Pregnant with my two best friends

Emma squeaks while trying to avoid collision with her little brother who runs fast with a loose brake towards the dining room. “Whoa, watch out now, Toby,” she says, placing a large bowl of spaghetti Bolognese on the dining table. “It’s hot, you know.” “Your boyfriends are here,” Toby says, laughing at his own joke while ignoring her warning at the same time. Emma sighs. “For the last time, they’re not my boyfriends,” she says, but smiles, nevertheless. “Besides, what do you know, you little weasel, you. Where’s dad? Go and tell him dinner’s ready.” “Dad’s in the living room with your boyfriends,” Toby answers, making stupid faces. “Go tell him yourself.” “Fine. I will,” she scoffs, then walks towards the living room. Her two ‘boyfriends’, Parker and Chris, are there talking animatedly about football with her dad, something that they all have in common. Ergo, the conversation always goes well. Her dad likes the boys, he finds them proper and polite, well, somewhat. And while he knows that boys will always be boys, he believes that those two will always do right by his daughter. Emma’s smile is still adorning her pretty face as she’s waiting for them to notice her. She and the boys have known each other since kindergarten. They were seated close together by the teacher, and just like that, they clicked and became fast friends. That was some thirteen years ago. As time passes by, frictions come and go, but the friendships remain as solid as a rock. Emma doesn’t really know how they’re able to accomplish that, especially since they are all three different people with three different personalities. But then again, opposite does attract, right? “Em,” Parker greets her with a ready smile. “Spaghetti Bolognese, I smell? Nice.” “Yep, one of her specialties. You guys wanna eat here, instead?” her dad offers. “You know Emma always makes a lot.” “I’ve no problem with that,” Parker contemplates. It is, after all, a very tempting offer. Emma can really cook good food, especially since her mother doesn’t. Emma’s mom is not domestic at all, and as a result, Emma over compensates. But Emma loves cooking, Parker and Chris love eating her food. Great combination: she cooks, they eat. “What do you say, Chris? We can go for a dessert after.” “I don’t know,” Chris answers, contemplating as well. His hand reaches for Emma’s hand and pulls her to sit beside him. “But then we’ll be too full to swim.” “Hmmm,” her dad starts, frowning with apprehension. “What are you guys planning to do? You do realize you’re eighteen now, right? These things, I’m not sure that I approve.” Now Emma blushes. “Oh, for God’s sake, dad! You’re embarrassing me!” The boys laugh their usual easy laugh. It always brings comfort to Emma, comfort and warmth. Oh, how she loves those boys. “Don’t worry, Mr. Anderson. Emma is safe with us, like always,” Chris answers, then gives her dad his infamous devilish grin. It doesn’t usually work with parents. If at all, it can only worsen the effect. Chris is the playboy here, and every parent in the twenty-mile radius have gotten the memo. Actually, twenty miles and a little over. He then continues, “Besides, like you said, she’s eighteen now. If something ever happened to her, I’m not saying that it will, tonight, but hypothetically speaking, if it did. Again, I’m being hypothetical, here. Don’t you feel better if it happened when she was with us?” Wrong. Parker winces. Well played, Chris. Now her dad, Mr. Anderson, Dave Anderson to be precise, stands up straight. The man is a good man, a fan of the two boys – always says nothing but good things about them, and a very approachable adult too, if he may say so himself. Still, the man is a police officer, and they’re talking about his daughter. The truth is, Emma is not his biological daughter. But the man has grown to love her tremendously as his own child. Mr. Anderson married her mother when Emma was only five years old. Four years after that, Toby came into the picture. Three years after that, Mr. Anderson became a weekend dad for Toby. And unsurprisingly, since Mr. Anderson is a far much better parent than her mom has ever been, also for Emma. Now both Parker and Chris stand up straight as well, with a careful smile decorating their handsome faces. A smile, not a grin. “Mr. Anderson,” Parker starts. “What Chris was saying...” “Oh, I know what Chris was saying,” Mr. Anderson stops Parker fast. “The question is, does Chris know what Chris was saying?” “No,” Emma answers. “He’s stupid that way. Don’t worry, dad.” Mr. Anderson gives her daughter a stern look. “It’s still too cold to swim in the pond, sweetie,” he says, trying to reason with her. “Especially at night. Spring just ends, the water’s not swimmable yet.” “Dad,” Emma pleads. “Come on. We’ve done this a million times already.” “Fine,” Mr. Anderson says, giving up. He does know that Emma and the boys have, in fact, done that a million times already. “Let’s just eat first, then.” “No.” Somehow the three manage to answer at the same time. “Thank you, Mr. Anderson,” Parker says, softening the effect once he sees that Mr. Anderson’s eyes start to squint. “But I think we should just go.” “Yes, dad,” Emma helps. “The sooner we go, the sooner we come back.” Mr. Anderson exhales. “Okay, sweetie,” he says, taking a twenty out of his wallet, handing it to Emma. “Don’t be too late, okay?” Chris