Prego and the Phoenix 🐇↩️✔

Arabella - Ten

Excuses come in all shapes and sizes. Different people have different ways to make them. Some are good and legitimate excuses and some are crappy, outlandish ones. Either way, the more excuses you make and the more elaborate they are, the more people start to not believe you. It's The Boy Who Cried Wolf, and people get hurt in the end.

So... Bourne hasn't come to get me in about a week's time. I'm starting to get really worried about him. Every time I try to ask the twins anything, they shun me like a plague and walk away. I'm starting to get lonely again and every time I try to call Bourne, it just goes to voicemail. I wish he would just give me a call to let him know that he's okay or something...
I finally get tired of being treated like a disease and grab one of the shirt of the twins before they can skuttle off.
"Oi! Let go!"
"Not until you tell me where Bourne is."
"Ain't none of your business!" he yells, trying to tug away from me.
I hold tight and he growls at me.
"Let me go!"
"No! I want to hear from Bourne, now. And don't try to make me believe that he's gone hiking like you said last time." I say with a frown.
The twin I have looks at his brother and he nods. He sighs but takes out his cellphone and dials a number.
"Hey, can you do something for me?... Arabella wants to talk to Bourne.... I know that but she won't let me go until she talks to him... Oh... Really?... Would you mind telling her that then?" He hands the phone out to me. "Here."
"Hello?"
"Hola, Arabella. I'm Bourne's ma-ma. I'm sorry he hasn't been there but he is very sick."
"Sick?
"Si, amor, he is. He is bedridden and has horrible fever."
"Oh my goodness! Is he going to be alright?!"
"He be back to school soon, chica. No need to worry about him. I promise ma-ma has him safe."
"I have no doubt of that Mrs. Marquez. Well, whenever he wakes up, can you tell him that I miss him?"
"Por supuesto! He will be happy to have heard from you."
"Okay. Thank you." I hand the phone back to the twin and then let him go. "Now was that so hard to tell me? Jeez, all you had to do was say he was sick."
The twins look at each other and walk away as usual.
I sigh and rub my little tummy. It's gotten just a bit rounder now and is slowly creeping to dome right under my boobs. Great thing about this is I'm actually getting boobs. But still, I want to see Bourne and see how he is. I might make him some soup or something... I decide that I will do some snooping and try to find out where Bourne lives.

Following the twins is hard work when they seem to act like they know that I'm there. Plus, trying to move about twenty extra pounds that I'm not used to around in secret makes things just a bit difficult. But, all that slinking around paid off because I found out a vital clue. Bourne's mother's name was Alexis and I never hear any of them talk about a man in the house, since Bourne told me that he works in the mornings before school for UPS as a pre-loader. So, I go and look in the phonebook in the library and find where he lives. I surprise myself sometimes at my prowess.

