"Fal! Fal! Fallon!" Tom's voice was urgent as he followed her.
"Just say the word and I will kick him in the balls so hard he is going to wake up on Monday," Elena whispered in her ear.
Fallon rounded up on Tom angrily, "What?"
"Can we talk?"
"No."
"I have a right to talk to you, you are carrying my children."
Fallon's patience was growing thin, "I thought songwriters were supposed to be smart?"
"I am smart."
"But that was a stupid comment," Fallon turned to Elena, "do it."
She turned her back to him and smiled when she heard his howls of pain a few seconds later.
"What is his problem?"Blaire asked.
"Money."
"For what?"
"To bail out Steve. He was arrested on Tuesday."
"Steve was arrested? On what charges? He has never been arrested before and he uses all the time."
"Possession with intent to distribute," Fallon said with satisfaction. Steve was gone, he was not coming back any time soon, Taylor had made sure of it.
"Come on,we have to reach the gym first to get the best seats for the Gina Fairway thing," Elena said hurrying towards the gym.
Fallon rolled her eyes. Half the school didn't even know what Gina Fairway was doing at the gymnastics gym and the other half just knew she was doing a 'thing'. But because it was Friday and it was Gina Fairway, everyone was going.
"Wouldn't it be so cool of we could get near enough to get an autograph?" said Elena.
"Yes," said Blaire.
"No," said Fallon.
"What happened to the adventurous woman who wanted to be a celebrity news reporter?" Elena asked.
"She got pregnant and now she gets swollen feet and gets tired and just wants too go home," Fallon complained.
"Aaaaaw. She wants to go home to the villa so her billionaire boyfriend can rub her feet in anointing oils?" Elena mocked.
"First, he is not my boyfriend, secondly, the villa is not my home, I am a temporary guest there and thirdly, he is not a billionaire. Honestly Elena, I don't know where you get this ideas."
"A guy invites you to live with him in his villa and forces you to quit working on full pay, he is into you. And there is no way a person who isn't a billionaire can afford to rent that villa for two weeks, it is simply not possible."
"He is my OB and I need to be there for observation and I am only staying overnight because I am homeless, remember? Steve was trying to hurt me so I had to move somewhere," Fallon repeated the half truth she had been telling them since Wednesday. She felt a little bit guilty for not telling them about Gina staying there too but she was still bound by the terms of her NDA. She knew Elena will kill her when she learned that the Gina she had talked to on Tuesday was Gina Fairway.
She had officially broken up with Tom on Wednesday when he came to beg for money again after her afternoon class. The breakup really hurt even though she was putting on a brave face. Even though Tom had not been her first anything, it had always felt like he was her first everything. It was clear that he didn't want anything to do with the babies though, and that alone hurt more than anything. Fallon had been putting up walls as a result and it had caused Taylor to take a step back too. Nothing had happened between them since the wonderful breakfast in bed and almost kiss on Wednesday morning. They said good morning, goodbye, good evening and goodnight, they also exchanged stares Twilight style when neither of their sisters were watching, but apart from that, nothing.
She was also trying to maintain a distance between them because she did not trust his motives. He liked her, that much was obvious, but why? She could think of a hundred reasons why he would like her, and none of them were positive. She was an average looking twenty two year old pregnant orphan who wanted to be a professional gossiper, not a very stellar resume. So reasons for someone liking her could only be negative: a pregnancy fetish, 'exotic' looking fetish, a gay man trying to experiment with a woman, a player just playing the field, a bored doctor passing time, or a rich man trying to buy himself a prostitute. The list was endless and she spent hours adding to it.
The gym was already packed to the brim when they arrived. Fortunately, Berin had reserved as front row seats and we were just in time to find Gina explaining to a sizeable group of young gymnasts in leotards to point their feet.
"Don't crunch, point," Gina said gently bending down to adjust the foot of an excited ten year old, "the correct term should be to extend and stretch your toes rather than to point. Stretch," Gina said and demonstrated by putting forward a perfectly pointed foot, making it look so easy.
Elena frowned, "Who gives a damn if a foot is pointed or not in gymnastics? Who can even remember to point their feet when they are doing crazy tumbling in the air?"
The campus security had tied ropes all around the gym, to keep the spectators from interrupting the star, but unfortunately they had not tied their mouths.
"Gina! Hey Gina! Wanna go out with me?" A jock shouted.
"Gina! Here, here, please just look at me so I can snap a photo really quick," a girl who was almost in tears said.
To her credit, Gina ignored them all, solely focusing on the young gymnasts. Berin was running all over the place, camera in hand, trying to get as much footage as she could.
"I can't believe we have watched children learning to point their toes for a whole hour, what are we? Crazy parents?" Fallon grumbled as they left the gym.
"Stop complaining at least we got to learn something," Blaire said.
"What? That pointing feet is extremely difficult and unnecessary?"
"That Gina Fairway must have a crazy sex life, she is so flexible," Elena put in jealously staring at Gina as she was bundled up in the car by her bodyguards. "I don't know Berin got her to do this, do they know each other?"
Fallon gave a non-committal shrug, "A little. Berin got to know her through someone."
"Who?"
"So you can stalk them and try to force them to introduce you too?"
"No!"
Fallon gave her a look
"Okay, yes."
