Sophia.
This poster, the message… it must have been her. I couldn’t even be angry, though, because it wasn’t a picture I hated. People would laugh over it and get over it, but it was a picture I cherished because my mom had taken it.
I walked through the common room, and there were more posters inside as well. I wondered how far around campus they’d gotten with this. I walked up to her room, then knocked on the door and waited calmly. A moment later, Sophia opened the door for me, looking guard.
She stood aside to let me inside, then closed the door behind her. Our eyes met and held over a long silence.
“If you were going to be this nervous, you could have just not done it in the first place.”
She looked surprised. “You aren’t even going to act like you’re mad?”
I shrugged. “Over something like this? No. if it were me in your position, back then, I would have done something like this. I haven’t done anything because my plans changed, but I have to know if we’re even with this. No more getting mad at me for hacking you.”
She pursed her lips, but I could tell that she was relieved. She tilted her chin up a little.
“We’re even,” she declared. Then added in warning, “But you better not try any more tricks.”
I sighed, a helpless smile on my lips. “Whatever you say. Now come here. You didn’t give me a lesson last time, so I’ll take this as it.”
I opened my arms, and she walked into them without hesitation. Her chest pressed to mine, and when I paid close attention, I could feel her fast heartbeat. We stood there a few minutes, just holding each other, then she pulled back. A smile was playing on her lips, relieved and playful.
“I do have one question, though,” she said.
“What is it?”
She grinned. “Do you not like X-Men? Because I’m not sure if I’m ready to forgive that.”
I chuckled and rested my forehead on hers. “Honestly? It’s starting to grow on me. I ended up looking deeply into it, watching some of the movies and cartoons online and reading up on it after the scare I got that you might find out. Not nearly as much as you, though.”
With that, I closed the space between our lips and gave her a soft kiss. I wasn’t worried about having a baby at such a young age, because Sophia was the girl for me. And I knew with no doubt that I was her man and we had the support that we needed from our parents. What could possibly go wrong?
Nothing!
Epilogue
Sophia
I held my baby boy as I sat in the living room. The TV was on, but I was hardly paying attention to whatever was on. Mom and Dad had just left.
It had been an adjustment, getting used to having a Dad, and being a mother, but I thought I was doing well. In the end, they had made the decision to stay in Elijah and his dad’s original home and left me and my mom’s home to Elijah and me, though they at least stayed with me through the pregnancy, then stayed with the baby over there while I went back to finish college. Then Elijah graduated, and he moved to stay with the baby in our home until I finished.
We were all against using a nanny. Mom thought it would be a waste when she had so much free time, and the distance between us didn’t seem to bother her, or Dad, much.
“You poor baby,” I murmured, rocking my son as he yawned and rubbed his eyes. “You’re the one that keeps getting moved around a lot, huh? But Mom and Dad need to work…”
I didn’t have a stable job yet. I had taken internships at different companies, but I was still in the market for a job. Until then, Elijah was the breadwinner, but I was determined to contribute something.
Well, I just took some time off, and Elijah should be earning enough, let alone the savings his Dad gave us. I could probably relax for a while and do my masters, then look for a job after that…
I wasn’t used to just having things given to me. Mom and I weren’t exactly poor, but we weren’t so well off, either. Also, since Mom started off as a housewife, for a long while, we survived on my late dad’s life insurance and whatever job Mom could manage at the time. But they had both been insistent on Elijah and me taking the funds because it would be useful for us before we could stand on our own two feet.
Maybe… I don’t need to be so impatient to find a job.
Honestly, though I’d been panicky over it at first, I was really happy just being a mom. There was a joy in it that I felt was incomparable. Sure, in a few years, Zach would start going to school, and I would get a lot of free time from them, but I could look for something that I could do online. I could find an online school, too, when I had the time.
I wasn’t in any hurry.
The door opened up, but I couldn’t move and risk waking the baby up. I knew who it was, anyway, and I looked up expectantly. There was the sound of something rolling on the ground, and then he moved from the foyer and into my sight.
“Elijah, hey,” I called softly, smiling. “We missed you.”