Scars

“Seriously, how can one guy have so much crap!” Jimmy exclaimed as he stood in the centre of Brian’s apartment surrounded by boxes.

“It’s not crap!” Brian replied carrying another large box out of what had been his spare room.

“Whatever dude, has T seen all of this? Her house isn’t that big ya know.” Zacky replied.

“It’s really not that much.” Brian said scanning the room full of boxes.

“It is for a guy who spent most of his adult life travelling the world!” Jimmy said wandering further into the room.

“Just be thankful I’m leaving the big stuff.” Brian stated “Now come on, stop whining and start helping, the girls are waiting for us at T’s.”

“Fair point” muttered Johnny, who quickly grabbed one of the smaller boxes out of the pile and began to make his way out to where the removal truck was parked.

“Jake, wait a sec.” Brian said once the others had started to follow Johnny out with boxes. “Is it really too much shit? Is your mom going to go ape when she sees it all?”

Jake smiled at him in return. “She won’t go ape. She’ll just…help you find new homes for anything she can’t find room for. Plus we have an attic for junk anyway.”

Brian nodded, taking a breath of relief before grabbing one of the boxes and following the others out to the truck.

With all of them working to carry down the boxes, the truck was loaded and ready to go in less than an hour and Brian was taking a last look around his apartment making sure nothing important was left behind. In the morning, a contract cleaner was coming in to clean the place thoroughly and then he had arranged for it to be decorated before his new tenants moved in.

“No turning back now dude.” Matt joked from behind him. “And even if you do change your mind, you’re on your own getting those boxes back up here.”

“Don’t worry dude, I’m not changing my mind, not for anyone or anything. I’ve never been this happy in all my life.” He replied with a wide smile, taking one last glance around before heading out of the door.

Matt followed him out of the apartment building and took his place in the trucks driving seat. Zack and Jimmy jumped in with him while Johnny joined Jake and Brian in Brian’s Escalade.

“Do me a favour J, text your mom and tell her we’re on our way.” He said as they pulled out of the blocks parking lot behind the truck.

“>”

As the other girls busied themselves cleaning and baking downstairs, upstairs in her bedroom, Tonya was surrounded by a pile of her clothes, the closet almost empty as she began to make room for Brian’s belongings.

Of course, over the past few weeks and months some of Brian’s things had slowly made their way into the house, making themselves at home. She had already given up one of the drawers to his underwear; another for tshirts; a shelf in the closet had already been taken over by shorts, jeans and sweatpants and two of his jujitsu GI’s were already hung in the closet. She had also lost some of her shelf space in the bathroom to Brian’s various grooming products.

Taking the first piece of clothing back off the bed to either hang back in the closet or put in a bag for goodwill, she was suddenly struck by the thought that for the first time since Luke had died, all those years ago, she was going to be officially living with someone again. living with a man she loved, who loved her. They would be waking up together every morning, going to sleep next to each other every night, sharing in the payments of bills….

“We’re going to be so happy.” she muttered taking the dress and hanging it back in her closet.

“Now that you’ve both come to your senses yeah.” Stella said as she entered the bedroom. “Wow, and you’re always moaning that you’ve got nothing to wear!”

“It’s really not all that much” she protested taking a pair of jeans off the pile and holding them up against her legs.

“Keep telling yourself that, but if Brian’s got half as much stuff, you’re gonna need a bigger house.” She replied picking up another pair of jeans and holding them up against her.

“It’ll be fine, surely Brian doesn’t have all that much stuff, a lot of his stuff is already here.” She said with a slightly uncertain undertone. “Anyway, most of this will end up going to Good Will, including those.” She added gesturing at the jeans Stella was holding up.

“These? Seriously? They’ve barely been worn. I love these.” She said holding them up to herself once more.

“Ok, you have them then.” Tonya said taking a sweater off its hanger and placing it on the Good Will pile.

Stella sighed, “Sadly my fat ass won’t fit into them.”

“Shut up will you” Tonya said as Stella discarded the jeans to the pile on the floor between them. “You’re the same size as me.”

