But Who's Counting?

Chapter Twenty-Seven

"So I don't get a welcome party, nothing?" Quincy asks as he throws his suitcase into the car. A wide smile is plastered across her face as he closes the door and comes to sit in the passenger seat.

"Nope. Sorry." I smile, waiting for him to buckle the seatbelt. He finally looks up at me as he finishes before sputtering. "Huge. Huge. You look like Aunt Ke when she was pregnant with Chloe and Chris." He says, adjusting his black nike hat.

"I know." I groan, starting the car and beginning to drive away from the airport pick up lot.

"Dad is going to kill you, only if he doesn't kill the baby daddy first. Speaking of baby daddy, will I get to meet him?"

I mean, we are going back to his house.

"Maybe." I tease as he flips out his phone. I glance over at him. His curly hair is tucked beneath the hat and he's wearing a black hoodie with his adidas sweatpants. I don't bother looking at his shoes because I know they are probably slides.

"Why didn't you bring your fiancée?"

"Eh. She didn't want to come." He mumbles, sounding as if he doesn't want to talk about it.

Too bad.

"Why not?"

"I don't know. Something's going on with her." He says, looking up at me. I glance at him again before looking back at the road.

"Is she getting cold feet?"

"She better not be; she's the one who proposed."

"Really?"

"I mean.. it wasn't really a proposal. I f****d her and she said 'let's get married'."

"So you being as impulsive as you are, you decided that was a good idea?"

"I mean, we have been seeing each other for a minute now. Aren't you supposed to take this street back to the apartment?"

"Yeah."

"So where are we going? Strip club?" He eagerly asks. Typically Quincy.

"I'm pregnant."

"That doesn't mean you can't enjoy a lap dance." He says, almost as if it was obvious. I can see out of the corner of my eye as he rolls down the windows and quickly spits.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but I barely have a lap."

"Oh I've noticed, fatass." He retorts, snickering as he rolls his eyes.

"Ugly." I mumble.

"Crackhead." He says back, not even bothering to look this way.

"Troll." I say, louder this time as I turn the corner.

"Demon child."

"We have the same parents. That would make you one as well." I say. Instead of responding though, me mocks me and sticks out his tongue.

"I've missed you. You know that? I can't believe I'm going to be a Uncle. I'm going to be their favorite uncle."

"I don't know, Alex has got 3 brother and a cousin that's basically a brother. You got four other uncles to compete with."

"Trust me, Uncle Quincy is where it's at. I'm going to tell you to put them out on the crib, inside their car seats and I'm gonna pull up, toss them in and we'll go to the movies or something. Then we'll go to the candy store and they can get whatever they want and when they get high off of all that sugar, I'm going to return them home so they can terrorize you."

"While they're babies?"

"I said what I said." He laughs as I pull into the garage.

"Wait, So are you engaged?"

"I'm not even in a relationship. Alex and I are just us." I say. The car stops just as Quincy asks what he already knows.

"So just friends with benefits."

"No label. But I am pregnant with his kids." I say. We sit in the car for a minute more in silence before I decide to get out.

"Grab your bag and hurry up. I'm tired."

"Me too, kinda. Time zones are weird. I just time traveled." He jokes as he unbuckled his seatbelt. I wait on the outside of the car while my incompetent brother grabs his suitcase from the back seat.

"Wait, Sophia. Where are we?" He finally asks as the suitcase pops out of the car. He closes the door and rolls his suitcase over to me while his backpack is strapped to his back and across his chest.

I smile at him as we begin to start walking.

"Alexander's house."

-

To start things off, the stare down was real.

After Quincy and I got in, I showed him to the guest room where he quietly got settled in. Him and I talked for maybe a hour or so more. I told him the do's and dont's of the Parker house. He told me about everybody back home and eventually we determined that we would continue this conversation in the morning. I playfully tucked him in before sneaking back into Alexander bedroom. He was half sleep, so when I slipped in bed, he pulled me towards him and mumbled something incoherent.

Sometime later, I wake up with Alexander's head in my chest and his arm draped across my stomach as he cuddled into me. I check my phone. It was 11:21.

Quincy has texted me 330 times in that time and I'm sure he was hungry or something. I pull away from the grown man baby, that resisted and only pulled me back to him.

"Morning mamas." He says as I finally slip out of his grip. "Good morning baby." I reply as he flips onto his stomach and assumingly falls back asleep.

