Baby Bump

"What's your part-time job?"

"I manage petty scientific projects at a company downtown."

"Oh, that's good."

"No way! It's boring as hell. I want my superintendent to take off so I can stop riding a desk all day, falling asleep in front of my computer."

She giggled.

"Yeah, seriously. How'd we end up trading our time for money? I wanted to be James Bond and go travel the world, killing bad guys and seducing beautiful women."

"You'd be great at that, I think. Let me know if you do that, maybe I'll go with you for a few missions."

"You can be my Bond girl."

"Totally."

"Too bad the Bond girl is different in every movie. I kind of like you. Maybe I'll lobby the writers to keep you around for two movies. Like, a sequel or something."

She was laughing sincerely. "So tell me about yourself; I don't know anything about you." She sipped her tea.

"Okay. What do you want to know?"

"Well, for one, do you travel during summer?"

"No. Do you?

"A little bit."

"Where have you been?"

"A bunch of places. Well, tell me this: if you could go anywhere you wanted in the world, where would you go?"

"Um. Europe, maybe?"

"Like, where in Europe?"

"France. I think France would be so romantic and wonderful. And I love French food."

"And French ladies, perhaps."

"French ladies are a little too posh for me."

"I haven't been to France, but I have been to Italy. Definitely could be described as romantic and wonderful. Oh man, the food there is so good. And the people, everyone is beautiful. Even people in their forties and fifties. It's not like over here, where everyone over thirty-five is fat." She went on with absolute enthusiasm. "There, even if you're fifty years old, you're still thin and dress well and in bright colors, and live well and take good care of yourself and look good. And the buildings, and the architecture. What a beautiful place."

"It sounds amazing. Maybe Italy will be where we do our James Bond mission."

"The first one or the second one?"

"Well, let's plan for the first one. I'm not sure if the writers will let me have the same girl in two movies yet or not."

She laughed. "So you're not much of a traveler. What do you do for fun?"

"I play video games sometimes."

"So you're one of those nerdy guys?"

He laughed.

"Seriously though."

"Well, you know, hang out with friends, go to movies, eat at restaurants."

"Do you guys need anything else?" Asked a blonde waiter who served Calvin earlier as she took away Mia's saucer.

"No, thank you," Mia told her and turned to him. "What else do you do?"

"Um. That's about it."

"Okay, cool."

"What do you do?"

"Mostly just chill. My life is pretty boring and uninteresting, I just like to make it sound exciting. Can't even remember the last time I had a near-death experience."

They both laughed.

"Family live in the city still?" He asked her.

"Yeah. Mom and dad."

"Brothers and sister?"

"One brother. He moved out to California."

"Smart man. He likes sunshine and fake boobs, I'm guessing."

"Yeah." She chuckled. "That sounds about right. Do you have siblings?"

"Well, no, but when I was little, I had a friend, a girl, we both did everything together. We didn't have a lot in common and it was hard for us to get along sometimes, but it felt nice sharing your life with someone so different from you."

"How do you share your life with someone like that?"

He sighed. "Well, we grew up together. I used to appreciate all of her drawings and her awkward paintings. She was always there when I needed someone to talk to and we were a big influence on each other."

"In what way did you influence her?"

"Um. She came from a background where nothing was ever good enough and it was something that weighed heavily on her, but in our house together, it was the sense of just trying stuff. You know, allowing each other to feel and be excited about things. That was liberating for her."

"Hmm..." She sighed.

"It was exciting to see her grow. Both of us grew and changed together. That was also the hard part. Growing with her and growing apart or changing without it scaring the other person. I still find myself having conversations with her in my mind, passing into arguments and defending myself against something she said about me."

"I know what you mean. Last week my feelings were hurt by something someone said before that I don't know what it feels like to lose someone and I caught myself thinking about it over and over and I realized that I was simply remembering it as something that was wrong with me. That was the story I was telling myself; that I was somehow inferior." She was physically wistful. "The past is just a story we tell ourselves."

There was a brief moment of silence before her phone chimed alive on the table.

"You should get that."

"No, no, go on." She put her phone away. Her elbow rested on the table and her chin sat on her palm. "What was her name?"

"Mia." His eyes were set on her gaze.

She sneered, "It was like you always wanted me to be this, this light, happy, balanced, everything-is-fine kind of person and that was just not me."

"I didn't want that."

