Baby be Mine

Chapter 21

[Mic]

I head home in a daze. Nancy is worried about me and tries to get me to talk but I can't. I just hold onto Elsie and cuddle her in. She looks at me with her big eyes, her bottom lip sticking out. Watching her try and process my emotions is so cute it causes me to giggle. It's like she can tell I'm sad so she feels sad.

Smiling, I kiss her forehead. She kicks out in joy; baby giggles bring out a real laugh from me. "Thank you, Elsie. I needed that."

Nancy comes and sits down next to me. Pulling me into a side hug. "Ready to talk yet?"

I explain what happened telling her what a fool I've been. She listens and comforts me just like my mum used to. It's like having her back. Why didn't my parents name Nancy as my guardian?

Sometime later, not long after I finish telling Nancy everything that happened, a knock comes from the front door. We pass a confused look between us before Nancy goes to see who it is.

"Hello Ms Mitchell. Is Mic home?" Lila's voice floats towards me.

"I'm not sure now is a good time." Nancy says with a waiver of indecision in her voice.

"Please ma'am, I need to see that she's okay."

After a brief hesitation I hear the creak of the door being opened wider. Nancy comes in with Lila close behind.

"Right Elsie bear, time for a bath." Nancy says, taking Elsie right out of my arms. Brushing my cheek gently with her free hand.

The silence goes on for a few minutes after the sound of Nancy closing the door behind her.

"Hey." Lila says standing awkwardly.

"Hey."

"How are you?"

I look up and see her fidgeting from foot to foot, her left hand clutching her right arm tight against her body.

"You can sit down." I say, unable to watch her standing there uncomfortable.

She gives me a little smile, settling down on the other end of the couch. After giving me an expectant look, she repeats the question.

"I'm fine."

"I'm sorry my brother is an idiot."

A giggle bursts out of me. It doesn't last long but it seems to be enough for Lila to relax.

"I would have been here sooner but I needed to have a good chat with Cal. For the record he didn't like you because he thought you would sleep with him. He's a moron but he's not like that." She sighs. "He's just oblivious. He helped me a lot when I realised, I liked girls but, I did have to practically spell it out for him in the first place."

We share a smile but I still don't know what to say. How would we go back to being friends? It's like I don't know Cal anymore and I find that that hurts. I did value the friendship I thought we had.

"I'm not saying you have to forgive him straight away, just give him a bit of time. He knows he screwed up. He tends to talk so much he forgets other people have a voice as well."

"Why did he like me then?"

She whips around to face me so fast with a look that can only be described as 'duh'. "You're kidding right? Cal may be an idiot but this is something we both agree on. It was probably bound to happen at some point but it makes complete sense it would be with someone like you. Cal's timing sucks though." She rambles slightly.

"How do you mean?"

She chuckles nervously. "You once asked why I went to your parent's funeral. Bear with me, I know this seems like a random distraction but it does tie in." She says in answer to my furrowed brow. "Well, after the Head teacher called you out of class that day, I had gone to the toilet. On my way back to class I remember seeing you leave the school. I didn't know what happened but the image of your face stuck with me. You looked so lost and scared." Lila says fidgeting. "When I found out what happened I wanted to make sure you would be okay. I just could never get up the courage to talk to you. Then over the past summer I started seeing you everywhere." She chuckles. "Thought you might be following me, especially when I saw you working in one place in the morning then somewhere else in the afternoon. By the end of the summer, I started to realise that I would look to see if you were working. I actually left once when I saw you weren't there."