"So, when are you going to tell me about your breakup with Silas? It's been a month..." I asked and she smirked at me, shaking her head.

"When are you going to tell me about your tinder date? What's her name? What does she look like?" Leighton asked and I cocked an eyebrow

"And who told you about that?" I asked, surprised she knew.

"Stas"

"Ah. Well, for your information, her name was Maddie and it did not go well" I took a sip of my drink and she stifled a laugh.

"Why, what did Maddie do?"

"Not much"

"You're gonna have to give me more to work with Cole"

"Cole?" I asked, surprised by her using my legal name.

"Got a problem with it?" She asked, grabbing a french fry.

"You know if your diet is only french fries, your baby is going to come out looking like a potato"

"They're gonna look like a potato either way, might as well enjoy myself"

"You're so mean to your baby" I laughed, glad the subject changed off my bad dating life.

"I am not!"

"You just called it a potato!"

"You're a potato!"

"You are what you eat"

"Shut up and tell me about Maddie"

"What do you want to know?" I asked, deciding if was easier to just give in

"Well, what does she look like? Can I see her tinder profile? Oh my god, even better, can I see yours?" Leighton asked with a giddy expression on her face.

"No you can't see my tinder profile and Maddie kind of looked like Sadie?"

"God. Her name is banned in my life"

"So you're not naming your baby Sadie?" I asked and she grinned at me.

"No. No I am not" She smirked and I eyed her, trying to figure out what that smirk was containing.

"What is that look for?" I quizzed and she kept smiling whilst taking a bite of her french fry.

"Cause I know the baby name. Male and female" she grinned at me and my eyes widened.

"TELL ME!" I shouted and she shook her head. "Why not! Literally everyone got to know things first before me"

"Not till the baby is born. I picked the girl name, Gabe and I picked the boy name"

"Can I at least know the initials?" I asked, feeling giddy about knowing what her baby's name could be.

It's weird to feel excited about this.

I spent so long wanting to be mad at her for lying to me, that the idea of me feeling excited was peculiar.

"No! It'll ruin the surprise!" She exclaimed and I rolled my eyes.

"The surprise was that you were pregnant at all" I muttered and she glared at me.

"What do you want to do after this?" She questioned, drinking more of her strawberry lemonade.

That seemed to be our outings lately. French fries and lemonade on a sunny afternoon.

It's interesting how we went from hangover food at 2am to snacks in the sunshine.

"Aren't you on bed rest?" I asked, knowing she has some pretty strict orders to try and prevent some of the swelling.

"Yes and no. Gabe put me on bed rest. Dr. Hughes didn't. Plus, I need to go look at maternity clothes. My mom told me to look at nursing bras and post labor clothes. She said big and baggy" Leighton spoke mindlessly.

"So you can say nursing bra in front of me, but not horny.. got it. Speaking of exs.... How'd it go with Silas?" I tried again and she sighed.

"Haven't heard from him. Him and Aimee disappeared. Aaliyah tried inviting them, but hasn't heard anything back. I feel bad though because I cried a lot for Gabriel. Like that classic teenage girl breakup... but I've only cried like twice over Silas.. and it mainly had to do with me feeling bad. Not like romantically missing him. I miss hanging out with him. He was a good friend.. I don't know. Just kinda sucks" she shrugged, grabbing her lemonade.

"Was it weird?"

"Was what weird?"

"Seeing your boyfriend as just a friend" I asked and she just stared at me.

"Why are you asking me?"

"Just curious"

"Well stop being curious"

"What's wrong?" I asked, picking up on the snippy tone she gave me.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" She snapped, catching me completely off guard.

"What?"

"So what, you can ignore my questions, but I can't ignore yours? You keep telling me we have this truce.. and yet, when I ask a question, you ignore me. Just the other day, I asked how your date went. You asked how my breakup went. What's up with you? What's up with me is wondering what is up with you, and why you keep changing the subject when I ask about your dating life. If you're going to start a new dating life, you might as well talk about it. We're friends right, so why are you so hush hush?"

"Hush hush?" I asked and she nodded.

"Hush hush" She confirmed and I let out a deep sigh.

