26

"Excuse me? I'm sorry, I must have heard you wrong, say that again."

"I said marry me."

"No."

"It wasn't a question."

"Look, I know it's a really rash decision and I get, who wants to marry someone just because they got them pregnant but you have to understand, my mother will never accept me or this child if they were born out of wedlock, especially with some random guy I met in a bar." I say in one breath.

"She's your mother she has to understand, right." He responds turning in his chair to look at me."

"My mother is a hardcore Catholic, if I tell her this child is being born out of wedlock, you don't even wanna know what she would do." I shudder at the thought.

Lucas starts the car, leaving the hospital parking lot, merging onto the main road.

Suddenly an idea pops into my head, "What if you don't actually have to marry me."

"So faking it?"

"Yes, exactly. I tell my mother we're getting married, we stage a wedding and announce I'm pregnant after."

"That in no way is a good idea."

"I don't see how it could go wrong, what's your problem."

"So many things could go wrong with that, a fake wedding, really.

"Fake engagement? No wedding necessary."

"My God, you really are crazy."

"I'm not crazy, just really stressed out."

The remaining moments of the ride back to his office are spent silently, except for the music coming from his radio. When we reach his workplace I thank him for the ride, get into my car and drive home.

Walking into my apartment I drop my purse by the front door, kick off my shoes and plop myself on the couch. It may only be noon, but I'm ready for a nap.

Whatever you do, don't answer this call.

It's your boss.

Don't answer .

I repeat, don't answer.

Laughing at the pre-record ringtone I made specially for my boss, I go against all my better judgement and answer the call, "Hello."

"Miss Williams, why weren't you at work today?"

"Today's my day off."

"Did I say you could have a day off?"

"Sir, it's my day off and I'm trying to enjoy it."

"You were needed today, Jessica."

I'm sure because nobody else knows how to sit around, type and make calls all day.

"Well I'm coming to work tomorrow sir, don't you worry."

"And don't be late!" He yelled as he ended the call.

I can't stand that man, but the pay is good. It's a real shame. Leaving my phone on the coffee table I close my eyes for a long needed nap.

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It's a little after four when I wake up so I go into my bedroom and change into something more comfortable on. After I change I walk into the kitchen in search the fridge for food.

Spotting the bread I take it out along with the peanut butter and a banana. One of the best things I have ever tasted is a peanut butter and banana sandwich. Cutting up the banana I quickly grab my phone from the coffee table and put on some music.

Half way through the sandwich my cell starts ringing.

"Hello?" I answer without looking at the caller ID.

"Hey girl hey!"

"Hey Adri, what's up?"

"What, I'm not allowed to just call my best friend for fun?"

"Knowing you no."

"Harsh"

"What do you want? I was in the middle of a very delicious sandwich."

"Nothing actually, I was thinking of you and decided to call."

"That was nice of you."

After talking for some more time we hung up and I could finally get to finishing my sandwich. On my second bite, someone knocks on my door, "Maybe I'm just not supposed to finish my sandwich."

The knocking becomes more constant.

"I'm coming!" Opening the door I get the biggest surprise ever.

"Lucas? What are you doing here, how did you find my apartment?"

"That's not why I'm here, I thought about what you were talking about in the car..."

"And?" I ask

"Here." In his hand is a diamond engagement ring.

"Holy shit."

"So what do we do now?" I ask as we sit on the couch in the living room. After Lucas practically shoved the ring in my hand, I invited him inside so we could talk in private.

"You should move in with me."

"I guess that makes sense."

"And we'll have to tell your parents and mine about the engagement, let alone our whole relationship."

"Lets get our facts straight then like how we met, how long have we been together, when is the wedding, the baby, et cetera."

"Well lets put a little truth in there, we met in a bar a few months ago and hit it off immediately."

"Wait, it has to be after I broke up with my ex."

"You want my parents and yours to believe that when we met six months ago we hit it off and now want to get married."

"We were friends while I was dating him, you had interest in me but didn't want to intrude, we broke up, you consoled me boom we're engaged."

"Do you do this kind of stuff a lot?" He ask suspiciously.

"No, I just have a very active imagination. Have ever since I was a child."

"Okay well I guess your story works with everything. When do you want to move in with me?"

"Friday evening after work is fine, I have work and packing to do this week."

"Alright I'll see myself out." He stood up and walked out the door.

Time for bed.