takes the money from him before Emma has the chance to grab it. He doesn’t need the money to treat Emma dinner. Both he and Parker are rich. But it’s important that he doesn’t condescend her dad. The man has his pride. “Don’t worry, Mr. Anderson,” he says with a devilish grin adorning his face, again. The boy never learns. “Don’t wait up, okay?” With that, he takes her hand and runs out of the door with her in tow, leaving Parker alone dealing with Mr. Anderson. Now Mr. Anderson walks towards Parker. His strides heavy and his look deadly. At first, Parker contemplates talking to him, he is after all the nice guy here. The proper one, the reasonable one, the one that parents trust with their daughters because well, unlike Chris, he’s not a playboy. Parker opens his mouth, he’s about to say something. But he chickens out, and instead runs towards Chris’s Cadillac Escalade where both his friends are already waiting. “Don’t wait up, Mr. Anderson,” he shouts, then waves. Well, now Mr. Anderson knows that he definitely should, wait up. *** Alpequa, a pretentious town in Northern New Jersey, is home for the well-heeled, old money folks. Its proximity towards the midtown Manhattan and the financial district makes the location desirable for the likes of the white collars who commute on a daily basis on their Mercedes, Ferrari, Maserati, or Lamborghini. Their trophy wives stay at the town while being pampered in a high scale beauty salon followed by an overpriced lunch in a country club that membership runs for generations and therefore no longer excepts new members unless through a thoroughly complicated vetting process preceded by a colorful meticulously written recommendation by any of their distinguished member. Alpequa is home for the Chris’s and Parker’s of the world, and in a more moderate kind of way, also for the Emma’s. Her parents are not rich, and not by intent, mind you. Emma’s mother is an extremely beautiful woman, with blue eyes and blond hair. She’s also incredibly s****l, and sensual, an above and beyond Aphrodite. Yet, somehow, and this is quite interesting – Emma wonders about it often, her mom’s looks have not been able to land her a man with deep pockets. Such a shame, especially since all she’s obsessed about is wealth and substance. Perhaps, something happened in the past. Something that made all the rich men in their beloved town oscillate from her. Perhaps, once upon a time, there was a gossip. Alpequa is, after all, a pompous and very stuffy town. Chris and Parker know about her mom, about her ambition and failure to land her hand on the richest man possible despite being married thrice already. Chris’s and Parker’s moms, like any other moms in town, talk about Emma’s, although snicker is more like it. Both boys don’t care, though. Still, they know how Emma often feels inferior about all of it. In their own way, they show Emma how different they think she is from her mom. And therefore, she’s not, and should not, at all be defined by her mom and her absurd antics. Emma is pretty, she’s not over the top beautiful like her mom. She doesn’t turn heads, but she’s sweet with nice curves in all the right places, courtesy of her Latin American heritage. Her father is Mexican American. Rumor said that he was once Parker’s grandfather’s chauffer, but the rumor has never been confirmed since Emma doesn’t really remember her biological father all that much. He and her mom had only been married for a year or so before the divorce. Her mom has never talked nor has she ever entertained a conversation about him at all. They’ve never even had taco dinner for crying out loud! While pretty, Emma is a bit of a wallflower. Once you get to know her, however, she can be pretty talkative too. Especially about the subject that she is passionate about. Like teaching and kids. Emma loves kids! She’s her heart set on becoming a teacher. Emma’s also pretty smart. She’s got a full scholarship from Princeton, something that her two stepdads are so very proud of, and therefore keep on talking about it. And for once, when it comes to Emma, something that her mom too, has also finally been talking about, every chance she’s got. Emma’s not famous in school, well, how can she be? She’s not rich and only lives in the moderate part of the town. In their high school, famous comes with dough. People do know her, though. She and the boys are, after all, always attached to the hip. She’s never been bullied because of the boys, now that’s the good part. Unfortunately, she’s never been approached by any other boys either, now that, is the bad part. Still, Emma prefers being attached to the hip with them over anything else in the whole wide world. Well, at least with Parker, she is. Chris, as the playboy in the group, is always with a girl. Lately he’s been dating Kate, the head cheerleader. So beyond typical is not even funny, considering he’s a quarterback himself. Parker, like Emma, never dates anyone. Not that she knows of, at least. In school the both of them are always together, Chris joins them here and there before running towards whatever or whoever. Parker and Emma usually laugh and shake their heads. Still, they know that Chris will always be there when it counts, he’s solid like that. Emma never really knows why Parker never dates. There have been rumors about Parker, twice. Once when they were sixteen, a girl from school