I go to use the bathroom and when I come out, Alex is sitting up on the bed, stretching out.

"I'm going to head downstairs." I announce and exit the room. The first thing I notice is that it's dead silent. Literally.

There is no noise, not even the heat.

I make my way down the stairs and see two things.

Quincy, sitting on the couch. Maya, sitting at the table.

It was an intense moment and I wish we could fast forward. Both of their eyes were trained to each other's. Quincy's elbow rest on his knee while his head rest on his hand. Maya was sitting crisscross applesauce while having a squinted look on her face.

"Good morning."

"Who's this?" Quincy questioned, his gaze just now turning towards me as Maya followed actions.

"That's your brother?" She questioned.

"Quincy, you didn't introduce yourself?"

"Well, I'm sorry that when I came downstairs I see a random girl."

"I live here."

"You didn't tell me you had a kid together already."

"I'm-" I attempted to talk but Maya spoke again.

"She's not my mom. He's my dad." She says, nodding towards me.

"Maya when did you wake up?" Alexander says, his chest to my back. Quincy stands up upon seeing him.

"I don't know." Maya answers in response.

"So you're the baby daddy." Quincy says as he makes his way over here.

"Yes; unless you've been informed of another." Alexander answer as he steps around me. Quincy stops just a foot away from him, his hands cross across his chest. Both of the grown men stare each other down while Maya quietly excused herself to her room.

I stand awkwardly, since neither of the men are talking or moving.

"That's your daughter?"

"Obviously. I recall her saying that to you."

"She's adorable."

"Thank you. Your sister is insanely beautiful."

I feel my cheeks warm up as Alexander compliments me during Quincy's second stare down of the day. Quincy nods before turning around, breaking their stare.

"You look familiar." Is all Quincy says before plopping on the couch with his phone. Alexander turns around before kissing me and asking what I wanted for breakfast. I wasn't really hungry so I told him nothing. He shook his head at me and mumbled how I was going to eat.

"So, little sis, you live here?"

"Not officially. I just didn't want to be in my apartment while I'm moving."

"You're moving? Why?"

"Because I have too many bad memories in that apartment," I say, leaving out the part where I couldn't stand being in a part that I practically shared with a girl that I called my best friend that admitted to killing my best friend. So, I added anything sentence, which wasn't a lie, to my confession. "plus, it's not nearly enough room for two kids. It's only two bedrooms."

"They are babies! Why the hell do they need a full blown room at birth?"

"Do you not remember how you threw tantrums because our rooms were on the same hall?"

"Shut up." He instantly says, his light skin flushing in embarrassment. "I'm not the one that cried like a b***h because she could sleep in the same room as her parents."

"Actually, you are. You still live with your parents."

"Only occasionally. I have a apartment you know."

"You're there like once a week."

Quincy mocks me before chucking his hat at me. I shield my face but it doesn't even make it that far; falling at my feet. "Bitch." He mumbles as I laugh.

Alexander comes back out of Maya's room, her hot on his tail.

"Remember, I don't like pancakes Daddy. Or eggs. I definitely don't like waffles, sausage or syrup."

"Sounds like someone I know," Quincy mumbles.

"I'm aware Amaya."

"I'm just making sure Alexander." She retorts, her hands going to her hips as she ideas her eyes at her father. The loudest laugh is let out as she does this.

"I love her! I love her!" Quincy is dying of laughter while Alexander looks annoyed.

"You can have her." Alexander says, turning to look at Quincy but catching my gaze.

"Are you about to go out?"

"No, I'm just going to cook whatever we have left. Remind me to get groceries later."

"Will do." I say as Alexander disappears and Maya makes her way to the couch. She sits on the far side of the couch, away from Quincy as she stares at him.

"So How are you here?"

"Well, my mom has a thing for red heads. She can't resist my dad. They are always all over each other."

"Oh. That's howSophia and Daddy are. They sleep with each other." Sophia says, making my eyebrows shoot up. At first, I didn't even think about how old she she, all I heard were the words and they caught me off guard. When I realized what she meant, my eyebrows lowered again. Quincy sent me wide eyes before winking at me.

"Interesting. How are you here?" Quincy repeats her question from earlier and she looks at him like he's ludacris.

"I live here! That's my room right there! I'm always here. My dad lives here and his room is upstairs. I go to daycare or nanas house sometimes but I live here. Wait, I have that same hat!" Before I can even process what she's saying, she runs into her room. Quincy looks at me during this time.