She shook her head, “Not any more, I’ve put some weight on these past couple of weeks.”

“That’s contentment.” Tonya replied with a smile, “It’s because you’re happy with Matt.”

Again Stella shook her head in reply, “I think it’s something a little more than that.” she said picking up another sweater from the pile on the bed.

“What do you mean?” Tonya asked confused. “Stell?”

“I um, I think…I think I’m um, pregnant.” She stuttered quietly averting her eyes away from Tonya’s.

“Pregnant?”

“Um, yeah, my period is like about a month late…”

“A month? Have you taken a test? Does Matt know?” T questioned.

“Yes, no and no. in that order.” She replied. “I’ve been too scared to take a test and don’t see the point in telling Matt until I know for sure.”

“So what are you going to do? Give it another couple of months and tell him when you go into labour?” Tonya yelled.

“No, I, what if he freaks! We’re not even living together! We haven’t been together that long.” She replied with tears forming in her eyes.

Tonya sighed and walked over to her best friend and embraced her. “He loves you, more than anything, he won’t freak, in fact I think he’ll be over the moon.”

“You sure?”

“Of course, now how about doing a test to make sure?” she asked quietly, Stella nodded. “You want me to run to the store and get one?”

“No need.” She replied shaking her head, “I’ve had one in my purse for the past fortnight.”

“What you waiting for then? Do it so you can tell Matt when he gets here.” She ordered.

Matt pulled his car up behind the removal van and jumped out ready to start carrying boxes into Tonya’s house. On the drive over from Brian’s apartment one of the guys had joked that it would be his and Stella’s turn next to move in together. His initial reply had been that it was too soon. They’d only been dating a few months. But the more he thought about it the more he liked the idea of living with Stella. They’d been spending a lot more time together, at each others places recently anyway. Maybe it was a topic to be discussed.

“All the boxes are labelled so just take them to the right rooms.” Brian said as he climbed onto the back of the removal truck. He pushed some of the boxes closer to the edge of the trucks back door so the guys could grab them easier.

“So avoid ones that say bedroom.” Jimmy said, turning a box to see where it was destined.

“Good thinking batman.” Johnny said, moving a bathroom one out of the way and grabbing a kitchen one from behind it. he staggered slightly as he picked it up, cursing under his breath. “Fuck what’s in this?”

“Pans.” Brian said with a smug grin as he bent down to pick up the box Johnny had moved to one side. “This one has towels in.” he added carrying it with ease.

Matt, carrying a box marked bedroom, laughed loudly at the look on Johnny’s face as he defiantly continued to stagger towards the house with the box. He made his way into the house and towards the stairs, stopping at the bottom as he caught sight of Tonya jogging down them.

“Ah just in time, Stella needs you in the bedroom.” she said with a smile. “I’ll make sure the others don’t disturb you.”

“Is everything okay?” he asked looking worried.

“Just go and see her.” she said still smiling before turning to Brian “Leave all the boxes down here, we’ll sort them later.”

“Babe is everything okay?” he asked setting the box down at the foot of the stairs, his eyes on Matt who had quickly made it to the top of the stairs.

“Everything’s fine, she just has something to tell him.” she told him.

“Oh my god, is she…?”

His question was answered with a gleeful yell coming from upstairs, one that stopped everyone in their tracks.

“You’re really happy about this?” Stella asked Matt as she sat on Tonya’s bed clutching the positive pregnancy test in her hand.

“Aren’t you?” he asked, falling to his knees in front of her.

“Well, yes, I guess, I just, I wasn’t sure how you’d feel?” she replied with a weak smile.

“Why wouldn’t we be happy?” he asked shocked.

“I don’t know…because we haven’t been together very long? We’re not even living together?”

“That can change. I was just thinking outside that we could talk about moving in together, it makes even more sense now.” Matt replied. “Stella, I love you and I know we haven’t been together long but I’ve never been so happy.”

“Okay then.” She said quietly smiling. “Let’s do this.”