Bad friend

CHAPTER NINE

"SO....." VERA TRAILS of as she raises her eyebrows and pouts her lips, "Last night was a thing."

"It sure was." I hum as I tap on the leather steering wheel, watching the road in front of me. David's range rover drove so smoothly, but it was a whole different playing field than my mother's tiny grey car that I've dented more times the necessary.

Still not sure why David thought it would be a good idea for me to drive but oh well, I'm living out my dream of being a rich soccer mom and David's happy. It's a win win situation.

"Emily called him Everett."

I sigh as my grip of the steering wheel tightens, "I know."

"Was it as awkward as I thought it was because s**t, it was like I had a front row sweet to one of my favourite soap operas. Spencer was just about ready to slap her into the next f*****g decade." Vera giggles as she places her hands to her belly.

It was just us two today as Vera had an appointment for her ultrasound scan. Everyone wanted to come but Vera thought having all of us squashed in one room wasn't a good idea. So she just promised to bring them back pictures.

Penn took one for the team and decided to take all the boys on a long hike. It was really cute seeing Noah in his hiking boots that he borrowed from David while everyone was in athletic gear and running sneakers.

"Of course he was," I chuckle as I shake my head, "It's not like she can't call him Everett."

"She can't. That's your nickname, Hay." Vera explains

as I pull into the parking lot and find the last empty

park.

"I don't own it. And besides, we can't blame her for not knowing that I'm the only one who calls him that." I shrug as I put the vehicle in park, pull out the key and open the drivers door. I slip out and close the door behind me.

"Well, she should know." Vera points out as i meet her at the back of the car and lock it.

"Please stop being so wise." I groan as I cross the parking lot and head towards the brick building.

"Sorry darling, it's a blessing and a curse." Vera giggles as she follows behind me. I push my gold-rimmed sunglasses up onto my head as I step through the glass door and into the waiting room. The receptionist smiles at us as Vera walks up to the desk.

I take a seat as she talks to the receptionist and fold my legs over the other. I glance around the room, glancing at all the posters of smiling babies and adverts for midwives business. Those ones piqued my interests.

"Hey," I start as Vera walks towards me and sits, "Do

you have a midwife?"

"Nope." She shakes her head, "I don't want to make a big deal about this and midwives scare me. I know they're just there to help but I don't want another person's opinion on my body."

"Okay, that's fine." I smile at her as I slip my hand into hers, "Also, Sam's mom kicked you out just before you came here. Why didn't you tell him before?"

"I wanted to tell him as soon as I found out. But Sam was away with his father on some business meeting and when he got back I barely saw him. He kept pulling away for work and I was left all alone." Vera shrugs as she glances down at her lap. "My parents were like that are like that."

I sigh out, "Vera..."

"They were too busy avoiding and despising each other that the only time they remembered they had a daughter was to use her against the other. And like hell I'm going to let mine grow up in a toxic environment like that." Vera folds her arms with a determined and serious expression on her face. She was so damn powerful.

Another person steps into the room, "Vera Miller?"

"Yup, that's me." Vera says as the both of us stand.

"Hi, I'm Briana and I'll be doing your scan today." The lady explains as we follow her down the hall and to a room on the left.

I take a seat next to the bed as Vera lies down and the lady begins the scan. I was absolutely mesmerised by the tiny little body on the screen as Vera laughs at my face.

"Have you two picked out a name yet?" The lady questions as she continues to move the electronic wand over Vera's now slimy belly. Vera and I look at each other before we both burst out laughing.

"Oh no-we're not-we're not together." Vera shakes

her head at the Briana, "She's my best friend."

"Oh I'm so sorry, I just thought-well, you too just seem very close." The woman explains as Vera and I smile at each other. "Okay, well, I'm sure you've seen it before, but jus so you know what you're looking at, here's the baby's head..."

Noah runs at the speed of light across the parking lot of the supermarket and in front of him was Levi, smiling like crazy as he sat inside a shopping cart.

"You know, sometimes I look at Levi and I'm just like 'what an adorable little cinnamon roll'...then I remember he smiles during the killing parts of horror movies." Spencer chuckles as he locks his arm with mine as we follow the pair.

I shrug, "That's Levi."

"I miss talking to you," Spencer sighs as we stop and wait for a car to pass. The two young children in the back stare as the vehicle slowly rolls past so like the mature person I am, I poke my tongue at them. "We need a day together, just the two of us."

"That would be really nice Spenc," I smile at him, "I

miss you two."

"Great! There's a guy I'm talking to, and we're currently in the sexting stage of our relationship, but his dad owns a super fancy spa in San Diego." Spencer explains and I roll my eyes at him. He laughs as he hugs me closer, "It'll give us a chance to talk...well, for you to talk. I'm a f*****g open book."

I tilt my head back and laugh as we enter through the automatic doors of the store. It was quiet, due it being a Tuesday night, so I could spot Noah and Levi whipping through the aisles of produce like the were playing f*****g Mario Cart. I love those two idiots.

Chase, Vera and Penn stayed back at the house as they were in the middle of an episode of Suits of which the three of them religiously watch. They have a group chat based solely on their conversations about the show. No one is allowed to post anything until they've all watched an episode.

"You keep too much inside, Hay. Let me share some of your burden." Spencer explains as I nod, "I love you but you also scare the s**t out of me."

I smirk at him, "You'd be surprised how much I hear that."

Now it was Spencer's turn to roll his eyes at me as we begin to pick out vegetables and fruit we were in need of. We were going to attempt and cook something by ourselves before David returns tomorrow and saves us. We've been surviving off cookies, fast food and some weird as kombucha from the bottom of the fridge.

