Cross My Heart

I was in utter shock by the time Airin had left my house. Airin had always been a little skeptical about marriage, so I was confused, extatic, but confused. Also, the thought of my brother getting married, in a way, terrified me. Airin may of only been 22, almost 23, and was maturing at an alarming rate, he was still fairly young. Marque was only 19, but who was I to be hypocrtical about being too young for things. I was the one who was pregnant after all.

It had to of been about 2:30 when Josh showed up, unannouced, like usual. When I opened the door, he looked slightly more tan than usual. "Hey Jaws." he quickly kissd me, then looked at me up and down. "You going some where?" He asked. He must of noticed my sunglasses on the top of my head.

"Oh, yeah, I have a doctors appointment today." I said, slipping on my shoes.

"You're going to walk there? In 34 degree heat? Weren't you complaining a few days ago that a womens body temperature is 10 degrees higher when pregnant?" I nodded my head. "You're going to be walking in 44 degree heat!"

"I've been walking there for a while Josh." I said. "Hey, why don't you come with me?" I asked.

"I dropped you off that once, and all those women glared at me like I did something wrong." Josh said, recalling the last time he went to an appointment with me.

"You can't let the lesbian couple intimidate you." I snickered. I made Josh move so I could get out of the house. I locked the door, and even though my porch was shaded, I felt extremely hot.

"I'm sorry, but the bigger of the two frightens me." Josh said.

"They're actually very nice people. Shanna just doesn't like you." I said. Josh lopsidedly smiled.

"You know, I'll go with you anyways. I feel like I haven't been doing much for you." Josh said, leading me to his car.

"Hon, you've been doing so much for me." I said, getting into Josh's car. He got into the drivers side and started the car. We drove for a few minutes.

"What do you need to get done today? Normal checkup?" Josh asked.

"Nope." I said. Josh looked over at me periodically.

"Well...what do you need to get done then?" Josh asked.

"Ultrasound." I said. Josh looked momentarily confused.

"Oh...alright." He said.

"The reason I wanted you to come with me is because it's the first one. So, it's the first time I'll actually see the baby. I wanted you to be there because it is your child aswell." I said, leaning my arm up against the window of the car.

"I bet it's going to look alien-like." Josh said.

"You looked alien-like...no, you STILL look alien like." I smiled. Josh stuck his tongue out at me.

"Josh, it's not going to hurt you to go inside." I said, holding my hand out for Josh.

"You sure they aren't there?" Josh said, inching towards me.

"Yes. I didn't see their car." Josh hesitated for a second, before taking my hand. I rolled my eyes and pushed the door open to the clinic. Josh walked closely behind me. I checked in with the receptionist and sat down. Josh seemed rather fidgity.

"Are you okay?" I asked, leaning over in my chair.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm...fine?" it sounded more like a question than anything. I placed my hand over top of his.

"You're nervous." I stated.

"What? No I'm not!" Josh sounded outraged, in a joking manner. He was trying to deny his nervousness, but I knew him better.

"Josline?" I turned my head to look at my nurse, Danielle. I smiled at her, nudged Josh. He looked up and stood, helping me up aswell. It was getting much harder to get up on my own now. I was also starting to feel less, and less comfortable with my body. I couldn't wear a lot of the clothes I used to, and my breasts were definitly bigger, much to Marque uninterest.

I walked over to Danielle and smiled at her again. "How are you today Danielle?" I asked her.

"Oh, I'm great. Is this...Josh?" Danielle nodded towards Josh.

"Yes. This time it's Josh." I said. Danielle looked relieved.

"Oh, good. Airin was with her last time, and I called him Josh. He looked rather offended..." Danielle frowned and shrugged her shoulders. Both me and Josh followed her into a separate room. "Okay, you know what to do hon." Danielle motioned to the chair/bed thing.

"Your hands are going to be cold again." I muttered, laying myself down.

"You're just a wimp!" Danielle smiled at me. We went through all of the normal procedural things, like seeing how much weight I was gaining and measuring how big my stomach was. Josh just looked awkward sitting in a chair I had basically assigned him to. After all of that, the ultrasound technician came in, and I had to lay back down. I had never met the technician before, but she seemed fairly nice.

"Okay, this gel is going to be a little cold." the technician, Maria, said.

"You're going to make my stomach even more cold?" I frowned at her. Maria just smiled. The gel definitly was cold, and I didn't like it. The next thing I knew, there were different sounds. There was a repeating thump sound.

"Is...that the heart beat?" Josh asked. Maria looked over at Josh and nodded. "Whoa." I couldn't help but laugh at Josh's expression of disbelief.

"Okay, and this is your baby," Maria turned the screen towards Josh and I. Maria was pointing out the feet and hands to us. I don't know why, but I was suddenly filled with emotions. I looked over at Josh and he seemed stunned. "Do you want to know the sex?"

"No."

"Yes." I looked at Josh.

"Why do you want to know?" I asked.

"Because I want to prove you wrong." Josh stated.

"I'm pretty sure I'm right though." I said. Josh gave me a strange look, as if he was trying to convince me that I should know. I looked back over at Maria, who was turning everything off. She handed me a towel to get all the gel off of my stomach."Okay, what is it?" I felt Josh's hand tighten around mine. He was nervous again. It was kind of cute.

"It's going to be a boy." Maria smiled. I was internally doing a victory dance.

"Thank you Maria!" I chirped happily. Maria left the two of us, saying that I needed to make my next appointment with the receptionist. I motioned for Josh to help me sit upright. "See, I knew I was right!" I said.

"Yeah...well...pth!" Josh stuck his tongue out at me again. I just smiled at him. "But,can you really believe that? Everything is starting to feel...too real."

That was exactly how I felt.