LIV

"So, what do we do now?"

Rob watched me as he asked this, putting his glass of wine to his lips. I traced the rim of my glass, which was filled with cranberry juice, and matched his look.

We sat in his living room after dinner at this Italian place, which was his treat. We'd spent the dinner mostly talking about ourselves and school. By the time we'd remembered why we were there, it was about time to leave.

So, he invited me over.

"Well... That depends. Who was that girl I saw some weeks back? Iz?"

Rob sighed, then looked down at his hands. "She's someone I see every now and then... We've known each other for a while, but it isn't serious."

I looked around his living room, at the TV, pictures set in different places, and the window. I half hoped not to, and half expected, to find pictures of this Iz somewhere around the house. All I found were pictures of him, his family, and some people I presumed to be friends of his.

I stood up and made my way to a photo that caught my eye. It was of Rob and five other people. A tall blonde woman, a tall brunette man, a slightly shorter guy with platinum blonde hair, and two even shorter women--twins, it seemed--that were also blonde.

"Is hair color an admission requirement in your circles," I asked.

Rob laughed, then stood up to join me near the fireplace. "What are you talking about?"

I gestured toward the photo, "may I?"

"Go ahead."

I picked up the frame, then pointed at each person. "Why are there so many blondes?"

He shrugged, "it's just a coincidence. Besides," he reached for a different frame then compared the two pictures.

"These are my sisters, brother, and cousins."

He grabbed another picture and handed it to me. "These three guys are my closest friends. I went to college with Ren. He's the Japanese-Canadian guy in the middle. Great guy, he's actually an actor, director and producer."

I nodded, shocked. I knew exactly who Ren Yamazaki was. I had a picture of him on the wall in my room. He directed one of my favorite action comedies, and starred in this swoon-worthy rom-com that made me believe that his character was definitely marriage material.

I cleared my throat, "I know who he is."

Rob smirked, then continued. I hadn't been looking at the picture much, because I was paying attention to Rob and what he had been saying. So, when I looked down at the next picture, I dropped the frame.

Rob was quick, and able to catch it before it fell to the ground.

"Geez! Why'd you drop it?!"

"Sorry," I whispered, my eyes glued to that photo. I had completely missed what he said about the next guy. He was mixed, Blasian, and had brown hair which was barely visible because of his buzz cut. Rob smiled as he spoke, and I nodded half-heartedly until I finally blurted it out.

"That's my uncle."

Rob stopped telling the story of his traveler friend with the long red hair. He looked at the photo, then at me. I watched him as he tried to figure out who could be related to me, and it seemed like he decided I was probably lying.

"You're joking."

I lifted my chin so that I was looking right into his blue eyes, "would you rather I lie to you?"

Rob smirked, "okay. Then tell me who he is and what he's about."

My hand jutted out, and he gave me the frame. "I've known my Uncle Aaron since I was eight years old. He met my aunt Jennifer by chance when they were in line for coffee. That was twelve years ago.

He's an engineer, and was on the Forbes 40 under 40 list with his business partner for their company and its success. His dad is Japanese and his mom is Ghanaian. He was born in Ghana, raised in Ottawa, and now lives in Toronto suburbs.

Jen and Aaron have two kids, Erika and Theo. Ericka's eight and Theo is five. Geniuses if you ask me. One of the few things I didn't know about my uncle is that you," I stepped into his space, gently pressing my free hand to his chest, "are his best friend."

Rob watched me carefully and, because of the blue in his eyes, I could see them slowly become darker and darker. He gently peeled the picture frame from my hand, then placed it back above the fireplace.

"That makes this very complicated."

I moved in even closer, so close that we could feel each other's breath on our skin. I breathed in his cologne, which somehow managed to smell perfect, and sighed. "What exactly is this?"

In one fell swoop, my back was up against the wall. Rob's kisses were hot, fervent and hypnotizing. His hands managed to find all my sensitive spots above my belt as they traveled to my neck, my back, my torso, and behind my ears.

I swung my leg around to rest it against his, and he noticed. He lifted me up so that I was straddled around him, up against the wall in the air. Kissing wasn't a novelty to me, I'd done it with other guys in the past. But the way he kissed me? It felt like everyone else had just been pecking in the dark, and Rob brought a light to come and get things done.