"It did make me sad that you couldn't handle real emotions, Calvin."

"They were real emotions. How would you know if..."

"What?"

He shook his head.

"Say it. Am I really that scary? Say it. How would I know what?!"

He said nothing.

"You always wanted to have a friend without the actual challenges of dealing with anything real. I'm glad that we got separated. It's perfect!" She shook her head in discontent and looked at him with sheer antipathy. "I'm gonna go." She stood up.

"Mia?" He looked up at her.

She was gone.

It was not anxiety he was feeling for the next couple of days and it didn't have anything to do with mortality or existentialism. It was the feeling one got when one became acutely aware that time was passing. An observant sadness yet simultaneous joy and nostalgia. He thought it was one of those things he had no words for, like sitting on a grassy hill and suddenly becoming completely aware of gravity holding him onto the earth's surface, and imagining that if it were to stop suddenly, he would simply float outwards from the surface of the earth into the vast nothingness of space.

Mia Monroe was a little ray of sunshine. When she was little, she would draw on almost anything; be it walls, doors, toys, her bed, and even Calvin's bed. He tried obviously hiding all her writing implements so she didn't turn his room into a psychedelic horror house, but he still found little scribbles when tidying up or moving furniture. A classic one was smiley faces on the landing wall. He tried to see the positive in it. At least, they were happy and not demonic scribbles. Another classic was when he removed his white mattress from the bed and she had colored it in underneath through the bed struts.

They were immediate neighbors to each other. Almost inseparable. It was on a Friday night, they were in Calvin's room where he was helping her understand basic physics when her dad walked in.

"Mia, honey, come on we have to go." He said.

It was close to eight in the evening. That was the time she usually went home so, Calvin thought it was normal. The next day, he went over and knocked on her front door. No one answered. He peeked through the window and all the furniture were gone. He was old enough to realize what had happened. He became empty on the inside, just like her empty old living room.

"I felt cheated because I was so determined to tell you that we were moving. And we did, and I ran out of time." She said to him on the phone that evening. "I wish I'd spent less time focused on making sure we didn't move, and more time on telling you what you meant to me."

"What did I mean to you?"

"Everything, Calvin. You're my best friend and I love you."

"You didn't say that when you were here with me."

"I know. I'm sorry. I messed up."

"Don't be. You didn't move. Your parents did and it's probably for the best."

"We can make it work!" He could here an indication of happiness in her voice.

"What?"

"Long distance relationship."

"No, Mia. I don't want to hold you back."

"You're not holding me back."

"I am. Don't worry about me."

"Calvin?" She sobbed. "Please..."

"Oh, Mia, you can't reach your full potential if you keep thinking about someone miles away." He thought that would have made things easier.

She sniffled. "You sound like my stupid dad and I hate you!"

They didn't talk to each other after that. He tried calling the number she called him with after a while, but it was no longer available. They lost contact with each other and they pretty much forgot about one another. He was introverted and in a way that he couldn't express his feelings about something or someone and that was one thing she tried to help him with. After she left, it didn't matter anymore and all his friends were mostly just awkward social misfits. His right hand became his new best friend.

"Mi chiemo Irwin," Irwin said.

"No. It's Mi chiamo Irwin." Arthur corrected, gesturing.

"Mi chiamo Irwin." Irwin mimicked the gesture.

"What's that?"

"That's what you did. I assumed in a number of languages that the gesture was part of the phrase."

"Well, it's not."

"How am I supposed to know that? As a teacher, it's your obligation to separate your personal idiosyncrasies from the subject matter."

"You know I'm really glad to decide to learn Italian."

"Why?"

"Once you're fluent, you'll have a billion more people to annoy instead of me."

Barry walked in. "Hey."

"Asino sifilitico," said Irwin.

"You just called Barry a syphilitic donkey."

"My apologies, Barry, I'm only as good as my teacher."

"Why are you learning Italian?" Barry set his backpack beside the couch where Irwin and Arthur sat.

"I believe Mario's Palace is passing off pepperoni as small chops of a stake instead of beef and I intend to confront them."

"If I were you, I'd be more concerned about what they're passing off as beef."

"This sandwich is a nutritional disaster." Irwin looked at the snack he was holding. "I asked for turkey and roast beef with lettuce and swiss on whole wheat."

"What did they give you?" Barry asked while he walked over to the fridge.