"We're back!" Noah announces as he pulls into the aisle we were standing it. I look away from the numerous packets of pasta that were honestly starting to terrify me and stare at the pair. Levi sat in a cart of diabetes, filled to mac with candy, chocolate and potato chips.

He was also eating from a packet of Doritos and seemed at peace with himself.

"Okay...uh...what?" I question as I point at everything,

"How did this happen?"

"Well, you see, in our defence we were left unsupervised." Noah shrugs while swinging on the back of the cart.

"For three minutes!" I hold up the same amount of fingers at them, "Fine, here's what we're going to do. You each pick out three items you want but put the rest back. Okay?"

"Yes ma'am!" Noah salutes me before turning the cart around.

"Onward Sergeant O'Conner!" Levi points as Noah pushes the shopping cart out of the aisle. I laugh at them as I shake my head and return to looking at the pasta. I could feel Spencer staring at me from the corner of my eye. I turn to him with an impassive look.

I shrug, "What?"

"Nothing," Spencer shakes his head as he smirks, "I just realised how badass you would be as a mother."

"Pfft, me as mother? Nice joke, Spenc." I shake my head as I pick a brand of pasta, mostly because I wanted to get the hell away from this conversation.

"I'm serious Hayden. What? Don't look at me like that." Spencer shoves me playfully as we turn and he begins to push the cart we had for all the serious stuff, "Did you think about it when you were still with Chase?"

"Of course I did." I sigh as my eyes scan over the shelves in case we missed anything, "I had a whole damn list of names on my phone. Boy, girl, unisex and ones from other languages."

"What about Chase?"

"He had one name." I explain as Spencer glances at me with utter curiosity, "I found it when I opened his phone and his notes were open... It was Harlowe."

"That's a beautiful name." Spencer grins softly at me.

"I know!" I groan as I cover my face with my hands. I drag my hands down to my shoulders in frustration, "And I can't stop thinking about it. I love it so much and it made every other name I thought of pale in f*****g comparison."

"I'm living for the tea, trust me I am, but if you don't get back together with Chase, your new best friend is going to come along and swipe h-" Spencer stumbles to a stop as we turn the next corner and almost ram into someone. Spencer grins instantly, "Emily!"

"Oh, hi guys." Emily waves at us as she places the two cans she held onto the shelf, "Is it just you two?"

"Nope, Levi and Noah are somewhere here too. We're sorry for whatever f*****g mess they make." I laugh awkwardly as I fold my eyes, hoping to hell that the boys don't break anything I'll have to pay for.

I swear I could see a flicker of disappointment cross her face, "I don't really care. I hate this dumb job anyway."

"I'm glad that we came tonight because I actually wanted to talk to you." I explain as Emily frowns in interest and I glance at my cousin, "Hey, Spenc, could you go find Noah and Levi and make sure they're not destroying the store? That would be great."

"But-I-uh-fine." Spencer sighs as he shrugs his shoulders and struts off. I turn back to Emily with an awkward grin.

"What did you want to talk about, Hay?" Emily questions with a sweet smile as multiple things run through in my head in the moment. Did you really pretend to drown at the beach the other day? Why the f**k did you call Chase 'Everett' when I'm the only one who does that?

"Chase." I state simply as Emily gulps, "I know I said he was just a friend but you deserve to know that Chase and I...we dated. Well, it was more than that really since we were together for just over two years. But I wanted you to know that there's nothing between us anymore so don't feel awkward to follow your feelings or anything."

"Oh, I don't want to overstep my boundaries." Emily shakes her head as she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, "If it's going to make you feel awkward then I won't

"It's not going to make things awkward, Em. Trust me I do a pretty good job of that by myself already." I chuckle as she laughs along with me, "Chase and I are just friends."

"Well that's....good." Emily smiles and I gulp, "Because

I really like him."

Like him? You've barely even talked to him you incompetent bi-I take a deep breath in before my thoughts soon become reality.

"He's just so good looking and kind and I was honestly worried because I thought there was something between the two of you. I mean, you guys get along so well and sometimes the way he looks at you made me sad but now that I know it's nothing I feel better." Emily grins as she continues to put away the cans that were in her cart, "Thank you for telling me Hayden."

"No problem." I say through gritted teeth as Noah, Levi

and Spencer round the corner and meet us. "Hey guys!" Emily greets as she smiles at them. She

then glances at the trolley, "Hi Levi."

Levi glares at her and remains quiet as ever. His stare alone would most likely send anyone with a heart condition directly to the ICU.

"You'll get use to him." I smile at Emily as I pat the top of Levi's curly hair, "Well, we'll let you get back to work."

"Wait, I was wanting to ask if you could give me Everett's phone number?" Emily grins at me and Levi looked damn ready to jump from the cart and onto her like a goddamn monkey.

I nod, "Sure, I'll text it to you."

"Great, I'll see you later." Emily waves at us before we make our way into the next aisle and Levi glances up at me as I silently walk alone his cart, too busy processing all the thoughts in my head.

"Can I light her house on fire?"

"No."

"Can I light her parents house on fire?"

"Also no."

"Also no."

"Can I light her grandparents house on fire?"

"Levi..." I groan as I glance down at him to see a smile cross his face, "Give it a few weeks and I'll let you know."

"Yes!" Levi pumps his fist into the air like the beautiful sociopath he was.

authors note

there wasn't any chase in this chapter, but if you know my writing then you know i don't like it when every chapter in a book contains the main character and her love interest.

it gets redundant and unnatural because our hayden has her own crazy life that she has to deal with outside her relationship.

it was a short one though so hopefully another one will be up tomorrow but for now i gotta get some sleep, or at least a two hour nap.

we love having absolutely no f*****g sleep schedule. my

eye bags are thriving at the moment.