Regrets

Friends

Part 3: Friends

"I know you're not supposed to talk about a woman's weight, but I can't believe you've actually gained ten pounds and you can't even tell, aside from your boobs," Abel said, interrupting her thoughts and sounding just as confused - and a little bit impressed - as Selena had felt when her doctor informed her of the weight gain.

Selena laughed quietly. "Yeah, it is kind of crazy, isn't it? By the time I actually look pregnant, if I do at all, my due date will be right around the corner. It already feels that way since we missed out on so much time," she said slowly, dragging her fingers across her belly while Abel drove.

Abel glanced over. "What's wrong, Sel? Are you upset that we just found out about the pregnancy?" He looked back at the road, but he reached out with one hand to gently rub her thigh.

She sighed. "No, it isn't that, I mean, yes, that does upset me a little bit, but it's not, it's..." She sighed in frustration.

He squeezed her thigh. "Hey, it's okay, babe, whatever's bothering you, you can tell me, just take your time."

Selena took a deep breath. "I want to tell Demi first." She looked over to observe him, noticing the way his eyebrows furrowed and his lips turned down a bit.

"Okay..." he replied slowly. "Can I ask why?" As far as he knew, Demi and Selena hadn't seen each other since the InStyle awards the previous year and they hadn't talked since Demi's birthday, and that was just a quick catch-up like the one they'd had on Selena's birthday.

She let out a weary sigh as she ran a hand through her soft locks. "It's just... You know we grew up together, right?" When he nodded in confirmation, she went on. "Ever since we were seven years old, we've talked about having our kids play together like we did, and when we got older, we talked about how we wanted be each other's children's godmother..."

She waited a moment to let that sink in. "I don't know if you had someone in mind - and I'm not saying we have to make a decision about that today - but everything we talked about as kids... Even though we've had our rough patches and our issues, I still want that...you know?"

Abel was silent for a moment as he processed what Selena was telling him. He'd known since the first time Demi's name came up in conversation that there was a strong bond between the two of them. She was Selena's Lamar, her rock; he could see it all over her face when the other woman's name came up.

"It's alright, Selena, I know what you mean. She's your family, you don't have to explain. If she's the one you want to be our little girl's godmother, I'm fine with that," he said gently, glancing over with a smile at the cautious look on her face. "And if you want Demi to be the first to know, then tell her."

Selena leaned over and carefully kissed Abel's shoulder. "Thank you, baby." She smiled softly, grabbing her phone and scrolling to Demi's contact in her phone.

She took a deep breath to try to relieve some of the nervous pressure clouding her chest as the phone began to ring.

"Selena?" Demi sounded surprised and Selena couldn't help but chuckle a little.

"Hey, Dems." The nickname slipped from her lips without a conscious thought. "I was wondering if you had a little free time today..." She trailed off nervously. "I have something important that I want to talk to you about."

On the other end of the conversation, Demi frowned. Her mind immediately jumped to the worst case scenario when she heard the uncertainty in Selena's voice.

"Are you okay? Is it your lupus?" Panic began lacing her veins. When she'd heard the news about Selena's kidney transplant the previous year, she'd gone into a frenzy when it hit her that she could have lost her, that they'd drifted so far apart that Selena had been dying and hadn't told her...