accidental love • n.maloley「✓」| EDITING

thirteen

this chapter is another crossover with the same deleted book as chapter six.

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nate

"wow, this is nice," i tell jack and beverly. now that i have everything moved into my new house and settled, i've been trying to figure out where i should start with the nursery. so, today i came over to jack and beverly's place to look at their nursery so i can get an idea of what all a nursery needs in it. "do i have to paint the walls and everything?"

"no, technically you don't even need to have a nursery. my mom never had a nursery for me or my sister," beverly tells me. "i just think nurseries are cute and i wanted one for our baby."

i nod, eyes still scanning over the room. "when's the baby due?" i ask, looking back over at the couple.

"february fourteenth," jack answers.

"wow, then you only got about three more months before beverly pops," i say, grinning in amusement at my choice of words.

"when's your baby due?"

"april tenth," i tell her. beverly nods, and my gaze drifts to where jack's hands are absentmindedly rubbing her baby bump. it makes me wish jessica wanted to keep the baby, or that my baby momma was the woman i was in love with, so i could do things like that. so i would actually be able to compliment how good my woman looks pregnant and be there to give her feet massages when her feet swell and hurt. but instead i'm stuck with a snobby, underage girl who doesn't even want the baby growing inside her.

××

"anderson, i need help," i tell her, switching my phone over to my left ear before turning on my laptop.

"with what?" she asks, but before i can tell her what, she yelling on the other end, "fat maddie, no! no, stop it." there's rustling on the other end before anderson finally speaks up again, "i'm sorry about that, my dog was chewing on my favorite heels."

"is that the dog you're always posting pics of on instagram?"

"yep, that's fat maddie," she says, letting out a light laugh. "but anyways, what was it you needed help with?"

"right, i need help picking out a theme for the nursery. my friend done monkeys for his baby's nursery, so i don't wanna copy and do monkeys too. which leaves me stuck, what do you normally decorate little girl rooms in?"

"there's all kinds of things you can do the nursery in," she tells me. "there's minnie mouse, princesses, flowers, polka dots, butterflies, owls, elephants, the list is endless. you could even do it in just pink, or just purple."

"which would you do it in?"

anderson lets out a laugh, and i can picture her shaking her head as well. "why d'you always ask what i would do?"

"because you're a girl and you know more about picking baby names and nursery themes than i do."

"yeah, but you have your mom, and your sister, why not ask them?" i shrug, although i know she can't see me. why don't i ask them? i always come to anderson, when i could be asking my mom or kaylan. "i'm not saying don't come to me anymore, because i love that you come to me. i'm just curious why you come to me instead of them."

"i don't know, i just feel like you're more involved with the baby. like, this is gonna sound really weird so please don't take it wrong or anything, but sometimes i feel like you're the baby's mom. like, i'm not saying that i feel like we're a couple or anything, i'm saying that you knew about the baby before any of my friends or family did, and you're always there when i need help, like today for example, and when you helped me with names. i just, i don't know, i -"

"i understand what you mean, nate. i do," anderson cuts me off. "and if it makes you feel any better about your confession, i'll admit that i sometimes feel like that too. sometimes i have to remind myself that we don't know each other and that i'm only some stranger helping you out in your time of need."

i stare at my computer screen for a few seconds, simply taking in what she said, before finally speaking up again, "so let's get to know each other."