We pull up to the single leveled building, the outside looking as if it hasn't been occupied in a while which made me look over at Aiden.

"Are you sure this is it?" I ask as we get closer to the warehouse type building.

"Yes, baby," Aiden chuckles while squeezing my hand. "Don't look so nervous."

I was extremely nervous, more so uneasy about the fact that I don't know how I'm supposed to model for this portrait. Are we even going that far today? We were sitting on the couch lazily when he got the splurge of energy and forced me out the door.

Now, I'm listening to our shoes click against the smooth, concrete floor. The air felt cool as my eyes begin to linger on the canvases hanging in the wall. Without a doubt, this man was extremely talented.

We grace the light at the end of the wide hallway, the spacious room filled with paint, easels, and hundreds of used and unused canvases. The wide windows near the ceiling of the place allowing a liberal amount of light to enter.

Oh.

I guess I must've spoke out loud, being the guy and the naked female glance our way. Not that there's anything wrong with her, she just caught me off guard.

"Eli!" Aiden calls out to the guy as he raises himself from the rolling stool, a big smirk on his face as he walks over to us. Aiden slips his hand out of mine as he embraces Eli in a typical male hug.

"Shit, you said two thirty, how are you late?" Eli asks as they pull away from each other, his hand coming up and running along his bearded jaw.

"We got...caught up." Aiden says, making me glance down at the ground for the fact we're over an hour late. Eli lets out a deep chuckle, his hands clasping together to crack at his knuckles.

"Uh huh," he mutters, probably knowing exactly what went down. His gray eyes meet mine as a small grin braces his chocolate skin. "Cameron? Elijah, nice to meet you."

"Hi," I say while shaking his hand. "Y-You're very talented, Elijah." I mentally scold myself for stammering over my own words, not like I have a reason to. My eyes watch as the redhead woman secures a robe tightly around her body, before making her way over to us.

"Take fifteen," Elijah says to the woman before she dips out of the room, not before giving us a small wave. "So, you ready?"

My brows crease as I look over at Aiden, who has already wandered over to the wall of paintings and such. "I, um...Aiden?"

"Hmm?" He hums mindlessly while looking back at us. "Oh, no, you're not doing anything today. We're just gonna talk about what we want done." He explains as the confused look on my face deepens.

What we want done? Does he want a nude painting of me? "Like a nude or something?" I ask as he takes hold of my hand, Elijah leading us deeper into the room and over to a couch.

"You want a nude?" Elijah pipes up as he takes a seat in the opposing chair, his fingers taking hold of the packet of cigarettes on the stand. I stare at his arm, the intricate and colorful tattoos creating a full sleeve. "I think Aiden will get jealous of me looking at you naked all day."

I let out a chuckle under my breath as I watch Aiden roll his eyes, the arm he has draped over my shoulder pulling me closer to him. "I didn't think you'd want to go that route...unless you do." He says, clearly game for the idea.

I grin at him while shaking my head no, not entirely opposed to the idea, just not right now. "No pressure," Elijah says while blowing out smoke, "pretty boy already has a few ideas in mind. I want to hear from you still."

"Oh," I say shortly while turning my head to look at the other paintings. "Um, I'm not all that familiar with art, so whatever you guys think will be best is fine."

His eyes stare me down before traveling up and down my frame, the motion of his fingers silently telling me to stand up. I look down at Aiden, mainly so I don't have to watch Elijah circle around me.

"She'll be good for what you had in mind." Elijah stands in front of me, his words directed towards Aiden. "You've finally said something meaningful to me."

Aiden mumbles something under his breath, most likely mocking Elijah, whom chuckles. "When can you start?" Aiden asks flatly, but the look on his face shows it's playful. Elijah takes a long drag from the cigarette, before placing it in the ash tray.

"Rude are we?" Elijah asks with a smirk, clearly feeding into the game or whatever with Aiden. I tune out Aiden's reply as my phone starts ringing, an unknown number displaying on the screen.

