Cross My Heart

"Ohhh Charlie, you idiot." I whispered then looked at her. "He just looks like the guy or... he IS the guy?"

Mia still had a look of horror on her face and I wasn't sure she was going to recover.

"Oh this is just perfect." I said looking at the food cooking. "Your parents hate him and if they find out he's over here they might come over and beat his ass."

"No they won't. I won't tell them. They don't know what he looks like. I never said much about him honestly."

"I still can't believe it. Are you SURE?"

She nodded slowly. "If it's not..."

"No, it's him. Of course it's him." I said. "Can you excuse me?"

"Don't go get him!" She said frantically.

"I'm not, I promise. I'm just gonna grab Jimmy for a minute, he won't say anything."

"Do you have to tell him? Can't we just keep it between us?"

"Sweetheart, I know that you don't wanna draw attention to this but I have to tell my husband. I won't say anything to the other two. Just him."

"Alright." she said finally.

I went in to the living room and Jimmy glanced over again shooting me a smile.

"Can I see you for a second?" I asked.

He nodded and put the controller down on the floor. "Don't screen peek and kill me, or I swear to Odin!"

"Relax, we're not cheaters." Dillon said, still oblivious to everything. Charlie however was acting like he couldn't focus.

"Yeah right! Screen lookin' bastards."

"Please."

"Jimmy." I said.

"Alright, alright. What's the rush? Something up?" He asked and we stepped in to the kitchen. Mia was looking down at the floor trying to avoid our eyes.

"We... sort of have a problem."

"What do you mean?" He asked looking over at the girl then back at me.

"Well you know the sort of back story with Mia here, right?"

"Yeah.."

I blew out a long breath of air. "Charlie is the father."

Jimmy's eyes bulged and I was afraid for a moment that they would fall out. "Wha- Charlie? CHARLIE? No.. seriously? Ahhh, man. That's so bad." He looked over at Mia again. "What the hell are the odds? I mean really? This is some bad soap opera shit."

Mia made a sound that at first I thought was her laughing but when I looked at her more carefully I realized she was tearing up.

"Awe, Mia, don't cry. Look, you can go home if you want." I walked over to her and put an arm around her shoulder.

"No, it's not that... I wouldn't be the one to feel awkward about everything... I mean, he doesn't even know that I'm pregnant!"

"You're...pregnant?" A voice came from behind me. I turned to see Charlie standing there, his shades that he so famously wore all the time up on the top of his head.

"Yes."

"Shit. Ohhhhhh shit." He rubbed his temple with his left hand.

"Charlie, now's not the time. If you're gonna react badly to it go do it outside or something." I snapped.

"Hey! Don't take this out on me! It's not like it directly effects you in any way!" He yelled.

"It DOES effect me directly. You are one of my best friends, and Mia lives across the street. I've happened to get to know her and LIKE her, so YES Charlie, it DOES involve me!"

"Shit!" Charlie yelled once more. "I gotta go for a walk or something."

"I'll go with you." Jimmy offered.

"No man, you stay here and enjoy dinner and whatever. I'll be back... to talk to Mia."

Once he was gone Mia had no problem sobbing and Dillon who had remained playing video games the entire time finally came in to the kitchen.

"I didn't want to even know." He explained.

"I'm sorry I ruined your evening." Mia said wiping tears from her face.

"You didn't. How could've you known that Charlie was gonna be here? It's not like you knew we knew him." I said.

"I know but still! That's not how I wanted him to find out he was going to be a father. Now he's going to hate me!"

"I'm sorry but the only person he should hate right now is himself." Jimmy said.

"He'll be back to talk. Charlie doesn't usually say something then do another thing."

Mia and Jimmy looked at me.

"Okay, I know how that sounds. I know he ditched you when he said he was interested but you gotta know Charlie like we do. I know it's not an excuse but the fool sleeps around because he likes to leave the women before HE gets attached. That way they don't have a chance to dump him and leave him in the dirt."

"I would never do that to him." She said. "I really liked him."

"Even so, he doesn't know that. These guys knew Charlie way before I did, ask them. He's terrible with women because he's afraid of them. So instead of looking like a vulnerable pussy he tries to pull of the extremely hard dick look."

"Wow Lay, nice choice of words." Dillon said with a smirk.

"How can you act like you're ten years old right now?" I asked.

"Because that's who I am! Why don't you defend me too? You were just sticking up for that fool!"

"Now probably isn't the time bro." Jimmy said in a quiet tone leaning over toward him.

