Booze, Boys, and Buses

Matt pulled into the parking lot of the Sheraton hotel and then sighed. I looked behind me in the seat to see that Max was sound asleep. One of us were going to have to wake him up to feed him.

“Do you want me…” I began.

“I’ll get him.” Matt said, slamming the car door while I just sat there rolling my eyes.

I got out of the car and walked into the large hotel with Matt and Max in tow. What had started to be such a good day was now ruined, thanks to Matt and his inability to ‘deal with me.’ Neither of us spoke a word as we checked into the hotel and walked up to the room. Matt had specifically requested that we get to separate beds.

“Was that really necessary?” I asked, motioning toward the beds.

“Yeah I think it was a little necessary. How am I supposed to know you won’t hit me in your sleep?” He question raising an eyebrow.

“I’m sorry okay? I don’t know what came over me. It’s probably just the hormones or something. What can I do to get you to get over this?” I begged, being very tempted to remind him why we shouldn’t have two beds.

“Listen Cass, I love you. I also love our baby and Max.” He put a hand on my stomach. “We need to do the best we can for them.”

“Yes we do.” I agreed, staring up into his hazel eyes.

“Obviously we both have things to work on. So I vow to watch my mouth as long as you vow to stop hitting people and getting into fights.” Matt said, grinning at his ability to come up with a good compromise.

“I can live with that.” I said, kissing him.

I let my tongue trace on his bottom lip until I hit his lip ring.

“I knew it was a good idea to get this thing.” He said chuckling.

“I’m going to get Max into some PJs and a pull up. You can make his bottle.”

“Oh come on! Chicks are better at the bottle thing. I’ll do the pull up and PJs.” Matt said heading outside.

“Shit that’s right; we left those out in the car.” I laughed, walking over to what was going to be my bed.

I picked Max up off the bed. “Baba.”

“I know buddy, we’re getting it for you now.” I ran my hands over his curly brown hair and smiled. He was such a happy baby. I was just glad he didn’t fully know what was going on. He yawned and curled up in my arms. “No no, don’t fall asleep. I’ve got to feed you first. Hurry up Matt.”

“Matt.” He repeated.

My grandmother had said he didn’t talk much. That was a big old lie. Ever since we had him he’d been talking up a storm. Just a couple minutes later, Matt walked into the room holding a bag of pull ups, skim milk, and a sippie-cup.

“Here we are.” Matt said, walking back into the room.

I handed Max to Matt. I watched Matt put Max on the bed and start digging out a pull up. The milk was sitting on the counter so I went and grabbed it. The sippie-cup was sitting right next to it. I filled the cup up almost all the way and then handed it to Max who was in his PJs and snuggled up on the bed. I gave him the cup and watched him close his eyes and stick it in his mouth.

“Do you think he should be eating real meals or should he be eating Gerber?” Matt asked, looking down at Max.

“I’m pretty sure he’d be good to eat some real meals. Obviously not like steak and stuff.” I explained, scratching my back.

"Where were we?" Matt asked, beginning to kiss me again.

"Wait, we forgot to set up some pillows around him." I said, laughing against his lips.

Matt grumbled and let me go to Max who was now sound asleep. That hadn't taken as long as I'd anticipated. I sat up the pillows and then went over to my bed. All of me and Matt's clothes were out in the car, I didn't want to bother getting them right now. I got in under the covers and Matt followed suit. He started kissing my neck which caused me to laugh.

"That tickles." I said, turning so my back was facing him.

"Am I supposed to do you from behind tonight or what?" He asked, trying to turn me back over.

"Matt I'm too tired tonight. How about we do it tomorrow?" I suggested, smiling and hoping he would agree.

After a long groan, he replied, "Okay."

"Thanks baby, I'm sorry." I said, kissing him and then turning back over.

He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in tight. Max let out a small snort in his sleep causing me to laugh silently. For a while I sat there thinking about how life was going to be when we got back home. Matt and I were going to have to do some serious shopping. Max didn't have any clothes or anything.

"Hey Matt?" I began, but then heard his steady breathing and smiled.

I would have to talk to him about it tomorrow. We'd both had quite an eventful day.Next Morning

Max woke me up at about six because he was crying. Matt was about to get up, but I insisted that he stay in bed. I changed Max's clothes and pull up and then took him outside with me. I instantly regretted it because it was bitterly cold out there. I quickly grabbed some clothes for Matt and me and then ran back inside the building. Max was shivering against my chest. As soon as we got back into the hotel I wrapped him up in a million blankets. He seemed warmer almost instantly.

"Thanks for grabbing me some clothes babe." Matt said, beginning to get up.

"You're welcome. You could go back to bed if you wanted to." I said, awaiting the answer I knew was coming.

