23. Liam #2
And that little statement is on the tip of my tongue but thankfully Chloe comes back and puts the concentration back on her photoshoot.
“Chloe, would it be okay if Liam stood in some pictures with you? I would love to get a few of the two of you together.” Eliana suggests, as Chloe comes closer to where we are standing.
I made a really good choice with the dress that I picked out. Just looking at her makes me forget how to breathe. The pink and soft tones of it all makes her glow all that more prominent.
“No, I don’t mind. I was actually going to ask if you could include him.” Chloe says, giving her a smile.
I’m about to interject and say that this day is about Chloe and Chloe only, before I can say anything, Eliana is pushing me over to where Chloe’s standing.
The woman gives me a bright smile and I give her one right back as I go stand next to her.
I turn to face the camera, only to find our lovely photographer shaking her head at us.
“What?” I ask
“Do something.” She says, bringing the camera up and waving her hand.
“What exactly do you want me to do?”
“Oh, I don’t know, get close to her, or maybe even touch her. I can’t take pictures of you looking all awkward.”
The last time I was called awkward I was a thirteen year old boy trying to find a pair of jeans that would actually fit the length of my legs.
I stand closer to Chloe but apparently that’s not good enough because Eliana stocks over and starts positioning me.
“You would think that as a professional athlete, you would know how to pose,” she says as she yanks my body in different directions.
“You would think that as a photographer you would be nicer to your subjects.” I throw back.
She legit scuffs at my comment. “Chloe, I have no idea how you would reproduce with this guy.”
“I’m a peach and she knows it.” I say to Eliana, narrowing my eyes at her.
Chloe just laughs. “He’s sweet and caring when he wants to be.”
Eliana just shakes her head and starts moving my body in different directions until she is happy with something.
In the end, Chloe and I end up standing right next to each other, no space in between us with both of our hands on her stomach.
“Great. Now stand there, look at each other and act like you guys are, oh I don’t know, about to have a baby.”
Eliana goes back to her spot, and I let out a small growl.
“If she wasn’t a friend I would fire her.” I say, which causes Chloe to let out a laugh.
“Be nice. She said that she was doing this as a favor to you.”
“Want to know why she owes me that said favor?” I ask her, trying my hardest not to get lost in her eyes.
Or worse yet, lean down and repeat my slip up from a few weeks ago and kiss her.
Fuck that kiss was good. So damn good, that I jerked off in the shower afterwards
A sweet giggle sings into my ear. “Sure.”
“The night of the ballet, Ms. Sour over there was supposed to be my date. She bailed on me right before I left the apartment. Looking at it now, I’m glad that she did, because then I wouldn’t have met you and we wouldn't be having a baby soon. But I didn’t know that then so I asked her for a future favor in return of not disowning her as a friend for ditching me. ”
The look on Chloe’s face is priceless. “Seriously?”
I nod. “I’m perfectly fine with blaming her for that night if you are.”
When she laughs at my suggestion, I can’t help but smile at her.
For the next few minutes, I stand next to Chloe, not saying a word and get mesmerized by her hazel eyes, just like I’ve done a handful of times in the seven months that we have known each other.
Never will I tire of getting lost in them. No matter what our relationship status is.
“Thank you for doing this,” Chloe tells me as we hear the shutter of the camera go off
“You don’t have to thank me for anything.”
“But I do. I don’t know why, but yesterday I was feeling so self-conscious about the changes happening to my body that hit me hard.
Who would have thought that I could cry over a pair of pants?
My body is changing and I should have expected it.
You went out of your way to make me feel beautiful today and for that I can’t thank you enough. ”
I slide a hand off her bump, up until I’m cupping her cheek.
“Don’t just let yourself just feel it. You not only look beautiful today. you have looked so damn beautiful everyday since I met you. So fucking beautiful that I wanna do take every single picture that Eliana takes today and have them all framed so I can look at them whenever I want.”
A blush creeps up her cheeks at my words, but they are the truth.
“You know, you have to stop saying things like that,” she says, even though she leans into my touch.
“And why would I do that?”
“Because I’m gonna start to think that maybe we made the wrong decision in not jumping into anything.”
“No, we made the right decision,” I say because we did.
We weren’t in a place to jump into anything serious when she found that she was pregnant. We had a lot of things going on. Dance, hockey, the baby, finding common ground.
But I feel like things between us have changed since then.
We’ve gotten to know each other, spent time together without the pressure of being perfect.
We know how to work together, something that we definitely didn’t know how to do seven months ago.
If we were to revisit the subject now, I feel like we would be able to make it work.
“But I will say this,” I continue. “Things change. We’ve changed and if that was something that you wanted to revisit, I'm game if you are.”
The blush that coated her cheeks a bit a go, now deepens and I can see it go down to her chest.
“You’re just saying that because I’m having your baby,” she says as if she is trying to convince herself of those words.
“I’m saying that because I’m attracted to the woman in front of me and my feelings for her have definitely grown in the last few months.
Do I find it hot seeing your body change because of my baby inside of you?
Of course I do. But my attraction to you has been present since the night we met. The baby has nothing to do with it.”
I’m laying everything out there. I don’t care anymore to hide what I feel for this woman. And I feel a lot.
These last few months have taught me so damn much about Chloe. So many things outside of what I was initially attracted to.
She’s kind and warm hearted. She’s exactly who I would choose to be by my side for as long as I live.
But if she wants to stay friends for all of our lives, then I would. For her.
Chloe and I look at each other the remainder of the shoot, not saying a single word, just letting Eliana get all the pictures that she needs.
Eventually, Eliana yells out that she got everything that wanted to get. She tells Chloe that she will send her the link to all the pictures in a few days.
We say bye and Chloe and I make over to where our car is waiting for us.
When we get to the car, I open the back door for her to get in but before she gets in, she turns to me and places a small kiss on the corner of my mouth.
It takes me by surprise, and my face must have shown it because Chloe lets out a little laugh before she gives me a smile.
“I’m really glad that Eliana bailed on you seven months ago. I couldn't have asked for a better father for our daughter.”
I don’t know where that leaves us, but that kiss I’m going to store it away with all the small kisses she has given me through the last few months.
If all I get is small kisses, I’ll take it.