I pay the cab driver his money and look at the neighborhood I am in. It's pretty spiffy but no sign of it being any more ritzy than my own neighborhood. I sigh and go up the steps, knocking on the door. The pull of my stomach on my back is killing me right now and I really hope someone opens the door quickly. It opens and I'm surprised to find it is one of the twins.
"Uh... Humphrey?"
"Lochner." He corrects.
"I was half right." I argue. "I didn't know you lived with Bourne."
Lochner leans on the door with a smirk.
"Of course we do. Why did you think we got mad when he was picking you up? What can we do you for, princess?"
"It's Arabella." I say with a frown. "I just wanted to come and see Bourne."
"No."
I am shocked at first and then get angry.
"Look, you, I've been worried sick over that red headed galoot and my back is killing me from carrying two bowling balls worth of weight in my stomach. So if you could oblige me a seat in your home, I would appreciate it." I snap.
"Lochner, who's at the door, chico?"
"It's Arabella. She wants to see Bourne."
Someone shooed Lochner out of the doorway and I was face to face with a small woman who looked neither old enough to be Bourne's mother and not an ounce of Irish on her. As soon as she sees me, her smile falls.
"You're Arabella?" she asks, her Spanish accent throwing me off completely on Bourne's physical attributes.
"Yeeees..." I say like she should know.
"I see. Come in, have tea."
"Thank you."
I shuffle up the steps and am led to the kitchen, where I sit at the big table. Mrs. Marquez opens her cupboard and pulls down two boxes.
"Earl gray or green tea?"
"Uh, earl gray?"
She nods and does some weird thing with them before she turns around. As she looks at me, I see 'the look' and frown.
"I don't like being stared at like that, if you don't mind." I say.
"Excuse me?" she asks, looking confused.
"To answer your unspoken questions, 1) it's not Bourne's, 2) I was married when this happened, and 3) I'm not a whore."
Mrs. Marquez stares at me with her mouth agape.
"I... I didn't mean to stare at you and I meant no disrespect. You're too defensive."
"Well what was your first thought then? Because I know it wasn't 'that girl must have a hard time' or 'her life must be so hectic', was it?"
"I'll admit, no."
I hate being stereotyped, especially with someone that I don't even know. I just want to see Bourne and make sure that he's alright. The tea finishes with a gurgling sound and a vibration across the counter. She brings the cup over to me and sets down cream and sugar.
"Lo siento! How rude of me! My name is Alexis and I would prefer if you called me that. I feel younger that way. My son speaks well of you, though he never mentioned the pregnancy. Then again, he has told me I am overdramatic in reactions..." she says with a look to the ceiling. She smiles back, embarrassment on her face. "But Bourne is very ill. He may not even really know who you are if you went to talk to him."
"What's wrong with him? Is it fatal?" I ask in deep concern, as I sip my tea.
"Arbel..." a voice garbles.
Alexis and I turn as Bourne makes his way down the hallway with one hand on the wall to steady himself and the other at his head. He stumbles into the kitchen as Lochner runs after him.
"Sorry, Alexis, I didn't think he would get up and come out here."
"Lonner tol meh her..." Bourne slurred, catching himself on the doorframe and Lochner's arm.
"Aye, aye, amor... Get back to bed." She says, getting up to try and grab his big arm.
"Buh Arbel..."
I smile and get up with some difficulty and walk over to him. His dreary eyes see me and he gives a huge beaming smile.
"I knew..."
"Come back to bed and she can visit you there, alright?" Alexis says with a smile.
He nods and follows his mother's orders as Alexis and Lochner take him back to his room. As we open the door, I am surprised to find Bourne's room covered in posters of bands and surprisingly clean. As if she has read my mind, Alexis gives me a smile.
"Believe me, chica, it's not usually this clean. I took advantage of him being sick so that I could clean up his room. He will be mad!" she says with a huge smile.
I smile back and she puts Bourne on top of the comforter of black and silver splashes. He smiles and mutters something in regards to things being fun.
"He'll be incoherent and blabbering so don't take anything he says to heart."
"What exactly's wrong with him?"
"It's nothing contagious nor is it abnormal for him. He has a sort of... disease I guess. He gets hot and has fever at extreme temperatures sometimes. The doctors say he shouldn't be able to live like that but he does... I'll let you talk with him."
Alexis leaves and I sits oddly on Bourne's queen bed so that I have an angle to look at him. He smiles deliriously and holds out his hand to me. I put my hand in his and he grabs it, though limp. It is hot to the touch, like holding a cooling piece of steaming hot cloth.
"You're burning, Bourne." I say, touching his forehead with my hand.
He just smiles like a goofy idiot and I have to smile back.
"You had me worried about you, you dummy."
"M'sry... Do eh win?"
"Do you win?" I ask with a smile. He nods. "Win what?"
"You..."
"Oh... You're not contagious right?"
"Uh uh..."
I lean down as best as I can and plant a kiss on his lips and he smiles a little.
"Yes. You win."
"Yay... Baby too?"
I laugh at him and put his hand on my stomach. "Yes, the baby too. Though I don't know how you could think this is attractive. Especially since it's not yours and I'm single."
"Yer buful... is sxy..."
I laugh and touch his face again. He just smiles at me like I've made him the happiest person in the world. That's when I realize what I love about him. He acts like everything I do is for him. He makes me feel happy and needed and loved. I lean down and give him a proper kiss.
"Wuz za fa?"
"Making me feel beautiful."
"Yer alls buful." He says with a nod and turns over. "G'ni Arbel... I luh you.."
I sigh, knowing he won't remember anything when he wakes up."