"Turkey and roast beef with swiss and lettuce on whole wheat." He paused. "It's the right ingredients but in the wrong order. In a proper sandwich, the cheese is adjacent to the bread to create a moisture barrier against the lettuce. They might as well drag this thing through a car wash."

"I don't believe it," Calvin said from the desk where he sat.

"I know. It's basic culinary science."

"No. Comic-con tickets are about to go on sale."

"Those things sell out incredibly fast." Arthur jumped off the couch. "Where's my phone?!"

"Relax, I'll order one for each of us."

Arthur walked over to where Calvin was.

"Speaking of tickets," Barry ransacked the fridge for food. "I manage to get an invite to Merilyn Summers birthday party."

"Was she drunk when she handed it to you?"

"Well, her shirt was still on her body, so, no, she was not drunk."

"Hm. So you managed to woo her after all." Irwin smirked. "Good for you."

"Yeah. I'm kind of a chick-magnet. Anyway, she invited you, too, Calvin."

"Wait a minute, just Calvin? What about me?!"

"Sorry, Arthur, it's just Calvin."

"Do you think she has a thing for you, playboy?" Arthur nudged Calvin on the shoulder.

"Uh? What?"

"Merilyn Summers birthday party?"

"Yeah. Yeah, sure."

"I noticed you kind of zoom out on conversations lately. Is this about Mia? I thought you were over that."

He sighed. "I try to. She just keeps finding a way back into my head."

"Do you know what I do when I can't get over someone?"

"Does it involve beautiful women at the beach with low self-esteem?"

"Never mind."

That summer, Merilyn Summers, the head cheerleader, was hosting a teenage party for her eighteenth birthday. The weather was glorious, and the forecasts were good. Calvin was reluctant and had run out of excuses to give to Barry as to why he didn't want to go to the party. Merilyn Summers got the bit between her teeth. She had almost all the guys from the football team make playlists and rig up lighting around the house. She made a party invitation page on Facebook.

The party was a roaring success. The neighbors shut their windows and claimed to have slept through all of it even though they obviously couldn't get any sleep, but who could blame them? Merilyn Summers was as sweet as a slice of vanilla. Nobody ended up in the ER, though Calvin did spend a worrying half hour trying to rouse an unconscious boy in the bathroom. And there was only minor damage to the garden; plants trodden on and a plum tree annoyingly stripped of unripe plums.

It was his very first teenage party and he wondered why teenagers didn't go to parties just to drink, talk and dance and pick up new partners. Of course, they did all of that-and to excess. But at that party, it was also an opportunity to experiment, a quest for new experiences, a license to do everything they had never dared to attempt at their own homes. They were brimming with energy, curiosity, and untapped athleticism. So they hanged scaffolding and had sword fights with the curtain poles and slid headfirst down the banisters. Their Gollum-like little fingers were everywhere, stealing pills in the bathroom, tipping out spice jars, melting plastic spoons over the cooker and rifling the search engines for pornography. Calvin was doubting any teenager could hold a sneaky party without their parents finding out. They always left something, but Mr. and Mrs. Summers didn't care as long as their daughter had good grades and the house was tidy whenever they were around.

Barry had forgotten a half-empty bottle of Malibu on the sofa and went up the stairs. Calvin went up to look for him because it was almost daybreak and they had to leave. His fingers trailed along the wall as he walked down the hallway towards an exceptional door that seemed ajar.

"Leave him alone, Mer, or he's gonna piss out his balls."

"You like spying on naked girls, don't you, perv?" Merilyn asked sluttery.

"No." Calvin head Barry say.

"Shut up!" Merilyn ordered abruptly. "Where did you hide the webcam?"

"I did nothing, I swear."

"Shut up. Take your pants off and your panties, too, man-child."

"Unless you want to fuck me, I'm not taking off my pants."

"Should I electrocute your testicles?"

"That's not even a real—Ahhh!!"

Barry screamed in torment and Calvin immediately burst into the room to see what was happening.

Merilyn looked sharply at his direction. "Calvin?"

At first, the darkness of the room must have deceived him or else his eyes were confused and dazzled by the glare of the reading lamp. For five seconds he could make out nothing at all but dark lumps of furniture, the mass of the chest of drawers by the wall. He could see what looked like a stun gun in Merilyn's hand. He thought she must have used it on Barry who was spasming like an idiot on the floor.

