Best of Me

Kat looked through her pantry, her stomach growling greedily. She felt like she was starving to death, but nothing seemed appetizing. She was already sick of eating crackers all day long, the thought of chicken noodle soup makes her queasy, and she didn’t feel like cooking anything. With a heavy sigh, she gave up on her search for food and walked back to her desk, slipping her glasses back onto her face.

She knew that she should probably stop working for the evening, but she couldn’t bring herself to unwind just yet. The deadline for the graphic content she was creating was quickly approaching, she couldn’t afford to stop now. However, just as she was getting focused on her work, there was a knock on the door.

Kat sighed and pushed herself up, mumbling obscenities under her breath. She swung the door open with a bit of an attitude, but it was immediately forgotten about. Brian stood on the other side with a smile and food in hand.

“What are you doing here?” Kat asked, grinning up at him. “I thought you were going to be with Michelle.”

“I was, and I thought you might be hungry.” Brian stepped into the house, going straight to the kitchen to sort out the food. Kat closed the door and followed him.

“My hero; I’m starving. How did everything go?” She asked, practically snatching the food container from him. The smell of pollo con queso hit her nose and her stomach growled again. Brian handed her a soda, shrugging his shoulder.

“It went. She wasn’t happy at first, but we reached an understanding.”

“Yeah, and what understanding is that?” Kat’s brows furrowed out of curiosity.

“We ended things. We haven’t been happy for a while, you know this, and there was no point in dragging it out any further.”

Kat wordlessly stepped over to him, her arms wrapping around him. She knew that the fate of their relationship was not entirely her fault, but she still felt guilty. Brian could tell what she was thinking. He gently grabbed her arms, pushing her away from him.

“Don’t do that. There’s no reason for you to feel guilty.”

“But if I hadn’t gotten pregnant, you guys could still fix things.” Kat argued, but Brian just shook his head.

“Hey, there are two people to blame for that. Besides, you know that Michelle and I had problems long before this. It was only a matter of time, and I feel pretty good about it. But how have you been feeling?” Brian quickly changed the subject, not wanting to drag out the night’s events any further.

Kat moved back to her food, shrugging her shoulders. “I’m fine right now. I can’t guarantee that a few minutes from now, but that’s a given. I’ve been so fucking busy today. I swear, I’m going cross-eyed from staring at that damn computer screen.”

Brian watched her as she ate; she was barely taking a moment to breathe. Her black frame glasses would occasionally slip down her nose and she would push them right back up. Her bright blue eyes were still accented by black winged eyeliner, and her dark hair was thrown into a messy bun on top of her head. She looked cute. His thoughts were interrupted when she suddenly sat up straight, face going completely pale.

“Okay, that’s enough for now.” Brian mumbled, gently taking the fork from her hand and sliding the food away. “You okay, sweetheart?”

Kat shook her head, swallowing hard. It was obvious she was trying to keep the vomit down. “Fuck me.” And like that, she took off up the stairs to empty her stomach. Brian wanted to go check on her, but he decided to give her space. He put the food in the refrigerator as he waited for her to come back. He felt terrible; this pregnancy was already kicking her ass and she was only eight weeks along. He also felt like an asshole for bringing her something heavy to eat. He was there when the doctor told her to eat lighter foods.

“Alright, I’ll say it, I don’t give a shit; pregnancy sucks. All those women that say pregnancy is amazing and that I should enjoy it while it lasts can get fisted by a cactus. Seriously, what ever happened to the stork thing? I think that was a fantastic idea, let’s go back to that.”

Brian laughed at Kat’s ramblings, earning a glare from her. He immediately stifled his laughter, fighting back the grin.

“Keep laughing now, bud. Let’s see if you’re laughing when I have to push a watermelon out of my vaj.” As the words left her mouth, Brian suddenly began choking on his own saliva. He didn’t expect her to say something so blunt, and he hadn’t thought about the actual birth part yet. Kat stuck her tongue out at him before going back to her desk. Not wanting to disturb her work, Brian gathered up his things.

“I’ll see ya later, shorty. Don’t work too hard, okay? Get some sleep.” Brian firmly stated, pointing his finger at her. Kat quickly spun around in her office chair, eyebrows raised in surprise…and offense.

“Where are you going?”

“I was just gonna crash at Matt’s tonight.”

Kat looked at him as if that was the craziest thing she’d ever heard. “Why? You can just crash here.”

“Kat, are you sure? I don’t wanna bother you.”

“Dude, how many times have you crashed over before? Just turn something on, veg out, you won’t be bothering me.” Kat waved her hand around the living room, turning back to look at her computer. Brian didn’t bother arguing with her; he placed his wallet, keys, and phone down on the coffee table, stretching out on the couch.

For a few hours, there was a comfortable atmosphere in Kat’s home. She worked silently on her MacBook, pen resting horizontally in her mouth as she typed an email to one of her clients. Brian was sprawled on the couch, watching older episodes of Game of Thrones. His phone would occasionally go off and Kat could hear him typing back. It was nice, it was comfortable.

Kat knew that she should enjoy the silence now because in six short months, the silence would be replaced by a screaming baby. She continued to work until her eyes began to feel heavy. It was a little after one in the morning, and she knew it was time for her to go to bed.

A smile appeared on her lips when she noticed that Brian was sound asleep on the couch. She grabbed the throw blanket and draped it over him. She turned off the lights and climbed the stairs to tuck herself into bed.