sniff that litter

"Alright," Keiran said quietly. "Well, do you want to take a walk now?"

"I guess," this time she did sigh. She allowed Keiran to help her up. They folded up the blanket, and Keiran carried it for her under his arm. Usually she would have appreciated this, but she just couldn't right now. They started walking silently down through Froom.

Keiran was happy that they were moving, but he didn't really like the silence. But what could they talk about? Maybe he could tell her more about the horse and then she'll want to see it. He intertwined his fingers with hers and started talking.

"That horse," he said. "Is so pretty. It's white with black polka dots scattered all over it's body..." Brenna's favorite kind of horse! "We haven't named it yet though."

"Mmhm. Sounds pretty," Julie replied, barely managing to sound interested, and failing to muster up any kind of enthusiasm. As they walked, she started to feel the baby stirring a little bit. She looked at Keiran and bit her lip, wondering if she should say something. She was sure if he touched her tummy now, he'd be able to feel it. But she was pretty sure that the baby stuff was what was making him sad in the first place. She looked forward again and didn't say anything.

"What do you think we should name her?" Keiran asked her.

He could tell that she was uninterested, but he wanted to pretend like he had no idea at all, for some reason.

So you know how there are tons of clio in Froom right now? While Eirian happened to be one of them. What a fucking coincidence. She was just walkin' around, chillaxin', when she caught site of a familiar face. Her heart started to beat a little faster. It was Keiran! ...With a girl. A sort of...pregnant looking girl. Holy crap. 0.o

She wondered if she should say anything to him, since he was there with his girlfriend (at least it was easy to assume that, given the way they were holding hands.) She just kinda stood there as they got closer, trying to decide if she should say anything or not. By the time she thought better of it and decided not to, it was too late. He already saw her.

Oh well.

As Keiran and Julie kept walking, he noticed somebody familar up ahead. It was that girl, Eirian. He wasn't sure if he should stop and say hello or if he should keep walking with Julie and pretend that they didn't see her. She was just standing there, and the closer they got he realized that she had spotted them. Great. He put on a fake smile anyway.

"Oh hey look it's Eirian!" he said when all three were close. "How are you?"

Julie was a little confused when Keiran started talking to some random girl. Well apparently she wasn't random to him, because he knew her name. Julie didn't want to seem rude by not saying anything, so with a hint of uncertainty she said, "Hi?" to the girl, Eirian.

"Keiran, hi. I'm pretty good, you?" Eirian greeted with a hint of awkward. She wasn't sure how she felt about talking to the guy she liked while his preggo girlfriend was standing right there. Speaking of which, she said "hi" to her, so she felt obligated to say something back.

"Hi," she replied sweetly. "You must be Julie. Keiran told me all about you. Well--" she added quickly with a quick glance at Julie's baby bump. "Not all about you. But he did mention you a few times!"

She smiled politely at the two of them.

"Yes," Keiran replied with a nod. "We met just the other day in the Hills."

He squeezed Julie's hand, because that's the place he finally told her that he loved her.

"So yeah, Julie this is my friend Eirian," he said to Julie. "And Eirian, this is my beautiful girlfriend, Julie!"

"Nice to meet you, Eirian," Julie said politely, even though she totally didn't mean it. She held out her hand for Eirian to shake. She believed Keiran when he said that Eirian was just his friend, but she also got the distinct impression that Eirian wanted to change that. She couldn't be sure though, so she just put on a superficial smile and waited.

"Likewise," Eirian replied, equally superficially. She shook Julie's hand and both girls quickly let go. "You two must be very happy together if you've already got a baby on the way." She figured that since they were so young, the baby had probably been an accident. And that meant that maybe Keiran was just staying with her out of guilt. She waited for a reaction from the two to find out.

(And hey, if she was wrong and Julie wasn't really pregnant, that was okay too because it meant she was just fat. And it meant Eirian could have insulted her "without meaning to.")

It isn't mine. D:

Keiran swallowed and laughed awkwardly.

"Yeah," he replied. "We're both hoping it's a boy."

Were they? He didn't know, but he did know that he didn't want to tell Eirian that the baby wasn't his. He didn't want her to get the wrong idea about Julie.

Julie was grateful that Keiran had lied for her, but she was also sad that he had to in the first place. "Yeah," she agreed with Keiran, somehow managing to sound happy. "But a girl would be great too."

"That's very sweet," Eirian said, even though she didn't really think so. "Most couples wouldn't want to have kids so soon...but you two seem very excited."

Julie wrote:

"But a girl would be great too."

"Yeah," Keiran agreed. "A girl would probably be better behaved too."

Eirian wrote:

"Most couples wouldn't want to have kids so soon...but you two seem very excited."

Keiran nodded and said, "We are. It'll probably be hard the first couple months once it's born, but we can manage."

Julie really wished she was at home right now so that she could just...cry or something. She hated how she had dragged Keiran into the middle of this scandal, forcing him to lie to his friends. "Keiran, I--I'm getting a little tired. Maybe I'll head home soon..." she said to him quietly, carefully hiding her emotion in front of this stranger, but letting just enough show through that Keiran would pick up on it.

Keiran wrote:

"We are. It'll probably be hard the first couple months once it's born, but we can manage."

"Oh yeah, I bet it's really hard," Eirian agreed, nodding. "But hey, you guys seem up to the challenge."

Julie wrote:

"Keiran, I--I'm getting a little tired. Maybe I'll head home soon..."

"Oh, you're leaving already? That's too bad," Eirian said, feigning regret. Though on the inside she was elated. Maybe Julie would leave and Keiran would stay. It was unlikely, but hey, it could happen. "It was nice meeting you, though, Julie."

Keiran was able to pick up on that, he knew Julie well.

"Do you want me to fly you home?" he asked her.

"Um...if you want to...I can walk, if you'd prefer," Julie replied. She didn't know if Keiran wanted to stay and talk to his friend. She had to admit, she hated the idea of leaving them alone together, but she trusted Keiran and knew that nothing would happen if she did.

"Alright," Keiran said. "I'll take you home."

He turned and smiled at Eirian.

"It was good seeing you again Eirian," he said. "You have a good day."

He wrapped his arms around Julie, and flew up into the air and off to Ughdarras.

END