"I am not telling you."
The two escorted Fallon to her car and waited until she started it before they went away. Since the Steve incidence, they had made it a habit of walking with her everywhere, and it was the only reason Taylor had allowed her to drive to the campus on her own. But she didn't trust him all the way, she still suspected he was having her followed although he swore he wasn't. Fallon just had a feeling.
When she arrived at the villa, she found, Gina, Berin and Taylor at the kitchen table. They all went silent the moment she entered so she knew they had been talking about her.
Taylor stood up to hold a chair for her, "Hey? You okay?"
'You okay' was always his first question to her, before good morning or how was your day or anything else.
"Fine," Fallon replied as she sat down and pulled off her boots.
He moved to the fridge to pour her a glass of apple juice. Fallon drank it in one go and he silently handed her a bottle of cold water. Fallon pulled the cap off and drank half of it at once too. His actions weren't strange at all to the others, as her self-appointed OB, he was always bossing her around on what to eat, serving the quantities too and hovering until she finished; especially fluids, he was big on keeping her hydrated.
He took his usual seat right next to her and continued with the sketch he had been drawing. Apparently, on top of all his talents and degrees and money, he could also draw, poorly, but he liked it.
"How was your day?"
Fallon rolled her eyes, "Good until I had to go watch a bunch of kids point their toes for an hour straight."
"And Gina Fairway, remember? It wasn't just a bunch of kids, it was a bunch of kids and Gina Fairway, which makes it worth it doesn't it?"Gina said with laughter in her eyes.
"Well at least Elena thinks you have a fabulous sex life with such flexibility. Hurray, we learned something new."
Taylor gave a snort.
Gina glared at him, "I do, don't I?"
Fallon decided to change the topic as fast as possible before it could spiral into something else about Gina's life sized sex doll that she did not want to hear, "What were you guys talking about before I arrived? I know it was about me. You may as well just say it and be done with it."
"The real estate agent has found a house for us. It is really nice and considering the price, it is a bargain. Three bedrooms and a basement to boot. Basements are incredibly rare in Miami." Berin broke the uncomfortable silence.
"But?" Fallon asked.
"This A-hole with a capital A declares that there is no way in hell you are moving in there," Gina said pointing a finger at Taylor.
Fallon turned to the said A-hole, "Why?"
"Jealously is the disease of a nation," Gina sang.
"I am not jealous," Taylor said calmly, "It is right next to Tom's apartment complex, considering that his brother tried to stab you and he has been pestering you for money for the last three days, I am worried for your security. And don't even get me started on the awkwardness of him being the sire of her children. Plus basements are a bad sign in Miami."
"Oh," Fallon let out an exhale.
She had to admit, he had a valid point. She really didn't want to live next to Tom.
"See? She agrees with me."
"But she can't ran away from Tom forever. He is the father of her children, at some point, they will have to sit down like grown ass people and discuss co-parenting," Berin put it, "and I keep telling you, I have known Tom for a long time, he is a good person."
"Correction; sire of her children, not father."
"Whatever you want to call it. Those kids will still have his DNA, and if he wants a relationship with them in future, he can easily sue Fal for custody."
"Still, getting a house near him is taking an unnecessary risk. What if he bails out Steve and he comes to leave with him?"
"So what is your solution?"
"He should keep looking, I am sure he can find something we can all agree on."
Gina groaned and looked at Fallon, "Told you, he is as stubborn as a mule. What do you think?"
"I agree with him. We should keep looking."
Taylor smirked and placed a hand on top of Fallon's, "Good call."
Fallon's heart did a little jig.
After supper, Fallon bid Berin and Gina goodnight but when she went to the study to say goodnight to Taylor, he was on the phone and his face looked like Christmas had come early. She had seen many of his sides: controlling, angry, stubborn, sad, silly and even unreasonable but it was the first time she had seen his truly happy side. Curious, she closed the door and placed an ear at the keyhole, like the reporter that she was.
He was laughing, "I really miss you...oh, I am sure it is going to be epic... First time in a long time...What? I haven't let myself go....so I should expect you tomorrow?... Breakfast in bed no doubt...okay then, goodnight, love you."
Dejected, Fallon felt tiptoeing away from the door. She knew the right thing was to open that study door and face him about it, but what right did she have? Apart from that moment on Wednesday, he had never given given her any indication that he liked her, had he? Didn't he pay more attention to her than anyone else? Because you are pregnant stupid, Fallon chided herself. Of course, he was a big shot doctor in LA, pregnant women crawled to him for help, he knew how to make them feel special.
"Bad Taylor has not kissed baby goodnight?" Gina cooed in a baby voice when she saw Fallon's face.
Fallon ignored him and went to her room. She did not even change from her day clothes but rather, crawled in bed with them. When had she grown so stupid that she could no longer tell the difference between someone genuinely liking her and being nice? And Gina, why had she not warned her that he had a girlfriend? It was clear to Fallon that the person on the other end made him truly happy.
She woke up the following day at around 4.00 a.m, her throat was parched and in her confusion the previous night, she had forgotten to carry a bottle of water to her room as per Taylor's instructions. However, when she sat up, she saw a bottle of water on her bedside table and a note attached to it. She grabbed the note.
Goodnight.
T.