"Nah, I'm up already. Besides, we have to get an early flight home. We've got so much to do with him now and the new one on the way. It'd be a shame to waste daylight." Matt took the words right out of my mouth.

"Yeah, and I think I need to do some clothes shopping for myself as well. Mine are starting to feel a little snug." I bit my lip in shame. No girl wants to gain weight.

"Don't feel bad about it. You look beautiful." He insisted, walking over to me and pressing a kiss on my lips.

"Thank you baby." I replied. "I have to go get in the shower, will you keep an eye on him?"

"Of course."

Matt's POV

After Cass got in the shower I went over to Max. We were all going to have to go out to eat before we left. I know I was starving, I couldn't imagine how Max felt with a stomach no bigger than my thumbnail. I picked him up and sat him over on the beurau. I grabbed his bottle and filled it with some fresh milk and gave it to him.

"What do you say?" I asked, looking at him expectantly.

"Matt." He said, gripping my lip ring.

Cassandra's POV

"Cassie!" I heard from the room.

"What? Can it wait I'm in the shower." I said, continuing to rinse my hair.

Matt barged in the bathroom holding onto Max. I pulled the curtain back to see what was going on. Max was holding tightly onto Matt's lip ring and pulling out.

"I need your help." Matt said, nearly in tears.

"Is he really pulling that hard?" I asked, getting out of the shower and walking over to Matt.

"Yes!" He shouted, wincing.

I rolled my eyes and laughed. I pried Max's hand off of Matt's lip ring. Max looked at me strangely when I pulled his bottle from his mouth. I tapped his face gently.

"No! That's bad Max." I said, glaring at him.

I hated it when babies cried, and even more so when I was the reason behind it. Max's green eyes became shrouded with tears right before he closed them and began wailing. I went to grab him and comfort him, but Matt held my hand back.

"You can't scold him and then comfort him. That's like breaking a promise." Matt explained.

I knew he was right, but that didn't help how I felt. So I picked Max up off the counter and held his hand as we all walked out of the bathroom. That's right when I noticed that I was completely naked, and the shower was still running.

"I'm going to go back to the shower, don't let Max get into anything else." I said, pointing a finger at Matt.

"I think I'm bleeding." Matt said, showing me his finger.

I walked over to him to look at his finger. Matt grabbed my boobs and laughed. I slapped him in the face.

"Now you're going to be fucking bleeding asshole! I was worried about you!" I shouted, chuckling slightly.

"Yeah but you thought it was funny."

I pointed my finger out at him again before I went into the bathroom. After I finished my shower I wrapped up in a towel and walked into the other room. Matt was flipping through channels and Max was waddling around.

"It's your turn." I said, walking over and taking the remote from Matt.

I clicked off the television and Matt pouted.

"You really are bleeding!" I gasped pointing at his lip.

"I am?" He asked, feeling his lip.

I gave him a titty-twister. He pushed me back onto the other bed and gave me the finger. I laughed and after a moment, he laughed. Matt went into the bathroom and I got dressed into a long sleeve shirt and some pants. I had to lay down on the bed to get my pants on. This was getting frustrating. Once Matt was out of the shower, we got everything we had and picked it up. Matt shut the door behind us and we all left the building.

"Thank you." I said to the clerk.

"You're welcome, have a nice day!" She said after us.

I waved goodbye and then left the building with Matt in tow. I put Max in his car seat while Matt got in the front seat and started the car. After securely fastening Max in his seat, I made my way to the passenger seat next to Matt.

"And we're off!" Matt said, pulling out of the driveway.

We stopped at IHOP and got something to eat there. Max ate some eggs and hash browns. I figured they would be easy on his teeth.

Our trip to the airport was short. This time getting settled down in our seats was easier too. The three of us all fell asleep shortly into the flight. Max had a little trouble with the whole ear popping thing, but Matt comforted him. We had quite the crowd waiting for us back home.

"Oh man we missed you guys! And look at him!" Kacie said, pulling Max from my arms.

I laughed and hugged her. Everyone hugged and got a chance to hold Max before we all got into our vehicles and made our way out of the airport parking lot. Jimmy had been nice enough to bring our car to the airport and install the car seat when we got it off of the plane.

"They're all going to be hanging out at our place tonight." Matt informed me.

"I thought we were going shopping." I reminded him.

"Oh shit! That's right. When we get there I'll tell them all to go home or come with us or something. I promise." Matt insisted, putting his hand on my thigh.

"Okay."

We pulled into the driveway shortly after we stopped talking. Matt offered to get Max, so I just got out of the car and swerved around all the cars to get into the house. I wondered what people thought when they saw our house. I opened the door. Everyone jumped up and yelled, "Surprise!"

"Oh my goodness!" I shouted, taking a step back. Matt laughed and put a hand on the small of my back. "What's all of this?"

