Risk It All

A large crowd of people hurriedly walked through the double doors and into their seats. Whispering among themselves and parents silencing rowdy kids, Connor and Murphy followed suit until they found their own seats and sat down.

Patiently waiting for the sermon to begin the twins sat in an unusual silence. Connor gave his brother the side eye and watched him suspiciously while Murphy only look forward blankly. There was something off about him lately no doubt, Murphy was never this quiet in his whole damn life. But before Connor could bother him about it, the minister had walked up to the podium and the morning mass began.

When the service was over the brothers slowly stood up from their seats and made their way down to the altar to give their respects. When they finished they walked back towards the doors to exit.

"Ye know one day the Monsignor's gonna see t'at we were right all along." Connor sighed as both twins seemed to act as one and pull out their pack of cigarettes and lighters simultaneously.

"Mmm." Murphy answered absentmindedly as Connor side eyed his brother again in annoyance.

"Ma also called last night again. Nothin' important except ta say how I'm ta better son and you're a disappointment. Ye know, ta usual." Connor bragged in pure sarcasm as Murphy only lit his cigarette.

"Mmm." he repeated causing to Connor roll his eyes in frustration.

"Goddamn it what is ye problem? Ye been a moody little shit ever since Halloween." he pointed out

"I'm fine." Murphy replied lowly.

"What, sometin' happen with t'at girl of yers?" Connor retorted taking a puff of his cigarette.

"I don't want te talk about it right now alright?" Murphy replied defensively.

"Aww, did ye try and swoon her but failed? Little coffee girl crushed Macho Murph's feelin's?" Connor teased making Murphy glare back at his twin.

"I'm not in ta mood for ye fuckin' shit right now Connor." Murphy snapped back as he flicked his cigarette onto the ground and crushed it before walking back inside the church leaving his brother alone. Connor sighed as he shook his head in dismay at how ridiculous his twin could be sometimes.

"Christ." he grumbled before taking one last drag of his cigarette and putting it out. He'd deal with his brother later.

Murphy hands anxiously twitched as he opened the small brown door and stepped inside the narrow enclosure. The little window in front of him had slid open as Murphy continued to twitch in the seat.

"Forgive me Father, for it's been a while since me last confession."

____

"Don't forget we have inventory coming up soon." Kira reminded as she passed by the small girl who groaned.

"Oh fuck," she replied. "I forgot. Think I could fake my death to get out of it?"

"Honey, Cosmo could be at your funeral and still ask what time are you coming in." Kira retorted as both girls laughed in unison.

"Sad but true." Nolee shrugged in agreement before adding more change to the register.

"Ahh." Nolee gasped as suddenly she felt a strange pain in her stomach. Not enough to be alarming, but enough to make her lean over on the counter as her lower abdomen tightened. "Damn round ligament pains." she cursed rubbing the aching spot. They always picked the wrong times to act up when she was working. Closing her eyes she tried to relax the tensed up nerve. A force suddenly jabbed at her fingers. Nolee gasped again as she wasn't sure about what just felt, could it be...?

She held her fingers firmly against the spot again and another jab touched them once more as she laughed in astonishment, her hormones had made her eyes tear up again, but for once it had been happy tears. This was the reason why she had left, this was what she needed to protect.

"Kira!" Nolee yelled to the girl on the other side of the shop.

"What?" Kira yelled back.

"Come here quick!" Nolee replied as the tall girl walked over to her worriedly.

"What's going on?" Kira questioned as Nolee only reached out and grabbed the girl's hand pressing it to the side of her stomach.

"Umm what are we doing...?" Kira asked confused.

"Shh, just wait a second." Nolee explained as a moment of silence passed before Kira felt the same jab as her eyes widened.

"Holy shit what was that?"

"That's the baby kicking." Nolee laughed still in amazement.

"Oh my god! That is kind of disgusting but cool!" Kira beamed as the girls giggled and waited for anymore kicks.

"If that isn't your sign that things are gonna work out, then I don't know what is." Kira told the small girl encouragingly. It was a surreal awakening to actually feel the life inside of her. Nolee emotionally smiled in response as she nodded in agreement. Some of the weight felt lifted, things would be okay no matter what, they had to be.

"That's it, we're gonna turn over a new leaf officially. I propose we have a girls night." Kira smiled proudly as Nolee looked at her questionably.

"I don't mean going out of course," Kira sighed. "I mean a full on girls night. We'll binge on John Hughes movies, get pizza, and just enjoy each other's company. Screw men, we'll have fun by ourselves." Kira exclaimed confidently as Nolee giggled.

"Can we get chunky monkey ice cream?" she replied childishly making Kira giggle this time.

