Bottom of the Blackest Hole

“Wakey, wakey up, sleepy head.” And that my friend, was Josh. I felt him poke me softly on the cheek. I groaned then turned over, my leg went over the giant pillow next to me. Weird. I always had it in the middle, but it ends up to the other side of me every morning. I pushed my face in my pillow and couldn’t help but let out a contented sigh. It seems that since I’ve lived with him, I’ve been sleeping like a baby. When I lived with my dad, I couldn’t fall asleep. One, was because it was so loud and two was because I had to be wide alert and be ready to run if the door breaks.

He swung his arm around my stomach. He seems to be doing that a lot lately, since my stomach had become extremely huge. Frankly, I didn’t care. Just as long as it doesn’t go any higher to my boobs or lower to my…you know, womanhood, its okay. I wouldn’t admit this in front of him but it kind of feels nice having it around me. He would rub my rotund stomach in circular motions. It was soothing.

“Wakey, wakey,” he sang softly in my ears. I scooted a little farther away from him, determine to wake up in an hour or two. Just not now.

“Come on,” he breathed. I groaned once more before scooting as far from him as possible and continued my sleeping.

“Bailey,” he must’ve moved because now his voice seems to be in front of me. I peeked one eye open, cringing a little at the brightness of the room. He gave me a wide, dazzling smile. He should smile more often.

“What are you so giddy about?” I grumbled sleepily. He grinned.

“Let’s just say that today is a very, very good day,” he replied happily.

“Oh?” I questioned tiredly before closing my one eye.

“Yup.”

I half expected him to tell me why but when he didn’t I dismissed it. He must’ve thought I would ask why too because he huffed when there was silence.

“Well,” he began, “are you going to ask why?”

I yawned loudly, “You’ll tell me if you want to.”

“Fine,” he sighed, “I’m meeting with a new artist today. If I could get her to sign my contract then I’ll get five hundred grand.” Money. Figures.

“What exactly is it that you do?” I asked curiously. Both of my eyes were half open.

“I’m an art dealer and part-time photographer,” he stated proudly.

“That’s nice,” I mumbled, “But why do I have to wake up?”

“Because,” he stressed, “she’s coming here. Now, you need to act like a wife when she comes. We don’t want her to freak out.”

“Now, why would that happen?” I was about to turn over and go back to sleep before he stopped me.

“Then we have an appointment for an ultrasound today at three.” At that, I quickly got up.

“Ugh,” I groaned and squeezed my temples.

“That’s what I thought,” he smirked, “Now go take a shower. I’ll make breakfast.” I stubbornly did so. I wiggled my bare feet into the bunny slippers I got when I went out shopping with Sofia and Courtney. Then I slowly made my way to bathroom.

I had been excited for the next ultrasound. I already had five pictures, which was framed and placed on the coffee table by the couch. It made me happy to see that my baby was growing. Even if the past ones looks like a white smudge. Josh seems to like it too. He was speechless the whole time. He had that ‘awed’ look on his face when he first saw the smudge.

Of course, now he believes that it’s his baby. I mean…I did lose my virginity to him and he’s been the only one since.

--

I checked myself in the mirror one last time. My hair was half up. The waviness of my hair made me look more sophisticated. Usually I just tied it all up. I was wearing a baby blue sun dress. It was silk and comfortable. But it did make my stomach look larger than usual…

I carefully made my way outside, cautiously not tripping on anything or Coco, for that matter. I could hardly see my feet!

Just as suspected, when I stepped out to the living room, Josh hurriedly came to my side, placed his arms around my back and helped me walk to the kitchen. I rolled my eyes when he pulled out the chair for me to sit.

“I’m pregnant, Josh. Not handicapped.”

He shrugged. “Same difference.”

He placed a plate with a stack of strawberry pancakes, another plate with bacon and eggs, and then a glass of orange juice. It looked good. But it looked too much.

“Do you expect me to eat all of this?” I asked incredulously as I placed the napkin on my lap.

“If you can’t finish it, just throw it away,” he said, sitting down himself. He only had a bowl of cereal.

“Why didn’t you cook some for yourself?” I stared suspiciously at the food in front of me.

“Bailey,” he said sternly, “I didn’t poison it. Dang. I’m just not hungry.”

“Whatever you want,” I muttered, then dug in.

I breathed heavily. I was so full. I let out a huge and very unladylike burp. Josh rolled his eyes, got up, and began taking the plates away to wash them.

“That,” inhale, “was,” exhale, “delicious.”

“Of course it was. My cooking skills are awesome.” He bragged. I snorted but said nothing else.

I got up and slowly made my way to the bathroom to wash my mouth, when I came back, I saw a woman around twenty, sitting next to Josh on the couch. She had red, pin-straight hair that went a little past her shoulders. She had a longish kind of face. It wasn’t bad. It actually made her look pretty in a strange kind of way. Just from standing here, I could see she had green eyes. The greenest of them all. She looked pretty tall too, in her four inch stilettos. I couldn’t help but also notice that she was skinny. Really skinny. Not anorexic skinny. Just really skinny. You can even see the visible high cheek bones. She was like a walking chopstick.

I looked down at myself. I looked like a fat balloon. I felt my throat tightening. I closed the door to bedroom and let out a quick squeak when I was inside. I want to look anorexic skinny!

--

Josh glanced around to see if he could spot his pregnant wife. In the corner of his eyes, he saw the bedroom door close. He furrowed his eyebrows in curiosity.

“Excuse me for just a sec,” he said to Adrianna, his new and apparently, rich client. He got up and walked to the door. He didn’t knock except poked inside. Josh panicked when he saw Bailey blubbering and speaking incoherent things on the bed. She looked angry and red faced. He cautiously step in front and sat down next to her.

