Forced to have the Player's Kid (Book One of The Great Age Plague Series)

Chapter Forty

"No. Nonononono, too weird, I'm out!" I squealed. Throwing my hands in the air, I began to exit the room as gracefully as a pregnant girl could waddle out of a room with two incredibly attractive and confusing guys watching behind her. Coyly, Josh slinked up beside me, catching up to me and pacing beside me as I walked out the door and up the stairs to my bedroom.

"Adira! Hear me out, please," said Josh, but his eyes were still too playful for me to take him seriously "Adira, it's normal in other countries." At this I froze, spinning around to face him on the top set of the stairs, my eyes searing into his.

"I don't care, Josh! It's weird and stupid and everyone at school will call me a slut--"

"Everyone at school doesn't have to know!" said Josh, his face sobering. Josh stared at me for a moment as I watched him with stunned silence, one hand on my belly and the other on the stair railing.

"You're friggin serious right now, aren't you? Josh..." feeling dizzy, I sat on the stairs, my head in my hands. This was just all too much sometimes.

"Look, Adira, I meant it when I said I loved you. But love isn't meant to be this thing I keep to myself and lock away. You're not some damn princess I can lock in a tower, away from the world, and I can't expect other men not to fall in love with you. And if Keon makes you happy, I'll be happy. Keon's the guy you probably would have been with had this not happened, don't you think?" asked Josh. I felt a lump grow in my throat, making me groan. I didn't want to cry. Not now. I was suppose to be storming off to my room at the slight accusation that maybe....

"I don't know. Maybe. I certainly wouldn't have ended up with someone as popular as you. But Josh, we're together now, so--"

"Exactly! I'm the guy you're with in this alternate... world, I guess. He's the one you'd be with if the plague never hit. Adira, there's a part of you that I love, a part of you that is as innocent as the world was before the plague. He brings that out in you. I don't want that part of you to die..." said Josh. He let out a loud puff of air, ran his hands through his hair, then looked at me "I'm sure that made no sense, did it?"  I couldn't help but chuckle. For as smart as Josh was, he was always that same frank guy that I had known from school.

"No, it did. But don't you think this is weird?" I said, looking down at my feet. Josh shrugged, then leaned over and kissed my cheek.

"You're weird. I'm weird. Who cares? Really, sweetie, I don't care. If it means we can get back to working on our relationship, I really don't mind you, I don't know, 'date' Keon too. Really," said Josh. A quiet settled on us as I considered this weird proposal.

Josh. Keon. Both of them could be my... somethings. The idea of not having to worry anymore, to let go of my emotions, and to just love and feel safe for once sounded all too appealing.

But could it even work out? What if one of them got jealous of the other? And even more so, was this considered sinful? Lustful? Even if it was, I wasn't sure I cared anymore...  At the end of the day, the stress of life was enough to worry about. The stress of love-- that was the kind that hurt harder, the kind of thing that I needed, not wanted. The world was so lonely. Especially with my mother gone, sometimes I felt like I was alone, completely. Josh and Keon were still strangers to me in many ways, and if I kept pushing them away in fear of my own attraction to them, I would never get to know them.

I didn't have a lot to lose. I couldn't keep going on like this, with my feelings torn, worried too much I would hurt the other if I picked one... If this crazy plan worked, we could all come out happy, for once. Happy in a world so empty after the plague. Sending a quick prayer up to my mother, I let out a long sigh and stood up.