couples_therapy || 43.5. Nine Months
43.5. Take any title from one of the romantic comedies listed here and write a response inspired by it (from Week 26) - "Nine Months"
[Follows THIS, THIS and THIS]
Not even Ben and Jerry were helping her this time. Every time she tried to eat, her throat constricted in warning that her stomach would reject anything she ingested. She was so stressed and wound up that her muscles were aching, giving her a sore neck and threatening a migraine behind her eyes. It probably didn’t help that she had been sitting for the last half an hour staring at a computer screen with her nose mere inches away from it.
The kiss with Andrew had come as a shock; like a slap in the face once she realised what had happened. Panic had set in and her first reaction had been to run and hide… as soon as she was out of his presence. She never meant to be such a bitch to him or to slam the door in his face. It had been a knee-jerk reaction because it wasn’t supposed to feel like that. She wasn’t supposed to be kissing anyone else but the father of her baby and she wasn’t supposed to be noticing the inklings of those warm fuzzy feelings when you meet someone you find yourself rapidly becoming addicted to. The kiss had forced all her bottled emotions up to the surface and after calmly and carefully placing Jamie in the freshly built baby buggy, Ali had prompt gone to the bathroom and puked her guts up much reminiscent of her many weeks of morning sickness in the early stages of her pregnancy. To top it off, the Diapered One must have decided she was highly put out by the abrupt absence of Andrew’s warm arms because she proceeded to cry almost non-stop for the rest of the afternoon, with more force and passion than she had ever cried since she was born. Ali did the only thing she could think of at that point… cried right along with her.
Once she regained her composure and peeled herself up off the bathroom floor, she realised this was one of those times she was going to have to try and stay sane for the sake of her baby. She proceeded through the next twelve or so hours on autopilot before her mind kicked in to overdrive again. The kiss should never have happened. She let herself fall into the bubble of caring Andrew offered with his sheer and unquestionable kindness. He was just the distraction she needed after the month of shit she survived through. Nine months of shit, really. She let herself enjoy him and his company. She desperately needed something nice and then he was just there. She let herself be weak with him even just for a split second, and she let herself want him for more than just his kind gesture of concern for her. He was funny and so completely wonderful with the baby that she had let herself stop thinking about all-encompassing Mark and James and saw Andrew standing in their place just for a glimpse.
It was a fucking mess! Mark was Jamie’s father and nothing could change that. Sure, he was in Australia and probably wouldn’t return to New York to step into the daddy shoes Jamie needed. He certainly wouldn’t step into husband shoes because Ali didn’t want that. He had hurt her too much and there was too much bad blood between them to play happy families. But she did love him. She never really stopped. But it wasn’t the same anymore. She loved him, but it wasn’t how it should be. In fact, she was becoming more and more convinced she just loved him as the father of her baby. And then there was the age thing. Andrew had mentioned his age in passing, and while Ali hadn’t thought to reveal hers, she was two years older than him and it just seemed like it should be a huge thing. She was used to being with Mark…a guy who was nearly ten years older than her, and a guy who was so sure of himself and even bordering on arrogant at times. He was a lawyer and she had always been used to dating the forceful types. Andrew was nothing like that. He was sweet, shy and seemingly bashful at times. He had this downer on himself about dating and his ability to hook woman. He was nothing like her type, but what if her type had been wrong all these years? Not to mention the fact she was a huge bitch and he was like the boy next door every mother who commit first degree crimes to get him to hook up with their daughters. It was so soon after everything that her mind was a tangled mess. She could hardly think and all she could see playing in her mind over and over again was the look on his face when she pushed him away.
And it hurt.
So, with Jamie napping peacefully in the basinet beside her, Ali sat down at her PC and began to share a volley of emails with Izzy in England. She explained the situation with enough typos and grammar errors to make and English teacher’s balls to shrivel up, to finally have a single line email in return from Izzy that merely said:
Then why did you kiss him back?
