New Year, New Baby (Love for the Holidays #4)

Chapter 1

Nova

“O h my god, I’m soooo looking forward to winter break,” my friend Adora rhapsodizes. She takes an emphatic bite of a Christmas cookie and then closes her eyes. “Mmmm.”

I giggle.

“I swear, Adora, seeing you eat that cookie is like watching you have an orgasm.”

My buddy’s blue eyes fly open, devilish and naughty.

“You know it. Who needs guys these days? As long as I have my sugar, I can die a happy woman.”

“Oh my god!” I practically screech with laughter while pelting her with a handful of fluffy caramel popcorn.

We’re in the quad at La Salle High in New York City, and the only ones who’ve braved the cold during this chilly week.

I don’t blame my classmates. Maybe it hasn’t started snowing in the city yet, but it’s cold all the same.

Still, Adora and I like to get outside when we can. With our big puffers on, as well as hats smashed on our heads and scarves wrapped around our faces, we look like misshapen snowmen. But it’s okay because with no one around, we can act like silly idiots.

“We can’t live without men! They’re too cute and handsome to ignore. I love men,” I protest after my laughing subsides.

Adora gets a thoughtful look on her pretty features.

“Yeah, me too, but there is a movement these days to stay away from boys. What is it called again? A man-cation?”

I nod.

“Yeah, that or a dating cleanse.”

“No, no, not a dating cleanse,” Adora corrects. “That’s too tame. I mean really staying away from men. Not letting them rule your thoughts or control your actions.”

I shoot her an arch look.

“You mean, by joining a nunnery? Taking your vows to become a woman of faith? But that’s not staying away from men because Jesus is a guy, and worshipping him governs a truly devout life. Wouldn’t that violate the whole thing?”

Adora rolls her eyes.

“Hardy har har, Nova, you’re so funny. You should mention that observation to your pastor next week.” But then my blonde buddy perks up. “Oh wait, but now I remember! The movement’s called ‘decentering men.’”

This time, I really do roll my eyes.

“Decentering men?” I ask in a droll tone. “No seriously, how does that happen? Girlfriend, you and I may only be eighteen, but we know better than that: this is a world designed by and for men, and we just live in it.”

Adora shoots me a doleful look.

“Sadly, that’s true. But this movement was set up to combat the structural issues devaluing women. We’re not going to let them rule us. We’re going to control our thoughts so that this whole dating rigamarole doesn’t consume 90% of my waking hours.”

“Or in my case, 99%,” I add with a wink. “Seriously, I love guys, Dora. But yeah, I see your point. I’d be so productive if I weren’t so boy-crazy!”

We both dissolve into giggles then because while my buddy and I love to gossip about boys and who’s dating whom, the truth of the matter is that Adora and I hardly get out.

Oh sure, we go to high school dances and socialize with some of the boys in the Jane Austen Book Club (yes, we have male classmates in said book club).

But the long and the short of it is that we don’t get out much in a romantic sense.

Instead, we read glossy magazines chock full of relationship advice, while consuming hours and hours of Love Island, Love is Blind , 90-Day Fiancé , and the entire Bachelor Nation series.

Maybe these shows aren’t the best way to learn about love, but sadly, it’s about as close as Adora and I are going to get.

Still though, I have my secret crushes. We have as number of male classmates who’ve matured a lot over the last few years, and who look a bit more like men now, instead of twig-like boys.

Even some of the nerds from Math Club have shot up, and tower over me instead of the reverse.

But it’s not universal, and most of my guy friends are definitively not manly.

They continue to suffer from acne, and their voices break at the most inopportune times.

It’s almost funny, but I try not to laugh because I know it’s embarrassing for them.

Speaking of which, someone in a big puffy jacket exits the cafeteria and begins to amble towards us. Adora squints at the shuffling figure while biting into another Christmas cookie.

“Isn’t that David Cooper?” she asks. He pulls his hood down as he approaches, coppery red hair glinting in the winter sunlight. “Oh yeah, it’s def him. Carrot Top himself.”

“Hey, that’s not nice!” I say under my breath while trying to stifle a smile. “Carrot Top has a huge steroids problem, and David doesn’t at all.” Then, I clam up as David comes to a stop next to our table. He shoots me a big smile.

“Hey Nova,” he greets, slightly out of breath. “Hey Adriana—”

“Adora,” my buddy corrects while popping another cookie into her mouth. “But don’t worry, I forgive you because everyone makes that mistake. What’s up, rubber duck?”