"There is nothing to report. They didn't work out. I didn't like them. I moved on" I shrugged, wanting to drop the topic, but much like I did with her pregnancy, she did with my dating life.

She pushed for answers.

"Well tell me what went wrong. We're friends right?" She asked and I groaned.

Great.

"What do you want to know?" I asked, already regretting even toying with the idea of this conversation.

"Well what did you hate about her?" She asked, breaking apart one of the chocolate chip cookies she got with the fries.

"Um.. Well.. she uh..." I stuttered, not sure how I tell her what I was actually thinking.

"Spit it out already. I don't want to be giving birth by the time you tell me"

"She just didn't meet the criteria" I said and mentally facepalmed.

Criteria? Really Colby?

"Criteria huh? Tell me about this dream girl criteria" She leaned back against the chair, her hands resting on top of her bump, and I watched her hand jump a little at the kick.

"Well for starters, definitely not pregnant with a shit load of baggage and plentiful of failed relationships" I smirked and she glared.

"Hardy har har" She grumbled. "And for your information. I only had TWO failed relationships. I am lovely. I have friends and family that I love hanging out with. I love animals. I want a dog so badly. I love kids, even if I'm deathly afraid of fucking it up. I love art and hanging out with my dad. I used to like cooking with my mama until she got sick. I am nice, and trusting. I'm not naïve. I know when to trust a gut feeling, and when to use common sense. I know how to cook and clean to keep me alive. I know how to work a car. Not just drive it, but fix it. My uncle Garret made sure I knew how to change my own tire, and fix my oil. Change a headlight and how to jump a car. I can make a mean baked ziti, not that you would allow me to even touch the stove in your place. Why is that? What, I make one bad meal and I'm banned forever?" She asked after rambling, taking me by surprise.

"Leigh, it was just a joke" I breathed out, taking in all the information she sprang at me.

"It's always a joke with you guys isn't it" She grumbled, confusing me. "Hey Leigh, snort this, shoot that. Hide the spoons and the needles. Don't let her touch you, you'll get a disease!" She grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Leigh I never-"

"I might be broken and bruised, but at the end of the day, I'm a damn good girl and I won't let you belittle me, even if it's just a joke" Leighton hissed. "I don't care how big and famous you get. Don't act like you haven't fucked up in the past! Yeah I'm twenty one and pregnant and my life is in shambles right now... but there is one thing that you forget when describing all the things wrong with me. I'm still standing and that will always mean more than the lousy words you just used in a way to mock me" She grumbled, quickly standing up and snatching her phone off the table, walking away.

"Leighton, wait!" I yelled, speed walking to catch up with her.

"NO! I WAS TRYING TO BE YOUR FRIEND! AND INSTEAD YOU BELITTLED ME!" She yelled, quickly turning around and I reached my arm out to steady her, but she snatched it away.

"I didn't belittle you"

"Whatever. Take me home" She grumbled and I sighed.

"You're overreacting"

"GREAT. ADD IT TO MY FUCKING LIST!" She yelled, a few people turning to look at us.

"Leigh... Leigh.. LEIGHTON!" I yelled and she turned around again, tears now running quickly down her face.

"WHAT!"

"I'm sorry" I said sincerely but she rolled her eyes.

"Tell it to the pillow you kiss at night. Take me home or I'll call my brother"

"I'm sorry. Please, come sit back down" I begged and she wiped some tears off of her now red and puffy face.

"Give me one good reason as to why"

"I really do want us to be friends. I'm sorry for the untasteful joke I made" I apologized and she sighed.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you" She murmured, wiping the last of her stray tears off her cheeks.

"Can we start over? If you really want to know about Maddie, I'll tell you. It's just.. nothing really went wrong. It just didn't feel right"

Leighton let it go and she walked back to the table with me. We talked a bit about our work plans, and I even tried to convince her to come along on an investigation, but she said she can't whilst she's pregnant, and the baby will need her for a long time.. so that idea was shot down.

"Do you think you'd ever do another investigation with us?" I questioned her and she shrugged.

"I like hanging out with you guys.. but I don't think it's fun for your viewers that I don't believe in ghosts"

"How could you not believe! You had a first hand creepy experience with one!" I exclaimed and she smiled at my outburst.

