The Pregnant Scam

Chapter Forty-Seven

The next few days at the Baez' house proved to be as awkward as a family drama tv show. Wanda hardly talked, even though I knew she still loved me, and loved Aria as her own grandchild she was quiet from disappointment. Lexi said not to worry that Puerto Rican Woman held a lot of pride and that she'll come around in her own time. As for Anthony it was terrible. We would constantly run into each other, weather that was passing by in the narrow hallway as we passed each other to get to our own separate bedrooms, or walking into the kitchen/family room when the other was there. He would look at me and then find something more interesting to look at. The worse was when Wanda or Lexi tried to include one of us in small talk and try to get us to talk to each other which hardly worked. We were both upset and torn up in our own sort of heartbreak. Not to mention I couldn't turn on the tv or social media without seeing new reports or articles on my court case. Titles like Child Custody turns to Possible Rape Crime, or Father Speaks out That he's not the Father were just a few of the headings with pictures of Anthony or me at the Court House. It was embarrassing, even students in school were talking and whispering about me and Anthony saying I did it for attention lying about who the father was. Others said I was having a secret love affair with Sal behind Christina's back and I was playing the rape card.
Thankfully Jennifer, Tiffany, Lexi, Eugene, and other really close friends of mine and Anthony's didn't believe the lies and rumors being spread about us.
Which left me to where I was today moving clothes from Anthony's closet to Lexi's. Without a doubt Lexi had assured me that I had a place to stay in her room and could live there as long as I wanted too. Her double size queen bed was big enough for both of us and held many memories of us having sleepovers. Aria still slept downstairs in one of the cribs from Wanda's home daycare. I haven't had much luck moving things out of Anthony's room though. When he's been home it didn't feel right to go in there when he was in there so I've been putting it off till he was at work which was were he was now working a shift at the movie theater down town.
I sighed as I brought in a pile of clothes still attached to their hangers, "Are you sure it's okay for me to move in here?" I asked as I laid another pile of clothes on her bed.
Lexi was over by her closet carefully pushing her clothes aside to make room for mine, "Of course girl, what's mine is yours. It's going to be fun." She said taking a handful of my clothes and hanging them up. 
I went back towards Anthony's room for more clothes thinking about our up coming Court date that was in a just a few days. What Tony had said made a lot of sense about putting Sal away so that other girls don't get hurt. I definitely didn't want any girls to go through what I did, and in a way I understood why Anthony did what he did. He thought he was doing what was best for me, he wanted me to have peace and to be able to live my life to the fullest without being scared. For that he was sweet, but I wish he had told me what he planned on doing. I grabbed the hangers holding a couple clothes and paused, would have even agreed to do it if Anthony had been honest with me? Or would I have gotten scared and refused to tell the truth? I questioned myself. In a way Anthony helped me with my fears and pushed me to overcome obstacles I just wished he had been honest with me. I looked at Anthony's almost bare closet, it wasn't fair that guys hardly had any hang up clothes and girls had WAY too much. Now Anthony's closet barely had stuff while Lexi's would be overfilling with things to wear.
"Do you think you and Anthony will ever get back together?" Lexi asked as I came back in the room. It was like she read my thoughts.
I sighed as I went over to the closet to hang up my clothes, "No, we're done for good. He wasn't honest with me. AGAIN. "
Lexi thought for a moment, "I know, but what about us? We weren't honest with each other, and I did some pretty nasty cruel things to you and you still forgave me and we found a way past it."
"That's different." I said flatly.
"Is it though? Lack of communication tore our friendship apart, and did with you and Anthony. But we still worked our differences out and are still friends it just took nine months to do so. You don't think there's even a part of your relationship worth saving?"
"No Lexi, I don't.  I mean look at us; look what we've been through. Even back when we were a fake couple we fought and argued! We're not made for relationship material. We'll just find another thing that makes us twitch and get angry at each other." I rubbed my forehead, "I feel like all we ever do is fight and make up." I grabbed a stack of jeans and stuffed them in a drawer Lexi had cleaned out. "And I... I just can't take it anymore."
