Dolce Vita

“So I talked to your mom yesterday.” Kim commented as she and Sloane walked through a department store looking for a new comforter for Kim's bed. Sloane was pushing the cart full of other household items they needed to replace, she was staring at her finger nails, which Kim had jokingly painted yellow and navy the night before. Kim bumped her hip into Sloane's and Sloane looked over at her in confusion. She chuckled at her friend and told her, “I talked to your mom yesterday.”

“You did?” Sloane asked in alarm.

Kim nodded, “Don't worry I didn't spill your little secret, although I should have. Had half the mind to actually.”

“Kim.” Sloane pleaded, she was tired of hearing about this from both Kim and Roman.

“What? Sloane you have to tell them!” Kim told her, giving her a pointed look to which Sloane rolled her eyes at.

“Why? I can wait a few more months.”

Shaking her head Kim told Sloane, “And what happens when they show up here for one of those surprise visits they like so much? Surprise mom and dad I'm pregnant and never told you, wanna meet the father who I've only known for five months?”

“Four.” Sloane told her, and when Kim raised her eyebrow Sloane explained, “I've known him for four months not five.”

“Oh, right I'm sorry because that makes it all so much better.” Kim said with an eye roll.

“You call them then. I can't.” Sloane told her with a shake of her head. She had been putting it off since finding out, and she knew if her parents did surprise her with a visit they would know. The week previous baby Josi, as dubbed by many of Roman's teammates, had made his or her appearance known to the world. It wasn't much, but it was noticeable to Sloane and she knew her mother would notice immediately. She had an eye for those things.

“You're supposed to be the responsible one you know.” Kim told her, grabbing the front of the cart and steering them down an aisle of baby clothes. Sloane rolled her eyes, trying to turn the cart around but Kim kept her grip on it and continued down the aisle to the newborn section.

“Obviously,” Sloane started, stopping to pick up a set of baby socks, she examined them with a smile before putting them back and telling Kim, “I'm not the responsible one considering the predicament I got myself into.”

Kim shrugged, grabbed the socks Sloane had been looking at and put them in the cart, when Sloane raised her eyebrow she told her, “I'm spoiling the shit out of this kid. Deal.”

“Ugh, you're annoying.” Sloane muttered, finally managing to steer her out of the baby section and toward the check out.

They were putting everything away in the house when Kim told Sloane, “They won't react that bad.”

“My dad might not, but he's not the reason I don't want to tell them.” Sloane told her, putting a set of bowls into the cupboard after drying them. She turned back around to Kim and said, “You know my mom. She'll find some way to make this about her and how she failed as a parent and make me feel bad.”

“Maybe she'll be okay once she gets used to it. I mean it's not like Roman's a broke pot addicted video game playing jobless loser.” Kim said, speaking of one of Sloane's high school boyfriends.

Sloane shook her head, “Won't matter to her. There's not a single decision I make that she approves of or agrees with. We haven't gotten along in twenty-three years it won't start now that I tell her she's gonna be a grandma.”

“Cool aunt, remember?” Kim joked, making Sloane chuckle. When Sloane's sister-in-law announced her first pregnancy Sloane's mother had made a joke about being too young to be a grandma so she wanted to be the cool aunt instead. When Sloane didn't reply Kim told her, “Come on, I'll sit with you. We can put it on speaker phone and do it together.”

“How did I get so lucky with you?” Sloane asked her, smiling when Kim jumped off of the counter and ran over to her, giving her a tight hug. They stayed like that, Kim's arms around Sloane's waist and her chin on Sloane's shoulder for several minutes before Sloane asked, “Funny how things turned out.”

“What does that mean?”

Sloane shrugged and told her, “No offence but when we moved out here I had money on you being the first one to get knocked up.”

“Rude.” Kim told her with a grin, and when Sloane shot her a look she shrugged and said, “But it should have been true.”

“I really don't know how to tell them, and I really don't want to tell them.” Sloane admitted, tears welling up in her eyes.

