Life with Alex is sheer bliss. My mood, my energy is so up. I'm doing great with school, the baby is doing well, all just seems right with the world.

Olivia laughs as she looks at me. "Girl, what's going on with you? You have this dreamy look on your face and you can't stop smiling," she asks as she brings our coffees to the table.

It's the weekend, and we have gone out to our favorite spot for brunch, to an adorable café just over the bridge. The chef trained in Paris and the food is amazing. We decide to indulge and start with some chocolate-filled croissants while we wait for the rest of our food.

Olivia sighs when she takes a bite. "So, worth cheating for."

"Cheating?" I say, rolling my eyes in dismay.

Olivia has a perfect figure, she has near goddess status with her chocolate brown skin, legs that go on for days and her astonishing, piercing blue eyes. Her hair is positively a work of art with the variety of ways she'll get it weaved, and yet she perpetually claims to be on a diet. She makes us mere mortals want to scream.

"Don't try changing the subject! For the last 2 weeks, you've been mooning about. I know you and Alex somehow put the whole club thing behind you, but something has most definitely changed."

I smile a secret smile because I'm not saying. I'm keeping all this to myself.

Olivia frowns. "We used to be besties, BFF's. For four years now, I've had to share you with William, but now Alex is going to have you keeping secrets from me. I just can't compete," she pouts.

"Don't be like that. Life is good, that's all. I'm in a great relationship with a truly amazing man, I've caught up with my classwork, my grades are up, and my health is good. There's been no drama recently," I say with a shrug of my shoulders. "What more can I ask for?"

"A best friend you tell all your innermost secrets to?" Olivia says folding her hands under her chin. She leans on the table with her elbows and bats her eyes at me.

"So, how's Doug?" I say, taking a long sip of my decaf coffee, completely unaffected by her display.

She presses her lips together, and her eyes narrow on me, but she knows I will not give in. So instead she blows it off and shrugs. "Good. He's taking me to some Italian place for Valentine's Day."

"Valentine's day!" I say. Time has been passing so fast I completely forgot. "Oh my God! Olivia, it's this week! What am I going to do?"

Olivia is looking at me like I've gone mad. "It's no biggie, Cat. Just make a reservation some place romantic. Or... since you can actually cook make his favorite meal, and when dinner is over, indulge in whatever activities have kept you smiling these past few weeks," she adds, with a smirk she tries to hide behind the rim of her coffee cup, that says I'm not fooling anyone, especially her.

I throw my cloth napkin at her, and she laughs.

"Seriously, though. This is our first Valentine's Day and its Alex we're talking about here. He's probably come up with something totally romantic," I moan. "I'm a horrible girlfriend."

"No, you're not. You're just out of practice, is all. You've been with Liam so long that you've forgotten what it's like during the courting stage, where everything is new and exciting. Why do you think I don't date anyone long? I'm an attention junkie."

"What?"

"I'm an attention junkie. I like the attention I receive when the guy is still looking to impress. You know when he sends in his representative."

"Representative? Are we talking relationships or politics here?" I ask, confused.

"I don't see where there's much difference," Olivia points out, putting down her coffee to take another bite of her croissant before continuing. 

"Every guy has an agenda, what HE wants. Maybe it's a relationship, maybe it's just a tumble in bed, but whatever his agenda is he's got to first convince YOU, you want the same things he wants. So, starts the campaign."

Olivia says this with a wave of her hand and I can tell she's given this theory of hers a lot of thought as she continues, "That's where his representative comes in. This is the side of himself that is going to take you to dinners that cost over twenty dollars jointly, have flowers delivered to your work just to make you smile. The Rep isn't afraid to mail you a romantic card or slip you a love note under your door to express how he feels, because it's all part of his agenda."

"If he wants to seal the deal, he may even give you random gifts for no reason at all. Which low and behold is something you actually want because he is trying to show he's been paying attention to you by getting something you mentioned you liked or that shirt you said was pretty at the mall. Hell, him even going to the mall with you is part of his agenda because we know, no man enjoys shopping."