"Well that's beautiful because that means you're relationship is real!" She gave a little laugh, "I"ll be worried if you said that you're relationship with Anthony was perfect with no mistakes." She smiled, "Couples argue and fight you'll find that in any relationship you go in, and you're lying if you think you can find a perfect romance with no difficulties. You'll have your differences, you'll have those little things that make you tick, you'll argue and disagree, but at the end of the day you realized there's something about the other person that you just can't help but love." Lexi said with a smile, "So you have to ask yourself, at the end of the day do you still love Anthony?"
I opened my mouth to respond, but the door bell rang loudly. Since Anthony was at work and Wanda shopping in town that meant it was just Lexi and me at home. "Saved by the bell." I said with a weary smile glad for the brief escape from answering Lexi. "I'll go answer that."
"Jules." Lexi said.
But I didn't listen to her and instead jogged out of the room and down the short flight of stairs to the family room. Just as the person on the other side of the door rang the door bell again. "Hold on just a minute!" I called heading towards the front door. I swung the door wide open then froze, standing right there in the door way was my mother.
"Mom." I said not really sure what to say to her, or why she was here. It's not like she came on regular visits to see me or Aria. Basically I haven't seen her since I moved out.
"Hi Julia." My mom said standing there awkwardly.
Stepping out onto the front porch I closed the door behind me. "Why....Why are you here?" I asked getting directly to the point no need for small talk.
She folder her hands together nervously, "I saw the news report on the tv." She looked away getting teary eyed before wiping her nose with her hand. "Is it true, what that man did to you?"
I nodded slowly, "Yes it's true."
My mom's lower lip quivered as she began to cry softly her hands covering her face.
"Mom, it's okay really." I said gently patting her back.
"No, no it's not." She cried looking up at me, "You're my own daughter." Tears glistened her eyes, "I should have known. I should have figured it out and done something!"
"I wore a lot of layers till my bruises went away." I answered honestly, "But it's okay you didn't know because I kept it hidden from you, it's my fault I was scared and humiliated after what happened I didn't want anyone to know the truth."
"I still should have been able to help you through the difficult time, instead all I did was blame you for getting pregnant and insist on you giving your baby my first grandchild up." My mom looked around the front porch, "Where is Aria anyways? They didn't take her from you did they?"
I shook my head, "No, she's still here. Do you want to come inside and hold her?"
"Only if that's alright." My mom answered.
Opening the door I let my mom go ahead of me inside instructing her to wait here while I went to get Aria who was playing upstairs in Lexi's room. I came back down with my two month old daughter and handed her over to my mom. I smiled tears of joy coming to my face as I watch my mother's face light up while holding Aria.
"She's so beautiful Julia." My mom's voice caught in her throat as she choked out, "I'm so sorry for everything. For kicking you out of the house, for not believing that you could be a young mother, for wanting you to give up your baby. Because Julia! You're an amazing daughter and even more a terrific mom! You are so much braver than I ever was, and so much more mature. I don't think half the girls your age could go through what you did and still keep the baby." She paused looking down at Aria, "Would you.... Would you ever think about moving back home? I know I said some pretty awful things, but I would love for you and Aria to come home."
Her nice words warmed my heart, "It's okay mom, I understand why you did what you did. I probably wouldn't have made it this far without Anthony, he is my rock through it all, and we started off as friends just doing this as a scam because I was too scared to tell anyone the truth, but along the way we fell in love....." I stopped myself realizing I had used the present tense when talking about Anthony being my rock. He never stopped being my rock, he's always had my back even in his own way when sending the announcement to Sal and Christina and speaking up at the court house. He's always been there and has always had my best intentions in mind. I love him, I still love him. I sat up straight even though I wanted to be here and enjoyed bonding again with my mom; I realized there was somewhere else that I needed to be at more. I stood turning to my mom, "I would love to finish this conversation and talk about this, but I need to go somewhere real quick. Do you mind watching Aria for me? I promise we'll talk soon about my living situation."
My mom gave me a look of lost and confusion before simply answering, "Sure whatever you need Julia."
"Thanks mom!" I bolted upstairs to Lexi's bedroom, "I love Anthony! I still love him and I will always love him!" I nearly shouted barging into her room.
"Yes! That's my girl!" Lexi squealed in delight. "Go get him!" She hollered as I turned to leave. "Oh wait! Keys!" She dived across the bed grabbing my keys from the night stand before tossing them to me."