“I know honey, but you gotta do it.” Kim told her, kissing her cheek loudly before she let go of her and went to get comfortable on the couch.

Sloane slowly followed behind her, dropping onto the spot next to her and Kim draped a blanket across their legs before she grabbed her phone and dialled the number for Sloane's parents. She looked at Sloane for the okay, and after a few seconds Sloane nodded and Kim hit call. As it rang Sloane leaned against her knees and chewed on her nails, which Kim kept smacking away from her mouth in an attempt to save her manicure job. Sloane felt her stomach drop when the line clicked and her mother said, “Hi Kimberly!”

“Hey mom number two.” Kim said with ease, glancing at Sloane, who was staring at their feet on the coffee table.

“How are you sweetheart, you know I'm beginning to think I talk to you more than my own daughter.” There it was, that little dig that her mother always had to get in about Sloane never calling home. She couldn't help but sarcastically think this was exactly why she didn't call home very often.

“Well Sloane's here, we wanted to call to talk to you guys.” Kim said, nudging Sloane hard.

She rolled her eyes and said, “Hi mom.”

“Hi honey! How are things? We haven't talked in a long time.” Another dig.

“I've just been busy, I'm sorry.” She felt guilty, she wasn't sure why but her mother was the only person in the world that had this affect on her.

“Well that's fine, you're calling now.” There was noises on the other end before she heard her mom say, “It's Sloane, I know. Your dad says hi, he'll be over here to talk in a minute he's just cleaning up the kitchen.”

“Okay.” Was all Sloane could force out.

“What's wrong honey?”

Kim shot her a look and Sloane swallowed the lump in her throat and said, “I've been seeing this guy.”

“Oh?” She was surprised. You have no idea mom.

“His name's Roman and we've been seeing each other for a few months.” Sloane told her, shoving her finger nails back into her mouth to chew on.

“How come this is the first we're hearing about this?” Her mother asked, and Sloane felt her stomach do a flip flop again.

She looked at Kim, practically hyperventilating, but Kim said nothing, she only gave her a look that said to speak now. Sloane took in a deep breath before speaking, “Because I'm... you're gonna be a grandparent?”

Silence. Complete and total silence met her from the other end of the line.

Finally, after what seemed like forever to Sloane her mother asked slowly, “How long?”

“Fourteen weeks.” She told her, balling her hands up into fists and digging her nails into her palms.

“Oh my god.” Was all her mother said.

Sloane sighed and said, “I know, I'm sorry.”

There was more silence on the other end of the line before her mother cleared her throat and told her, “Okay well we'll clear out your old room and come pick up your stuff next week.”

Kim shot Sloane a panicked look and Sloane simply told her, “Mom.”

“Your father has a few days off, we'll get everything sorted out.” She was going on as if Sloane wasn't even listening, which at this point she may as well not have been.

“I'm not leaving.” Sloane told her, surprising both her mother and Kim, who looked at her with her eyes wide and her eyebrows raised. Sloane had never been good at standing up for herself when it came to her mother, her mother laid the law down and Sloane always, always followed it.

“Sloane.” Her mother started, her voice harsh as she finished, “I think this whole city experiment is clearly over.”

“I'm not leaving mom, we decided to do this together.” Sloane told her softly, afraid of the explosion she knew would come next.

“Oh for God's sake Sloane you don't even know this boy!” She spoke as if she were talking to a toddler and instead of letting Sloane get a word in edge wise she kept going, “What happens when he decides that playing house isn't what he wants? You'll get stuck raising this kid on your own and then what? You'll end up coming back home anyway, why prolong the inevitable? I knew letting you go out there was a bad idea and look, you proved me right.”

“I'm staying here.” Sloane managed to get out, her eyes were filling with tears and Kim was two seconds away from hitting the end button on her phone.

“I told you this was a bad idea. I told you we shouldn't have let her move there, that she would do something stupid and look, she's completely embarrassed us.” She was talking to her father, Sloane could hear his voice but she couldn’t make out his words. Finally there was a noise on the other end and her mother was talking to her again, “What did I do wrong? I clearly failed as a parent.”

