And In You, I Confide

“Hey guys! I have an idea!” a feminine voice screamed from upstairs. Jimmy, Johnny, Matt, Zack and I were all sitting in Brian’s living room as we waited to find something to do today. Our gazes all shot to the stairs as we watched the very large Jessi attempt to waddle down the stairs as Brian followed one step behind with his arms out, ready to catch her in any situation that involved her falling. She successfully reached the bottom of the steps and propped herself against the railing for a bit to catch her breath before her face lit up with excitement. “Let’s go to the zoo.”
“… The zoo.” Matt repeated, emphasizing his thoughts on the idea with the smirk dancing across his lips and the higher tone he had used when speaking. The five of us in the circle all shared a dubious look before our eyes flitted to Brian, who also looked a bit unnerved at the thought of going to a place like the zoo.
“Yes, the zoo.” Jessi replied, completely oblivious to our skepticism. “I think it’d be fun. Looking at the animals, enjoying the weather—Oh! Riding the trolley.”
“Jessi you’re a bowling ball,” I stated bluntly as I pointed to her. She looked down and put a hand on her stomach. “You could barely make it down the stairs, do you really think you could make it around the zoo for at least an hour?”
“Well… I mean…” Jessi’s lip fell into a pout at she glared accusingly at us. “You guys wanted something to do so I came up with something!”
“Jess, if you want to go to the zoo, we can.” Zack sighed, falling easily into the trap of hormonal pregnant women. Everyone shot Zack an irritated look but he didn’t respond. Jessi grinned widely and jumped slightly.
“Yay!” Jessi was the only one that seemed remotely excited to go to the zoo, and she didn’t fail to pick up on the tension in the room. Her smile slid off her face and she shifted uncomfortably. “So do we want to go now or later?”
“Probably now since it’s cooler.” I answered simply. Jessi nodded and made an unhappy face before bouncing a little.
“Okay, so I guess Brian and I will take my car and we’ll meet you guys there.” Jessi announced as she began shifting herself towards the door, waiting for us to get up and follow her. One by one all of us stood up and began filing out of Brian’s house, Jessi and Brian in front of everyone. Brian continued to stand less than a foot away from Jessi as she walked, his hands around her in a guarding manner. “Brian, back off. I’m not going to fall.” She pushed him away a little and waddled faster towards her car.
“Damn, pregnancy hormones are ruthless.” Matt chuckled as he inspected Brian’s dumbfounded facial expression. I shot him a look and smirked.
“Actually I think that was just Jessi’s personality.” A few of them laughed and Brian jogged to Jessi’s car to help her into the passenger’s seat before walking toward the driver’s seat. As he walked back he made an annoyed look and let out a heavy breath.
“We’re seriously not going to the zoo, are we?” Johnny whispered, his eyes glancing at Jessi to make sure she couldn’t hear him and snap his neck. Brian hung his head low and ran his hand threw his hair.
“She insisted.” Brian whimpered. I raised an eyebrow and gave him a look. He huffed and slumped his shoulders. “She-she started crying, okay?! I couldn’t just say no to my pregnant girlfriend.”
“You’re weak, man.” Zack giggled, his arm wrapping around my waist. Brian narrowed his eyes and stalked over to the driver seat, his hand sliding on the handle before turning back to us.
“Wait until you knock up Emma and then tell me you wouldn’t do something for her if she was crying.” With that, he pulled the door open and shoved himself into Jessi’s small car and pulled out of the driveway. We all watched them speed down the road before jumping into Jimmy’s car. Jimmy revved the engine and pulled out as all of us buckled ourselves in.
“I’m betting a hundred bucks that Jessi won’t last an hour.” Matt claimed as we reached the interstate. The car filled with laughter.
“I bet she won’t last half an hour.” Zack challenged. I scoffed and laughed a bit.
“Two hundred dollars says we’ll get into the zoo and she’ll have to sit down.” I bet. The boys looked at me and narrowed their eyes.
“You’re on.” Matt retorted, holding out his hand. I shook his and then Zack’s, smirking as I rested against the seat while I waited for us to reach the zoo.
It took us about half an hour to drive to the zoo since we stopped for some shakes to pass the time. None of us seemed really excited to go to the zoo except Jimmy, which was predictable, but since we didn’t want to go up against walking-waterworks we were just going to suck it up for an hour or two before we could go back and drink or something. We soon pulled into the parking lot, coincidentally pulling into a spot right next to Brian and Jessi. All of us slid out of the car and Brian did the same, swiftly walking over to Jessi’s side and helping her out. She pulled her shirt down over her stomach before stretching her back and shaking her arms out. Our attention turned to the zoo, which was a ways away from where we parked. My eyes moved to Zack and Matt, who were already taking out their wallets to pay me. I smirked.
“Okay, let’s get going.” Jessi gulped, her eyes looking sad as she realized that she probably wouldn’t be able to enjoy the zoo like she had hope. I kind of felt bad. Brian laced his fingers with hers and they began walking, the rest of us following slowly after them.
