The Precious One ✔

Chapter 47

I poor anchovies onto the skinny block of chocolate before picking it up and moving it towards my open mouth.

"Preciosa no!" Gina cries in panic as grabbing the anchovie covered chocolate from my hand.

"That's nasty, dude" Ned scrunched up his face in disgust.

"Good morning" Dad greets us before pouring himself a cup of black coffee, "Justine is coming over tonight to go over the wedding preparations"

Thank God, I'm missing that.

I roll my eyes. "Well, It's Chris' birthday so Ned and I will be out...which reminds me, there's something that I want to talk to you about"

"What is it?" He sips his coffee.

"I want Chris and his brother to move into the guest house outside" I announce, "and I want it to be soon...before the baby comes"

My father lowers his mug from his face, firming his gaze "excuse me?"

"Our daughter is going to be born in July" I explain, "I want her to grow up with her parents under the same roof...besides it'll be easier, he can help out with the baby without a fifteen minutes drive between house—"

"Alright," he nods.

"What?" I blink in shock.

"What?" Ned raises his brows.

"In one condition" my father folds his arms.

I roll my eyes, "Yes?"

"You continue to sleep in your room and the boys sleep in their" he clenches his jaw.

"Eww" Ned draws his brows together.

"If you go over there, you have a curfew," He tells me, "there won't be any sleepovers and what not"

I roll my eyes "Okay whatever, is that a yes then?"

My dad nods slowly, "yes, I think it will be beneficial for all of us"

I grin, "great, I can tell them all about it today"

"C'mon Lissie, we don't want to be late for school" Ned smirks while grabbing both our back packs.

***

I walk down the hallway with Ned beside me, I find him looking directly at me with a small smile.

"What's going on with you, huh?" He raises a brow.

"What do you mean?" I look down at my shoes.

"You've been acting so weird lately—"

"Hey Elise, emergency cheerleading practice" Penelope, a fellow cheerleader runs ups to me.

"Wait really? It's my boyfriend's birthday and me...." I start frantically.

"C'mon" she calls, taking my hand, dragging me away from my brother.

Within two minutes, we arrive at the gym where we find all the girls stand in a semi-circle.

"Okay girls, we have a game this weekend and I just word that we need to change our routine last minute" Sherry begins.

"That's so short notice through" one of the girls folds her arms furiously.

"I know...Kelsey will begin to teach you guys the new choreography" Sherry informs us before meeting my gaze, "Elise, can I speak to you privately"

I furrow my brows in confusion before following Sherry to the locker rooms while the girls start practising the cheer.

"So what's this about?" I ask.

Sherry softens her gaze in sadness before looking down at my expanding belly.

"Look, I hate to do this to you...but I can't have you dancing with us any more" she sighs, "you're pregnant and our routines are challenging to say the least...you're the girl on the top of the pyramid for god sake-"

I nod my head slowly. I knew this would happen sooner or later.

"Its okay Sherry, I get it" I assure her.

"You can come back after you have the baby..." Sherry tells me.

I sigh.

After I have the baby, huh? I don't even know if I'll be here then.

"Thanks, Sherry" I nod before walking away from her.

In the distance, I see Jenny beside Penelope learning the choreography. I exit the gym at a great speed before I spot Chris standing beside Blake and Ned.

"Hey beautiful, you okay?" Chris looks over to me.

I reassure him with a small nod "yeah, I was..I'm not on the squad any more..."

"You what?" He widens his eyes.

"It doesn't matter," I sigh before closing the space between our lips with a kiss, "happy birthday" I whisper.

"Lissie, tell him about his present" Ned grins.

"What is it?" Blake blinks.

"You're moving into my home" I announce before looking over to Blake, "you both are"

"You're kidding" Chris' eyes widen.

"We have a guest house out back" I elaborate, "this way you can be closer to the baby"

"And there are two rooms, so Blake can move in too" Ned informs.

"That's really cool of your dad" Blake nods, "thank you"

***

Saturday night Blake carries in the last of the boxes with Ned by his side.

"Someone call a doctor cause this is sick" Ned cries while walking through the guest house.

I grin as taking in my surroundings. This guest house use to be Gina's room when we were younger. It looked so different then.

Suddenly I feel fluttering in my gut. I look down and smile at my belly.

"Hey what are you thinking about?" Chris puts an arm around me before kissing my cheek.

"Oh nothing" I smile, "just how great it's going to be having you here"

At that moment, we both fall back on to the sofa looking up at the ceiling with a smile.

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Hi all,

I am beyond excited to share the final chapters with you guys as they were written in mid-April. We only have three chapters and an epilogue left so get hyped for the end.

Please VOTE if you enjoyed this chapter.

Thank you

Happy reading!!

- Rose xx