*****

It's Friday and I'm freaking out. All my stuff is in boxes my landlord already has my key to this place so now I'm just waiting for Lucas to come with the movers and take me away to his place. A knock on the door puts me into action.

Opening the door I find Lucas with three other guys behind him, "Hey, I hope you're ready."

"Uh yeah lets go."

For the next 25 minutes Lucas and the three other guys move my boxes of things that only contain my essentials along with my two suitcases'. All of the things I can't take with me, like furniture is going into a storage locker.

Lucas drove his car to his penthouse while I drove in my car trailing behind him. We make it to his penthouse apartment and park on the curb out side. Just by looking at the outside of the building, I could tell that the inside was going to be beautiful.

And boy, how right was I.

Walking through the front door a tan coloured hallway with multiply doors leads me straight to the living room, which has a giant window covering one wall. The living room has a mini bar which leads to the kitchen made for a chef, which is also where I will be spending most of my time, and a glass dining table behind the couch.

At the end of the hallway there was a staircase that led to the second floor, which had three bedrooms, the master -which was Lucas'-, and two spare, one would be mine and the other for our unborn child.

"I didn't really take you as someone with an eye for interior design." I tell him as we sit in the living room watching The Big Bang Theory reruns, eating Chinese takeout.

"Oh, no my older sister decorated this place for me because and I quote 'You have the amount of design taste as a colour blind donkey.' ." he said making his voice go a higher pitch at the end to imitate his sister.

"Tell me about yourself." I say curious to know more about him.

"Well I am the CEO of Harris Industries & Co.-" I cut him off.

"No I want to know about you, not your company. Tell me something I couldn't read off of Wikipedia."

"Okay, um, I have an older sister named Melissa, she's married, my parents names are John and Lisa and I don't know what else you want me to say."

"Gosh you're so boring. Let's just play twenty questions, I'll go first. Most embarrassing childhood story."

He takes a deep breath, sighs and runs a hand through his chocolate brown hair before starting. "So when I was about twelve years old, there was this girl I liked so I went up to her and said, 'Oh no I'm choking, I need mouth to mouth quick.' I went home with a black eye and a very bruised ego."

"Wow, what a Casanova." I giggled.

"Shut up, it's my turn now. Okay, if you could choose any celebrity to be the father of your child who would you choose?"

"That's easy, Matt Bomer."

"Really?"

"Yeah he's really hot."

"You know he's gay right."

"I don't see your point. My turn, would you rather be rich or famous?"

"Well I'm already both so it doesn't matter."

"Answer the damn question Harris."

"I would rather be rich."

"Okay, your turn." I say not commenting on his answer.

"I'm going with the generic, what's your favourite colour?"

"Oh that's a hard one." I don't know why but I've always had a problem picking just one colour. "I can't just pick one, if you haven't noticed yet I'm a very indecisive person at times."

"What, do you feel bad for the other colours or something?" he asks me incredulously.

"A little." I respond holding my fingers to show how much.

He gives me a look that says 'Are you serious?' .

"To sum it up I love blues, purples and some greens."

"Took your time figuring that out." he murmurs.

"Shut up." I say playfully, softly hitting him with one of the throw pillows on the couch.

By the end of the game it was late and I was extremely tired, "It's been fun but I'm gonna hit the hay." I say getting off the couch stretching a bit.

His eyes linger as he responds a quiet agreement. Whispering a goodnight I walk upstairs to the bedroom I'm currently occupying getting my pj's out to take a brisk shower then sleep.

Lying in my bed there is only one thing on my mind.

Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all.

I woke up around eleven in the morning seeing as it was Saturday and I don't have to go to work on the weekends.

Waling down the staircase still in my pyjamas, I walk into the kitchen and start to cook breakfast which consists of pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon and Pillsbury crescents. Finishing up cooking I let the dishes soak in water while I eat.

A few moments later Lucas came into the kitchen wearing kakis pants and a light blue button up, "We are going to me parents house for dinner tonight." he says grabbing a plate.

I practically choke, "What?" I manage to say after coughing a bit more.

"My parents invited us and my sister's family to dinner at their house tonight." he sits across from me at the table, "They thought it would me nice to have us all over and meet you at the same time."

"Oh, well is there anything that we should bring? Wine, dessert, flowe-"

No," he cut me off, "just yourself is fine."

"I'll feel bad if we don't bring something, what if this is some sort of test to see if I'm worthy of you or something."

