This Bitch Just Blew Me Away

Lizzy was standing in her bathroom with her shirt pulled up to just under her bust line. She was staring down at the slight bump pressing out between her hips with a little bit of sadness and a lot of worries. “Now I can’t deny that you are real,” she sighed as she continued to look down at the little bump. She’d known about the baby from the beginning, but without a job or any kind of income she’d tried to will the child away. Now as she was staring down at the undeniable change of her body, she had a million things running through her head.

She sighed and let her shirt back down before turning on her sink and brushing her teeth. A million things ran through her mine. What was she going to do about this baby? She wanted to keep it, but she couldn’t get a job and she’d received eviction notification just a few days ago. She knew she could get government benefits, but it would never be enough to get by on.

She passed a brush through her long brown hair and pulled it up into a pony tail before washing her face with warm water and going into her bedroom. She pulled her blankets back on her bed and lay down with her head on her pillow. She took a deep breath and turned off her lights before pulling her blankets up over her shoulder.

The baby’s father wasn’t part of her picture anymore, nor was he even aware that she was four months along with his baby. Though not quite a one night stand, he had never been anything to her. She’d met him after running into some legal problems. He was a lawyer with three children and two ex-wives. He’d gotten her off the hook legally, and somehow in celebration she’d ended up sitting on his desk in his office with him between her legs. After that she’d stopped returning his phone calls, and when she found out she was pregnant she got rid of him all together. She’d thought about not having her baby, but she was determined to make it and keep her child. It would be the only family she had.

She finally closed her eyes and tried her hardest to sleep. She spent hours in the darkness of her bedroom wide awake trying to relax and clear her mind, but no matter how hard she tried it wasn’t working. She finally fell asleep at close to four in the morning.

She was woken up by her cell phone ringing loudly. She groaned and picked up the phone and flipped it open. “What?” she mumbled. She looked at the clock, noticing that it was 9 in the morning. She took a deep breath and blew it out harshly.

“Well we are in a good mood, Lizzy,” said a voice.

“What do you want, Joe?” she asked gently.

“I want you to join me for lunch,” he said.

“I don’t have any money,” she said. She could almost feel him roll his eyes.

“I’m paying, duh,” he said. She bit on her bottom lip for a minute. She’d known him for a while.

“I don’t know if I should, I have to try and find a job,” she said and sat up in bed.

“Lizzy, I’m standing in front of your door,” he said. Her eyes widened and and she got out of bed and quickly went to the front door and threw it open to see Joe standing there with a big smile and his phone to his ear. She glared at him and hung up. He laughed. “Awe, you hung up on me,” he said.

“What are you doing here?”

“Taking my friend to lunch. Since you won’t let me help you with anything else,” he said. “Why you are so stubborn and difficult I will never understand.”

“Because I don’t want to take the money you work hard for. Although…I don’t know that setting your balls on fire qualifies as hard work…it’s still your money,” she said. He sighed.

“Get dressed,” he said. She groaned.

“Joe, I can’t be out enjoying things right now…I have a lot going on,” she whined.

“Lizzy! Get dressed!” he said. She sighed and went into her bedroom and tried to get into a pair of jeans. She was happy for a pair of jeans that someone had given her as a gift. They had been much too big around the waist, until now. She pulled a t-shirt on over her head then and put on a pair of converse. She went back into her living room to see Joe looking at some of the pictures she had on her counter.

“Let’s go,” she said. He looked at her with a smile and nodded and took her to his car. Half way to the restaurant he looked at her with a little bit of a guilty expression. “What…” she asked suspiciously.

“I haven’t been completely honest with you, Lizzy,” he said. She looked at him with her mouth open a little bit.

“What do you mean?!”

“Well you wouldn’t have come if I would have told you,” he said gently.

“Blower, what the fuck are you talking about?” she asked with narrow eyes.

“A friend of mine is going to be joining us…” he said. She glared at him.

“What kind of friend…?”

“His name is Austin. He’s the singer for my band. I think you two would like each other,” he said and shrugged.

“Blower! You’re trying to set me up with some guy I’ve never met before! I can’t believe you did that! I don’t want to meet any strange men!”

“He’s not strange…well…not entirely. He’s really nice, I think you’ll like him,” Joe said with a smile. “Trust me.”

“No! Oh my god I hate you!” she groaned and crossed her arms over her chest. “You can’t just set me up with someone! Especially considering my situation…” she said and looked down at her stomach. He rolled his eyes.

“He doesn’t care,” he said.

