Extraordinary Love

Chapter 35

Trigger Warning: Chapter may contain some brief graphic and triggering descriptions of possible miscarriage.

Song: Drifting by G-Eazy feat. Chris Brown

Christopher

Aaliyah couldn't get out of that restaurant fast enough. She gave him a dry church hug and left him on the curb bewildered looking at the car take off down the street.

Mama J tried to reassure him that Aaliyah just needed a little space and in a day or two they'd be fine. His mother may have been understanding but he wasn't. It had been weeks, not days and he hadn't seen her since.

He sent her another text to follow up on the other three he had sent today. With a sigh, he threw his phone down on his desk, sitting back in his chair. He let out a long groan, covering his face.

Chris had felt the distance start to grow between him and Aaliyah in the past couple of weeks, much to his dismay. He tried just about everything he could to reverse it but he could feel her starting to ice him out again. He wasn't quite sure what exactly he had done or said that night to flip this switch in her. She should know that nothing happened with Robyn, if that was what she was worried about. He'd never do anything to hurt Aaliyah.

Aaliyah's family was currently in town for the holidays and he had offered up his place for them to stay (he had more than enough room) but Aaliyah declined, setting them up in a hotel instead. Chris offered to cover that and they refused his offer; Aaliyah saying it wasn't necessary. He hadn't even seen the family since they had dropped down. Chris also offered to take them all out to dinner but Aaliyah declined that too, coming up with excuses every time. He at least knew that was because of the Robyn situation.

Somehow Robyn calling the gallery if she needed anything turned into her crashing at Chris' place for an indefinite amount of time. She used some excuse of feeling safer having someone else around. Chris asked why she couldn't stay with a friend and she said Aaron knew where all of her friends lived. She had definitely made herself comfortable in his space too, going as far as to even personalize his guest room.

Maybe if he asked Robyn to leave, his love life would go back to normal. Robyn was definitely putting a damper on things relationship wise (hell, just his life in general) but Chris for some reason he just could not find it in him to make her leave. If she didn't already have a hold on him, being pregnant just made it ten times worse. She was very needy. His phone was blowing up every few seconds with all of her complaints and cravings. He had become her personal DoorDash. Her eating habits disgusted him. Sure, he may have had a few strange combos of his own that he enjoyed but she wanted combinations that couldn't possibly be good for anyone's stomach: ice cream and pickles; peanut butter and Doritos, etc. The sight of her digesting these foods made Chris' own stomach queasy. Chris tried to convince her to eat something more nutritious like a salad or some fruit, but not wanting to risk her having a meltdown he dropped it and bought the combos anyway.

He was exhausted having been worn down by Robyn and all he wanted to do was lay down in the arms of his girlfriend and let out a big sigh of relief as he vented to her and she ran her fingers through his hair making wise cracks, but it was as if she didn't want to see him. He somewhat felt replaced too.

Nico was Aaliyah's new best friend, and Chris had still yet to even meet him. About a dozen pictures of the two had popped up on his social media timeline. They were constantly together and the more time that they did spend together, the more Chris started to feel a little jealous that it wasn't him that she was spending all of her time with. He was pretty miserable without her. It wasn't as if he had a boatload of other friends to hang out with; just other couples and he didn't want to third wheel it with Raven and Trey and Derek and Sequoia.

Aaliyah brought a world of color into his life and without her, everything seemed pretty mediocre and dull. This was their first real "fight" and he couldn't even call it that because there wasn't really an initial fight to begin with. It was a one-sided conversation and she was icing him out.

Crash!

The sound of the porcelain or glass hitting the floor and shattering sounded from the other room, followed by a long groan and it snapped Chris out of his pity party. Chris jumped up and ran into kitchen, where he found Robyn doubled over, holding onto the counter with one hand and her stomach with the other.

"Mmmmm, Chrissssssss," Robyn strained.

There were shards of the white bowl sitting in a puddle of soupy vanilla ice cream at her feet. He helped her around the mess, holding her up for support. "What happened? It's too soon for you to be in labor, Robyn. You're only, what? Five months?"

He didn't know what to do. He knew nothing about pregnancies or babies or giving birth. He certainly didn't know what to do when things went wrong either.

"My baby," she whined, looking down at her legs. A faint impression of red began to appear on her pajama pants, slowly deepening and widening as it ran down her leg.

He froze.

"Something's wrong. I can feel it. I can feel it," she cried.

"Um, um...Hold on, um, everything is going to be okay," he tried to reassure the both of them as she clutched onto him, sobbing.

He backed away from her, removing her arms from around his body as he ran back into his office, grabbing his phone off of his desk with butterfingers.

He dialed Aaliyah frantically, his fingers shaking as he pressed the buttons. He hoped he'd be more much calm and collected when it came to the birth of his own child one day. He'd definitely be more educated and prepared. He didn't like to be caught off guard or off his game. People expected him to be his cool and collected self and at the moment, he alone couldn't be what Robyn needed.

It rang once and went to voicemail. He took the phone away from his ear and immediately redialed. It rang several times and then again went to voicemail. He tried one more time, hoping and praying that she'd pick up.