza, I?—”
“You have to promise. I need time to get to grips with this myself before I start dealing with any baby daddy drama. Justgive me a few more weeks,” she begs, and despite me thinking she’s making a mistake, I nod my head and agree. Koben may act up a little sometimes, but deep down I know he’s a good guy. There’s no way he’d shy away from his responsibilities.
“So am I allowed to get excited about the fact that I’m gonna be the coolest aunt ever?” I question her, placing my hand on her flat stomach and showing her how excited I am.
“Only because you're grieving.” She rolls her eyes and eventually smiles back at me.
“This is gonna turn out to be a good thing, Liza,” I promise her, kissing her cheek and heading to the stove so I can make my pregnant best friend some tea.
Luke comes back inside about ten minutes after Liza’s left to go home. He’s looking tired, dirty, and sweaty, and I can’t help thinking it looks incredibly sexy on him.
“What ya been doing out there?” I ask, wiping over the table and rearranging the place mats just so I don’t stare at him for too long.
“Fightin’ with Titan so I could pick out his hooves; I swear that bastard hates me.” He laughs as he makes his way over to the basin to wash his hands.
“Don’t take it personally, that horse hates everyone… Except for Matthew.” I step up behind him, watching his reflection in the glass window as he focuses on scrubbing his hands clean.
“You find out if the test was Liza’s?” He turns around and looks startled when he sees how close I’ve gotten. But I don’t apologize or explain myself, I don’t think I could even if I wanted to. Instead, I watch his broad chest heave up and down through the tight, sweaty T-shirt he’s wearing.
“You look…”Hot. Sexy...shit, I wanna put my mouth on him again.“...Tired. You’ve had a long day, you should get some rest,” I suggest, feeling like there needs to be some distance between us. I feel like I’m being dragged toward him, and it’s not something I can let happen.
“I was actually gonna see if you wanted to watch a movie or somethin’. I know it’s late, but I don’t sleep too well at night, too much to think about,” he says, scratching the back of his neck and looking kinda shy.
“A movie sounds good.” I smile up at him, knowing that I should decline and go to bed, but I don’t want to.
“Cool, I’ll grab a shower while you pick something out. And none of that chick-flick shit. I need somethin’ with at least some blood and gore.” He waggles his finger at me as he heads toward the bathroom.
“The test was hers,” I call out to him before he has a chance to shut the door. I know Liza wants the whole thing kept secret, but I feel the urge to guarantee him that the test his mom found wasn’t mine.
“Shit.” He shakes his head and laughs. “Does she know who the kid's father is?” He raises one of his eyebrows.
“She knows. She’s just choosing to keep it a secret until she’s got her head around it.”
“So why you tellin’ me?” He smirks back at me cleverly.
“'Cause I trust you, and… I wanted you to know for sure the test wasn’t mine.” I’m surprised at how honest my answer is. I seem to lose all filters when I’m around him.
“You told me it wasn't yours. I believed you.” His voice goes all soft again, and it melts my insides, and suddenly I realize that I’ve been staring at him for far too long again.
“Yeah, well, I was hoping you could make sure your mom gets that message; she’s gonna be crushed, and right now I can’t deal with–”