I leave it alone, assuming it's a scammer or something. I get myself situated to listen to the guys before it starts ringing again, the same number displayed. I mouth 'sorry' before standing and walking away from the couch.

"Hello?"

"Hey!" Alex says into the phone, a smile immediately crossing my face.

"Oh my God, hey! How are you? How's the honeymoon?" I ask excitedly, my questions coming out rapidly. It feels good to talk to Alex, kind of like she's a new friend of mine.

"I'm great," she giggles. "We just got back maybe...two hours ago, but you need to get Aiden and make him take you over there. Santorini is beautiful, you would've loved it."

"God, congratulations!" I giddily say before looking over my shoulder, the guys looking over at me with raised brows. "I can't wait to hear about everything."

"Yeah, yeah, of course. You wanna go for lunch tomorrow? I took off tomorrow so I can get settled back in."

"That'd be great," I reply. "O-Oh, you live around here?" I follow up with, realization dawning on me that I don't know where she and Harry stay.

"Yeah, about forty or so minutes away. I'll drive up there and get you." She explains over the faint rustling in the background, which I assume is from Harrison.

"Okay, sounds great. Tell Harrison I said hello."

I hear her call out my message, "he says hi, hope you're doing well. I've gotta run, but tell my brother to answer his phone. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay," I say with a quiet laugh, "bye." I walk back over to the couch, Aiden rising from his seat as he eyes me coming over. "It was Alex."

"What she need?" Aiden asks while pulling out his phone, the sigh leaving his lips probably due to the many messages on his phone.

"How's she doing?" Elijah asks curiously.

"Happily married, thanks for asking." Aiden answers smartly, the corner of his lip raising cockily. Elijah lets out a breath as he sucks at his teeth, his head shaking gently.

"How? To who?" He asks, not that it sounds like he truly wants to know due to the subtle laugh he lets out.

"British boy of three years," Aiden vaguely states as I hear the woman from earlier come back in. "You never stood a chance."

"Ha ha," Elijah dryly mutters as the woman goes back to the chair she was laying across when we arrived, her hands going to the robe. "Nice meeting you, Cameron. We'll be in touch."

"Nice to meet you, too." I reply before Aiden and I begin walking towards the door.

"Hey! Tell Alex I said we should meet up some time!" Elijah calls, causing me to look over my shoulder at him while Aiden keeps his gaze forward.

"Please, she'll stop me before I finish saying your name!" Aiden calls back, Elijah's laugh filling the air as we exit the room and walk down the dim hallway.

"They used to date I assume." I comment while piecing together the bits of their conversation.

Aiden chuckles lightly, "sure, if you can call it that." I grin up at him, completely intrigued as to what went down between them.

"Oh, come on. Give me more than that."

"There's really not much to tell," he further explains with a chuckle. "They went on one date, and I doubt they even finished it at that."

Maybe I'll ask her about it tomorrow. I'm more than certain her version of the story will be very descriptive. "You set them up?" I ask surprised as we enter the car.

"He wouldn't shut up about it then." He says, his eyes rolling at the thought of the distant memory. "Alex swore not to talk to me for like a month. That lasted all of three days."

"This was like right before she met Harrison?" I ask, earning a head shake from him.

"College. She was a...sophomore I think? It was some time early in college."

I can't imagine Derek setting me up with any of his friends, despite the fact I was too young for them anyways. "Derek would have never set me up with someone, let alone one of his friends." I say with a laugh before closing my lips tightly.

"You have a brother?" Aiden asks curiously, the tone of his voice showing he's curious to know more. I shake my head subtly, internally cursing myself for letting that slip out like that.

"Uh, y-yeah." I mutter, a concerned look crossing his face at my change of tone. "He's um, in the military or something, I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"Nope," I say while popping the 'p'. "We don't really talk...but anyways, Alex said she's taking me to lunch tomorrow."

He gives me a suspicious look for my quick change in conversation. "I'd rather not talk about him...please." I'd rather not talk about ever, but it's already out in the air and I'm sure he'll ask me questions later on.