“What’s wrong?” She looked up at him and her eyes soften. She looked so vulnerable. But then she ruined the moment by asking that horrendous question. Everybody he knew said that if he answered the question incorrectly, she’d probably scream at him. Or worse.

“Am I fat?” she asked quietly. He cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably. She waited patiently. He opened his mouth but no words came out. After two more seconds she narrowed her eyes.

“You do think I’m fat!” she pushed him on the shoulders harshly before new tears exploded. The scared man quickly shook his head.

“No! No, no, no. That’s not what I mean,” he tried to explain.

“Then why didn’t you say anything?!” she shriek and slapped him on the chest. It kind of hurt.

“Because I was just trying to think of what to say.” Wrong answer.

Bailey gasped loudly. “You were going to lie to my face and say that I’m skinny?!” She pointed to her stomach, “Clearly, this says it all!” And more tears came.

“No!” he quickly said, “I think that you look skinny for a pregnant lady!” Time seemed to stand still. Oh no.

“Oh, so now you think that I’m unhealthy? That I’m not taking care of our baby?!” she yelled. He winced and hoped that Adrianna couldn’t hear about this stupid fight. If you can call it that.

“No! You are perfectly healthy! I mean, you ate the whole breakfast this morning!” he recovered.

“Oh, so now I eat like a pig?!” Damn. This was too hard. They should have a handbook on what to say to your pregnant wife.

Josh pinched his temples and closed his eyes. “I think you look fine. You have this motherly glow and it makes you look beautiful, actually. When this pregnancy is over, you can go back to your skinny old self and still look skinny, alright?” he said truthfully.

She sniffed, “Fine.” He sighed in relief.

“Good. Now come on. I have someone I want you to meet.”

--

“Adrianna, this is Bailey, my…wife.” Josh introduced.

“A pleasure,” she said dryly and gave me a smile. It looked almost…fake? I smiled back at her. A real genuine smile. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

She just nodded. I stared at her weirdly before sitting on the loveseat. Josh took a seat next to her.

I played with my end strand hair as Josh and Adrianna conversed back and forth about her future and how big she is going to become. They seem to forget that I was even in the room. Fine by me. Coco then jumped out of nowhere and sat on the arm rest. I scratched her ear and neck. After that, I stopped all my actions and sat up quickly.

They seemed to have scooted closer together. It didn’t look like Josh moved at all and looked like Adrianna moved two feet closer to him. I narrowed my eyes as Adrianna’s hand seems to be resting on Josh’s thigh. He looked completely oblivious as he continued to talk. Then she did something that was way out of line. She brushed his hair from his eyes. How dare she?! And I’m right here! But oh, so stupid Josh didn’t notice a thing. Then her hand began drawing circles on his thigh. That’s where I stepped in.

“Okay!” I yelled and plastered on a smile. Josh stopped talking suddenly and Adrianna’s hand quickly moved to her own lap. I got up and made my way towards them. I squeezed myself between them and grin. I saw Adrianna looking at me in disgust.

“What are you doing?” Josh asked as he scooted over a little so I would fit. I racked for some excuses.

“Oh, you know, I just miss you.” I hugged his arm tightly. He looked at me strangely but didn’t push the subject.

They continued talking and soon, Josh’s arms were around my shoulder and drawing circles on my back. I couldn’t help but smirk at Adrianna when she glared at his hand. Serves her right.

“If you’ll excuse me ladies, I’m going to go to the bathroom real quick.” Josh got up and walked away.

“So…” I trailed off when she gave me a look. I looked away as she stared intensely at me.

“Oh my,” she let out a gasp (which sounded fake, by the way) that made me look at her, “Who is she?” she picked up a picture frame where Josh and Dixie were smiling at each other.

“Oh that’s Dixie.”

“You mean his ex-fiancé?” Her eyes widened in innocence.

I nodded.

“Why, that’s terrible he has a picture here! Aren’t you offended?” I raised an eyebrow.

“I put it there.” I told her. She gave me a blank look, “I did.”

She rolled her eyes and dropped the frame on the floor where it landed with a ‘clank’. She had a smirk on her face. I narrowed my eyes at her but struggled to get up and bend down to get the picture. She swung her feet in front of my face and I gritted my teeth. I placed the picture on where it’s supposed to be and turned to look at her with my hands on my hips.

“What is your problem?!”

“Well, isn’t it obvious? I want Josh.” My mouth hung open.

“He’s taken,” and I shoved my ring finger to her face. She scoffed.

“Marriage,” she murmured, “Can always be broken.”

“How about this then? You do notice this,” I pointed towards my stomach. She shrugged.

“This is the twenty-first century. A lot of kids grow up with single parents,” she replied, examining her nails.

“Well, it’s not going to be this kid,” I said angrily. She shrugged once again.

“Whatever. Just watch. He will be mine. Who could resist me?” she said smugly. What. A. B-

“Okay ladies. Miss me?” Josh strolled in with papers on one of his hand. This time, he took a seat on the loveseat.

“This is the contract. You can read it if you want.” He pushed the papers across the coffee table. Adrianna gave him a flirtatious smile.

“Oh, I trust you Josh.” She signed the papers without even looking at it. I rolled my eyes.

“How about this afternoon we go out to dinner? To celebrate our deal,” she offered, with a knowing look on her face.

He gave her a smile, “That’s okay. I already have to take Bailey somewhere else later. Thanks anyway.”

Her face fell but she quickly smiled at him. She put her hand on top of his on the table, “Maybe next time.”

“Sure,” and he wedged his hand out from her tight grasp. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and a glare when she left.

“Come on. We gotta get to the clinic before it’s too late.” He rushed me outside and to his car.