Chapter thirty-nine: What goes up must come down

O L I V I A

"Hey, coach," Kai greeted apathetically when we arrived at the table. Milo grinned at him and Grace beamed in welcome.

"Jennings," Mr. Brown returned just as impassively. "How's the arm?"

"Well," Kai answered. "I saw Dr. Pearson today and she said I could be back to the field by the end of this month."

I looked up at Kai in surprise. That was news to me.

"Great." Coach nodded. "I'm guessing that's the lady you've been missing our practices for?"

Again. News. Kai's ears tinged pink.

"Thanks a lot, man," he mumbled. Grace giggled and Milo laughed.

"Hi, I'm Olivia," I introduced myself since Kaison didn't seem to be doing so. "Olivia Davis."

"Nice to meet you, Olivia." He shook my hand firmly. "Baxter Brown."

I mustered a smile. "Nice to meet you, too."

"I'll go check on my wife." He released my hand, standing up. "You guys have fun."

"Bye," Milo and Kai muttered lowly. That remained unanswered as Baxter disappeared into the crowd.

Kai nudged me to sit and I did, feeling the strain of wearing heels. He sat down beside me.

"Introduce us!" Grace demanded, eating ice cream.

"Livvy, you've already met Milo," Kai began. Milo grinned at me and I grinned back, finding it infectious. "Meet his girlfriend Grace. Grace, meet my girlfriend Liv."

"Hiii," she sang, placing the spoon down.

I chuckled at her perkiness. "Hey."

"I've been wanting to meet you for a while." She laughed. "Especially since I heard Kaison of all people had been missing practices."

I looked at him accusingly. "Yeah, I didn't know that."

"Don't give him a hard time," Milo said. "He couldn't have done much since he was on rest, anyways. It's good that he got to spend time with you and recover peacefully instead."

"I agree." Grace nodded. "It's nice to see his workaholic habits break. Their practice is always sp brutal anyways. They train like robots, not humans."

"Not true," Kai said to Grace teasingly. It didn't feel natural. What had Karl said that had burdened him so much? "You only feel that way because you're as fit as a potato."

Grace huffed.

"I saw you bump into Martinez," Milo changed the topic. "What did he say?"

"The usual trash," Kai spat, ditching his fake smile. "I wish Coach would just kick him off the team."

"He's the only QB we've got till you get back on the field," Milo reasoned. "He's an asshole and doesn't hold a candle to you, but at least he ensures we get to play."

"Find a new player," Kaison hissed impatiently. I put my hand on his thigh comfortingly.

Milo sighed. "You know we can't do that right now."

"Right," Kai dragged. "I'll go get that drink. I'll be right back, mon amour."

He kissed my temple and extracted his hand from mine, quickly disappearing into the crowd. The hand I had on his thigh fell on the seat where he previously was. All I could do was watch.

"You just had to talk about Karl effing Martinez," Grace scolded Milo.

"Sorry, I panicked," Milo apologized sheepishly.

"The world wasn't ending, Miles." She rolled her eyes at him. She turned to me, "Don't worry, he'll be okay. He just needs to cool off. Karl is a jerk and gets on everyone's nerves."

I nodded weakly. I wasn't so sure. That night I had sensed latent anger in Kai that I had never felt only once before: when he shared how he felt about the injury.

"By the way," Milo began, "Since when does Kaison speak Spanish?"

My eyebrows puckered together.

"Uh, he doesn't," I said.

"He just did." Milo mirrored my frown.

I replayed Kai's last words and realization broke on me like the crack of dawn.

"That was French." I laughed. "Mon amour. Spanish would be mi amor."

His eyebrows went up and his head bopped in realization. "Oh."

"Yeah." I smiled.

"Doesn't that translate to 'my love'?" Grace asked me coyly. I blushed.

"Maybe," I answered.

"I'm sure," she smirked, resuming eating. I chuckled nervously, feeling self-conscious.

"Leave her alone." Milo smiled at his girlfriend. "First impressions last, you know?"

"That explains why I love you." She rolled her eyes. "You know, Liv, the first time we met was in college. It was in the Library where I used to work part-time. He took out like ten books from all over the library for some last-minute disorganized research and just left them there when he departed. He had made such a mess on the table. This guy here pissed me off so bad that day. I had to stay late to clean and put all the books back myself."

"I've apologized like a million times already!" He protested. "I took you out on a nice date to make it up to you, didn't I?"

"Meh." She shrugged.

Milo sighed in defeat. Our eyes met and he mouthed, 'help me'. I suppressed a laugh, turning to Grace.

"My roommate is pregnant, too," I said.

"Really?" Grace perked up. "How far along is she?"