David bobs and ducks his head, his freckles distinct against the pale skin of his face. Like many redheads, he has blonde lashes and brows, which give him a cool, although slightly alien look.

“Well, the Math Club is having a bake sale, so I thought you girls would like to join us,” he invites with a big smile my way while stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

The puffer makes him look like the Michelin Tire Guy, although I know beneath it, he has the narrow shoulders and bony chest of an adolescent.

“David, I’ve already taken my SATs, and so has this girl here,” Adora speaks for us. “I don’t need you to sit for the math portion of the exam for me.”

The young man goes bright red, his entire face flushing.

“Oh no, I wasn’t implying anything about the SATs,” he babbles in confusion. “Just that they have some special moonlight brownies that I thought you girls might like. Here, I even brought you one.”

Then, he pulls one hand out of his jacket pocket to reveal a smushed-up brown thing wrapped in a napkin. He hands it to me, and I peel the napkin open to reveal what looks like a chocolate treat decorated with silver sparkles on top.

“This looks yummy,” I praise. “Thank you, David. I’m on a sugar cleanse, so I’m avoiding baked goods for now. But I’ll definitely eat your moonlight brownie later,” I add in a quick voice with a dazzling smile at the teen boy. “I can make an exception for you.”

David blushes again, and it’s quite cute, actually. I appreciate that that this teen boy has an obvious crush on me. He opens his mouth to say something else, but Adora cuts him off.

“Thanks David,” she says in a loud voice. “I’ll help Nova eat it. We’re both cutting back on sugar, but we appreciate the gesture.”

David opens his mouth again, but this time he’s interrupted by a third person who’s materialized in the quad.

“Hey hey hey,” our classmate Stan growls.

He claps a huge hand on David’s shoulder, which makes the thin boy stagger.

“What’s going on here? Brownie for me?” Then, without a moment of hesitation, Stan plucks the brownie from my palm and pops it in his mouth.

He swallows without chewing and the entire thing vanishes, as if it never existed.

“This shit is good,” Stan grins ear-to-ear. “Did you make it, David? Nice.”

By now, the poor boy is an alarming shade of fire-engine red. His voice seems to go up an octave as he speaks.

“Yeah, with my little sister,” he squeaks.

“Oh, how sweet!” I exclaim with a big smile at him. “What a nice way to spend time together building sibling bonds.”

But David knows that a so-called Big Man on Campus has arrived, and nods at Stan before backing away from the table.

“My sister Coralie and I are close despite a ten-year age gap,” he mutters while staring at the ground. “It was good talking to you, Nova. There are more treats if you girls want them!” he calls. “See ya!” Then, he disappears into the cafeteria as the BMOC turns his attention to us.

Stan is conventionally good-looking, actually, and one of the guys who seemed to sprout four inches overnight.

I remember during junior year, we were about the same height, but now Stan is a massive six three, with dark brown hair, blue eyes, and broad shoulders.

He’s the quarterback of the high school football team, and while he’s handsome, there’s something weird about his face.

I finally figured out what it is after perusing our yearbook.

It’s his lips. Stan has the fleshy, reddened lips of a cupid, and it looks weird against the chiseled planes of his face.

I start seeing visions of the teen boy with a quiver of arrows on his back as he flies around in a diaper, but then stop myself.

These are not nice thoughts, and I shouldn’t go down this path.

Still, why is he talking to us? Stan is a popular guy, whereas me and Adora are wallflowers who generally spend more time with the romance heroes in books, than a romance hero in real life.

“So what are you girls doing?” Stan drawls, his blue eyes assessing me. I feel like he’s trying to see my curves beneath my puffer, and mentally thank the jacket for being so shapeless.

“Eating,” says Adora while popping another cookie into her mouth. “It’s lunch time at La Salle.”

I glare at my friend because why is she being so rude? But the pretty blonde merely grins at me ear-to-ear in response. “What’s going on with you, Stan?” she asks. “What brings you to our neck of the woods?”

To my surprise, the handsome quarterback begins to flush, beginning with the nape of his neck. I can see the redness rising, and disappearing into his dark locks as his cheeks bloom.

“Well, I was just going to see if you girls wanted catch a movie sometime,” he manages in a normal tone.

“What’s out?” Adora asks, crunching loudly on a peppermint stick. “Anything good?”

“ Deadpool and Wolverine ,” Stan states. “It’s supposed to be a sick film.”

Adora squints at him, her blue eyes like slits.