k i w i

- 19 -

- arabella -

Trying to balance the phone between my shoulder and ear, I set out the plates and silverware. "You're going to record it, right?"

"Yes, Hailey." I sigh, going over to the far corner to set up the camera. "I got everything ready."

"I'm nervous for you!" Hailey squeals, her high pitch sound making me cringe and almost drop my phone. "Oh my, God, you're finally going to have a baby daddy!"

"Shut up, Hails." I laugh, getting the phone in my hand and making sure we were in the shot. "We don't know that yet."

"Pft," She blew a raspberry, maybe even rolling her eyes at me. "have a little fate, Bella."

"What time is it?" I ask out loud, looking at my phone and seeing the time. "Okay, he should be getting here any minute now."

Hailey began to encourage me, telling me that I was going to do great and everything was going to come out good.

"Call me if anything happens, okay, Bella? I'll keep my ear and eye out." She says, finally taking a breath from her paragraphs and paragraphs of encouragement. "Text me when he goes home-if he does go home. Wink, wink."

"Gosh, Hailey," I whine, going down the stairs to my floor. "you're worst than Isabella."

On the other line, I could hear her laughing. Getting to my apartment, I took the dishes and put them on a tray, trying to get everything together before he got here.

"Okay, I'm gonna go now. Justin is taking me to the Eye." Hailey says, her tone making it seem like she was happy. "Don't forget to text me, Bella. Good luck."

"I'll text you." I reassure her, kicking the door open and almost running to the table. "Bye, Hailey. Love you."

She made kissing noises, giggling at the end of them. "Love you too, baby doll."

Hanging up on me, I slid the phone in my back pocket and began to serve the food. I had made some vegetarian pasta because I had no idea what he could eat.

Smiling to myself, I dash as quickly as I could down to my apartment to leave everything and take the pitcher of pink lemonade back up.

Settling down in my chair, I look down at my feet, eyeing the small box I had the ultrasound pictures on. I had finally figured I should tell him, my stomach was growing and if he was going to be around me, he'll definitely noticed it.

Feeling the vibration in my phone, I took it out and smile when I saw his message; he was entering the building.

My stomach swirled, the morning sickness were definitely gone by now, I hadn't thrown up these past three days. The only other symptom was that I had to pee a lot and the craving for kiwis and chocolates.

Hearing the door open and close, I turn around in my chair and smile at him. There he was, in his jeans and graphic tee with tattoos showing.

"Arabella," He smiled, walking to me and making me stand up. My body froze when he pulled me into a hug, his body temperature making my insides burn. "this looks amazing already."

I smile to myself, pulling away and almost shivering from the wind. "I know."

Sitting in our chairs across from each other, I couldn't help but feel like as if I was meeting my idol all over again.

"I've made some vegetarian pasta, hope you don't mind." I announce, getting my napkin to rest in my lap and grabbing onto my silverware. "I've also brought some moscato from Italy that Olly brought me."

Reaching for the wine, I put it up and waved it around for him to chuckle. Settling back on the bucket of ice, I pour myself some lemonade.

"How was your day?" He asked, pouring himself the moscato. "What'd you do?"

Leaning back, I set my fork down and wiped my mouth. "Had a meeting with dad and Samuel, then we went out for lunch. I went shopping and then came right back to cook."

"Shopping?" He asks, popping a piece of broccoli into his mouth. "What did you buy?"

A gift box that will contain the biggest surprised you could ever have.

"Art supplies." I say, lying through my teeth. I was actually in the store besides the art store, but he didn't need to know. "I needed new paint and got a couple of brushes."

"You paint?" He asks in shock, raising an eyebrow at me. The way his eyes sparkled gave it away that he was into art-what a nerd. "Is that why you've got paintings all around the flat?"

Feeling my face beginning to burn from embarrassment, I nod back. "Oh gosh, I forgot to put them away."

"No! They were amazing." He says, giving me a breathy laugh and shaking his head. "You should show me more of them."

"What about you?" Changing the subject, I continued eating and only pausing to ask him about his day.

"My dad gave me a vacation couple weeks ago, but took them away when new business approached." He says, huffing in annoyance at the word of 'work'. "Says he'll give them back when we're done, so I'm looking forwards to that. I been having meeting none stop."

"Must be boring." I commented, knowing how that was like. He agreed and then went into a ramble about work, everything he was telling me had happened to me. "Is it like this back home?"

He nods, sipping on his drink. "That's why I want to make the best out of this."

There's a this?

He placed his hand on top of mine, it made me want to cry of happiness. Watching him pull my hand up and to his lips, I definitely felt tears forming when he placed a kiss.

"You're like an escape." Whispering towards me, he lets go of my hand and continues eating. "This pasta is deli-"

"I have something for you." I blurt out, figuring out that it was the time to say it. His brown eyes looked over at me with curiosity. "I understand if you need time."

Reaching down to grab the white box with yellow ribbon, I slide it over to him. Sitting up, I gave it a small nudge towards him so he could open it.

If he wanted a this, he was going to get a this.

Without any questions, he pushed his plate aside, taking the ends of the ribbon and tugging at it. My stomach swirled as it came undone, "Open it."

Following my instructions, he opened it and I could see all the color drained from his face.

"You're pregnant?"

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