"I try not to think about it. It was weird and creepy and I rather just think it just never happened. Stephen meant a lot to me with my recovery, and to think about it being him... I don't know. It's a weird feeling"

"How come you never talk about it? About Stephen or your recovery?" I asked, hoping I would finally get answers to some of the questions that have been burning a hole in my brain.

"It's very personal.. and scary. It's hard to be that vulnerable. Plus a lot of it isn't good memories and it hurts to rehash them. I really should get back into therapy... but I don't have the funds for it right now"

We finished up with our lunch, and found ourselves sitting in Logan and Cynthia's living room.

"Nova is getting so big! It makes me miss Captain and Dakota" Leighton pouted, throwing a ball for the growing Rottweiler.

"Wow! You don't miss Bentley?" Cynthia asked in a tisk tisk tone.

Leighton rolled her eyes and pet Nova on her head, kissing the side of her face.

"I still want a dog" She grumbled and I chuckled.

"You can't afford a dog" I reminded her and she shot me a glare.

"I didn't ask if I could afford it. I said I wanted one"

"Would you get a Rotty?" Logan asked, grabbing a tug rope from Nova.

"I'd like to think so, but I dunno"

Every time I sat in their living room, I felt weird.

Not an uncomfortable weird, or an I want to leave weird. But like when you sit down and people watch weird. It's almost like I'm watching a scene on a TV show.

I swear anytime Leighton is around Logan, he's the only person who exists.

She truly did look up to him so much. You can just tell by the way she looks at him.

He hung the moon for her, and I would be lying if I told you I wasn't nervous that something would happen to him.

Somehow I had spaced out just enough, that when I came to, Leighton was doing some weird stretch, laughing at Nova before having Logan help her up so she could go pee.

What did I miss?

"What just happened?" I questioned, chuckling like I knew what happened, trying to make it look like I didn't just zone out for 5 minutes.

"Leighton was stretching out some of her sore muscles, and Nova wanted to play" Cynthia laughed, rough housing the playful pup a bit.

We hung out at Logan and Cynthia's for about an hour or so before Leighton and I made our way to a maternity store.

"Everyone's gonna think you're the dad" She giggled and I rolled my eyes.

"Do you like this?" She held up a dark blue dress and I shrugged.

Are you even allowed to give pregnant women an honest opinion?

"Words Cole. I'm almost 30 weeks, Aaliyah was gonna take maternity photos. I got to find some outfits" Leighton informed me and I nodded, feeling a little uncomfortable.

There were so many pregnant mannequins...

Leighton tried on a few dresses, and whilst I was waiting, I collected photos for an Instagram post.

Last week we were all bored and found ourselves at a farmers market, so our camera rolls were full of each other doing or wearing weird things.

I posted a 4 slide post on Instagram of Sam, Kat, Stas, Leigh and I from the Farmers Market and right as I hit post, Leigh walked out.

"Holy shit" I murmured.

"You know, when I said find words, those weren't the words I meant" She smirked, flaring out the end of her dress. "Whaddya think?" She asked, spinning a little to look in the mirror.

She was in a dark blue dress that hugged her bump perfectly. Stunning lace details were on the plunging neckline. The bottom flowed out as she checked herself in the mirror.

"You look gorgeous Leigh"

"You like it? I need to look at some other options. If I get a blue dress, I also want a pink dress" She spoke, staring at herself in the mirror.

"Here, let me take some photos and a video, and I'll show you" I took out my iPhone again, opening up the camera app. "Give me your best model pose"

Leighton cradled her bump, turning to the side a little bit, her long dark hair cascading down her back.

"You look stunning Leighton" I took a few pictures before telling her to give me a spin.

We repeated this process a few times with different dresses.

She ended up choosing the dark blue one along with a flowy pastel pink one.

I texted her the photos and videos, carrying the bags for her.

"You're starting to waddle" I chuckled, watching her walk in front of me.

"Shut up"

"It's cute!" I called out and she flipped me off, causing a few looks as I laughed.

"Google told me I wouldn't waddle till 32 weeks, so you better shut your mouth!"

