Chapter 4

    It was a couple days later and Ava and I were at work once again when I started showing signs of showing. I'd gotten an app to show how far along I was so I could keep track and I was now fifteen weeks. I wouldn't have even noticed anything had Seth and Lacey not stopped by Antonio's.

"What can I get you two?" I asked cheerily, notepad at the ready. I'd had no families with overactive children today and no run-ins with the football crowd, so I was having a fairly good day.

Seth eyed my stomach while Lacey ordered their usual. Then, as if he couldn't contain himself, he blurted, "You're showing."

My eyes widened as did Lacey's and I glanced down at my stomach to see it popping out just enough to be noticable. I couldn't even tell before because my sweatshirt had covered it perfectly, but my apron did nothing to swallow the bump.

I gulped while Lacey hit his shoulder. One glance back to Ava who was wiping a table a few feet behind me told me she hear too and her eyes were wide. She glanced down at my stomach, grimacing and nodding before looking back towards me.

I walked into the back, opening the uniform closet and shuffling around. If I could find an apron two sizes too big, that would temporarily solve my problem. I found a bigger one and wrapped myself up in it, looking down thrice at all the angles I could before nodding. And thank God I did.

Because as soon as I went back out, the football guys were there.

I felt my heart racing in anticipation. One person noticing could spell disaster for me, especially since Jaxon was good at math. He'd surely know it was his baby if he were to find out, and he may try to force me to abort it. Even so, I didn't want him to know. I wanted my choice, whatever I decided, to be up to me.

I sauntered over since Ava had already gone to the kitchen to get her other tables order.

Traitor.

"Hey Lena," Timmy greeted, eyeing my midsection suspiciously. I almost thought for a second he saw straight through my lie and noticed my stomach until he said, "What's with the extra large apron? Don't you usually wear a large?"

I scowled as his friends laughed. "For your information, I wear a medium."

"Then what's with the Jaxon sized apron?"

"Hey!" Jaxon snapped, glancing up at me through his lashes. I averted my gaze immediately.

With a shrug, I made up my best excuse. "Last family I had the kid played target practice with mustard and my apron. Are you gonna order or not?"

After scrawling their orders sloppily on my notepad I padded back towards the kitchen. I slapped the slip on the counter, scooting it towards the cook until the smell of tomatoes just about sent me on yet another trip to the bathroom. I pushed the feeling down, checking the clock to see it was finally time to clock out. So on that happy note, I messily tore my apron off without even sparing my brother and his buddies a second glance and headed out for the day.

On the way back to my dorm, which I walked to because it helped me clear my head, I passed by the baby store. I sighed heavily contemplating my options before making my way towards it. It wouldn't hurt to look...

The bell overhead clanked as I opened the door and I was greeted with the heavy scent of laundry detergent. For once it didn't have me running to the bathroom so I basked in it, breathing in the fresh scent. The store around be was covered with pastels from pinks to blues to purples and so on. The walls were coated in a light yellow paint with portraits of babies and toddlers on the walls. I smiled at the ones of the moms with their kids.

Walking towards the unisex section, I couldn't help but frown at the amount of stares I was getting. Fellow shoppers turned to look at me distastefully and I could feel the judgement radiating from them. Without my apron and with my loss of my baggy sweatshirt you could very obviously see the bump of my stomach.

I shook the stares of the other people off, making a beeline for the baby shirts. The name above them said onesies.

Hm.

"Can I help you with anything?" Came a deep male voice behind me. I turned quickly, my eyes widening at the sight of one of the most attractive guys I think I've ever seen. He had brown eyes and a mop of brown hair with a jawline that could cut steel. He was wearing a pair of black slacks and a shirt with the store's name on it - Rockabye Baby.

I smiled slightly, shaking my head. "I'm just new to... All this. Just looking at the baby shirts."

"Those are onesies," the guy retorted with a chuckle, holding his hand out. I searched for a name tag but came up empty. "I'm Zachary, but you can call me Zach."