He darts his tongue out to wet his lips as he lets of a deep breath. "So when's she coming?" He forces himself to ask as we turn onto the highway, his head probably swarming with questions.

"I-I'm not really sure, but I'll text you when she gets to the apartment." He nods his head while turning and giving me a reassuring smile. I turn the radio up a little bit as the wind blows through the windows.

~*~

"This one is at the Oia Castle, when the sun was setting. God, it was surreal to see it like that." Alex says as she shows me another picture of her and Harrison in Greece.

"The water was that clear?" I ask in disbelief while stopping on a picture of them in the ocean. She nods her head excitedly, my lips parting even more. "Why'd you even leave?" I giggle.

"That's what I said the minute we got on the plane." She says while plopping a piece of sushi in her mouth, "I'd go back there I'm a heartbeat. I'm serious, tell Aiden you want to go."

"He'll probably won't wanna go there after you," I say jokingly, causing her to laugh and roll her eyes.

"Sad thing is he'd probably say something like that, but he likes Europe. Always talking about going to-"

"Venice." I finish for her, not meaning to talk over her. She raises her brows at me while shaking her head.

"Yeah. Don't tell me he's talked your ear off about it already?" I give a coy smile, Alex's head shaking as she tells me about how Aiden won't ever stop talking about the place. We talked about it at the art gallery, a lot of enthusiasm in his voice as he talked about the city.

He asked about my dream destination, but I didn't have an answer for him. When I was younger I thought about going to Paris, but as of recently, I didn't think about going on vacation.

"You don't have any place in mind?" He asks, his brow raised up at me as I shrug my shoulders. Hard to think about going across the world when I can't even get myself a car or job.

"I don't know," I giggle, "um, maybe Paris."

"Nope, you said maybe." He says, a lopsided smile on his face as we begin walking away from the painting.

"What's wrong with saying maybe?"

"It shows it was just a quick answer, not where you really would love to go. Think anywhere, truthfully, I don't care if it's fucking Connecticut."

I roll my eyes slightly at the last comment, my mind truly working to figure out a place. "Australia...Sydney to be exact. Or Hawaii."

"Hawaii's beautiful." He says, clearly speaking from past experience. "You could practically mix the two and head over to Fiji."

"Oh, it looks so beautiful there!" I say excitedly, my voice still soft so I don't disrupt the others. "Yeah?" Aiden asks with a smile as he looks down at me, our clasped hands lightly swinging in between us as I nod my head.

"Fiji would be nice..."

"...he just needs to go at this point." I hear Alex finish, her words pulling me back out of my thoughts, although the smile remained of my face. "He's good to you, right?"

I nod my head, my brows creased slightly at her question. "More than I could ever ask for. Why?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that." She says while moving the chopsticks in her fingers, "I've never seen him talk so much about someone, let alone bring them around everyone. I'm just happy to see him with someone."

There's a subtle silence between us before she grabs another sushi roll. "But, I also wanted to talk to you about an opening. I know before the wedding you said you were in between jobs, so I thought why not help out."

"Oh," I begin while shaking my head, "no, it's fine."

"It's no problem, seriously. We need a receptionist at the office anyways." She continues while looking through something on her phone. I assume her office is near her home, so does she expect me to drive out there everyday?

"I doubt I have any qualifications to be a receptionist." I mutter while lacing my fingers together in the table.

"You have your high school diploma?" She asks, my head nodding 'yes'. "Then you're good. I'm sure you can work the computer, and they'll show you how to if need be."

"So I'll have to drive out there everyday? I don't even own a car, Alex." I state, a wary look more than likely crossing my face. She give me a sympathetic grin, the corners of her lips barely coming up as she sets her phone down.

"No, no. There's an office here downtown, you'll actually be around the corner from Aiden's work."

"You both work at competing companies?" I ask, not entirely shocked by that.

"Well, I work at a law firm and he's on the business side. But think about it, all you'll have to do is work the phone, maybe set up some appointments and meetings. I work at the head firm, so I can put in a good word for you."