"When do you turn 30 weeks anyway?" I asked, quickly catching up to her snail pace.

"Monday, the 26th"

"Damn Leigh! You're almost there" I shook my head in disbelief and she rolled her eyes.

"I'm about to be put on bedrest for real" She grumbled and I laughed.

"Your hands and feet are super swollen" I noted, looking down at her hands.

"Shut up. I retain fucking fluid like a fish" She grumbled and I laughed again, lowkey loving this side of her.

"Fish retain fluid?" I asked, making fun of her and she smacked my arm, waddling farther away from me.

"Do you want to go to Target with me? I need to pee before we leave" She said, and when I didn't reply, she turned around. "Colby?"

"Hm? Sorry. I was watching you waddle" I laughed and she shot me daggers.

"Stop watching me waddle! I'm not waddling!" She declared, and I wasn't able to stop myself from the grin on my face.

"It's not my fault!" I chuckled and she rolled her eyes. "Here, walk and I'll film you. You can see yourself waddle" I offered.

"Shut up. Target, yes or no?"

"Huh?"

"GOD! Do you listen? I need to get nursing bras from Target. Target's bras are comfy. I also need to pee. So whilst you think about your answer, I'm going to go pee" She waddled away towards the mall bathroom, leaving me alone.

I sat on the bench whilst I waited, texting the "Baby Shower" group chat.

Sam and Kat had wanted me to get paints for Leighton's belly, and Aaliyah wanted to know how Leigh was doing.

By the time Leighton came back, we made our way out towards the car.

"Do you want to do an Instagram Live with me in the car?" I asked her and she gave me a weird look.

"Why?"

"I don't know, kind of bored" I shrugged and she faked offense.

"Am I not entertaining enough?" She asked and I chuckled.

"You are now that you waddle" I teased and she glared at me.

"You're going to regret making fun of me" Leighton called out and I just grinned, watching her waddle out of the mall.

We made it to the automatic door, and a few teenage girls walked in, passing us, but one stayed behind.

"Colby Brock?" She asked, slightly stunned and I grinned.

"Hey!" I spoke in a cheery voice, catching sight of Leighton waddling away.

"I'm going to the car! I'm sure by the time you're done I'll finally get there. Keys please" Leighton asked and I fished them out of my pocket, tossing them to her.

"It's so nice to meet you!" I greeted the girl, having a quick conversation with her.

I promised her that I would tell Sam she said hi before she announced she had to go.

"I better go find my friends before they notice" She giggled, thanking me and waving a quick goodbye.

When I sat in the car, Leighton was panting.

"You know... we have drinks in here" I motioned towards her raspberry lemonade.

"I know! Shush! My feet fucking hurt man! Shit hurts! Walking hurts! I'll pant if I want to fucking pant" She grumbled and I chuckled.

"You're going to be a joy in labor and delivery"

"You better shut your mouth" She grumbled, her hands pressing in on the sides of her stomach, taking a deep breath.

"What's wrong?" I asked, turning the keys into the ignition, taking a drink from my water bottle.

"The baby's fucking toes are wrapped around my fucking ribs" She growled, pressing harder into her sides.

"That can happen?" I asked, turning my head to watch for people behind me as I backed out.

"What do you think? God this fucking hurts" She groaned, stabbing her fingertips into the side of her ribs.

"Do you still care if I do an IG live?" I asked her and she glared at me.

"Why do you want to do that?"

"Because Katrina and Stas want to paint your belly, and I want ideas"

"Why can't you Google like a normal person?" She asked and I sighed.

"Because I want good ideas! Unique ideas!"

"Since when did they want to paint my bump anyway?"

"Since Kat was looking up baby shower ideas, and found maternity photo ideas" I told her, remembering the night Sam and I were waiting for food to arrive as Katrina talked our ear off about all the ideas she had.

"If she had ideas, why do we need to go on live?" Leigh asked and I groaned.

"You know Leigh, if you didn't want to go on Instagram Live, all you had to do was say no. We didn't have to play 20 questions" I told her, slightly irritated.

"What if I wanted to play 20 questions?" She shot back, causing me to glance over towards her.

"Since when do you want to play 20 questions? I thought you hated boring conversation?"