"Calm down my parents will love you." he assures me, not very well, while finishing his breakfast.

I've never really had a problem with meeting parents, it's just that Lucas and I have been 'friends' for a while according to our made-up backstory so if I say one wrong thing, or either of us for the matter, this whole thing is gonna go to shit.

Much to Lucas' protest I baked a French Vanilla flavoured cake. I was freaking out all the way to his parents house no matter how much reassuring he gave me. Ringing the door it was opened by a beautiful blonde with shocking blue eyes.

"Hey baby brother!" she exclaimed hugging Lucas, so this is his sister. She looked at me and smiled, "Hi Jessica, I'm Melissa but everyone calls me Mel, Lukey over here talks about you all the time." she laughed.

I looked over at Lukey with a raised eyebrow, "Do you now?"

"She doesn't know what she's talking about." he waved off her comment taking my hand and walking into the beautifully decorated foyer.

"Mom, dad, come and meet Jessica."

An older women walked out with a shocking resemblance to Mel walked out only she had brown hair, with a man trailing who didn't really hold any resemblance to either Mel or Lucas.

"Jess, I would like you to meet my mother Lisa and my father John." Mel said taking the cake from my hand, bringing it into the kitchen.

I put my hand out for them to shake, "Oh put that away and give me a hug, we're family now." Lisa smiled hugging me.

"Welcome to the family dear." John said hugging me as well, "Now you all go to the dining room while Lisa and I bring out the food."

"Do you need any help?" I asked.

"No we will be fine, it's a little upsetting that our own children didn't ask while our guest did though." Lisa said shooting a look at Lucas and Mel.

Both of them smiled sheepishly while making their way to the kitchen only to be stopped by John, "Well we don't want your help anymore, now shoo."

We all made our way to the dining room and made pleasant small talk until dinner was served.

Lisa had made beef stew with vegetables and homemade bread, while everyone else was drinking wine I stuck with apple juice.

"It's a shame Liz couldn't make it, she's Mel and Lucas' older sister, she's an interior designer you know but tell me Jessica, what do you do?" Lisa asked me.

"Oh I'm just a secretary, nothing really all that exciting." I said breaking a piece of the bread and dipping it in the stew.

"Well, do you have any siblings?"

"Yes one older sister."

"And your parents?"

"My parents are divorced, my mom lives in Charlotte, North Carolina and my dad lives in LA."

"You poor thing when did they get divorced?"

"I was 18 when they got divorced, but everyone could see it coming from a mile away so it wasn't really a shock."

"So when's the wedding?" intercepted Mel.

"Either really soon or really far away." Lucas answered.

"Why not in-between?"

"Because I would rather not walk down the isle feeling like a bloated whale."

"Wait what?"

"Oh I'm gonna be a nanna!" Lisa exclaimed practically jumping in her seat, "Lucas why didn't you tell us?"

"I was going to tell you guys, but Jess and I didn't want to have to stress about planning a wedding and you guys fussing over the baby."

When did this happen? Lucas is great at improve. I thought to myself.

"I think personally that you guys should have the wedding after the baby is born." Mel inputs.

"No, I think they should have it as soon as possible, so then they can just focus on the baby." Lisa says back, sparking an argument between the two.

"But a wedding is a special affair, and needs to be thought out."

"Mel weddings are stressful to plan, so for the safety of the baby they should do it now."

"Mom that's not the point, a wedding is meant to be beautiful and to be beautiful it needs time."

"When I married John we only planned in two months, and look how wonderful it turned out."

"Yeah except for the fact that you were 15 minutes late."

What is going on?

"How about we let Jessica and Lucas decide when their wedding is going to be." John said leaving no room for disagreement.

After that my cake was served with coffee for everyone but me who opted for tea. Other that the little spat Lisa and Mel had over dinner the rest of the night went smoothly with everyone sharing stories and Lisa showing me pictures of Lucas when he was younger.

"It was nice seeing you all but Jess is sleeping on her feet." Lucas said as they all looked at me leaning on him for support. Hugs and goodbye's were given before we left and Lucas led me to the car.

I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew I was being carried my to my bedroom, "Lucas?" my eyes were half open, but I was able to make out his face.

"Shh, go back to sleep Jessie." his voice lolled me back to sleep, the last thing I remember was a slight pressure being applied to my forehead before the sound of a door being closed, as I fell into a dreamless sleep.