This is what had Ali staring numbly at the computer screen with absolutely no answer to offer her friend back. She tried to begin replies, but deleted them all when nothing but ‘Because he’ or ‘Because I’ would grow in her confused brain. Why did she kiss him back? It wasn’t enough to simply say it was because his lips were warm and soft, or because his arse looked mighty fine in both jeans and Paramedic coveralls. Why did she kiss him back? But worse, why, despite everything, did she want to do it again?
agentfraser & isabelowens referenced with permission
Partner | Andrew Connor [paramedically]
Word Count | 973
[Follows THIS, THIS and THIS]
Not even Ben and Jerry were helping her this time. Every time she tried to eat, her throat constricted in warning that her stomach would reject anything she ingested. She was so stressed and wound up that her muscles were aching, giving her a sore neck and threatening a migraine behind her eyes. It probably didn’t help that she had been sitting for the last half an hour staring at a computer screen with her nose mere inches away from it.
The kiss with Andrew had come as a shock; like a slap in the face once she realised what had happened. Panic had set in and her first reaction had been to run and hide… as soon as she was out of his presence. She never meant to be such a bitch to him or to slam the door in his face. It had been a knee-jerk reaction because it wasn’t supposed to feel like that. She wasn’t supposed to be kissing anyone else but the father of her baby and she wasn’t supposed to be noticing the inklings of those warm fuzzy feelings when you meet someone you find yourself rapidly becoming addicted to. The kiss had forced all her bottled emotions up to the surface and after calmly and carefully placing Jamie in the freshly built baby buggy, Ali had prompt gone to the bathroom and puked her guts up much reminiscent of her many weeks of morning sickness in the early stages of her pregnancy. To top it off, the Diapered One must have decided she was highly put out by the abrupt absence of Andrew’s warm arms because she proceeded to cry almost non-stop for the rest of the afternoon, with more force and passion than she had ever cried since she was born. Ali did the only thing she could think of at that point… cried right along with her.
Once she regained her composure and peeled herself up off the bathroom floor, she realised this was one of those times she was going to have to try and stay sane for the sake of her baby. She proceeded through the next twelve or so hours on autopilot before her mind kicked in to overdrive again. The kiss should never have happened. She let herself fall into the bubble of caring Andrew offered with his sheer and unquestionable kindness. He was just the distraction she needed after the month of shit she survived through. Nine months of shit, really. She let herself enjoy him and his company. She desperately needed something nice and then he was just there. She let herself be weak with him even just for a split second, and she let herself want him for more than just his kind gesture of concern for her. He was funny and so completely wonderful with the baby that she had let herself stop thinking about all-encompassing Mark and James and saw Andrew standing in their place just for a glimpse.
It was a fucking mess! Mark was Jamie’s father and nothing could change that. Sure, he was in Australia and probably wouldn’t return to New York to step into the daddy shoes Jamie needed. He certainly wouldn’t step into husband shoes because Ali didn’t want that. He had hurt her too much and there was too much bad blood between them to play happy families. But she did love him. She never really stopped. But it wasn’t the same anymore. She loved him, but it wasn’t how it should be. In fact, she was becoming more and more convinced she just loved him as the father of her baby. And then there was the age thing. Andrew had mentioned his age in passing, and while Ali hadn’t thought to reveal hers, she was two years older than him and it just seemed like it should be a huge thing. She was used to being with Mark…a guy who was nearly ten years older than her, and a guy who was so sure of himself and even bordering on arrogant at times. He was a lawyer and she had always been used to dating the forceful types. Andrew was nothing like that. He was sweet, shy and seemingly bashful at times. He had this downer on himself about dating and his ability to hook woman. He was nothing like her type, but what if her type had been wrong all these years? Not to mention the fact she was a huge bitch and he was like the boy next door every mother who commit first degree crimes to get him to hook up with their daughters. It was so soon after everything that her mind was a tangled mess. She could hardly think and all she could see playing in her mind over and over again was the look on his face when she pushed him away.
And it hurt.
So, with Jamie napping peacefully in the basinet beside her, Ali sat down at her PC and began to share a volley of emails with Izzy in England. She explained the situation with enough typos and grammar errors to make and English teacher’s balls to shrivel up, to finally have a single line email in return from Izzy that merely said:
Then why did you kiss him back?
This is what had Ali staring numbly at the computer screen with absolutely no answer to offer her friend back. She tried to begin replies, but deleted them all when nothing but ‘Because he’ or ‘Because I’ would grow in her confused brain. Why did she kiss him back? It wasn’t enough to simply say it was because his lips were warm and soft, or because his arse looked mighty fine in both jeans and Paramedic coveralls. Why did she kiss him back? But worse, why, despite everything, did she want to do it again?
agentfraser & isabelowens referenced with permission
Partner | Andrew Connor [paramedically]
Word Count | 973