Sloane shot a look at Kim, who reached out to wipe her tears off of her cheek before Kim said, “She knows she made a mistake but at least she's doing something about it.”

“Kimberly this is none of your business.”

When she said this Sloane told her, “I'm just gonna go, call me when you've calmed down and actually want to have a conversation.”

“I can't talk to you right now.”

Kim rolled her eyes when they heard the dial tone, and she hit end on the call before tossing her phone onto the chair beside her. She turned to Sloane, who was shaking, and sighed before she wrapped her arms around her and Sloane collapsed into her. Kim was stroking her hair while Sloane had a complete meltdown, but Sloane told her in a barely recognizable voice, “I told you.”

“I know, I'm sorry.” But it didn't help any, the damage was already done and Kim was sure there was only one person who could help so she stood up and pulled Sloane with her.

“Where are we going?” Sloane asked her as Kim dragged her to the door and pushed her feet into runners before she did the same with her own shoes.

As she grabbed her keys and pulled Sloane out of the door Kim told her, “Roman's.”

“I really don't wanna see him like this, over this.” Sloane told her, standing outside of the passenger side of Kim's vehicle with her arms crossed.

“He knocked you up, he can help with this. You might as well get used to relying on him.” Kim told her, opening the door and practically shoving her inside.

They were silent the twenty minute drive to Roman's, Sloane was still crying even as Kim linked arms with her and dragged her into the elevator. Neither one said anything to the other for the entire ride, and Sloane was glad that the elevator was empty, this would have been a sight to see. A girl in ripped jeans and a baggy baseball jersey sobbing in an elevator.

Kim practically had to drag her down the hall, and Sloane was ready to throw up when she knocked on the door. She heard laughter on the other side which made her nausea worse, she had to close her eyes and take a deep breath through her nose to keep herself from throwing up as the door knob turned.

Roman raised his eyebrow at Kim before his eyes fell on Sloane and his features softened and he asked, “What's going on?”

Sloane couldn't speak, she couldn't even look at him, so Kim told him, “She told her parents.”

Roman sighed, pushed his hands through his hair and took Sloane's hands, pulling her into the apartment, where she collapsed into his chest and continued to sob. He looked at Kim, before he wrapped one arm around her and then stroked her hair with the other. Seth got up off the couch and walked toward the door, glancing at Roman as if to ask if he needed anything, Roman simply shook his head and looked at Kim, telling her softly, “Thanks.”

She nodded, looked at Seth and asked, “Wanna grab some food?”

He shrugged, grabbed his sweater before following her out of the apartment. Sloane finally stopped crying and she pulled back from Roman, glancing at the wet spot on his sweater before telling him quietly, “I'm sorry.”

He glanced down at his shirt before looking at her, reaching up to wipe her cheeks with his thumbs as he told her, “It's okay.”

“I told Kim not to bother you.” She told him, and Roman was confused as to why she thought she was bothering him.

“I helped get you into this situation Sloane. I want you to come to me when you need things, I want you to be okay with needing me because I want to take care of you.” He told her, before adding, “And to be clear I'd want to take care of you whether you were pregnant or not.”

Tears spilled over onto her cheeks again and Sloane let out a laugh at herself as she reached up this time to wipe her own tears. She told him, “Thanks.”

He nodded and asked, “You wanna talk about it?”

She shook her head, “No, I just want to forget that ever happened.”

He nodded, grinned, pulled her onto the couch and told her, “I can help with that.”

She rolled her eyes, “We're not having sex on your couch.”

Roman let out a loud laugh, shook his head and told her, “I was thinking more like watching your favorite movie and cuddling all night. I hear it's a good remedy for being sad.”

Sloane smiled, put her hand on his jaw and rubbed his skin with her thumb, she leaned forward and captured his lips with hers for a slow, soft kiss before she pulled away and told you, “You might just be perfect.”