Her Bundles Of Joy

*****

“Nicole, please, get in the car. You can’t possibly walk all the way back to Brooklyn.”

“I can try.” The dancer shrugged. “I want to take a walk, think things through.”

“Then let’s take a walk together. We can walk around the block and I’ll take you home when you’re feeling like it.” Brandi summoned her most convincing voice.

Nicole seemed to think about it for a few seconds, before nodding once. “Okay.”

The two friends walked side-by-side in silence, one thinking of how she could possibly help her friend right now, and the other replaying Evan’s words over and over. Nicole felt completely numb, she couldn’t even bring herself to cry anymore. She’d shed some tears back in his apartment, but that was due to the heat of the moment. The dancer no longer felt like crying, no longer felt like screaming, no longer felt like hitting Evan, she no longer felt.

They’d been circling the block for almost an hour before Nicole sat down on the sidewalk. Brandi thought it was kind of gross to sit on a New York sidewalk but followed her friend’s action. The things she did for her best friends…The singer sighed and draped her arm across Nicole’s shoulder, pulling the woman into a warm embrace. They stayed like that for a few minutes before Brandi decided Nicole had had enough time to think.

“How are you feeling?”

“To be honest, I’m not feeling anything,” the dancer muttered. “I think it hasn’t dawned on me yet, I don’t think I’ve wrapped my head around his words yet.”

“Did you mean what you said back there? About raising the kid by yourself,” Brandi whispered.

Nicole nodded. “I will. And I’ll make sure this kid will be very bright and successful, so Evan will regret losing the opportunity to be a part of his child’s life. I want him to forever hold the burden of knowing he abandoned his own son or daughter.”

“That’s not fair, though. You can’t keep him from seeing his kid.”

“Oh, you want to talk about what’s fair and what’s not? It wasn’t fair that he accused me of being a gold digger, a wh*re. It wasn’t fair that he accused me of taking advantage of our friendship to get myself impregnated and take his money, when I’ve never even allowed any of you guys to pay the bill when we went out together. Have you ever felt like I was trying to take advantage of you or something?” Brandi shook her head. “Then why would he feel like that? I loved him, Brandi, I really did. In fact, I still do. I fell in love with Evan in a way that I’ve never fell for anyone else, but he also hurt me like no one else before. I’ll have this kid and I’ll love him or her with all my heart, and that’s it. No Evan and no other man in my life from now on. It’s going to be me and my child.”

“And me…” Brandi smiled. “I’ll always be by your side, you know that, right? I’ll help you with your baby. I’ll be like the cool aunt who’ll buy him the coolest gifts ever and take him on nice holidays, and help him prank his cranky mother.”

“Hey! I’m not cranky.” Nicole untangled herself from Brandi’s arms. “And you will not spoil my child, you hear that? I’ll ground both of you.”

Brandi scoffed. “Yeah, right.” The singer touched Nicole’s flat stomach. “You hear that little one? Your mommy thinks we won’t play around. She’s in for a big surprise, isn’t she?”

The two best friends laughed. Brandi’s face turned into a serious one. “But seriously, I’m here for you, Nicole. I’ll help you every step along the way. I want to be his or her godmother, by the way.”

Nicole chuckled. “Don’t worry, you will.” She pulled Brandi into a tight hug. “Thank you so much for your support. You’re the best friend I could’ve asked for.”