"Right." He nodded.

"Look, Charlie will be back and if you want you guys can be alone and talk about this. You can go in the back bedroom and have a conversation, because let's face it... there's no way that he's gonna be able to avoid you now. Unless he avoids us." I said.

"If I woulda known..." She started.

"No, don't worry. It's totally not your fault."

"Yeah. Charlie is...well you guys can talk and figure it out for
yourself." Jimmy said between mouth fulls of beer.

"Are you guys sure? If I shouldn't be here when he gets back then maybe I should go."

"No, stay Mia. You really gotta work this thing out with him. He's not gonna want to walk away from a kid now that he knows it's his."

"Okay." She breathed. "Alright. I'll stay. Until he gets too angry."

"He won't get angry. I promise." I said.

Charlie's walk only lasted about forty five minutes and when he came back his expression was hard to read. I couldn't tell if he was having a heart attack or if he had already had one and was dead.

"So first..of all. I need to talk to my friends for a second. If you don't mind." Charlie said when he joined us in the house.

"Sure." Mia said bowing her head. "I don't mind."

"We'll be right back." I told her and then Dillon, Jimmy and I followed him in to the living room.

"I don't even know what the fuck to do you guys."

"Maybe sleeping around with women isn't the brightest idea you ever had." Jimmy said. He was clearly angry with him.

"Hey, don't fuckin' start judging me now. I did this before plenty of times."

"And how many of them have you knocked up and just don't know it because you never talked to them again? How many kids do you think are out there right now, fatherless because of you?"

"Jimmy!" I said, shocked by his attitude.

Charlie glared at him. "I take all the fuckin' precautions, with Mia it was different. I wasn't even planning on sleeping with her. It just fuckin' happened. So yeah, I was stupid and I knew better but I didn't give two fifths of a fuck then."

"Do you now?" Dillon asked.

"Do I what now?"

"Do you give any fucks about the fact there is a twenty two year old girl in our kitchen, pregnant with YOUR baby?" I asked.

"Of course I do! Jesus! Do you guys think THAT little of me? Really? That I would just abandon her and the kid?"

None of us said anything.

"Ohh, that's low you three fuckers. That's low. If I woulda known-"

"If you would have talked to her after you slept with her and left her!"

"I was scared! You dumb fucks! I was afraid of talking to her again because for one it felt different to me-"

"Lack of condom!" Dillon yelled.

"Shut the fuck up. You're no better!" Charlie yelled.

"Guys, keep your voices down. Mia already feels like shit and she shouldn't. This isn't her fault!" I whispered.

"Look." Charlie said tilting his head back. "I... I know I've fucked up here. I have. If that baby really is mine...I plan on giving Mia everything I can to help raise my kid."

"You are?" Jimmy asked.

"Yes, Jimmy you fucktard."

"HEY!" I yelled loudly. Normally I was the one who sat back and let fights unfold but NO one was going to talk about Jimmy that way in front of me. Especially not in my own house, and ESPECIALLY not in his position. "I don't care what you're going through, don't you talk to your best friend like that." I snapped.

"Sorry. Sorry, I'm fucking sorry! God damn! Today I woke up and I thought 'It's gonna be a good day. Free food and hanging out with the losers'. Instead I get this, and before you all wrinkle and turn up your PERFECT noses, this doesn't mean I don't care that I'm going to be a father or that I don't care what's gonna happen to Mia. I just.. I'm lookin' for support. I know I fucked up. I admitted that. Okay? I get it. Now can you skip the scolding and fuckin' be here for me?"

I felt bad and looked at my husband. "We're sorry too, Charlie. We just really need to figure this out. YOU need to figure this out. So why don't you go talk to Mia in the back bedroom? You guys can kind of get a feel for what you might want to do."

Charlie nodded. "This is serious you guys. It's a life. A baby life, a little person who's gonna depend on me to be it's father and help raise it."

Jimmy's look softened and he walked over to Charlie, clapping him on the back. "We're here for you man, no matter what. You've been a good friend to me through some really shitty times so... I'm here for you. So is Layla."

"Me too bro. You know I'm always gonna have your back no matter what stupid shit you do." Dillon said.

"Thank you guys."

"Mia?" I asked and walked in to the kitchen with Charlie behind me. "Charlie wants to talk with you, is that okay? You guys can go in the back bedroom and have some alone time if you want."
Mia tucked her curly hair behind her ears and looked at Charlie.
"Alright. That sounds good."

"Thank you for giving me a chance to talk with you." Charlie said.

