I Don't Need This Right Now

“Should we put the wallpaper up now?” Jack asks Alex. “Yeah, but I suck at putting it up.” “Well, two negatives make a positive, right?” “I guess.” Alex and Jack decided to start on the nursery even if they weren’t going to have the baby for another six months or so. “Okay, so you dip it in here.” Alex dips a section of the wallpaper in water. “And then you put it on the wall and smooth it out.” Alex puts it on the wall and smooths it out. “Not bad.” Jack stands back. “Why did you want a jungle theme anyways?” Jack asks. “I don’t know. It would seem like fun. Why are there elephants on here? Don’t elephants live in the desert?” Alex asks Jack. “How should I know? I barely made it through college during senior year.” “When do you want to go furniture shopping?” “Not for a while Alex.” “Well we should get a car seat now. I mean..” “Uh, no. Because I know that if we go to look for car seats we’ll walk out with a car seat, a crib, a changing table and a bunch of stuff we could get at a baby shower or something.” “You’re no fun.” Alex scoffs. “It’s true.” The phone starts to ring. “Hello?” Jack answers. “Wait, who is this?” Jack asks. “Sam? What the fuck do you want?” Alex quickly takes the phone of of Jack’s hands. “Hey, I wasn’t done talking to him.” Jack yells. “Hey sorry about that.” Alex tells Sam. “No prob. I really can’t blame him after all the stuff I put you through.” “Yeah, but what he said was kinda uncalled for. So why are you calling again?” “I don’t know. I was kinda hoping to talk to Jack to be honest.” “Are you sure? I mean after what he said to you” “It’s fine. People have said worse. Like when all my ex girlfriends found out that I was actually gay and whatever.” “Fine.” Alex hands the phone to Jack. “What?” Jack yells into the phone. “Are you really going to hate me?” Sam asks. “Yes, you crushed Alex’s heart.” “So, Alex doesn’t have a problem with that.” “Yeah, and?” “I’m just saying. Anyways tell Alex that I’ve moved back to Baltimore and tell him to give me a call.” Sam gives Jack his number and hangs up. “What did he want?” Alex asks as he puts up the last of the wallpaper up. “He just wanted to say that he’s back in Baltimore. We need to run to the store and buy more wallpaper if we want to finish this room today.” “Sam’s back in Baltimore? What?” Alex says as if he didn’t hear the wallpaper part. “Yeah, and he wants you to call him later or something.” “Oh well okay. And I don’t really want to go out for more wallpaper.” “Lazy ass.” “Shut up. You try being pregnant for a day. You get tired so easily and you ache all the time.” “And you get really hormonal.” Jack mumbles. Alex hits him with a cardboard tube. “Ow, what?” Jack asks. “You annoy me so much, Jack Barakat.”

“Jack I want a crepe.” “A what?” “A crepe. You know those paper thin pancakes? I want one.” “Why?” “Because I’m pregnant and I have cravings.” Alex lays on Jack. “Uh, what do you want me to do about it?” “Are you serious?” “Yeah.” “Make me some dammit!” “How?” “I don’t know. Google it.” Jack grabs his laptop that’s sitting on the coffee table across from him. “Well it doesn’t seem that hard.” Jack says as he browses the website. “Can you make me some please!!” Alex says extending the word. Jack gets started on the batter. He cracks the eggs, adds the flour, milk butter and a pinch of salt. “I hope to god this turns out otherwise I’m going to hear constant nagging from you for the rest of my life.” Once Jack finishes mixing the batter he coats the bottom of the pan with butter and pours a thin sheet of the batter on the pan. “You better flip it before it burns, Jack.” “Will you shut up?” “No.” Alex smiles. Jack flips it. “Way to go you ripped a hole in it.” Alex points out. “Shut up before I duct tape your mouth shut.” Jack looks up. He tries again. This time, it works. Once the batter is all gone, he looks at a plate full of crepes. “This is a lot.” Jack says. “You made enough for you, me, the baby, powder, Rian and the rest of our block.” “Alex, I’m seriously about to grab the duct tape.” “How mad would you be if I said that I wasn’t hungry anymore?” Jack looks up at Alex’s smile. “I would kill you in your sleep.” “I was kidding.” Alex grabs a bottle of chocolate syrup and pours it onto a plate of crepes. “Want a bite?” Alex asks Jack. Jack scoffs “Nope, just making them made me full.”