accidentally met Parker when he was having a summer holiday with his family in Europe. The girl saw Parker hugging and kissing a beautiful French girl. Once the school started, everybody then decided that the reason why Parker never dated any girl from school was because he had a girlfriend in France. The other rumor about him started last year at the beginning of their junior year. His cousin posted a couple of photos of their vacation in Australia on her i********: and Parker was in some of the photos, hugging and kissing a girl. A different girl from the one he was kissing in France. Apparently, Parker has a thing for foreign girls. They say that he’s a snob that way. Emma also never really knows whether the rumors were true, although if she’d really wanted too, she could’ve just asked. The boy has always been by her side. But she’s never asked, she doesn’t know why. Perhaps, she’s just too proud, but then again, perhaps, she doesn’t really care. It is after all only Parker, it’s not… Chris. Now Chris, would be another story. Emma’s had a crush on Chris for forever. Chris knows it, Parker knows it, and she knows that both boys know it. No matter how hard she tries to hide it from them, her face always gives it away. She always blushes when he’s around, or every time he teases her. And he’s around a lot, and teases often. But the thing is, this is not the kind of thing that they talk about, and they talk about plenty of things. Adding to this awkwardness, Parker might, might just be having a crush on Emma for forever also. She knows it, Chris knows it, and Parker knows that both of his friends know it. It’s just not something that they talk about, and they talked about plenty of things. Sometimes Emma wonders, when she sees Chris kiss his latest conquest. She wonders why she can’t just have a crush on Parker. He sure is good looking without the bad boy vibe that Chris gives away. That will make life easier for her because her heart then won’t continue to ache. Perhaps, it has something to do with her mom. For some reason, her mom hates Parker, she even goes as far as forbidding Emma from befriending him. That is why the boys usually pick up Emma at Mr. Anderson’s house instead of at her mom’s. Maybe, the rumor was right after all. Maybe, once upon a time, Emma’s biological father was indeed Parker’s grandfather’s chauffeur. And this, makes her mom stuck with never ending abhorrence and utter humiliation. Chris, funny enough, her mother doesn’t really mind much. Now this, probably because every time her mother sees him, he always has his arm around a different blond, blue-eyed girl’s shoulders. Emma is not blond nor blue-eyed. Emma then guesses that her mother thinks that she’s not Chris’s type. That’s why her mom never bothers warning Emma about him. Chris and Parker. The boys are both handsome, easily stand over six feet with enviously athletic bodies with Chris being a quarterback and Parker just all around good in any sport. Any sport. Better than Chris, in fact, unless of course, football. They both wear this All-American guy’s look so perfectly well, with the ready grin and the occasional wink. They both are smart too; this is where the world is obviously not fair. And since both their fathers are Harvard alumni who have donated a significant amount on a yearly basis to the university, both Chris and Parker are accepted there on a full scholarship. Now that is the sad part of the otherwise wonderful news all around. For the first time, the trio might have to finally part. But that’s three whole months from now, June has just started. This weekend they will have their prom and Parker will take Emma there, just like the Homecoming. Chris will take Kate, no questions about that, especially since they were the homecoming king and queen. If Emma cares to bet, she doesn’t though, Chris and Kate will be the prom king and queen as well. Chris says he actually wants to break up with Kate, but she begs him to wait until the school’s over. If they break up now, it will ruin their chances to be the prom king and queen. Chris doesn’t really care about that, really. But since Kate still offers s*x, so yeah, it’s always good to be Chris. That, is also five days from now. Emma really shouldn’t care that far ahead since she knows she won’t be the prom queen, anyway. Right now, she should only care about the blanket Parker’s just spread so they can lie down on top of the sand in front of their pond. Their secret pond. Because Alpequa, like any other town in New Jersey, also has its ponds. Well, their secret pond is not exactly a secret, really, it’s also not theirs to begin with. They just like to think it that way since after nine at night, nobody comes there. So, that is the time when Emma and the boys visit. They usually start the night with dinner at their favorite diner or pizza joint, then walk towards this ice cream parlor that they like so much since they were six for dessert, follow with the short drive to their secret pond, and then swim. That is how they always start their summer. Not the whole summer though, because then Parker and Chris will also spend their summer holiday globe-trotting with their families. Emma stays behind, from time to time, simply out of boredom, she finds herself a summer time job. It sucks. Emma sometimes wishes she can also go globe-trotting. Well, life, right? You take what you can get. ***