I smiled thrilled that my best friend was totally okay with me being in love with her brother. She was such an encouragement and I hoped I could be just as encouraging as she has been. I ran out to my car jamming the keys into the ignition before driving my car down town to the local movie theater where Anthony was working.
I sat in the parking lot smoothing my hair out and looking down at my ripped jeans and plain light purple t-shirt. Was that a throw up stain from Aria on my left shoulder? I worried looking down at a very small spot on my shirt. Maybe I should have gotten a little dressed up to ask the most awesome man in the world if he would still have me back. Oh well.... At least he'll know he's getting a momma who dresses in simple clothing.
Before I lost my nerves and turned around I opened my car door and locked it with a push of my car keys. Hearing the satisfying click I turned and marched right into the movie theater.
Movie Posters alined both sides of the walls leading up to the ticket booth showing what new movies were playing. Below the posters were red velvet padded benches for waiting. Behind the movie ticket booth towards the back was the concession stand with a glass case showing all the candies and chips they had for you to buy as well as pop and popcorn towards the back wall. On either side of the concession stand the theater split into two hallways leading towards the movie rooms each marked with a glowing number.
The smell of popcorn and butter was overwhelming the place, bursting at it's seams. My heart jumped a million miles as I spotted Anthony working the ticket booth. He was wear his movie theater uniform. The whole black dress pants with a white pressed shirt and maroon bow tie and matching vest. He looked so handsome and it brought me back to our first night together when he had just gotten off his shift at the movie theater and I had gotten kicked out of my house. I smiled thinking back of how good of a kisser he was and the feeling of his hands touching my body I wanted that again, I wanted everything with him. The question was.... Did he still want it too?
Anthony smiled at the couple in front of me as he handed them their tickets he saw me and his smile faded to a sad look. He quickly glanced down at his computer screen as I slowly approached him.
"Hi...." I said awkwardly breaking the silence between us.
He cleared his throat with a cough, "Ummm, what movie are you here to see?" He asked getting his fingers ready to type it into the computer.
I smiled, "I forget the name, so I was hoping I could explain the story description and maybe you're know what movie it is." I said.
He stared at me for a moment, not sure where I was going with this. "Okay, sure...." he said.
"You see it's about these three friends, and the one girl ends up pregnant and asks her best friend's brother who she's friends with to do a scam with her." Anthony's fingers paused on the keyboard so I continued "Well they fall in love, only things get complicated and the girl is not so sure they're relationship material anymore, but then she realizes she made a total mistake and that he is the one for her. Yes they may argue and fight over silly things, but at the end of the day.... She still loves him, and she still wants to be with him if it's not too late."                                                              
A small grin crept to his lips, "I think I know what movie you're talking about, I'm living that story right now."
"Oh yeah? How does it end?" I asked twisting my fingers together nervously.
"Let me show you." Leaning over the ticket booth counter he gently placed his hands on either of my face he tilted my face upwards and kissed me. His kiss was so gently, so warm, and with that kiss all my worries and nerves about him saying no melted away. He was my man, and I was his girl.
When our kiss was over I sighed with pleasure opening my eyes to gaze up at him, "Anthony I love you, I always will love you, and I'm so sorry for the way I reacted. Anthony, you're my rock!" I said with laugh going around the counter to give him a side hug, "You've always been there for me, everything you've done has always been for me, and for what's best for me I'm sorry I'm just now seeing that."
He smiled down at me, "It's alright Jules, besides this way we can have great make up sex right?!" He teased playfully wrapping his arms around me and kissing my cheek leaving me feeling all warm and fuzzy.
I laughed, "Down boy, don't forget you're in a movie theater right now!"
"I get my break in five minutes." He turned and hit print for a movie ticket. He pulled the ticket out once it finished printing and handed it to me, "Meet me in the back row of movie room 5." He whispered nibbling on my ear gently which tickled.
"But Anthony what about other people?" I asked him knowing what he was implying.
He shrugged, "They'll be too busy watching the movie to notice us." He kissed me again more slowly and gently lingering on my lips. "I love you." He pressed his forehead to mine resting it there before pulling back as the main door to the movie theater opened. He smiled at the customers walking up before turning to me and giving me a wink.
I smiled and blew him a kiss before walking over to the concession stand to buy some popcorn.