"Roughly six weeks," I responded. "When are you expecting?"

"We're due in the first week of October," she replied.

"Are you nervous about the due date being so near?" I asked.

"A little," she admitted. "I might have to have a C-section."

I frowned. Didn't they usually find that out like much later? "Why?" I inquired.

"I haven't gained a lot of weight during my pregnancy," she explained. True. She looked quite skinny. "I barely have any energy these days and my hips are probably not wide enough."

My eyes widened. "Well, fuck." I realized my slip and hastened to apologize, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-"

She cut me off with a laugh. "No worries. These boys have a bad mouth and it tends to rub on us."

"Hey!" Milo protested.

"You know it's true," she smarted back. "Ah!"

"What?" I asked, alarmed to see her eyes widen and her hand rush to her belly. "Are you going into early labor?!"

"He just kicked!" She squealed.

My body relaxed. I felt stupid. "Oh."

"You don't know much about pregnancy, do you?" She giggled, addressing my reaction.

"No," my lips twitched despite my embarrassment, "I don't."

"Don't worry." She smiled warmly. "Your roomma-"

My phone buzzed with a call.

"-te will tell you all about it."

"I'm sorry," I said as I opened my bag and pulled it out. I glanced at the caller ID and frowned. "I need to take this," I muttered, standing up. "Excuse me."

"Okay . . . "

"I'm so sorry," I apologized again. "It's urgent."

I managed to smile at her to be polite and then hurried to locate a private corner in the place. I found the bathroom and I went in, locking the door behind me. I accepted the call.

"Hello?" I spoke.

"Oh, thank God, Olivia!" Mom sighed. "I just heard. Are you okay?"

I gripped the counter, staring at myself in the mirror. I looked quite pretty for someone who had bawled their eyes all afternoon.

"Yeah, I'm good," I replied shortly.

She chuckled humorlessly. "Shailey called you, eh?"

"This afternoon," I voiced.

"Let me guess: she blamed you for this."

I paused. "Mom, how do you know?"

"I know that homewrecker," she scoffed. "Your dad was a good man and she manipulated and corrupted him. That lying bi-"

"Mom," I interrupted before she could go off. I had let that happen before. Never again. Learn from your mistakes, people. "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine," she said dismissively. "It's you I'm worried about."

"Don't worry. I have Sam, Griff, George, Kai . . . " I trailed off. "I have a lot of support."

"Oh, right. You and Kai." Her voice became teasing. "I saw those articles!"

"And you're happy about them?" I asked in disbelief. 

Some of them literally claimed that I was pregnant, for God's sake!

"As long as you guys are getting back together, I could care less," she declared.

"Mom!" I chuckled. "For all you know, all that crap might be true."

"We might not be close, but I know you," she stated. "They can't be true in a million years."

I sighed, happy to hear that. Kai was right, if they love you, they won't care. "I guess."

"So?" She questioned and I imagined her wiggling her eyebrows. "How long has this been going on?"

"Since the reunion," I replied, feeling shy. "Since we came back, to be precise."

"Is it serious?" She asked, a hint of excitement in her tone.

I bit my lip. "I think so."

"Is he still irresponsible?" This time, it was concerned and sober.

"Mom," I said gently. "I trust him."

"I'm just looking out for you, Olivia," she said.

"I know," I assured her. "But he is nothing like dad."

"Speaking of," she got back on track, "Will you visit him?"

"I don't know, mom," I replied slowly. "I just lost my job-"

"You what?" She cut me off.

"Long story," I told her. "I'll catch you up later. Look the point is, I do have some savings but I'm not sure if I should go. Shailey and Caleb are not worth it."

"You will be going for your dad, sweetie, not your stepfamily," mom reminded me gently. "Think about it. He might actually be glad to see you."

A notification sounded in my ear and I looked at the screen briefly. Battery Low.

"Yeah, I will," I said. "Look, mom, I've got to go. I'm out somewhere and my phone is almost dead. I'll talk to you later."

Knock!

Right on time.

"Okay, sweetie. Take care."

"You too." I cut the line, quickly opening the door. "Sorry," I apologized to the lady waiting outside.

She rolled her eyes and pushed past me. I raised my hands defensively as I left. I found my way back to the table where Grace and Milo were. I slowed my steps down as I reached them and sat down tentatively.

"Everything okay?" Grace asked.

"Yeah." I nodded, smiling at her faintly. "It was actually my mom. Dad had a heart attack and he is in London. She just found out."

"Shit," she cursed. Call me crazy, but it made me feel safe. "Is he okay?"

I shrugged. "I'm sure his new wife will take care of him."

They exchanged a look.