"Yeah, of course. It is your baby after all... you might want to get to know him or her a little."

"What? It's just a baby right now. It's not like I can ask it it's favorite color."

Mia smiled slightly and the muscles in Charlie's face relaxed.

"Come on. Let me show you the way down the hallway."

I returned to my spot in the kitchen to tend to the food, it had been all cooked now for some time but none of us bothered to eat. I silently made plates for the boys as I tried to listen to what the couple down the hall were saying.

How much more fucked up could things get?

-

After dinner Dillon said he would help me with the dishes, and like a good boy he kept true to his word. Of course there were needless suds everywhere but he eventually cleaned those up too.
Just as we were finishing putting the dishes away in their correct spots, Matt walked in with a semi smile on his face.

"Since when did you become housekeeper?" He asked Dillon.

"Since I offered to man up and be nice about it." He said.

"You never offer to do the dishes at my place! What makes Layla so special?" Matt complained.

"Layla is a fine lady. You are not. Fine nor a lady." He shrugged.

I laughed. "Well, I'm just about done here so if you want you can go play now. You did good." I reached over and patted him on the
head.

Dillon smiled. "Yeah alright, alright."

"Where's Charlie, thought he'd be here mooching off from the free X box live by now."

Jimmy came in from the living room and looked around. "Hey Matty! What are you doin' here?"

"Thought I'd stop by for a few minutes. You ready to get your ass whooped. I'll show you how it's done."

"Yeah, in your dreams pretty boy. Let's go!" Jimmy said.

"Wait, wait, wait. Doesn't Matt need an explanation about what we've been dealing with here? I think he's gonna notice something is off when Charlie comes out here with Mia." I said then shut the last cupboard door. "And, while I'm at it, Are you hungry? We have leftovers."

Matt nodded. "Yeah, I could use some food. And what are you talkin' about with Charlie and Mia?"

"This is gonna sound like a bad joke or something but," I reopened the cupboard and grabbed a plate, "We have new neighbors who live across the street in my old apartment. I went over to say hi and tell them if they need anything let me know. I can give them some advice since the landlord is an asshole. Anyways, I met their daughter. She's young, twenty two, and knocked up."

"Uhhh oh." Matt said, a look of recognition coming over his face.

"Yeah. Uh oh is right. She tells me that the babies father wants nothing to do with her, it was just a one night stand. Of course, I don't think nothing of it at that point, there are lots of guys who do that. Then she came over here while Charlie was here and let's just say there was a moment of recognition and now they're in the back room talking."

"We've been waiting for a verdict but they've been back there awhile." Jimmy said and opened the fridge door for me so I could quickly grab dinner from it.

"Wow. Charlie reallllly fucked up this time didn't he?" Matt asked shaking his head. "We always gave him shit but..."

"I think this was God's way of saying 'sleepeth aroundeth no moreth you will." Dillon said.

"Are you saying God speaks like Yoda?" Jimmy raised his eye brow.

"I'm just saying he won't be sleepin' around no more, will he?" Dillon said. "Come on, let's go play some games. I'm gettin' all ancy thinking about this crap."

"Go ahead, I'll bring your plate in to you." I told Matt and he grinned.

"Thank you Lay Lay."

"You're welcome Matty Pants."

"Hey! What's with the cute nick names between you two?" Jimmy asked. I rolled my eyes. "I don't get a nick name like that, Matthew."

"You're really gonna go on about why I don't give you your own nick name?" Matt asked as they shuffled in to the room with the TV.

"I'm just saying, you never call me anything endearing!"

"Maybe that's because I only do it with women!"

"That's not what I've heard." Dillon added.

"Oh? What did you hear?" Matt's voice raised.

Boys. They may get older in years but they certainly weren't doing any growing up.

As I put his plate in the microwave to heat it up Mia and Charlie made their way out of the bedroom. They paused at me and I tried not to show my curiosity.

"We've talked, and we came up with a decision." Charlie said. He didn't seem too upset but I knew there was a flood of emotions going on inside of him. There's no way you could just randomly find out you were going to be a father and deal with it lightly.

"You have?" I asked.

Mia nodded. "We asked a lot about each other, what we wanted to do. Charlie knows I'm going to keep the baby, I'd never give him or her up."

"And there's no way I'd want her to give up my kid. No fuckin' way. So...."

"We've decided we want to try to be together as a couple. For the baby's sake. If it doesn't work he will still be there for me and our kid... and we will do it as friends."