“So why did we park so far away?” I wondered as we walked. My eyes caught multiple parking spaces that were closer the zoo than where we parked, which made me wonder if Brian did this on purpose.
“Well…” Jessi breathed, a small layer of sweat beginning to cross her forehead. “I knew you guys would probably make b…bets so I wanted to p…prove something.”
“What’s wrong?” Zack asked worriedly, walking faster to see what was wrong with Jessi. Her eyes glanced in my direction and I noticed her skin was flushed.
“It’s… It’s just warm and… and Raina is fucking heavy.” Jessi mumbled, her free hand sliding on her swollen belly. Zack and Brian both slid their arms around Jessi’s waist and she put her arms around their shoulders before resting her head on Brian’s shoulder. I could tell they were helping her carry some of the weight, but I knew that Jessi had too much pride to let them help her more than they were now. Finally we reached the gates and Jessi pushed Zack away before dropping her arm from Brian’s shoulder. Brian bought her way in, Zack bought my way in, and the others all bought their way in. It was silent between us, and I could sense that the others felt a little bad that we were rude to Jessi. After all, we didn’t know what it was like to be pregnant, and if I had a bowling ball taped to my stomach I wouldn’t want people to stop me from having fun because they thought I couldn’t do it.
“So where do we want to go first?” Matt questioned as we neared the lion statues inside the entrance of the zoo. Everyone mumbled incoherent responses before looking at Jessi, who had thought of the idea to go to the zoo. Jessi’s bright blue eyes squinted in our direction before letting out a deep breath and sliding her hands under her stomach.
“You guys should go to the Cat exhibit and the aquarium.” She answered. Simultaneously, our head tilted sideways in confused. Jessi took a deep breath. “I need fucking water and I’m going to have to rest soon but I don’t want you placing bets on me. So go have fun at the monkey cages or something and I’ll stay here.”
“Are you sure, Jessi?” Johnny asked, stepping forward a little bit.
“We can wait for you if you need to rest.” Jimmy insisted. Jessi just nodded her head and waved us away. We all shared a poignant look before turning towards the main exhibits of the zoo. My eye caught Jessi pushing Brian towards us and I once again stopped walking.
“Love, I’m not going to leave you.” Brian argued, walking himself back next to Jessi. She merely stepped away. “Especially not when you look like you’re about to pop our baby out right now.”
“Brian, I’m freaking fine.” Jessi snapped, a pout running across her face. “I want you to go have fun. I’ll be fine here.” Her pout turned into a smile and she looked down at her bump lovingly. “I’ll just walk around; maybe go to the butterfly house. I’ll be okay alone. Just go get some pictures of the tigers for me.”
“Let’s go, guys.” Jimmy said, grabbing Brian’s arm to pull him away. Brian looked pained and quickly slid his arm out of Jimmy’s hand to go back to Jessi. She was about to protest but Brian stopped her with a gentle kiss, his hands going to her face. She leaned into Brian and he rubbed her face with his thumb as he kissed her like he wouldn’t see her again. He was probably scared to leave her after all the shit they went through, after all.
“I’ll be back for you in an hour.” Brian whispered quietly as he rested his forehead on hers. She nodded and kissed him one more time. “I love you, Jessica.”
“I love you too.” Jessi answered as she slid out of Brian’s arms. She shoved lightly on his arm and smiled. “Now go have fun with your friends. I’ll be right here when you get back.” Brian sighed deeply but let Jimmy grab his upper arm as we all moved towards the exhibits on the other side of the zoo. Jessi simply waved before walking towards a food stand.
“So where she we go first?” I asked as Jessi left out sight.
“Well I know where I’m going.” Jimmy stated. I looked at him and he grinned. “I want to check out those crocodiles.”
“Dude. Yes.” Matt howled, slapping Jimmy on the back approvingly. Johnny and Brian both nodded and looked to Zack and I, who stayed quiet.
“You guys can go to the crocodiles. But I want to go see the pandas and go to the aquarium. I heard this zoo has a water tunnel like Omaha did. I want to check it out.” I informed them.
“I’m going to go with her, too.” Zack announced. Matt chuckled.
“So much for a fun family day at the zoo.” He laughed. I smiled and shrugged.
“How about we all meet at the monkey cages after we go to our destination exhibits and we can feed some of the baby monkeys?” I suggested. Everyone seemed okay with that idea and we all waved at each other before heading in opposite directions.
“Why do you want to go see the pandas?” Zack asked as we got close to the bear exhibits. I shrugged.
“I love pandas.” I answered simply. Zack snickered and kissed my forehead as he squeezed my hand tightly. We walked through the bear circle, watching some of the bears being fed and some playing with each other. When we got to the pandas, I was practically climbing all over Zack from how damn adorable the baby pandas were. They were sliding down a slide and the mom panda kept helping her kids get back up onto the small panda playground. The daddy panda was sitting in the corner eating bamboo and watching his family, but went over to the mom when one of the babies fell and began crying. We watched them for a little longer before I snapped enough pictures to satisfy my panda need.
