And it all started with this meet & greet - Ondreaz Lopez

Chapter 55: "You're not. I'm just better."

 Countdown 2. - Tony

Tony unceremoniously lifted me up and dragged me to the car. "Um, Tony. I am perfectly capable of walking," I laughed and pressed briefly against his tense upper arm muscles. "I'm just afraid you'll fall and hurt yourself before the wedding. Ondre would kill me." 

 I rolled my eyes and sat in the leather seat. "I won't fall down if I haven't even had a drink," I return and buckle up. He smiles. "Speaking of drinking..." He pulls out a bottle of vodka, opens it, puts it on and takes a pretty big sip. 

 He handed it to me, but I just shook my head. "I'm not the type to start drinking this early in the day. And neither are you, if I may remind you that you were the one who condemned me for drinking beer at two in the afternoon." 

 Shrugging, he took another sip. Almost overdone, I ripped the bottle from his hand. I had the feeling that there was no alcohol in it. Tony was not like that. I smelled it carefully, and normally my nose would have started burning slightly, but... but... nothing. 

 "Ha ha. This is water, why the fuck?" He put the glass bottle back in his backpack. "I wanted to test you. You would have shrugged your shoulders, taken at least a sip. That's how I got ahead in my hunch."

  I looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "What's next?", I sighed and he bit his lower lip, then clicked his tongue softly. "You're not drinking anymore. Not even in the basketball stadium. Tay told me, but he doesn't think far enough..." 

 Okay, honestly, I was insecure. "Light" is an understatement. "You're pregnant, aren't you?" Those words hit me hard. "Do I look fat or something?" I asked him in disgust and tried to cover up the fact that he'd caught me. 

 He laughed. "No, you don't. But I'm still right, right?" I couldn't help it. Tears came to my eyes. Then I nodded slightly while my eyes were fixed on my feet. 

 I could hear him unbuckling and sliding over to me. "Hey, why are you crying?" He pulled me into his arms and I buried my head in his neck. "I'm scared," I confessed, and the something wet ran down my cheek. 

 "Of what?", he asked quietly and lightly brushed across my back to calm me down. "Of being a bad mother. Do you understand? Ondre won't be able to help me and I don't want the child to be unhappy because I don't care enough. Or because I'm overwhelmed. Or because he misses his dad. So..."

 He looked at me and wiped the tears from my cheek. "That's why, what? You're not thinking of giving up the baby?" He sounded shocked. I shook my head quickly. "No, no. I hadn't thought of that. That's why I'm afraid..." Pity was reflected in his eyes. "You can do it, Soph. You're gonna be a great mom. And we're all gonna help you." 

 I laughed skeptically. "You're gonna be on the road, Ondre. And even if you don't. I can only practice law where I have a license, and unfortunately, that only applies to California. I have to stay in here and Ondre told me he want to be with his family."

Tony's answer was brief, but it made me cry again. This time with emotion. "You are his family now."

 ---

 We arrived just before 10:00 at a club. Some kind of game arcade, only not quite as big. There were advertising signs in the glass panes, blinking brightly. "Gambling? Are you serious?" I laughed and he smiled at me. "Sure. I don't see why not. There are some ball games, but we can do that at your place or somewhere else. I thought we'd play more like pool, darts and foosball." I nodded excitedly. "Yeah, sounds good." I was looking forward to spending the day with Tony. 

He had held me in his arms the whole ride and cheered me up. And I felt better. He had given me courage. 

 We went to one of the halls. Here we had just been a few people who wanted to have fun, just like yesterday at the laser tag. Although some of them looked a bit conspicuously over to Tony, we were not disturbed when we started the first round of billiards.