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eight

april (one month ago)

ashton was tired. he was staying up late every night to do his homework and went apartment hunting every weekend. not to mention university acceptance letters would be arriving soon, which meant more decisions on where to go. ashton didn't want to leave eliza because he loved her and wanted to raise their child together. he didn't want his son to wonder where his father went just as ashton himself had. unfortunately, he and eliza hadn't applied to all the same schools back in december. they had, however, applied to three of the same schools. 

eliza was coming up on four months of pregnancy. they'd told tori shortly after they'd told calum, michael, and luke. she'd reacted pretty much as they expected her to, which was shocked but then happy. when eliza and ashton told the boys and tori the gender, calum had practically crowed with joy: "pay up!" honoring their bet, luke reluctantly handed calum five dollars, and ashton gave him twenty-five, albeit a bit more begrudgingly. feeling bad, calum promised to spend the money on a baby shower present for ashton and eliza, which he told ashton later after pulling him aside to talk secretly. ashton had blushed furiously; he and eliza were alike in the way they both didn't want pity. calum seemed to read ashton's mind and swore that it was no big deal; he was planning to buy them something anyway, and now he didn't have to use his own money, he joked.

now that eliza was showing, she was faced with a difficult decision: stay home from school and miss getting an important education or go to school and endure the looks from students and teachers alike; whether they were full-on staring or quickly glancing and then outwardly pretending they weren't looking at all. more often than not, eliza braved the looks and the silent judgment and trudged off to school wearing baggy clothes to hide her bump. 

it made ashton sad because who wants to see their girlfriend being wordlessly bullied? and he had come to love eliza's little bump; he knew there was a baby, his baby, in there, and he loved the little boy and its mother. nevertheless, he was extremely proud of her for continuing her education that she would need for college, something she and ashton were both planning on. eliza was a fighter, that was easy to see, and ashton loved that about her.

along with apartment hunting, ashton and eliza were both struggling over a decision just as important as the apartment search or college: baby names. of course, their decision was easier now that they knew they were having a little boy, but they still disagreed (although never seriously) about the naming of their child. ashton preferred shorter names; he didn't like being super fancy. he would be fine with something simple like miles or ross. eliza, on the other hand, preferred longer names. she liked the name benjamin and christopher, although her favorite they'd come up with so far was alexander. ashton liked that; he could nickname the little guy alex or (eliza's favorite nickname) xander. 

luke, michael, calum, and tori loved weighing in on names. luke liked to offer crazy names ('augustus' was his favorite). michael was all about the rock band names ("name him billie joe!"). calum often suggested names that could be shortened to cal; he even mailed ashton a list of names such as: calimerino, calbraith, caldwell, calox, and of course, calum. tori suggested names that worked for both sexes: taylor, sam, jordan, dakota, and so on. 

but in the end, it was just eliza's opinion versus ashton's opinion that mattered. 

"i really don't see the problem with these," eliza joked. she was sitting on ashton's bed, holding the list of names calum had sent. "caldeolo? according the this list that calum clearly spent a lot of time on, that name means 'hot.' calyb--spelled with a 'y' instead of an 'e', mind you--means 'dog.' calvin means 'little bald one.'"

"i'd rather not name my child after michael," ashton muttered. he felt bad for saying that, though, and quickly added "though i'm sure michael won't be bald until he's an elderly person."