I shook his hand, morphing my smile into a polite one. "Elena."

"Well, Elena, I take it you're not very familiar with baby stuff?"

I laughed at that, shaking my head. "No, I'm about as familiar with baby stuff as you probably are with makeup."

He gasped, putting a hand over his heart in mock offense. "How bold of you to assume I know nothing about makeup."

The smile on my face couldn't be contained. He was funny. Then his smile turned shy, and he looked down. "I guess you'll have to forgive me, I couldn't help flirting with the prettiest girl in the room. Your husband wouldn't be too happy."

"I don't have a husband."

His eyebrows rose at that. "Boyfriend?"

I shook my head bashfully. "Single as a Pringle."

Zach's gaze drifted down to my stomach and I sighed. "Yeah, but I'm pregnant. I understand if you're not still interested in-"

He placed a finger on my lips, effectively cutting me off with a crooked smile. "I didn't say it was a problem."

This time, it was my turn to raise an eyebrow. "It's not a problem that the girl you're flirting with is pregnant?"

Zach shrugged, grinning a little. "It'd only be a problem if you weren't single. Can I have your number?" My eyes widened at his question, and he backtracked. "I-I mean, I could, uh, train you in baby things? Not that, not that I'm an expert or anything, I just have nieces and nephews and I uh-"

"Zach," I murmured with a giggle. "It's fine. Let me see your phone."

We exchanged phones and I put my contact name in his phone, snapping a silly selfie with my tongue out for the picture. He puffed out his cheeks for his picture which made me laugh, and we exchanged back. I watched as he walked to the counter with a wide smile on my face, then turned back towards the baby clothes.

I'd weighed my options, and I didn't think I could do adoption. I wanted to, don't get me wrong, I considered it but after miscarrying a child it's just different. I didn't want this child to be a case of the what if's. So I decided I'd do this with or without help and I chose without. If I told Jaxon, he'd just deny that the baby was even his and make me even more emotional about the whole ordeal. He had much more important things to worry about, like who he was gonna bang next or what kind of play the football team was gonna make at the next game.

A baby would do nothing but complicate his life.

I flicked through the onesies, eyeing each one. Some made me smile, the one's that said mommy's MVP or the like, and some made me frown, the one's that mentioned daddy. I wouldn't be getting any of those kinds of clothes.

I chose a gender neutral yellow onesie with a duck on the front. It had an n on the tag which I could only assume meant newborn and I carried it to the front, placing it on the counter and waiting for Zach to finish up helping another customer. When he came back to the counter and saw me there, he grinned. "Find everything okay?"

Putting my fist in front of my lips, I hid my smile. "More or less."

He took the onesie, swiping the tag underneath the scanner as he watched me curiously. "Don't know if it's a boy or girl yet?"

I shook my head. "I'm only fifteen weeks."

Zach nodded, putting the onesie in a small bag and eyeing the money I offered him. "It's on me," he murmured with a charming smile. "And first piece of advice, try not to get too many newborn clothes. Unless they're premature, they go into zero-to-three months clothes pretty fast."

I raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

He chuckled. "We'll work on it. Have a good day, Elena."

"You can call me El," I told him, taking the bag. "Thank you for the onesie, by the way. You sure you don't want me to pay?"

Zach shook his head softly. "Completely sure. I think I'll stick with Elena. It's a beautiful name, for a beautiful girl. Do you know what it means?"

I felt the blush crawling up my neck as I answered. "My mom said it means shining light or the bright one."

He nodded, his eyes scanning my face. "Very fitting."

My cheeks blushed bright red as I told him I'd call him later and thanked him again. I made my way out of the store, stealing a glance behind me over my shoulder to see Zach already looking at me with a smile. I turned around quickly, embarrassed about being caught and headed to my dorm.

I couldn't wait to tell my friends about Zach.