"I haven't seen him in three years," I elaborated. I probably should've led with that. "He left my mom and I when I was nine and remarried less than a year later. He shifted to London in my Senior year. He visited once because of work but he hasn't kept in contact."

"Oh," they said in sync as that sunk in. I shrugged again.

"No biggie," I dismissed, looking around. "Where is Kai?"

"I don't know." Milo frowned. "He hasn't come back and it's been a while."

"Why don't you go check?" Grace nudged him. "We'll wait here."

"Okay, I'll go," he agreed. "Be back."

My leg jumped up and down as I waited for him to return. I was feeling anxious. Where the hell was he? Did he drink too much?

"It's a boy," Grace said.

"Hun?" I turned to her, not quite in the loop.

"The baby." She smiled. "It's a boy."

"Ohh!" I smiled back. "Congratulations."

"Thanks." She beamed. "I don't know what to name him, though. Do you have any good ideas?"

I pondered upon her request distractedly. "Um . . . Henry?"

She snorted, urging my eyes back to her.

"No," she said when it died down. "Think, please. Put some effort into it. It's my firstborn's name we're discussing!"

"Right," I murmured, racking my brains for decent names. "Noah? Keith?"

"Hmm," she mused. "I like Keith."

"Nice," I mumbled, watching as Milo's shiny head came into view. My eyes searched for a familiar silhouette behind him and my mood fell when I didn't spot him.

Milo walked to our booth and sat down, avoiding eye contact.

"Well?" Grace prompted.

"Liv can you check your messages and call log once?" He addressed me.

I didn't like how he said it. It made my stomach squirm. "Why, is everything okay?" 

"Just do it, please," he requested.

"Miles?" Grace questioned.

I unlocked my phone, opening my call log. "What exactly am I looking for?"

"Kaison's text or missed call," he responded.

"There's no missed call," I answered. "But there is a text. It reads 'Sorry, it was an emergency'. Is he alright?" I frowned. After this afternoon, a lot of scenarios whizzed across my mind at frightening speeds.

"I ran into Garry and he told me Kaison left," he said slowly.

I slacked. "Oh."

"He also left me a message," he continued hesitantly. "He told me to drive you home."

I tried to not look as embarrassed as I felt.

I attempted a wobbly smile. "It's okay, I can take a cab."

"The hell," Grace said. "This party is a bummer anyway. I was thinking of leaving, too. We will drop you off."

I resisted. "It's okay, I don't want to cause any trouble."

"Nonsense. It will be our pleasure."

I exhaled, partly in relief and partly to let go of my sudden frustration.

"Thank you," I managed, getting up with them.

What is going on?

* * * * *

I didn't want to wake up. He didn't call and he didn't text. At first, I had thought it was because my phone was dead. But even after I breathed life into that gadget it was yet to bring me any invigorating news.

Perhaps the whereabouts of my boyfriend.

I picked it up and glanced at the time on the screen. It was almost seven. I was alone in the house because Sam was staying over at Josh's. I didn't have work and I had no appetite.

As if merely by my wishful thinking, the phone rang. Unfortunately, it wasn't who I wanted to hear from. I picked up the call nonetheless.

"Good mor-"

"I thought you went out with Kai last night," Sam barked.

"And a very good morni-"

"I'm serious, Olivia," she snapped.

Those pills are not working as well as I thought.

I decided to answer her. "I did," I told her. "I was."

For the most part, anyway.

"Then what the hell am I seeing on my screen?!" She raged.

"Calm down." I groaned. "It's too early for this."

And cut the call. What if Kaison calls and I miss it?

"Olivia Hazel Davis!" She enunciated my name, every single syllable. It made me cringe. "Open your fucking WhatsApp!"

"Fine!" I placated. "Give me a sec." I put her on speaker, unlocked the phone, and opened our chats. "What is it?"

"Now," she began. "I'm going to send you something but you will be calm, do you get it?"

My stomach churned uncomfortably at the foreboding in her words.

"Okay," I agreed still.

"Okay," she repeated. "I'm hitting send."

"Do it," I encouraged, curious.

An image document started loading. I bit my lip, cursing the slow net as the image slowly cleared.

"Liv? Can you see it?"

"Nah, it's still loading," I replied. 

I knew squinting wouldn't help, but I couldn't stop. It was a reflex. When it finally cleared, I started. I inhaled sharply as my brain registered the image. I stared at it incredulously. My stomach dropped. My skin crawled and my eyes burned but I couldn't look away.

"Liv?" Sam's voice had an edge of panic to it.

'Sorry, it was an emergency.'

"You promised you would keep-"

"He's kissing her," I managed to say. "Again."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

A/N: He better fucking have an explanation or I'm killing him. Cause I can.

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