accidental love • n.maloley「✓」| EDITING

twelve

anderson

"if you had a daughter, what would you name her?"

"i'm not sure. i'd probably name her after myself or another family member. maybe after one of the daddy's family members," i tell nate. "all depends really."

"well you see, that's the thing. i can't name her after one of the mommy's family members 'cause that'd be weird, and i don't really wanna name her after any of my family members. if it was a boy, i was gonna name it after me. like, nathaniel or something. but it's a girl, so i can't," he says.

"you can still name the baby after you," i tell nate. "there's girl names similar to nathan." it's been a week since nate found out the gender and he's been stressing over picking out the right name, like he doesn't still have five more months until the baby's born. jessica's only nineteen weeks pregnant, and women carry a baby for forty weeks.

"oh, yeah? like what?"

"natalie, natalia -"

"okay, nevermind," nate cuts me off, chuckling. there's nothing but silence between us for a few moments before nate finally speaks up again. "oh god, i have so much to do."

"what d'you mean?" i ask, furrowing my eyebrows.

"well, for one, i gotta move out of my shared house and get my own. then once i've done that, i have to decorate the nursery. do people still decorate nurseries?"

"yeah, some people do." when emily was pregnant, her and brandon went all out with their baby's nursery. brandon owns a three bedroom house, but it's only him living there, so they completely redone one of the bedrooms and made an adorable little nursery. even now, all this time later, the nursery is still decorated because neither of them can pack the baby stuff up. "but you still have several months to do all that."

"yeah, but i hate waiting until the last minute to do things. i want to have everything done three months ahead of time if i can," he says.

"i guess you better get started then, huh?"

"yeah, i guess so," he chuckles.

××

"anderson, i have found the house!" nate exclaims, and i lightly laugh, surprised by his sudden excitement. it's only been two days since we first talked about him needing to get his own place, but clearly he's found the perfect house for him and his unborn baby within forty-eight hours.

"oh, yeah? well that didn't take long."

"it really didn't. once we got off the phone a couple days ago or whenever it was, i started looking for houses, and with the help of my friends, i found this one last night," he tells me.

"so when do you go to look at it and sign the lease?"

"i did this morning," he tells me. "got the keys already and everything. now i just gotta get all my shit moved into it."

"yeah, have fun with that," i laugh.

"i'll get my friends to help, so they'll do most of the work," he chuckles.

"that's mean, nate."

"eh," he says, and i can picture him shrugging. "they're ready for me to get out so they won't care to help."

"aw, i'm sure they're not that excited for you to move out."

"nah, we all enjoy living together actually," he says. "i'm gonna miss living with them."

"i feel ya. if emily ever moves out, i'll miss her like crazy, even if she is just two minutes down the road," i tell him. "i think she's gonna be moving in with her boyfriend soon though, so i'll probably be living solo sooner than i want to."

"you don't like living alone?"

"i hate living alone," i tell him. "i get scared way too easily. plus, the guy that lives two apartments down from mine is kinda stalkerish. he creeps me out."

"got a stalker do you?" nate chuckles.

"yes, a forty-year-old stalker to be exact."

"forty-years-old is he?"

"yes! and he's creepy as hell," i say, letting out a light chuckle. the guy that lives two apartments down from me moved in the same day i did, and has creeped me out since.

"well, let me know if it gets any worse. i'll come down and beat the stalker right out of that forty-year-old man," nate jokes, laughing. i roll my eyes, laughing along with him.