"We'll get whatever snacks your little prego heart desires."

"You're the best." Nolee told her sincerely. "I know I might not show it, but I really do appreciate you Kira."

"What are best friends for?" Kira replied equally sincere. "We'll forget about him."

"What's all the yelling for? I can hear you guys all the way in the back." Cosmo chimed in as he walked up to the girls who looked each other nervously.

"Umm...I'm just so happy that I don't have a UTI! Whew, it would've been all bad, I would've had stock up on cranberry juice. Uber painful, you're soooo lucky you're a male Cosmo." Kira replied dramatically as both girls nodded in fake enthusiasm.

"W-what's a UTI?" Cosmo asked fearfully and so innocently.

"Oh it's a urinary tract infection in a girl's va-"

"Ok, you don't need to explain." Cosmo interjected blushing redder than a tomato. "If there's anymore deliveries let me know, otherwise I'll be in the back pretending that we didn't just have this conversation." Cosmo awkwardly responded. To say Cosmo wasn't very knowledgeable about women in general would be an understatement.

"Okay." the girls replied in unison as Cosmo quickly scampered off. Both girls holding in their laughter until he disappeared.

"God he is so easy to trick." Kira sighed.

"I can't believe you really said UTI though."

"Meh, it was the first thing to come to mind. But you have to admit the looks on his face are priceless."

"That it is." Nolee agreed wholeheartedly.

"So now that we know for sure there's indeed a living kicking life inside of you, when are we going to go shopping?"

"Oh...yeah..." Nolee replied nervously. "I should probably start doing that huh?"

"Have you bought anything at all yet...?" Kira asked concerned.

"Not yet. I mean I've been mostly putting money away of course, but I thought I would wait until I knew the gender."

"Makes sense, but just in case maybe we should start looking at things now, might catch some good sales." Kira reasoned pleased at her suggestion.

"Whoa, way to sound like a parent." Nolee teased but couldn't deny Kira had a point.

"Nah, I'm just a cheap ass."

_____

For the first time after their shifts ended Nolee was genuinely happy to have plans for once. Not really ever knowing of what it was like to have female friends and do actual girly things with them, this was all uncharted territory. But figuring it would help distract her long enough to forget about Murphy, she was all for it.

"Okay, so go home and pack a bag then you can meet me back at my apartment. Then we can pick up some things from the market." Kira explained locking the door as Nolee smiled and nodded.

"Sure thing. I'll try to be quick."

"Take your time, there's no need to rush. If you want you can even spend the night."

"Sounds good to me."

"Great! I'll see you in a bit." Kira grinned giving her a hug before they went their separate ways. Nolee sighed calmly and instead of cringing at the cold air, she welcomed it. Feeling as is she now could look at things through a different lens, a glimmer of hope had been restored. No wallowing, no anxiety, she was determined to have a good time at Kira's.

"Whatever I do, no more men. The next guy I see I'm pepper spraying him." Nolee joked to herself sardonically at her circumstances.

Passing by the local Italian meat market and lost in her thoughts, Nolee was unaware of the figuring intercepting her path causing her to collide with the figure.

"Christ on a cracker," a voice cried out as Nolee found it to be awfully familiar.

"Rocco?" Nolee said surprised as she looked up at the shaggy hairy male.

"Nolee!" Rocco replied equally surprised.

"Oh, I didn't think you'd remember me."

"Of course I'd remember you dear. How could I forget Betty Boop?" Rocco smiled making Nolee laugh. "What are you up to?"

"Just on my way home, what about you?"

"Oh I'm getting a sandwich for Pappa Joe."

"Who's Papa Joe?" Nolee asked curiously as the same frightened expression Rocco had at McGinty's appeared on his face.

"Umm what? Did I say Papa Joe? I umm meant someone else."

"Okay...well that's nice of you to pick him up a sandwich. I hope he enjoys it." Nolee replied innocently.

"Yeah I hope he enjoys it too for my sake." Rocco mumbled under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Uhh nothing, I gotta get going. It was nice seeing you again Nolee, maybe I'll catch you around somewhere else?"

"Yeah sure-"

"Bye!" Rocco added quickly before walking off in a hurry.

"He's so...random." Nolee whispered to herself as she watched him walk away. Seems like Boston was just determined to make her cross paths with all the peculiar people. Shaking her head she continued on her way home.

Seeing her building come into view Nolee picked up her pace. Looking down and reaching for her keys inside her purse, she was unaware of the figure a few feet from her. When she looked back up she gasped almost dropping her keys. Looking in disbelief, the slight progress she managed to make these past couple days had now just derailed.

"Murphy?"