Three ways to love

Chapter Eighteen

"Morning, how are you?" Nini asked as she walked into Naomi's room.
"A little hungover but fine"
"I brought you some breakfast" Nini noted as she placed the tray on Naomi's lap.
"Thanks, you didn't have to do that"
"I wanted to"

Nini looked around her room as Naomi ate breakfast. Nini stumbled upon her desk and saw a pile of papers.

"Don't look at those!" Naomi shouted.
"Why not? These are amazing. I didn't know you drew"
"I usually don't do much else except some doodling but lately it's been giving me comfort"
"Have you ever considered making a career out of this?"
"Like what?"
"For example becoming a painter or an illustrator or something"
"I did dream about opening my own art gallery when I was little but it was just a silly kid's dream"
"These are amazing and I could definitely see something like this in an art gallery. You should show these to your art teacher, I'm sure she would love to help you"
"Yeah, maybe"
"Wait what's this?" Nini asked as she picked up a CD.
"Ohh, I recorded two of my own songs"
"Can I listen to it?"
"I guess"
"I'll return it once I've listen to it" Nini said.

||

"Hey umm... what day is it?" Naomi asked Nini when she stepped out of the bathroom.
"Saturday"
"No, I mean a date"
"It's the 25th, why?"
"I just like to keep up with dates. Look I need to go check on Seulgi, she drank more than I did, so I'll see you later" Naomi lied as she walked out the door.

She dialed a number and waited for the other person to answer.

"Hey Naomi, why are you calling me?" Johnny asked.
"Because we need to talk. NOW"

||

"So what did you want to talk about?" Johnny asked her as she walked in to his apartment.
"You might want to sit down" She suggested.
"Okay you sound really serious right now" Johnny chuckled as they both sat down.
"I think I might be pregnant" She blurted out.
"W-what?" His eyes widened.
"My periods are late by two weeks"

Suddenly his phone rang and he looked up to see who it was; it was his girlfriend. He answered the call.

"I'd love to hang out today but I'm helping a friend right now, so I'll talk to you later. Bye" He hung up.
"We're friends?" Naomi questioned.
"Well what do you want me to say: 'Sorry I can't hang out with you right now cause I'm helping my ex girlfriend because she might be pregnant' because then I would have to explain what we did this summer"
"Wait, you haven't told her?"
"Oh god no. She would kill me"
"You know you're creating a web of lies, right? What are you going to do if I really am pregnant? I'm definitely not having an abortion"
"Well shouldn't we first find that out? You need a pregnancy test right?"
"Yeah, I bought one on my way here, I thought we could check it together"
"Of course"

||

They had to wait for three minutes for the stick to show results.

"I've been meaning to ask, what happened to your cheek?" He asked.
"It's sort of a long story"
"I got time"
"Well last night I went to a club with two of my friends and Mark and his girlfriend were there too. I drank a bit and danced with my friends and then all of a sudden his girlfriend comes up to me and slaps me in the face and accuses me of flirting with him"
"What the fuck!?"
"Yeah, I mean why on earth would I flirt with someone who a: is taken and b: doesn't give a fuck about me"

His expression changed.

"Okay stop looking at me like that"
"Like what?"
"I've seen that look on everyone's face when I tell them that he doesn't care about me"

The timer beeped and she took the stick and felt a breath of relief.

"It's negative. I'm not pregnant"

A moment of silence occurred.

"Thank god. I have enough shit going on already" She blurted.
"You're glad?"
"Fuck yeah. I mean of course I want kids someday but right now I just figure all my shit out. Aren't you relieved?"
"Of course. This might sound weird and I probably shouldn't say this but when we were in high school I always thought we'd be together for the rest of our lives. I always thought we'd get married and have kids" He looked at his hands. He seemed a bit upset.
"Yeah. I know I've said this a million times but I truly am sorry for how things went down. I never meant to hurt you"
"I forgive you" They looked at eachother. They were sitting pretty close to eachother.

"I guess karma's still a bitch because now you're dating and I'm alone"
"Right, yeah" He looked away.
"Anyway, thanks for being there for me even though we're in a weird place. You know me being your 'meaningless ex and shit'" She said as she walked out of his apartment.
"Right"

'meaningless ex', more like the love of my life... He thought to himself as he watched her walk away.