Thrive

The following Saturday is the day of Miranda’s baby shower and it’s at the same hotel where Alex’s birthday party was at. As joyous as the occasion is, the love of her life isn’t here just like mine, but today’s about her and the baby. It's roughly a month till he arrives and she's wondering where the time has gone, but at the same time, she's beyond ready for him to be born. Less than hour before her shower was set to start, I heard Miranda’s phone ring; I assumed it was Jack.

“Hey.” she greeted.

“Hey. How are you feeling this morning?”

“I’m feeling great. Well, for the most part. I’d love for you to be here right now.”

“Me too. It fucking sucks.”

“It definitely does.” she said frowning.

When I saw the look on her face, I walked over to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek.

“Why so sad, sweetcheeks?”

She laughed.

“Why you laughing?” I overheard Jack say.

“Abby just kissed my cheek and called me sweetcheeks.”

He laughed as well.

“You know I really like that friend of yours. Can I talk to her?”

“Of course.”

She handed me her phone.

“He wants to talk to you.”

I smiled and put the phone to my ear.

“Hey Jack.”

“Hey Abby. I’d like to thank you again for being there for Miranda when I can’t be. It’s incredibly tough not being by her side like I should be.”

He’s so damn sweet; no wonder why she loves him so much.

“Well, I don’t know what I’d do without her, especially without Alex here.”

“I’m gonna let you get back to the shower. I’m sure there are some final touches you need to do.”

“Ok. Talk to ya later.”

“You too.”

I handed the phone back to Miranda before excusing myself to finish up and make this whole occasion as perfect as possible. I had my mom who flew here for this very event because she’s pretty much family to her. I wanted to incorporate their baby’s name, but they haven’t come up with one it which has to be frustrating. However, we do have a theme with the color green and bears and instead of cake, we have cupcakes from our favorite bakery.

“Everything looks perfect. Thank you, Abby.”

“I only want the best for my bestie and my nephew. How active is he today?”

“Very active. I put my phone up to my belly and he started kicking. She started tearing up. Even when Jack’s not physically here, it only takes hearing his voice for him to start kicking. It’s amazing.”

I smiled.

“I wonder what it’s gonna be like with Alex.”

“It’ll probably be the same. Has he sung to the baby yet?”

“Not yet, but I’m sure it’ll happen and I assure you now that I’m gonna cry when it does.”

“I have no doubts about it. It’s her daddy, after all and two, he has a great voice. How could you not respond to that?”

“You’re right. Hell, I was a sucker for that voice even before I met him.”

I was in the worst place in my life. I was stuck in my hometown and attending a community college because I couldn’t afford to go a major university. My best friend was on the whole other side of the country in California attending her dream school. Recently, I had been diagnosed with depression which was just the icing on top of the cake of a shitty life.

One day after class, I headed to the mall and walked into a music store, hoping to find something new to listen. Since I like rock, punk and alternative, I headed to that aisle and an album caught my eye immediately. It was an EP titled Put Up or Shut Up from this band called All Time Low and I wondered if they got their name from a lyric in a New Found Glory song because NFG is one of my favorite bands by far; turns out, I was right. I picked it up and went straight to the register and paid for it. I put it in the CD player in my car and pressed play.

When I heard the singer’s voice for the very first time, I was hooked and the music only got better from there. I loved the lyrics and I had a feeling that these guys were going to go far. One of the songs seemed to be more emotional than the others and I fell love in it maybe because I was in an emotional place; who knows, but from then on, they became my favorite band and I hoped that would never change.

Make it a sweet, sweet goodbye - it could be for the last time and it's not right.
"Don't let yourself get in over your head, " he said.
Alone and far from home we'll find you

Dead like a candle you burned out;
Spill the wax over the spaces left in place of angry words.
Scream to be heard, like you needed any more attention;
Throw the bottle, break the door, and disappear.

Sing me to sleep, I'll see you in my dreams, waiting to say, "I miss you. I'm so sorry."
Forever's never seemed so long as when you're not around it's like a piece of me is missing.
I could have learned so much from you but what's left now?
Don't you realize you brought this family a world of pain?
Can't you see there could have been a happy ending we let go?

Sing me to sleep, I'll see you in my dreams, waiting to say, "I miss you. I'm so sorry."

Sing me to sleep (You've taken so much with you)
I'll see you in my dreams, (But left the worst with me),
Waiting to say, "I miss you. I'm so sorry."

“Having a flashback?” she asked seeing my smile.

“Yeah. It was when I first started listening to the guys. One of my favorite memories.”

She smiled and hugged me.

“Hey, could you get my mom to help me out in the kitchen?”

“Let me-“

“You go sit, Mommy-to-Be.”

“Ok.” she said shaking her head.

An hour later as we were eating, Alex called.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

“How are you? How are things going?”

“Things are going well and I’m great.”

“Everybody love your food?”

I insisted on cooking everything although my friends thought I was crazy for doing that.

“Absolutely. There probably isn’t gonna be any leftovers.”

“That’s a guarantee. I fucking miss your food.”

If only he could see me blushing right now.

“I bet you do.”

“Someone sounds cocky.”

“Well, you’re my favorite person to cook for, so I can say that.”

“You’re justified.”

“Exactly.”

He laughed.

“You got a point.” he agreed.

“Yes. I do.”

“Could you cook what you cooked for today when I get back? If you wouldn’t mind...”

Of course I don’t mind.

“Definitely.”

“Yes.”

I laughed.

“You’re awesome.” he said.

“Thanks, Alex.”

“My pleasure, Abby. Well, I’m gonna let you go.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

I hung up and smiled. I looked over at Miranda then around the room to see just about everybody had finished eating which meant it was time to open gifts.

“Are we still recording this for Jack?” she asked.

Since he couldn’t be here, she wanted to do the next thing and record the opening of the gifts and send it to him.

"Of course."

She gave me a side hug which caused me to laugh. My mom set up her phone to record and then joined the rest of us for gift opening. I was overly excited for Alex and I’s joint gift which I told her to open last; she wasn’t happy about that as it was the biggest one there, but... all that matters is that she’s gonna like it.

“Thank you for doing this. It means a lot.”

“I’d do anything for you. You know that.”

Miranda opened a multitude of gifts, including diapers, toys, a stroller among other things and loved all of them, but when she got to the final one, she had no idea what to expect; it was in a huge basket.

“What in the world did you guys get us?” she said wide-eyed.

“Just open it.” I said, biting my lip.

She removed the wrapper and her mouth dropped.

“Abby...”

There was a blanket, a huge teddy bear and several onesies and shirts. What truly stood out were the Ravens and Redskins shirts which amused all of us.

“I’m hoping he’s gonna pick the right team.” I said.

“Absolutely. Give him options, but I can deal with it if he picks the Ravens when he’s older. I put up with it with Jack, after all.”

Everyone laughed.

“Yeah. I’m gonna have to do the same thing with my little princess.”

“Thanks both of you for them and thanks for everything.”

“You’re welcome, hun. I love you, guys.”

And what a day that turned out to be.

Notes