"I want all of my kids to be like her."

"Me too. She's a great kid."

"She f*****g hilarious. How old is she?"

"I'm three! Look! My Uncle Tony bought this for me because Daddy, him and I match everything." Maya is wearing the same black nike hat that Quincy likes to sport. I swear,

I swear, I can see Quincy's heart grow times ten in this very moment.

"What's your name?"

"Amaya Elizabeth Parker. I forgot what Sophia told me your name was".

"Just call me Uncle Quincy."

"You're my uncle?"

"When Sophia and your dad get married I will be, so you might as well just start calling me that now."

"They're getting married?" She looks at me for a answer and I shake my head.

"Not yet." thats all Quincy says before Maya and him start conversations among themselves.

"Do you have kids?"

"I don't. I'm going to kidnap one of Sophia's." He said, giving Maya a pointed look as he pulled out his phone. She, in return, gave him a look of repulsion as she pulled away.

"No, you're not. Do you have a dog?"

"No. I have a Sophia though."

"Why don't you live here? In New York?"

"Because my girlfriend and family are in California. I don't even know why Sophia still lives here. We all moved back."

"So ou used to live here?"

"Yeah. Sophia and I lived in that same apartment together. Too bad she's moving."

"You're moving? Why?"

I forgot I slipped and told Quincy I was moving. In the twelve hours since Crissy completely exposed her true self, I have had an entire life evaluation.

First things first, I obviously do not have enough room for three people. While they are babies, maybe, but still. The guest bedroom is not that big. I want them to have enough room to walk, crawl, run, whatever and not touch anything important or dangerous.

Secondly, Crissy and I shared so many memories in there and to know that they were fake, ruins them all for me. How many times we laughed, cried, tears of joy and sadness, just for her to threaten to kill me in the same place?

It was too much.

Not only did I feel unsafe knowing she still has a key and the address to my house, but I was also pregnant.

It wasn't just me she was threatening.

She was threatening all three of us.

So, yeah. I'm definitely moving. Hopefully as soon as possible. I need to start looking for apartments. I even considered moving back to California before my conscious absolutely shot that idea down.

Which I'm glad for. I didn't exactly want to leave with two kids and no father. 

"Sophia."

I'm snapped out of my thoughts as Alexander voice demanded my attention. My head snaps from where I was staring at the wall to him, standing in the threshold between the kitchen and living room.

"Yeah?"

"I asked if you wanted any mangoes or avocados." He asked. His tone and facial expression seemed as if he wanted to say something else, but he was forcing himself not to say it. I nodded my head before asking for the mangoes. He turns around and goes back into the kitchen.

"You didn't answer my question." Maya said, pointedly.

"Yeah, I'm moving."

"You don't want to live with Daddy and I?"

"I'll still live with you guys I just need to get a new place." I said, not mentioning how Alexander and I really weren't together and I needed to have my own place. Anything could happen and I would hate for me to be the vulnerable one, hung up on Alex for everything I need. I can hold my own ground and pay for everything I need.

"Oh. So when the babies come?"

"I guess."

"What if mom wants to have a baby shower?"

"Alexanders mom wants to have one."

".. you know mom. She's going to want to have one."

"If she can plan one in the time I'm there, she can knock herself out."

"Be careful what you wish for. Anyways, I wanna go visit Marlon and Demetrius. You remember them from high school, right?"

"The Hispanic boy and the black guys that were on the swim team?"

"Yeah. Demetrius and Marlon just dropped an mixtape. It was pretty good. They want me to work on some beats with them."

"Can I come?" Maya asks, as usual.

"No, sorry shortie. We are going to be doing grownup things."

"Smoking weed? My Uncle does that."

Quincy gives me a look with raised eyebrows before commenting about how Maybe Maya can go. We laugh before hearing Alexander call us for breakfast. I'm the last one into the kitchen while Maya and Quincy almost knock each other down attempting to get into the kitchen.

Alexander fixes Maya's plate while I fix Alexander's and Is. Quincy is just tossing any and everything onto his plate, not caring what he got.

All Alexander prepared was pancakes, sliced fruit, biscuits, omelets, and bacon. I had a omelet and fruit while Alexander had everything. Once we sat down and started eating, I noticed he didn't like pancake either, a trait Maya, Alexander, and I all shared. 

