Enemies with Babies

four || college

Graduation was approaching quickly.

I couldn't wait to finally get out of high school, after four years of torture. However, despite the fact I'm finishing school, it doesn't mean the hardships are over. There is still the baby I have to care for in a few months, as well as college as soon as the baby is old enough to not be so dependant.

Alexander still didn't know. Though, I have decided to tell him soon, especially with my upcoming sonogram and the way my stomach already seems to be developing a bump. For now, it just seems like I'm growing overweight, but it won't look like that forever.

"Hey, Kelsie, wait up!" I heard Alex's voice call out.

Turning around, I saw him jog to catch up to me, throwing an arm around my shoulders when he reached me.

"Hey," I greeted him.

We started walking together towards Alex's car, since he decided to drive me to school again. I knew Alexander was going off to college, which made me upset – I needed his help with the pregnancy. After all, he helped put me in this position.

Though, I realised that sounded selfish, so I kept that comment to myself. If he wanted to attend college, I shouldn't stop him.

"Do you want to go get something to drink? There's something I want to talk with you about." He informed me as he got into his car, once we finally approached it.

I hopped in as well, nodding. "Sure."

The question of what he wanted to talk about lingered in my thoughts. Pessimistic ideas of what he wanted to inform me about happen to be the only thoughts, meaning with my heightened hormones – I was paranoid the whole journey there.

People say pregnancy is supposed to be a wonderful and joyous time. I certainly don't feel that yet.

Alexander got a booth and sat down opposite me. He kept aiming smiles towards me, which freaked me out since I've known him for a long time and I've never seen him smile as much times as he has in the past few minutes.

"What?" I asked, returning his smile after a while.

Shaking his head, Alex grabbed a menu and turned his gaze to that. "Nothing."

I scoffed. "So, do you smile weirdly at all girls like that or are you just particularly feeling like the Grinch today?"

His hand reached out to cup my cheek and his eyes directed on to me. "No, you're a special case. Being the girl I love and all."

Looking down, I smiled. I felt his hand move away, as well as the sound of footsteps approaching. Lifting my head up, I saw a waitress approaching us. However, she wasn't just any waitress – she was someone familiar.

"May I take your orders?" She asked, her gaze staying on my boyfriend.

I shouldn't have feel so possessive though. Sure, she was Alexander's ex-girlfriend and she was attending a college I may possibly attend after pregnancy. But, I'm pretty sure she's going to be civil.

Despite the fact that the last time she saw me I was kissing her ex-boyfriend.

After all, she was Daisy's cousin, and I was her cousin's best friend.

"Hey, Lily." I greeted her.

She shot me a weak smile, before returning her line of view back onto Alexander.

I knew he realised she was here. How could he not – she was someone familiar to him.

Here's me, over-thinking things again.

"Can I just have water?" I informed Lily – Daisy's cousin.

Another weak smile came from her. She nodded as she jotted down the order on her notepad as she shifted to Alex, him being everything she could see – for another time.

"And you, Xander?" She asked him.

"Alexander," he coughed. "And I'll have a coke."

Lily didn't seem to respond to the correction of his name. Instead, she just wrote down his order and left. With her now gone, Alexander leaned closer in the table, observing me.

"Anyway, I want to talk about—" Alex started.

I started speaking, abruptly cutting his sentence off. "Xander? Why did she call you that?"

That question couldn't help but be vocalised. It wasn't any of my business, but Alexander didn't used to be either, and look how that turned out.

Where was I going with this again?

He shook his head, dismissively. "Old nickname. Hated it, but she didn't care. But that's besides the point. I wanted to talk to you about—"

Once again, he didn't manage to finish what he was about to say as Lily came with two glasses and placed them down on the table. Without a word, she left again. However, not without sparing Alex another look.

Grabbing the straw, I took a sip of the water, feeling the freshness and immediately getting refreshed by it. Alexander took a sip of his coke, before clearing his throat and attempting to speak again.

"What I was going to say, was that I really wanted to talk to you about college." He finally announced.

I took another sip. "OK..."

"We haven't gotten a chance to talk about this yet, but I think we should." Alexander elaborated, watching to see how I would react.

Truth be told, I was tempted to just tell him my honest opinion – that being that I really didn't want him to leave for college; I wanted him to stay here with me. But even if that was what I wanted, it was Alexander's choice.

"OK..." I said again.

"There are two colleges that accepted me. One of them is the college that's about thirty minutes away from here. The other one is UCLA – it's the one I'm leaning towards the most." Alexander explained.

UCLA was hours away from here. Alexander would have to take a plane to get there, meaning travel would be hard between here and there.

It's funny how only a few months ago I was begging for him to leave as far as he could, and now I feel like begging him to never leave my side.

"But UCLA is quite far away," I pointed out. "You would have to travel three hours by a plane."

Alexander shrugged. "Three hours isn't that much."

"And what about us?" I asked him, crossing my arms. I had no idea what suddenly made me so mad, but I was annoyed by him. "Do you want to leave our relationship behind, too?"

Alex's face contorted into one of distress. It seemed as if he hadn't taken that into account, or if he has, then he hadn't thought of a plan to get around that situation.

"No! Of course I don't. But— I just.. we can try long distance." He suggested.

I shook my head. "It may work in movies, but it doesn't actually work in real life."

Silence lasted between us for a while. Obviously the was the obvious chatter of the cafe, but between us, not even an inhale of air could be heard.

Why did things get so awkward so quickly between us?

It's just a minor side-effect to dating the person you claimed was your enemy for a long time.

"So you want me to stay here?" Alex asked me, watching me cautiously.

Nodding my head slightly, I bit my lip as I watched him sit back in his seat. But, at the look of his disappointment, it made me feel guilty.

"You don't have to – I just want to make you aware of this." I told him, sliding out of the booth to go sit next to him.

He threw an arm around me and pulled me closer. "I just really want to get out of this place, you know?"

Shrugging, I leaned closer to him. "Yeah."

Alexander pulled away as he watched me, carefully. I had no idea what made him do so – if I had somehow offended him – but this action slightly scared me.

"Is there any other reason that you don't want me to go to UCLA?" Alex asked me.

For a moment, I thought that my heart stopped. "Why?"

Surely he couldn't know. There was no way he could.

"Because you seem like you want me to go, but at the same time you don't. I don't know – it's just a hunch, I guess." Alex said.

Maybe now was the best time to tell him, since he wanted to know why I was so bipolar on him leaving. Besides, perhaps I would see how he would truly react to this – whether I feared telling him for the right reason.

"OK, there is another reason why I don't want you to go." I said quickly, hoping he didn't catch it, however, from the look of impatience on his face – I knew otherwise.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Well.. I'm.. we're.. I'm pregnant." I stuttered.

I watched as his jaw dropped.