"When have you become such a hardened cynic?" I ask her. "Is there is no romance in your soul?"

"I'm a realist Cat. I've tried it your way, and all I ended up with is a broken heart because you know what happens once they get your vote. Everything stops. Not right way, of course. It's a gradual process that erodes your mind, making you question if any of it ever happened. Or were you so desperate to see something in them you mistakenly made it all up."

"But once all that attention disappears, you get depressed and start looking at yourself, wondering what you've done wrong? Why are you suddenly incapable of inspiring such feelings in your man again? Until one day he says he can't take your dismal, depressing state anymore, and he too disappears."

"So, I'd like to skip all that and stick to the fun part," Olivia finishes with a shrug and a flourish or her hand as our food arrives.

I know someone hurt Olivia and a few others after. In fact, there was one time in High School when she had a hard time recovering, and refused to talk to me about any of it. However, I still think she's wrong, but I know there is no convincing her. I just wish someone would come along to dispel her ludicrous theory or better yet blow it to smithereens, but for now, I've got to give up as it's a lost cause.

In the attempts to move our conversation to a more upbeat subject, I say, "Well, I brought you out to lunch today because I have something I need to ask you."

"Ask away?" she says.

"Olivia Durand, will you be my baby's godmother?"

Olivia looks stunned. "You're... You're pregnant?"

I shake my head, yes. "Is it Alex's?"

I shake my head, no. "Oh," she looks sad for a moment and I reach out and grab her hand.

"It's Liam's, but I've been through all the horrible parts of telling him and so on and so forth. He's not interested in being involved right now, but I don't care because I've already decided I'm keeping this baby. In fact, getting close to the end of my first trimester so the time is getting closer for him or her to arrive and well, I can't think of anyone I'd want more than you to be godmother. So will you? Will be my baby's godmother?"

Olivia immediately gets up and hugs me. "Of course, I will." And then she smacks me, hard.

"Ow!" I say, rubbing my arm. "You do NOT strike a pregnant woman!"

"You do if she's your best friend, and she's waited this long to tell you she's pregnant!" Olivia states and I can see, though she's joking, she's really not.

"I'm sorry," I say as Olivia gets back to her seat. "You're right I should have, but my life was crazy complicated and insane and..." I look into her face and she's just staring at me, "and that's no excuse. I should have told you."

"Hell yeah, you should have! I would have totally let you back out of the sororities' birthday tradition, and none of those other things would have ever happened to you. You have any idea how scared I was that night?"

"I know and I am sorry, but I believe things happen that was for a reason," I tell her. Of course, knowing where all the events in my life have led me and how happy I am now, I know I for certain I wouldn't change a thing.

"I would love to be your baby's godmother," Olivia tells me.

"Thank you!" I say, now truly excited because I have someone else to share all my baby news with.

"Do you want to see a picture?" I ask.

"Of what?" Olivia inquires.

"The baby, silly," I say and she looks at me confused and so I scoot my chair next to hers and pull up the last ultrasound pictures on my phone.

She stares at it for a little while and says, "I'll be honest with you, Cat, not a clue what I'm looking at."

I laugh. I have forgotten how it took me time to figure that out too, and I point out the baby's features, body, legs and arms and...

Olivia gasps. "Is the baby sucking its thumb?" she asks and I say, "YES!" in a rush, as I know now she truly sees the baby.

"Awww!" Olivia says, "Don't worry, little one, you're going to have the best auntie ever. Hey, wait? If I'm the godmother then who's the godfather?"

"William, of course," I say, without hesitation.

She has a look of concern. "And Dillion is okay with that?"

"He wasn't at first, but Alex doesn't really have any other family besides William and I couldn't ask him not to choose William as godfather so Dillion said he's good with it but he's got dibs on the next one."

"Next one?" Olivia raises an eyebrow.

"Don't worry, there are no immediate plans in the works, but it is a nice thought," I say, thinking immediately of Alex and my dream of having a little girl with him.

"The sorority has to throw you a shower!" Olivia says.

"Oh, I don't know about that," I say cautiously.