This isn't a hand out, right? I don't want her to go through the trouble of getting me a job I'm more than capable of doing myself, if I ever got off my own ass. "Please?" She asks, her eyes gently looking into mine.

"I'll think about it." I say, that being good enough for her as she smiles and begins typing at her phone. We sat in the restaurant for another twenty minutes before we left, the end of May sun beaming down on her top down convertible.

We began talking about Aiden's birthday next month, when it's actually just a little over two weeks away. Their mom would like it if I got him to come up there that weekend, and I'm more than happy to the Carter's again.

How Aiden would like to spend his birthday is a different story, but with Alex in my corner I'm sure we'll make it up to his parents. "Twenty eight. It doesn't not seem like he's that old."

"That's not that old," I comment with a light laugh.

"Older than you and me," she replies back. "Adrian felt the need to get all his college friends together for his twenty eighth birthday. They were beyond annoying."

"How old is Adrian?" I ask, not expecting him to be over twenty eight. I know he's the oldest of them all, but he honestly looks like he's in his mid twenties.

"He'll be thirty one in August." Alex says, my head shaking slowly. "Crazy, huh? I have this bet with our Dad that he'll get a girl pregnant, and then actually fall in love with her."

"Why do you say that?" I ask while trying to hold back a laugh, my hand hovering over my mouth.

"Please," she says, "our Mom thinks Aiden was the terrible one night stander, but Adrian takes it to a different level. He's dialed down now, but...woo, he was something."

Our laughs fill the car, the soft buzz of the radio in the background as we zoom down the road. Five minutes go by and I rest my head in my hands, a small headache hitting me out of nowhere.

"You okay?" Alex asks as we turn into the parking lot of Aiden's complex. I nod my head slightly, but it only makes my head throb more. "You sure? Do you need to throw up? It wasn't anything you ate?"

"No, I don't think so," I say, referring back to the hibachi I had at the restaurant. "I probably just need to lay down."

"Yeah, yeah, okay." Alex says quickly before we get out the car. She hooks her arm around mine as we make our way into the lobby. "It could be heat exhaustion...I should've put the top up."

"I doubt it, but I'm fine." I say while giving her a reassuring smile. We send a quick wave and greeting to Thomas before walk over to the elevator, the extra quiet box helping release some of the tension from my head.

I pull out the key Aiden had got me and entered the apartment, the cool air hitting my skin pleasantly. "I'll look for some Advil." Alex says as she walks over into the kitchen, looking through the cabinets.

"There's probably some in his bath-" I begin to say before I clamp my hand over my mouth, my feet thankfully scurrying me over to the bathroom before I throw up.

"Shit," I hear Alex from behind the locked door. "Hold on, I'll be back." I heave over the toilet, my hands pressing firmly against the sides as I make sure everything is out.

Without a glance, I pull the toilet and slowly stand to the sink. I wipe at my mouth with a paper towel before dipping my head under the faucet, trying to rinse out my mouth.

"Cam?" Alex's voice rings over the knock at the door. "You good?"

"Mm hmm," I mumble while unlocking the door, her eyes meeting mine the minute it opens. She hands me a water bottle and the bottle of pills, a weak smile on my face as I accept the items.

I sit down on the couch, my head feeling a lot better than it was five minutes ago. Alex asks if I'm alright or if I need anything else multiple times, before I finally get her to stop asking. She sat down for a few minutes before she left, leaving me to myself.

I lazily walk into the bedroom, looking for a blanket to curl up in. With no such luck, I wander into the closet and grab one of Aiden's hoodies; the soft material hanging loosely on my body. I wearily walk back into the living room, the background noise of the television being the last thing I hear before sleep consumes me.

~*~

"...Cameron? Come on, wake up," I hear faintly as something rubs my shoulder. Aiden's voice becomes clearer as I open my eyes, a small grin on his face. "You okay?"

"Yeah," I mumble while running a hand through my hair, the feeling of the soft curls gone now. "Why do you ask?"

"Alex said you were nauseous earlier. How do you feel now?" He further explains while looking over my face.

