Chapter 75: Chapter 75

I'm brushing my teeth when I get a phone call from Noah. I drop the toothbrush in the sink and quickly grab my cell phone.

"Hello?" I answer, my mouth full of toothpaste.

"Ava, is that you?"

I quickly spit out the toothpaste.

"Yes, sorry I was, uh brushing my teeth."

"So I told my parents about you and the baby. They want to meet you."

Did I just hear that correctly? Parents? I don't know how to talk to parents. I stay quiet for at least a minute.

"Ava, are you there?"

"Yeah," I say.

"Did you hear what I said?" He asks.

"Yeah," I reply.

"So is six thirty tonight okay?"

"Sure, six thirty is fine."

"You're going to need a ride right? I'll send a driver to pick you up around five forty. I'd pick you up myself but I have to run a few errands."

"Okay," I say.

"Alright, I'll see you later tonight then. Bye, Ava." He hangs up.

I throw up. God, I hate this morning sickness. I wash my mouth and brush my teeth again.

I really just wanted to lay in bed all day today. I'm not up to meeting anybody's parents. I wonder if Devlin is going to be there. If she is, I'll fake a sickness and ask to come home. That's my plan. I look at the time. 11:30 am. Seven hours until I have dinner with Noah and his parents.

I hate this. I have to worry about what I'm going to where and how I'm going to act. I feel this need to impress them.

This time, I have to look decent. Not hot or sexy, but classy.

I almost forget that I have an exam today. My last one of the school year.

I make a smoothie and quickly get dressed. By twelve-thirty, I'm out the door and on a bus going to class.

I get to the class ten minutes before the exam is supposed to start. I sit in the fourth row. This has been my seat since the beginning of the semester.

"So you ready for the exam?" Amos asks. Amos has been my seat buddy this whole semester as well. We usually study together before tests and exams, but I've been so busy lately.

I put my thumb up. I really don't feel good.

"Ava, are you alright? You don't look so good."

"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm just anxious. I want to get this over with," I say. The truth is, I feel like throwing up.

He looks at me with concern. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, "

The professor hands out the exams and in no time, everyone begins writing. I find it hard to concentrate but I refuse to let this pregnancy ruin my exam. I try harder to focus and ignore the sweat coming down my face. Every once in a while, Amos looks at me. He looks worried. the whole time I'm doing my exam I'm praying I don't throw up all over my exam and that the professor doesn't think that Amos is cheating off of me. I write fast and I'm the first one finished. Amos finishes right after. I run out of the classroom and I'm not surprised that he chases after me. As soon as I get outside, I throw up. Students walking nearby look at me in disgust.

"Don't lie to me, what's wrong?" He asks.

"I'm pregnant."

His eyes widen. "Since when?"

We sit on a bench and I tell him the whole embarrassing story of how I got pregnant. Surprisingly, he doesn't laugh. Instead, he looks concerned throughout the whole story.

"I don't understand why you have to have this baby if you don't want to," he says. "The fact that he can't have kids is his problem, not yours." He takes out a bag of chips. "And his wife. She sounds like a bitch. Ava, you don't have to deal with her. Don't let anybody force you to do something you don't want to do."

"Amos, no one is forcing me. I'm doing this because..." I think about why I'm doing this. "Because this is the right thing to do. My grandma always told me everything happens for a reason. Maybe there's a reason I became pregnant." I take a chip from his bag. "If you think about it, it is kind of miraculous." I munch away.

He stops eating and stares at me. "So, you're saying your vagina is magical?" We both burst out laughing.

"Shut up," I push him. He smiles at me. Amos is a cute-looking guy and I know he has a crush on me, but I always considered him a good friend. I pretend that I don't know he likes me. I pretend to never notice his stares or his willingness to always accompany me. Since the last four years, I've probably dodged three of his attempts to kiss me. Again, I pretended not to notice.

"Let's go, I'll take you home," he says to me. Why do I need a car when there are so many people willing to drop me places?

I get home around four o'clock. I have one hour and forty minutes to get ready for the dinner. I take and shower and look in my closet. Maybe I should borrow something from Dayna. I head to her room and look in her closet. If I didn't know Dayna and I had to judge her based on the clothes in her closet, I would think she was a prostitute.

I sigh. Well, this is useless. I remember a black jumpsuit Dayna wore once to a funeral. That would be perfect. I go digging in her closet and spot it in the back. I pull it out and try it on. It looks better on me than it does on her, I think to myself. I put on a few silver bracelets and silver earrings and it comes together. Dayna is not here to do my makeup so it's all up to me. When I'm done, I'm very proud of my work. I add a silver clutch and I must say I do look very classy.

The doorbell rings exactly at five forty. I grab my coat and open the door. A short white man dressed in black with a driver's hat stands at my door. He ushers me into the car and opens the door for me. He then hops in the driver's seat and drives off.

I arrive at Noah's house around 6:15. The driver opens my door and I walk toward the house. Every step I make toward the house makes me more and more nervous. The house is beautiful. This is probably the biggest house I've ever seen in person. It's a stone mansion. It's about three stories high, but the height of the house makes it looks three times that. The front has two large french doors placed between two tall pillars on each side. The windows are large and from the looks of it, there are at least three fireplaces. I won't even try to guess the number of acres of land this house is built upon. It is jaw-dropping beautiful.

Before I can ring the doorbell, somebody answers it. From the looks of it, he must be some type of server. He bows to me, "Welcome Ava." He leads me towards the kitchen where sits Noah, a man who I assume to be his brother, a woman I don't recognize and his two parents. I am relieved that Devlin isn't here. Everybody stares at me. Even though I know I am on time, I feel late.

I wave "Hi, I'm ava."

No one says anything at first. Noah gets up and pulls me a chair between him and the woman I cannot identify. I sit.

"Ava, this is my brother Eric," He points at the man who I assumed was his brother. Eric says hi and shakes my hand. His brother has the same toffee-colored skin as he does, but instead of gray eyes, he has brown eyes. He is good-looking but nowhere as good-looking as Noah.

"This is my sister Sasha," he points to the woman I couldn't identify. She looks young. She's a little lighter in skin colour than her brothers but I can still see the similarities. She shares the same gray eyes as Noah. She smiles and says hi to me and her two dimples become visible. She really reminds me of Noah.

"And these are my parents, Michael, and Nina Knight," he says with a smile. His mother is a shade darker than Noah and his father is an olive colour. I see how the colours combine.

"It's very nice to meet you," his father says. He seems very nice.

The first course comes in and that's when everybody starts to talk. Micheal talks a little about the company with Noah until his mother suggests a change of subject. They bicker a little before Micheal agrees.

I'm glad no one has really turned the attention to me until his mother Nina asks me what I do.

"Well, I will be graduating from university this year." They all congratulate me and ask me about my major. "I completed an English degree. Right now, I work as a waitress at a café downtown."

When I say this, this room becomes stiff. Sasha and Eric both look at their mother. I'm guessing she's the one who would have a problem with where I work.

"But I'm sure you're not planning to do waitressing forever dear," she says to me.

Micheal looks at her. "Nina, she just finished school. Do you expect her to have a well-paid full-time career already?" They start to bicker again. This is not what I expected coming here.