The Player's Twins (Book Two of The Great Age Plague series)

Chapter Four

"I'm so sorry," said Keon, his head in his hands. I played with the string on white fluffy towel wrapped around my shoulders, sopping up the dripping water from my hair.

"For the millionth time, stop apologizing. The water was cold anyway," I said softly. Keon sighed, still not meeting my eyes, looking out at the black window that led to the cold outside world. Condensation dripped down the sides of the window, showing how, in comparison, it was quite warm inside despite my shivering. Nonetheless, I was too awkward to shamefully walk my naked form upstairs to my closet, wrapped in a towel, and accept defeat with this situation.

"That was not the problem and you know it," muttered Keon, running his hands through his dripping wet hair. I spared a look at him; pale, with tired blue eyes, dripping wet, his naked lower-half covered by a children's towel. It was one of Josh's old towels with Spongebob printed on it yet fading, a myriad of blue, yellow, and orange. It almost reminded me of a watercolor painting, so I focused on it, making Keon squirm and pull the towel tighter around his form.

"Did it have to do with your infertility?" I asked softly. I felt a blush start on my cheeks and crawl down to my bare, snow-white chest I had insecurely hidden underneath my towel.

How had we gotten here? This was suppose to be Keon's first time. This was suppose to be perfect for him and me; but, instead, here we were, cold and wet with no idea how to move foreword. Worst of all, Keon would not smile, not meet my eyes, not even touch me after our sad attempt at our first time a few minutes prior.

"No, I don't think so... From my... experience... that's not it. I'm just--" Keon let out a breath of air and looked straight foreword "--nervous, I'm just freaking nervous and I screwed everything up."

"Keon, it's fine. We can try again another time," I said. Tentatively, I ventured to touch his arm, but he pulled away like I had just burned him despite my snow-cold hands.

"No, we can't. Here I am, too nervous to do this, something so freaking natural, and you're already pregnant with someone else's child--"

"What does that have to do with anything?" I snapped, standing up from the beach chair I was sitting on. Keon looked up from under a thick veil of dark lashes and frowned.

"Keon, this is what you signed up for. This is what we agreed on as a family--" I began.

"I know, Adira! And that's not the problem. The problem is..." Keon trailed off, looking down at his bare feet. He shook his head slowly and stood up, walking over to the door. I ran after him, grabbed his arm, and his towel fell off as he jerked back to face me. This made him let out a small noise of surprise, even making me stop for a moment to bite my lip and advert my eyes, and he scrambled to grab the towel off the floor.

"What?" I asked incredulously, as I took a step back, clutching my own towel "What is the problem then?"

Now fully covered by his towel, having it wrapped all the way around his chest like a girl, Keon wrapped his arms around himself and sighed. Then he sighed again. Then he paced across the floor momentarily before stopping and facing me.

"I'm never going to live up to Josh in bed. I know that. He's been with plenty of women and I haven't even been with one and damn, I'm not even fertile so--"

"Keon. Sweetie. That's not true. Where is all this coming from?" I asked. Keon looked away and was silent. I let out an aggravated sigh and my toes started tapping against the floor as I stood there jittery.

"Nothing. Look, I'm going to take a shower. I'll talk to you later," and with that, Keon scurried out of the room, leaving me cold, wet, and unsure about what to do about the two men I loved.

***

Later, Cally joined me on a trip out to the supermarket to buy some craving food and baby gear. She was right-- we needed way more stuff-- but at least she was willing to help and not just criticize. With Josh still sleeping off his latest high, I decided it would be fine to leave him for some much needed relaxation.

Walking through the super store, I looked at the sets of binkies available in the baby section. The selection wasn't great, but since it hadn't been nine months since the matching ceremony, the section wasn't as wiped as it could have been. I flipped the binkie set over, looking at the prices. As I was deciding whether or not to get separate sets (blue for the boy and pink for the girl) Cally returned with a large bag of Fritos and Cool Whip, her favorite treat. She dropped in our cart before sitting down to rest her swelling feet. I had yet to reach that part of being pregnant yet, but it did not seem pleasant. Cally rubbed her ankles slowly, but looked up at me with a grin.

"Man, I missed shopping with you. This is nice," she commented. I smiled and dropped a set of blue elephant binkies into the cart.

"You're just saying that because I'm using Josh's money," I teased, holding a hand to help her up. Cally took it gratefully and stood up.

"Well, that doesn't hurt," she giggled. We began walking down the aisle in a comfortable silence. Soon we reached the maternity section and I stopped to eye some stretch jeans. When I decided that I was way too young to wear mom jeans, I turned around to find Cally wasn't there. Tentatively, I began wandering through the store looking for her. I hated shopping alone. I always felt like people examined and scrutinized what was in my cart. Currently, all I had were binkies, a breast milk pump, some make up remover, and Cally's food, which wasn't exactly embarrassing. Nevertheless, I felt antsy to find her again.

When I did find her, she was leaning against a deli counter, her arm wrapped around her stomach. She was talking to another pregnant girl behind the counter. The girl was beautiful, just like Cally, with dark eyes, hair, and skin. Half of her head was shaved and a series of piercings ran down her right ear lobe, ending in a gage that stretched her lobe wide. As Cally talked animatedly, the girl reached over the counter to play with some of Cally's hair, making Cally do something very unlike her regular self-- giggle and blush. I stopped dead in my tracks, the cart making a screeching sound like an over-the-top cartoon. Cally seemed downright Keon-like. Was she... flirting? 

"Cally-cat?" I called. This, in turn, made Cally's head snap up as the girl behind the counter glared at me with her ebony eyes. Cally's blush got even more red, making her olive skin glow. Shaking her head as if trying to sober up, Cally said a brief goodbye to her friend before scurrying back to me. 

"Whose that?" I asked, gesturing with my head to the girl behind the counter, who had disappeared behind a row of ham. Jittery, Cally began aimlessly rambling through the cart's contents, giving a nervous giggle. 

"J-Just some girl from my Sexual Health class," she giggled a bit spastically and threw some nearby Skittles into the cart. I frowned. Cally didn't like Skittles. Seeing my frown, Cally picked up the rainbow candy and waved it under my face. 

"For Keon, goof, not me. Come on, are we done here?" At this, Cally took the cart and began pushing it down the aisle. Shaking my head at her weirdness, I took the time to check my phone to see any updates from Keon or Josh. 

To my surprise, it was a text from Josh. 

Adira, I'm so sorry. 

A/N-- Guess whose show is over!? Whoop whoop! So first, some author life news-- 1. I dropped my double major in Theatre down to a minor. I am now working on my English Ed degree with a minor in Theater. Huzzah! 2. I started Youtube vlog channel that I hope to expand into a full fledged channel. But I need your help! View, like, share, and comment on my videos please!  3. I am now going to make a writing schedule and stick to it now that I don't have rehearsals. New chapters will now come out every Tuesday and Thursday, along with a Youtube video every Thursday. Enjoy penguins!