“You told him!? What’s wrong with you?! You don’t just go giving out people’s information!”

“It’s not like I gave him your Social Security Number, Elizabeth! I just told him about the baby…so he wouldn’t be surprised.”

“Yet you didn’t tell me I was going on some kind of freakish blind date! I’m not even dressed well enough!” she exclaimed.

“You look fine…he’ll probably be wearing plaid shorts,” Blower said.

“You set me up with someone that wears plaid shorts…” she asked with her mouth open. “This just gets better and better.” He sighed and pulled up in front of a restaurant.

“Can you please try and pretend like you’re not a complete bitch,” he said. Her jaw dropped and she looked at him with horror.

“You didn’t even tell me what was going on until five minutes ago and I’m the bitch?! That makes so much fucking sense Joe!” She cried.

“Just be nice to Austin!” he insisted and get out of his truck. She groaned and got out with him and followed him into the restaurant. They waited in the front for a minute while Joe texted with someone. Then he looked up as the restaurants front door opened and a tall man with dark hair and several tattoos walked into the room. He walked up to Blower and half way hugged him and held his hand against his chest. Lizzy stared at the new guy.

“And who is this?” he asked once he moved away from Blower.

“This is my friend Elizabeth,” he said.

“Nice to meet you, Elizabeth, I’m Austin,” he said and offered his hand. She shook it tensely.

“Call me Lizzy,” she said. He nodded and smiled. “It’s nice to meet you too, Austin,” she said.

“Well, let’s have lunch, I’m starving,” Blower said. Lizzy rolled her eyes and followed him and a waitress to a table, with Austin following her. After being seated they looked over the menus in some silence.

“So, what do you do Lizzy?” Austin asked after a minute.

“I don’t have a job right now…I’m not qualified for anything, apparently,” she said bitterly and continued to look over her menu.

“It’s pretty tough out there right now isn’t it?” he asked. She looked up.

“I wouldn’t think you’d have a lot to worry about,” she said then. He looked down and cleared his throat. Joe nudged her in her side and she glared at him. He glared back and she sighed with annoyance. “I didn’t mean that in a bad way…it’s just that Joe here tells me ya’ll are in a band,” she said. Austin looked up at her then with some curiosity.

“Where are you from, Lizzy?” he asked.

“I was born in Dallas,” she said then. He nodded. “I’m assuming you asked because of my use of the term ‘ya’ll’ right?” she smiled. He laughed a little bit.

“I noticed you’re accent when you first said nice to meet you,” he smiled.

“Most people don’t…” she said and looked down. “I’m surprised you noticed it.”

“It’s not too bad,” he smiled. “How long have you been in California?”

“Since I was 8,” she said, “so…16 years.”

“So quite a while then?”

“Yea,” she smiled. She wasn’t unimpressed with Austin. He was kind of interesting, and something about him was drawing her in more than she’d anticipated. Blower stood up then.

“I’m going to use the restroom,” he said and walked away. Lizzy looked after him and then back down at her menu.

“So, how long have you known Blower?”

“About a year I guess…he’s really nice,” she said. Austin laughed.

“Yea, he’s great…lots of fun,” he said and took a sip of his drink. She smiled.

“I’ve heard the tour stories,” she laughed. Austin grinned.

“Yea, not something we aren’t proud of,” he said. She laughed. She was surprised at how much she really seemed to like him. Blower came back a few minutes later and they continued with lunch. Lizzy could see herself being good friends with both of them. She wasn’t looking for a relationship, but she wasn’t upset to have another friend. She was enjoying Austin’s company. He made her forget about all of her problems for a little while.

After lunch they stood outside for a minute while Austin lit a cigarette. “It was really nice to meet you Austin,” she said and shook his hand again.

“It was excellent to meet you, Lizzy,” he said with a big smile. She couldn’t help but smile back. “I hope to see you again sometime.”

“Sure…here is my phone number…” she said and wrote her phone number on his hand. He grinned.

“Thank you,” he said.

“No problem,” she grinned. She got back into Blower’s truck and he took her home.

“I told you you’d like him,” he said.

“Yea well…thanks for lunch Joe,” she said.

“See you around Lizzy,” he said and hugged her tightly. She smiled and went into her apartment. It seemed like she’d smiled more today than she had in weeks. She passed her hand over her stomach then.

“Ugh, now back to reality…” she sighed. “Maybe just for today, I won’t worry. We’ll just think about what a nice afternoon we had and get back to worrying tomorrow.”