“Off to the aquarium?” Zacky asked me. I nodded and wrapped my arm around his waist as he pulled me towards the aquarium. We walked in silence and listened to the sound of the birds and the talk of the people. I actually enjoyed being outside and out of the house for once, since we haven’t really been anywhere due to the bowling ball. I didn’t blame Jessi for us not getting out, because it was our choice to stay with her. I knew that I’d have to end up apologizing for being mean to her earlier and thanking her for the great idea to go to the zoo.
We reached the aquarium in about ten minutes and I let my hand drop from Zack’s waist to his hand, which was waiting to take mine. We went through the entry and took our time at the petting zoo. We watched the penguins swim and I pointed out a few groups of penguins sitting in their nests, watching their little white eggs. Zack laughed and I looked up at him.
“It looks like everyone has babies now-a-days.” He whispered. I nodded and smiled. Zack pulled me along and we went through the hall of individual tanks, looking at the crabs and the jellyfish and the fish that were too small to be in the water tunnel. I took a bunch of pictures of the fish for Jessi and sent her a few before putting my phone away. Zack and I finally reached the water tunnel, which was surprisingly empty for such a nice day. We took our time watching the sharks swim by and we each took a picture near a shark that kept coming near us, as though he were interested in seeing us as much as we were interested in seeing him. We slowly made our way to the end of the tunnel and we were about to step out when this woman stopped us. She explained that she was a photographer and asked if she could get some pictures of us being all couple-y in the tunnel for her. We said we’d do it and she took pictures of us holding hands, looking at the fish and some pictures of us kissing under the tunnel. The lady thanked us and took my phone number so she could send some of the pictures once she had them done. She left and he laughed about how random that was as we entered the gift shop at the end of the tunnel.
“Hey, look at that!” I exclaimed, running over to the stuffed animals. I pulled out a stuffed otter that had a baby otter attached to its hand. “This is perfect for Jessi. I think she’d love it.”
“Then let’s get it for her.” Zack smiled, his arm tightly around my waist. I began to turn around when Zack pulled me with him towards another bucket of stuffed animals, which was filled with seahorses. He pulled a purple and pink sea horse out and showed it to me. He pointed to the tiny seahorse next to the larger one and a smile busted across his lips. “I’m going to get this one for us. You know, for the future.” I grinned and he kissed me gently before we went to the check out. We bought the stuffed animals and exited the aquarium, which was conveniently near the monkey cages. I could hear loud howling in the distance and I let out a groan.
“I bet you ten dollars that is not a monkey.” Zack laughed and nodded vigorously as we turned the corning to see Jimmy and Johnny screeching at some of the monkeys.
“Guys, quit patronizing those monkeys, they didn’t do anything to you.” Zack scolded. Jimmy and Johnny busted into laughter and all of us watched the monkeys for a bit before deciding to head back to Jessi. We talked about all we did today and what we saw. I showed Brian the stuffed otter I had gotten Jessi and he said it was absolutely perfect, but Zack wasn’t so lucky when the other three noticed he bought a seahorse with a baby.
“You know the male seahorses have the babies, right?” Matt snickered as he punched Zack. Zack pouted and grumbled to himself.
“Hey, leave the poor guy alone. Maybe he wants a baby seahorse.” Brian snapped. My eyes widened a bit and I looked at Brian. He merely shrugged at me, brushing off the idea that Zack wanted a kid. I had never thought of that… Did Zack want a kid?
My mind was clogged as we reached the place where Jessi said she’d be, but she wasn’t there. I noticed Brian looked uncomfortable, but he immediately softened his stance when Jessi came out of the butterfly house with a monarch painted on the side of her face, a butterfly headband, and a butterfly lollipop.
“How was the butterfly house?” Johnny giggled. Jessi grinned.
“Fantastic. How was your guys’ day?” She asked. We all answered that it was good and I handed her the stuffed otter, which made her squeal in excitement. Jessi hugged me and then went around the group, hugging each of them.
“Thanks for the idea to go to the zoo, Jessi.” I said happily.
“Yeah. I thought it was going to be lame but it turned out really fun.” Matt added. Everyone inserted their only little thank-you about going to the zoo.
“You’re welcome guys. I’m glad we could all get out for a little bit. Now let’s go home.”

Notes

Holy shit guys, seven months. It's been seven months since we've updated. I'm so sorry! I've just had such a writer's block on this story and Emma's computer broke so she couldn't write on this. But finally I forced myself to write this chapter, and I'm actually pretty proud of it. Hopefully now I'll be able to work on it more, but I also have WOYAAS and SSAS to worry about, so I'm not sure. I hope you enjoy this, though! ~Jessi