I nod my head while waving my hand in the air dismissively. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. I guess it was something I ate." I state, not entirely sure being I've eaten hibachi all my life. He gives me another glance over before kissing my forehead.

"Okay." He says while standing up to his full height. "Let me take a shower and I'll fix you whatever you want."

My brows crease as I stand from the couch and follow him down the hall. "A shower?" I ask confusedly, being he doesn't take them right away when he gets off work. He turns around and begins walking backwards, his fingers working the buttons of his shirt as he nods.

"It's almost seven," he states. "I've been here for a while, you just wouldn't wake up earlier." I mouth the words 'oh' as shakes his head and enters the bedroom, me now awkwardly standing in the hall.

I start to think of something we could eat, my stomach rumbling slightly as I make my way into the bathroom. I take in my bottom lip as I kneel down to find something to clean the mirror with, just for the sake of it.

I hum to myself as I grab the cleanser, the sound stopping as I eye the hidden pregnancy text box. It's just going to keep bugging me the longer it sits in here. Standing back up, I place the cleanser and box on the counter, my eyes glued to the box.

I sigh softly as I open the packaging, my body coincidentally having the urge to pee now. Pulling the blue cap off the end, I move over to the toilet and pee on the open ended tab. I put the cap back on and finish the rest of my business in there.

"Five minutes..." I trail off to myself as I read the wait time on the box. I leave the items on the counter and exit the bathroom, my mind now on what to eat.

By the time Aiden enters the kitchen, I'm still trying to figure out what to eat with the rice I happily picked out. "You want rice again?" His deep voice sounds behind me, startling me slightly as I turn to face him.

"It's good," I counter with a playful shrug, "although, I don't know what should go with it." He walks over to the counter and takes a seat, his muscles showing nicely from behind the thin, black tee shirt he has on.

"You'll have to wait for it to that you know." He says, a chuckle coming from him as he watches my face fall.

"For how long?" I groan while placing my hands on my waist. He juts his bottom lip out as if he doesn't know the answer.

"Depends." He says casually while tapping his fingers against the counter. "Or, we could order something real quick, and you'll have it sooner."

"You don't feel like cooking." I ask with smirk, knowing full well that's what this suggestion is all about.

"Not completely," he answers truthfully, our chuckles filling the air. "You want pizza?" I nod my head as stands and moves opens the drawers, probably looking for the menu.

"Going to the bathroom," I announce for whatever reason, realization hitting me it's been far over five minutes since I've taken the test. I close the door behind me, not letting go of the know until I hear it click.

My heart feels like it's beating a bit faster as I slowly make my way over to the counter. I wrap my arms around myself for a few seconds, trying to reassure myself about the situation in front of me.

I close my eyes momentarily, my hand grabbing the test in that short moment. My throat runs dry as I look down at the stick, time itself feeling like it's stopped as the words stare back at me:

Pregnant.

"Fuck..." I mumble as feel my eyes water, not really sure what emotion it's from as too many course through my body at this time.

My hand feels shaky as I place the test back down, my eyes never looking away from it, despite my blurred vision.

I can't be pregnant.

What am I...how am I supposed to raise it? God, how do I tell Aiden? I'm not even sure he wants kids, and this can cause a big rift in our relationship—possibly ending it for all I know.

"Babe?" Aiden calls through the door, causing me to jump and frantically wipe at the tears on my cheeks.

"Hmm?" I hum back, not trusting my voice one bit. He checks to make sure I'm alright in here, being I've been in here longer than expected. "I-I'm good," I reply softly, trying to stifle my voice from cracking more.

"Okay." He says, my back resting against the wall as I think he's walking away. "Can I ask you something?"

I glance over at the door before scurrying and hiding the test back under the sink, the box as well. "Uh, s-sure."

"Your brother doesn't happen to be Derek Woods?" He asks calmly, although any ounce of calmness in my body left exits as I stay frozen in the kneeling position.

~*~
- happy Sunday 😚 nothing much to say other than I hope you enjoyed ! ❤️

- thank you for the comments, votes, and support! (next update I think might be the past, still debating on that) xx