Unraveled

Chapter 36

"Don't you dare lift that heavy box." Brennan stops and points accusingly at me, and I narrow my eyes, letting my hands drop away from the cardboard.

"How can I help you move if you don't let me lift anything?" I raise both my hands and drop them to my side, sighing at his ridiculousness.

"I just don't want you to harm the baby." He smirks at me, and I roll my eyes.

"Just because my jeans are no longer fitting doesn't mean I can't lift things Bren." I argue, and he shakes his head.

"Can't take any chances. But I'll let you unbox the kitchen supplies." He turns back to my- I mean our house, and I sigh.

"Just watch, you're going to get mad at me for that as well because some of it is glass and it can break easily." I narrow my eyes, and Brennan stops moving boxes forward in the moving truck we rented, pausing as he thinks of what I just said.

"You have a point." He admits, and I groan.

I grab ahold of the box I just tried to grab and lift it up with ease, and I hear him quickly protest.

"Drop that right now." He calls behind me as I move away from him and into the house.

"Absolutely not." I call back, before entering through the open door.

I set down the box on the table, and I hear footsteps from behind me.

I realize how thirsty I am, and I get myself a glass of water.

I watch Brennan set down a box on the table I put mine down on, and he sighs.

"What?" I ask, swallowing a sip of water.

"You know what. I don't want you hurting yourself." He seriously tells me, and I smile.

"I'm glad you're concerned, but I've done this pregnancy thing before. I know my limits." I set down my glass on the counter and cross my arms over my chest.

Brennan sighs. "I know. But I've never done this before and I'm just trying to look out for you."

I frown, knowing that it was my fault he never had experience with this. I should've found him to tell him when I discovered I was pregnant with Zoe.

"Hey, please don't feel bad." Brennan quickly notices the change in my behavior, and he comes and engulfs me in a hug.

My emotions have become more erratic and unstable, but he's been a pro at handling them and helping me.

"How about we go out and get something to eat tonight?" He offers, and I shrug.

"Take out?" I suggest, and he nods.

"Sounds good to me."

———

"Biiiitch guess who's back!" I hear my front door open, and Kimmy struts in with James by her side.

I drop my fork from my Chinese takeout and jump up, quickly running to Kimmy to give her the biggest hug.

"Careful, Zoe's asleep in the other room." Brennan warns, and Kimmy laughs.

"Sorry." She says more quietly, and I chuckle.

She lets me go and stared at my bump, no doubt having felt it during our hug.

"You're showing!" She exclaims, and I nod.

"My pants don't really button up anymore" I shrug, and she laughs.

"So you still have your maternity pants from Zoe?" She rests her hand on my small bump, and I nod.

"Yeah, but I've been helping Brennan move in all day so I haven't had the chance to go find them in the garage."

"Why didn't you just tell me you needed to find them Mi?" Brennan asks from behind me.

"Because I was helping you unpack." I turn around and roll my eyes.

"Which I told you I'd rather you sit down and rest, and not harm the baby." Brennan argues back, and I scoff.

"Has it been like this all day?" James asks.

"Yup." Brennan and I say at the same time.

"How about I help Brennan, and Milo and Kimmy can go look for clothes?" James offers, putting his coat on a coat rack by the door.

"Sounds like a great idea." Brennan says before I can argue.

"You just want me to be lazy, huh?" I ask playfully, and Brennan takes a sip out of his glass of wine, not answering me and avoiding eye contact.

"Cmon, let's go." Kimmy takes my arm and we both leave the room, shutting the garage door behind us.

"Alright..." I trail off, looking for the box I had put the maternity clothing in.

Kimmy and I both begin to search through boxes in silence, before she calls my name.

"Milo, come look at this." She waves her hand towards her, and she has a photo in her other hand.

I walk to her, looking at the photo, and I instantly smile.

It was a photo of both of us at graduation, we were smiling wide and holding our tassels proudly.

"Oh my god, look at us." I laugh, and she hands me the photo.

"That was one of the first days I started showing signs of carrying Zoe." I remark fondly, although I don't really miss the vomiting.

Kimmy searches through the box, and she finds another photo in a larger frame.

"It's our entire class." She gasps, and I set aside the photo of Kimmy and I, making sure to remember to take it inside the house.

My eyes skim over the photo.

"Didnt Jocelyn give Lyle a blow job in the janitors closet?" Kimmy laughs, pointing at a blonde haired girl who had on way too much makeup.

"Oh my god she did! They got caught in action right?" I laugh, and Kimmy nods.

"Oh my god, there's Marie! She was the sweetest girl ever." Kimmy pointed to another girl, this time she was Asian.

"I remember she got mad at anyone who asked if she had a 4.0 and if she was running for valedictorian." I recall.

"Oh yeah, she got mad at stereotyping. But she was smart at chemistry. I think she's going to school for that." She tells me, and I blink, narrowing my eyes at Brennan in the photo.

I didn't realize how close to me he was in that group, but he was discretely looking over at me, and his expression was soft. It wasn't hard or mean at all like I was used too back then.

Kimmy hands me the frame and decides that there's no more use for looking through the box. And she begins to go through others.

I was oblivious to the fact that Brennan was looking at me that way at that time, but now I'm glad we took the class photo. I'm definitely treasuring this even more now.

"Milo! Found the clothes." Kimmy snaps me out of my deep thinking, and I look over to her, smiling and putting down the frame.

The past didn't seem as bad anymore.

———
(Question of the day- what divergent faction would y'all be in? When I was younger I was definitely Amity but now I'm more Candor :) )