"Come on, Cat. The girls will be so happy for you, and with everything you've done for them, it will give them a chance to give back."

"I was kinda hoping to keep this on the down-low," I say, apprehensive.

"You are at the end of your first trimester, you're going to show soon enough. Come on, what kind of godmother would I be if I didn't make sure I hook this kid up before it gets here?"

She sees I'm still on the fence. So, she continues to push. "Plus, you owe me for keeping it a secret all this time, and I want to go shopping with you for all that cute baby stuff. PLEASE!!!"

I knew she'd resort to guilt to get her way. I sigh and concede, "Okay!"

Olivia squeals and claps her hands. "This is going to be so much fun!" and I find her enthusiasm contagious and I am now excited myself, but...

"What's with the frown?"

I didn't realize I was until Olivia said something. "I was just thinking of Valentine's Day again and me not having something special for Alex."

I show her my necklace. "You see this. He got me this for my birthday because it was the first time I told him I loved him." I turn it over. "It even has the date. Who does that?"

Olivia looks the necklace over and shrugs. "I don't know, but this one may be a keeper."

"You see my dilemma now. It's got to be something..." I sigh, "It has to be something really special."

"Alright! Then after brunch, you and I are going shopping and we will not stop until you come up with the perfect idea."

"You're awesome, you know that, don't you?"

"Of course, I do. Just look at me," Olivia jests and I roll my eyes at her again. "Okay, so we have our plan. First, we finish brunch and then we are on the Valentine's Day Gift Attack."

I laugh, feeling slightly relieved. "Sounds like the perfect plan."

_____

We spent a lot of time at the mall and though it's filled with Valentine's Day gifts for him or her; they are all totally lame.

"The black silk boxers with the red Kissy lips are really nice," Olivia says, trying to console me.

"I don't deserve him," I say, completely depressed.

We sit down on a bench by one of the water fountains. "Okay, let's think this through. What does he like?"

"Manga Comics, Anime... He likes to draw..." I say, going through the usual list.

"Well, that's something. What about some art supplies?" Olivia offers.

"Art supplies, really? That's not romantic! Do you know what he did for me on our first date? He drew this... while we were waiting for dinner!" I say, showing her a picture on my phone of the drawing Alex did at the restaurant. I had taken a picture of it when I took it to the local craft store to get framed, just in case something bad happened to it.

"Wow! Is that supposed to be you? Because it totally looks like you."

"Yes! You see what I'm up against. I can't compete with this."

"You could always get a cosplay costumer to make you this outfit. I'm sure he'd love that," Olivia said with a sly grin.

And I shove her, and she laughs. "What? It's true."

"There wouldn't be enough time," I say, and Olivia's grin widens.

"I KNEW you weren't as innocent as you look," she teases.

"Not helping," I say, although the idea has merit, maybe after the baby is born.

"Okay, so we know he's an artist and a dancer. What about installing a pole in your apartment, and then he can dance for you wearing the boxers you got for him?"

"Can you get your mind out of the gutter for more than three seconds? That would be a present for me anyway, not for him," I say and Olivia shrugs.

"Men are simple creatures, Cat. I have found they really have only two desires in life. One," she says holding up her index finger, "is food and the other," she says putting another finger, "is sex."

"But Alex is thoughtful and caring, and romantic," I whine.

"You sure he isn't gay?" Olivia offers.

"What?" I say, shocked she would proclaim such a thing, as I never even hinted to her what I thought.

"Well, he's sweet, caring, romantic, a pole dancer, and William is his best friend. I'm just saying, maybe ...?"

"NO! No, definitely not gay."

"Okay, then what's your plan because my feet are killing me. If I'd known we were going to do this much walking, I would have worn my sneaks instead of these heels."

I thought of the necklace, the drawing, his love of art and Anime and suddenly it hits me. "I got it!" I say, jumping up with excitement.

"Praise the Lord!" Olivia said, holding arms outstretched to heaven and I laugh, offering her a hand up, and we travel together to execute my plan for the perfect gift.