And he was... Getting things done...

"What am I doing?!" I thought to myself.

"Wait, wait, wait," I pushed Rob away from my body as he started doing away with my bra. "We haven't even figured out what we're gonna do about any of this. The last thing we should be doing is having sex."

He nodded, trying to catch his breath, "you're right."

He let me down, and I moved off the wall and onto the couch, leaving Rob where we were. He rubbed at his temples, frustrated.

"Maybe," I looked up at him as re-attached my bra hooks and adjusted my top, "we should take things slow. If we're going to try being together..."

He didn't say anything.

"Are we gonna try?" I asked.

His eyes went to my lips, which I didn't even realize I'd been biting. Rob let out a long, heaving sigh, and started to walk away.

"Where are you going-"

"To take a cold shower."

******

We sat next to each other at Rob's dining table, after he'd calmed everything down. I still wasn't sure exactly how far along I was, but I knew when my period had stopped.

"This was the date," I said as I typed it into my phone. The two of us did a little research and found the best websites and apps for baby names, pregnancy tracking, and registries. We'd decided on our favorites, and it was time to actually test out this app we chose.

After I entered in my info and his, it opened up and let us know how far along I should be.

"Ten weeks," Rob whispered as it popped up on the screen. I clicked on the video that showed how big our baby was and the symptoms I could expect.

He seemed excited as he searched up facts and things to be aware of at this time. I didn't say anything as I tried to understand how I could not notice I was pregnant. The first trimester was already almost over, and I hadn't taken any prenatal vitamins.

My thoughts started to get to the best of me, especially after seeing all this info on how important it was to supplement and eat healthy. I went to Timmy's yesterday and ordered forty timbits because I was hungry. I ate almost half of them by myself!

I started to look up packs of prenatals on Amazon and searched through the reviews as Rob got excited over baby names. Every pack that had five stars and over 1,000 reviews went into my list.

All of a sudden, I felt a gentle hand on my back. I looked over at him, and he smiled gently.

"A lot of women don't notice they're pregnant for a little while... We'll make an appointment at an OB and you'll be fine."

"How do you know that?"

"Well," he started to massage my shoulders, "I looked it up."

I couldn't help but laugh, and I felt like I could relax even a little bit. "Well, I'm gonna buy way more vitamins than I need. And then I wanna start doing this registry thing. My mom always said it's a privilege to have something like a registry-" I gasped, and my hands went to Rob's shoulders.

"Oh my God, my parents!"

The gears were turning in his mind as his face fell, his expression going from hope to fear, and what looked to me like dread.

We sat there, running multiple scenarios and possibilities through our heads.

"Well, you have to meet them," I told him. He nodded, "so do you."

"Okay, well, how about we have dinner together?" I suggested.

He looked mortified.

"You want to announce it at dinner with our parents, for the first time together?"

"No, no. You should tell your parents in private beforehand, I'll tell my parents in private before, then we'll have dinner a few days later. Once they've cooled off and remembered how much they love us again."

My parents would be fine, I knew that. They would support me and be the wonderful people they are. But I also knew better than to expect a... Graceful reaction initially.

I took Rob's phone and entered in my cell number and contact information, "there is a chance that you won't see me for a day or two after I tell them. Don't be alarmed. You can reach me on my phone-"

"Don't be alarmed?! What do you think your parents are going to do?!"

I shrugged, "freak out a bit. My mom will probably keep me under her watch for a little bit until she calms down."

His eyes were open so wide, I almost laughed.

"It's fine, it's fine. I will be fine. Make sure to let me know when you've talked to your folks. And we should have the dinner at my place."

I looked at him, feeling like I'd forgotten something very important.

Oh!

"Let's also take a blood test to screen for STDs."

"What-"

"If I'm going to sell to them that you're a nice guy I want to get to know and raise a baby with," I started, "they have to know that you're clean."

Rob sighed. He took my hand, then started to text his parents about meeting sometime soon.

My expression was apologetic and I offered up a smile, "sorry."

*********
A/N

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Thanks so much for reading and for all your support!

-Ruth