"I've been looking for you all night long." She walked towards him with the gun in her hand and a smirk on her face. "Well, me and Mia, Of course."

He stepped back a little before realizing a girl was sitting on a big sofa with her legs folded against her chest beside the reading lamp.

"Don't be scared, I don't bite. Although, there was this one time."

"For Christ's sake, Mer, quit being an obnoxious coquette," Mia said.

"Excuse me," she turned towards Mia, "but two guys, well, one guy and a pervert walked into my room uninvited, do I sell cookies and lemonade in here?"

"No, but your breasts are fucking huge. I bet you'd make extra money if you sell your breast milk instead of lemonade." Said Barry from the wooden floor.

Merilyn kicked him hard in the nuts. "Shut up, perv!"

Mia walked to where Calvin was standing. She held his hands and led him to the sofa. He sat and she sat on his laps and rested her head on his shoulder. Her hands were wrapped around his neck and her legs were folded so her naked feet were resting on his crotch. He put his arm around her waist and held her close as he caressed her midriff softly.

"Can I ask you a question?" Mia said softly to him.

"Mm."

"Does a drug still count as an antidepressant if its number one side effect is uncontrollable weeping?"

"Have you been taken antidepressants?"

"Hm-mm. I was so mad at you because you made me sad. I really missed you."

"I'm sorry I made you feel that way. I never meant to hurt you."

"I know." She trailed her fingers down his chest. "I'm exhausted."

Barry was convulsing and groaning in pain on the floor. His fingers eagerly protected his member from the brutality of Merilyn Summers who stood over him like she was his mistress.

"Does it hurt, Barry?" She asked.

"Yes."

"Just tell me where you hid the webcam and I'll let you go."

"It's in mister Raspberry Jam's eyes." He nodded at the pink teddy bear that sat on the top shelf.

She walked towards the shelves and picked mister Raspberry Jam. She examined the eyes and she was sure she could have seen the webcam if there was any. She set it back on the top shelf and looked at the mirror in front of her for a while. She was admiring her beautiful brown body.

Merilyn Summers was a girl who had all the perfect curve in all the right place. She wasn't fat, she was thick with a solid body-type, big boobs, big hips, small waist, and big butt. She had a body that wouldn't break you if you had sex with it. Not only did she have a body you could grab on to, but she usually had a confident personality.

Barry cleared his throat and raised his eyebrows. "Does staring at yourself like that always make you so horny?"

"It's not me. Your pants are soaked." She looked at his reflection in the mirror.

His fingers clutched his crotch tighter. His heart hammered in his chest while his libido pleaded for him to take out his penis and stroke it. Somehow, Merilyn's brutality had made him leak precum and wet himself.

She held his waist as he sat on the floor near the left side of the bed, curling her fingers in the dry fabric above his belt.

"Did you think I hadn't noticed how you look at me in school?" Her voice dripped with charm.

As she sat on his laps, straddling him, her mons pressed against his zipper. The thin fabric strained against his swelling cock. The heat between her thighs simmered. He was soaking wet and she hadn't even touched him yet. She wrapped her fingers around his tie, drawing those wanting lips to his.

Merilyn kissed him possessively, not wasting precious minutes on teasing foreplay. He flexed his jaw to draw her tongue into his mouth. A moan formed deep in her throat and escaped. His fingers dug into her ass cheeks, pressing her firmly against him as she dry fucked him like a wanton hussy.

Merilyn broke the kiss. Those hot lips he'd fantasized about worked their way down his neck. While he deftly unbuttoned her blouse, she kissed his nipples through his shirt, biting and tugging the sensitive, fabric-covered nubs.

As she stood up, her blouse didn't go up with her. Her full-grown breasts were on full display before his eyes. She took off his shirt, unbuttoned his slacks and shoved them down. His erection sprang free. Her pussy responded by adding to the pool of wetness at the apex of her thighs.

They didn't waste time on words. Calvin and Mia might wake up soon. Merilyn didn't want them to find out. She didn't want anyone to find out because it would soil her social reputation. She definitely didn't want to have sexual intercourse with Barry. He was not the type of guys she fooled around with, but his wet precum soaked slacks had made her desperately horny. She had been listening to Mia cry all night and helping her find Calvin. There was no acceptable opportunity for someone to put their throbbing cock in her.