"Really? That's good! You're gonna give the whole 'settled down' life a try, huh?" I looked at Charlie.

"You know. I'm Thirty now. That's an age of trying to get my shit
straight. I don't have time to fuck around and act like a fucking young douchebag anymore."

Mia laughed. So did I.

"Well I'm happy for you two. So does that mean I'll be seeing more of you, Mia?"

"Yeah! I mean, if Charlie wants me to come here."

"Don't be silly. If we're gonna be a couple and make it all official and stuff...I want you around my friends. Besides you already know Layla. You like her, right? Or does she MAKE you say you like her? She gets mean when no one is looking."

"You shut your mouth, Charles." I turned my attention to Mia. "Of course she knows me. And I'm nice all the time, don't listen to him. He's just jealous that we're good friends already."

"Okay." She smiled.

The microwave beeped and I grabbed Matt's plate. "Matt's here by the way. We kind of filled him in so he wouldn't be lost."

"Good. Saves me having to relive that again."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Mia asked looking up at him.

"Don't you worry. I wouldn't do this if I didn't want to. We're gonna make this work. Our baby is gonna have both of us. Now...I just have to work on your parents."

"Yeah, let's give that some time." Mia said.

"That bad?"

"My father would kill you without even waiting to hear what you had to say." She said.

"Ohhh, thanks for talking me up to them." He teased.

"Hey! What was I supposed to do? 'We slept together once and he completely ditched me but he's a super guy!' That wouldn't work on anyone."

"It would on me." Charlie said.

"That's because you're the idiot who got us in to this mess."

I laughed out loud then covered my mouth when they looked at me. "Sorry. It's just, you two already act like a married couple. I think you're gonna be fine."

Mia smiled and there was a hint of happiness on Charlie's face.

"Come on. Come tell the guys and try to get Matt to spit out his potatoes." I waved my hand and we all piled in to the living room.

-

Later that night after everyone was gone and it was just Jimmy and I again we sat on the couch watching re-runs of Cheers until I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore.

"I'm pretty tired....I'm gonna call it a night okay?" I said to Jimmy.

He looked at me. "Yeah sure. I'll be right in I just need to see how this ends."

"You've seen it a million times."

"Not THIS one. I don't remember it at all."

"Well, you know how the whole thing turns out." I said standing up.

"Yeah but still! I wanna know how this goes, stop judging me woman and go put your footies on!"

I laughed and made my way to the bedroom where I changed in to my sleep clothes, just a pair of shorts and tank top because the heat was back to being miserable, and then climbed up in to our nice large soft bed. I was so comfortable that as soon as my head hit the pillow I knew it wouldn't be long before I was out.

I heard Jimmy come in the room minutes later and he paused, pulling off his shit and throwing it somewhere, then crawled up the bed and flopped over, immediately putting his arms around me.

"Night, babe. I love you." He whispered.

"I love you too. Night."

Things were quiet for a long time and I assumed that since Jimmy didn't try any kissing on the neck or other 'sexy' moves, he was asleep already. I took a deep breathe and then settled in to the darkness.

"Layla?" his voice was extremely quiet.

"Hmmm?"

"We can't be any more immature than Charlie, you know."

"What do you mean?"

"He's having a baby..."

My eyelids suddenly shot open and I forced myself to turn around to face him. "Yeah?... Why, what's with you and the baby stuff? Jimmy...do you WANT a baby or something?"

He hesitated. "I....if I'm not gonna be here very much longer I don't wanna just bail on you. If we had a kid then you'd have them at least to be here with you."

"Awe Jimmy...." I reached up with my hands and smoothed his shaggy hair out of his face. "I don't know what to say to that honestly...."

"I know. I'm sorry. It's depressing but that's what I think about all the time. If we had a kid you wouldn't be alone when I die."

"James Owen, stop that. Right now. We're not having this conversation. Okay? Not about you dying. As for a baby....
Jimmy...we have time. I know we do. I'm not saying I don't want one with you... you'd be the ONLY person I'd EVER have a kid with."

"See? So if I died and you moved on you wouldn't have any kids? What would happen if-"

I cut him off by pressing my lips to his aggressively and pulled his entire body to mine. He couldn't talk if his mouth was busy, right?
He couldn't think about this if he was in the heat of the moment....right?

Jimmy let a moan escape his lips and then I slowly kissed his neck, his collarbone and then his stomach, making my way down his long body.

"Okay then. We don't have to talk about it." He said with a slight smirk in his voice.

"No...We don't." I agreed then very carefully I ripped off his pants.