"Honey, we want to make your pregnancy as easy as we can, and now that you have this little one, it's proving to be more difficult than normal." Kacie said, walking over and patting Max on the head.

"So you're giving me a baby shower? I don't even know what it is yet." I defended, handing Max over to Matt.

"This is more of a maternity slash adopted baby shower." Kacie explained, grinning at me from ear to ear.

"I don't know what to say." I said, chuckling and letting Jimmy lead me over to the couch.

"You don't have to say anything. You just have to open presents and enjoy your pregnancy. If you need anything, I'll go out and get it for you, or you can have Matt get it." Kacie insisted, putting a hand on my back.

I looked at Matt who nodded in agreement. "I hope you don't mind if I skip out on this though. I'm not really into baby showers."

"I don't mind. No guy is. You five go have fun. If you wanted to you could take Max with you."

"No wait! He has presents too!" Leana protested, looking extremely upset.

"Okay." I paused to chuckle at her expression. "Max can stay here with us."

"Okay, I love you." Matt gave me a kiss on the cheek and then headed to the basement with the guys.

"Don't drink too much!" I shouted, but Kacie covered my mouth.

"Leave the yelling to me. Drink too much and you're not getting any Mr. Baker!" Kacie shouted. We all heard some of the other guys laugh at Zack.

"Same goes for the rest of you!" The other three girls yelled in unison.

I laughed at them all and then Kacie passed me a present.

"What time is it? I really think Max should get something to eat." I insisted, watching Kacie hand Max to Lacey.

"I'll make sure he gets something good and mushy." She stuck her tongue out and the word mushy.

I opened the present in my lap and saw that it was some clothes for Max. It was a cute little flannel shirt with a pair of Levi's. Kacie was sitting by with a sheet of paper waiting for me to tell her who it was from and what it was.

"Thank you Leana." I said, holding up the articles of clothing for Kacie to see.

There was a knock at the door which caused me to jump. Michelle got up and opened up the door. I smiled as I watched Matt's mom and dad walk into the room. I got up and hugged them both.

"Oh hi honey! Look at you. I can't believe I'm going to be a grandmother!" Jenni exclaimed, hugging me again.

I laughed. "Thank you for coming."

"We wouldn't miss this for the world." Robert said, hugging me.

"Oh don't lie to the child, no guy likes a baby shower." She rolled her eyes and pointed to the basement. "I assume the guys are all down there."

Robert kissed Jenni's cheek before he sprinted off for the basement.

"Hey dad!" Matt exclaimed.

"Hey guys! Crack me open a beer!"

Jenni rolled her eyes again before sitting down on the couch next to my seat. I really hoped Matt and I ended up like them when we got older.

“Okay, next present.” Kacie said, handing it to me.

It was a box that was most likely filled with some form of clothing. I read the tag and it said it was from Johnny and Lacey.

“Lacey I’m opening your present!” I shouted.

She walked in holding onto Max. He had what I assumed to be potato surrounding his lips. That forced me to laugh.

“I’m coming, I’m coming. I just gave him some of the left over mashed potato you guys had in the fridge.” She explained, sitting down next to Kacie.

I opened up the present and pulled out a pair of maternity pants. They had an elastic band that should neatly fit around my stomach once I got really big.

“Aw, thank you!” I exclaimed, holding them out so everyone could see.

I opened up a lot more presents, all of which contained clothes that would fit me. I also got some clothes for Max, thank goodness considering we had none. One thing I was thankful for, considering I had forgotten that the doctor suggested it, was folic acid.

“Thanks you guys. This was really nice.” I said, looking at Max who was sitting down on the ground rolling a fire truck back and forth.

“That’s not everything.” Matt said from the doorway of the basement.

“It’s not?” I asked, standing up. “What did you do?” I placed my hand on my hips.

Matt walked over to me and turned me around. He covered my eyes and started leading me forward. He instructed me to take a step up and I did so. I continued stepping up ward until he told me to stop. He then turned me to my right and let go of my eyes. He told me to open the door in front of me and I did. My hand involuntarily shot up over my mouth.

“Matt.” I said, being at a loss of words.

The room was painted baby blue and in the left corner sat a white crib with blue sheets. The mobile sitting over the crib was made up of little happy frogs to match the trim around the bottom of the floor. My feet were sitting on an off-white carpet. I looked to the right corner of the room where there was a changing table that matched the bed. He had also had a dresser set up. A small white toy box was right next to the changing table. I felt a swarm of tears pour out of my eyes.

“Matt.” I said, again. “This is the best thing anyone has ever done for me.”

“You have them to thank too.” He said, motioning to the people behind him.

“Thank you everyone.” I said, beginning to sob.

“Why are you crying?” Matt asked, pulling me into a tight hug.

“I’m so happy.”