Maya pulled her table out, sitting at it while we all sat at the regular sized table. I sat inbetween Quincy and Alex while they both faced each other.

"This is good." I compliment, taking a bite of my omelet.

"Thank you, mamas."

"So.. what do you do?"

"I own a company. Packer and co.,."

"Bag? Secured." Quincy jokes, elbowing myside as he laughs at his own jokes. Twelve seconds later, his serious demeanor is back and he back to look at Alexander with a straight face. You would think he's my father.

"What do you like about Sophia? Why are you with her? Because she's having your kids?"

"I love her," he looks at Alexander with a serious expression on his face, almost matching my brothers plain face. Alexander and Quincy's looks are intimidating. If I was used to either one, I would cower away. "I love how she cares, even though she's pretty mean, I love her. I could go into it but I think that's a us thing." He says as he waves his hand from back and forth.

"Favorite basketball player?"

"Dwayne Wade, Lebron James, and Kyrie Irving." Alexander answers as if it's obvious. These were all Quincy's favorite, with the addition of Russell Westbrook.

"Are you a sneakerhead?"

"If buying all the new shoes count, yes. I have a closet for all my shoes. Ask Maya though, she's the real sneakerhead."

"One last question, where the hell did you learn to cook? This s**t is scrumptious." Quincy raves, ending his fake interrogation. I knew he only asked the questions to know what him and Alexander had in common. Which was a lot. He didn't ask all the right questions. Quincy and Alex were alike but entirely different.

"Hey Daddy, when did you say we can go to Disney world?" Maya asks from her small table. I see Alexander roll his eyes before looking back down at her.

"Sometime in the next month."

"Oh, y'all can come when you accompany Sophia to my wedding."

"Quincy!"

"What? I don't want to have a boring two week before I'm pledged to be loyal and remain with one partner the rest of my life. How is anybody that loyal? You have to be really in love for that." He grumbles, stabbing his last piece of pancake with his fork and shoving it in my mouth.

He obviously doesn't sound too happy about being married. I decide to keep quiet though as Maya takes the conversation over.

"You're getting married? Why would you do that?"

"Because my fiancée asked me to."

"I don't want to get married." Maya declares.

"Why not?" I ask. I turn back to look at her and she rolls her eyes.

"Because then I have to talk to them everyday like you and Daddy."

"We aren't married." Alexander and I say at the same time.

"Uncle Quincy said you are."

"I said yet! I say give it until after the twins are born. Maybe when they turn one. Maybe at their first birthday party!"

"Daddy, I want a birthday party."

"Speaking of birthdays, what are you doing for your birthday?"

"Nothing. As usual."

"I didn't fly in town for nothing!"

"Quincy, I don't want to do anything on my birthday."

Everybody seemed to be staring at me and Quincy knew. He knew why I didn't want to do anything for my birthday but he continued to stare and taunt me.

"What do you mean you don't want to do anything for your birthday?"

"When's your birthday?" I heard Maya ask but I was too busy killing Quincy in my head. "It's Tuesday." Alex answers.

He knows my birthday?

He really did do a background check.

"Why don't you want to do anything for your birthday? I think we should go out. Maybe to Tommy's. I'm in the mood for seafood. Maybe we can even go to the tramp-"

"Quincy."

"-oline place. Maya, you like to jump? Alex, question. Did you have anything planned for my dear sisters birthday?"

"Quincy, stop." I say, quietly.

Alexander, who knows better, stays quiet before looking down.

"Mom said she was gonna get you a new car for your birthd-"

"Adrian!" I scared myself with this yell. Immediately, Quincy shut up when I called him by his middle name. I knew he absolutely hated it, much like how I hate talking about my birthday, because it reminded him of Mom.

The room goes quiet and Alexander hand is on my thigh while Quincy and I stare at each other.

"Sorry." He says. I stand, backing away from the table with my plate and heading to the kitchen. I angrily throw my paper plate into the garbage. When I turn around, Alex is there. His plate and Maya's plate are both in hand. He stands at the door for a while before stepping towards me.

"What's wrong?"

"Quincy is a asshole."

"Talk to me baby." He says as he sets the plates down and engulfs me in his arms. His body heat instantly transfers to mine. As if they can feel their father on me, the babies start kicking wildly. Alexander pulls back before smiling slightly at my stomach. "That's all though. Quincy is just a asshole."

"Aren't all brothers older brothers?"

-

Alexander's POV

"Okay, Daddy I am going to go get dressed. Okay?" Maya says, standing at her door in her pajamas. I nodded my head while Quincy chuckled.

Once her door closes, Quincy turns towards me.

I wasn't intimidated, maybe a little nervous.

I was meeting the love of my life's brother.

No amount of background checking could prepare me for this.

Sophia had went upstairs about twenty minutes ago, claiming she's going to go shower. I still haven't heard the shower come on. I've barely heard any movement but I decided against checking on her. If the shower didn't start within the next ten minutes, then I will check on her.

Right now, Quincy is sitting across from me on the opposite couch. His black hat was turned backwards, so a few curls fell out the hole of the hat. His light brown skin matched his sisters, like she had said.

I could almost mistaken them for twins.

I divert my attention back to Quincy as he takes of his hat to run a hand through his hair to put it back on.

We've been sitting in silence for a minute and I'm not sure whether I should break the silence of not.

Luckily, Quincy answers that for me.

"How old are you?" He asks, his eyes boring into mine.

"23." I answer, sharply.

"Where'd you go to college?" He follows up.

"Harvard." I answer just as sharp as I did the first time.

"Do you love my sister?"

"Yes."

"If you break her heart, I will fly from California to New York, just to bash your f*****g pretty boy skull in. Got it?" He voice drops an octave. I don't get nervous from his threat, simply nodding my head.

I already know I won't. I just pray she doesn't.

"Now that we've gotten that out of the way, I'm Quincy and it was nice to meet you."

"You, too." I mumble, finally hearing movement upstairs. Quincy nods before taking out his phone.

"Alexander!"

"Duty calls," I say as I hear Sophia call me. I run the stairs, hearing her frantically call my name once more. I open the bedroom door to see her on the floor crying.

-

"Alexander." She randomly began to sob. My eyes trailed the mirror, seeing her sit on the bench I had in front of my bed, in front of the mirror. Tears soaked her beautiful face, making me want to turn from the sight. I walked over to the bed, falling next to her. Sobs racked her body just as Sophia looked over at me.

"Did you cal- what's wrong?" I asked, making her sob even more. I attempted to hug her but her stomach was in the way. This only made her cry more.

"I'm so big!" She whined. I stared at her, confused. Did she mean her stomach?

"Big? What do you mean? You're not fat.. you're pregnant."

"My stomach extends nearly more than two feet in front of me, Alexander." She snapped, moving to sit up. I aided her in doing so before sliding my hands under her stomach, onto her knees. I brought myself to kneel on the ground.

"That's because you have two humans inside of you and it's your first pregnancy. Next time round, it won't be this big." I tried to console her. I offered a smile before rubbing her belly.

"I can't do this. I can't. I count so this whole Mother thing! Why did I think I could? Alexander, I'm sorry. It's just— look! I've gained 73 pounds! Imagine when they ar-"

"Sophia. I don't know how you guys do it. I damn sure wouldn't be able to hold a child in this thing," I patted my tight stomach, "nevermind two. You're strong and beautiful, Soph. After you have them, we can even go to the gym together and get those 73 pounds down if you really want. We can even do those baby squats I saw in the magazine. Instead of holding weights, you hold a baby. Then, we could tape the babies to your back and make you do push-ups. We could workout with the kids. How's that?"

I really mean what I say but it makes Sophia laugh while she was crying, so when she responded it sounded weird.

"Good."

"Good? You'd like that? We can make it happen mamas." I coaxed, rubbing higher up on her belly. She nodded, looking down at me. "Hey," I mumbled before pressing my head against her stomach. I tapped three times before speaking.

"Hey little guys, Mommy and I are ready for you guys to come out. Only two more months until you're supposed to. As much as we would like to see you guys now, we want you to be healthy. Also, be nice to Mommy? She isn't feeling her best self and that makes Daddy sad. So, try to behave in their. Junior, no kicking Mommy's ribs and Junior number 2, make sure you're sharing the food with your brother so Mommy doesn't think she's getting fat for nothing." I teasingly said, looking at Sophia the whole time. She smiled, her frown disappearing the more my voice filled the room. In response to their father's speech, they viciously kicked right where my face was. I pulled back, smiling at Sophia before kissing her forehead.

"You're beautiful. Now get your beautiful ass dressed so we can go out with your brother."