"Your face is so juicy Di, look at your cheeks." My best friend Charlotte reminded me.

"I didn't look pregnant before, but it's all in my face now."

"I can't believe I'm about to be an auntie. I can't wait to hold her." She squealed out.

"Ouch Char," I screamed. Charlotte ripped a wax strip from my private area.

"Hold your leg up further. I'm trying to make sure I put it in the right spot."

"Use the smaller ones those are too big," I whined.

"These are the smaller ones."

"Ouch." I hissed and jumped while she ripped another strip. She was giving me a wax. I wanted to make sure I kept it cute for my delivery.

"I'm almost done, just relax and breath."

Char and I have been running around all day. Well, she has, and I've been making demands. My commencement ceremony is tomorrow, as well as my birthday.

Zo's out preparing everything for my graduation party. He's been so amazing. Since the baby shower, he made sure I logged out of my social media before he left, but not before I uploaded my lovely photoshoot photos.

He also delivered a message to Nelson. Letting him know that I would only be contacting him for whenever I go into labor.

The baby's room was finished. I have my hospital bags ready. I take both bags everywhere I go. I've been feeling light Braxton hicks. Dr. Jansen told me to make sure I paid close attention.

Its playoff season now. Kenzos next game's the day after my graduation. So he's leaving graduation night. He's stressed because he thinks he'll miss the birth.

"Char make sure you rip upward on the center on that middle strip," I said then hollered as she ripped the last strip.

"Ok now turn to your side and open up." She instructed I groaned while moving slowly. She placed the next strip on my nether region.

"Ok Ima' do these four strips quick."

I nodded, my phone started going off, indicating I had a FaceTime call. I answered it.

"Hey baby, are you finished?" Kenzo asked at the same time Char ripped the strip from in between my cheeks. I hollered again.

"I'll take that as a no. Char, you're the goat for this. This is best friend goals. You stay winning." They laughed. "Di what do think about this? I'm trying to see if we can get matching pajama sets? So we can take some pictures after the baby come home. They have one in a newborn size and three months."

"Zo, are you seriously asking me this right now? I don't know just pick something." I whined slightly irritated.

"My bad, —I guess you don't want to hear about me finding that book we were searching for. I also have the baby cast thing we can do tonight. You can hang it up in baby girls room."

"Oh." I smiled. We've been looking for this baby book from my childhood my mom used to read to me. He found it. That's Kenzos favorite thing to do; read to her every night when he's home. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, go ahead and get back to getting your booty waxed. I'll inspect it tonight." He playfully winked.

I smiled extra hard. "Be quiet, sir."

"Right, saved that bedroom talk for the bedroom Zo." Char scrunched her face at him through the phone.

He chuckled. "See you later tonight. Bye, Char."

"Bye, silly." I ended the call.

"Char, I loved the fit you on had at the baby shower. I think yours was my favorite. You tried to be all fancy with your print design." I went through my phone swiping through my pictures and came across hers

"Well, you know I couldn't show up wearing any old thing."

"You and Jr were coordinating. It was so cute." I continued to swipe through photos.

"You were bomb too Di, but none of us had nothing on Zos mom. She killed. She should get best dressed." She snapped her fingers in the air. "She won."

I swiped until I got to his mom Mrs.Tanya photos. "You're right. She nailed it."

"This was taken when Nelson called me a stupid bitch, of course." I rolled my eyes.

"Wait who took the picture? That's what I want to know."

"The photographer was taking photos throughout the entire event. He sent everything to me." I giggled.

"He was on it, you need to pay him extra." She laughed. "And his mom was ready to jump on Nelson. We all were. Had you shaking and everything."

"I wasn't scared or anything. I was just humiliated and pissed off. I'm over it now. I'll see him at the delivery and if not, then oh well. I tried and tried with him. I'm done with it." I exited out of my phone.

"I admit I was a little taken back. He looked crazy as hell, Di." She stood up, removing the latex gloves.

"I'm not afraid of him, and he knows that now. That's why he kept on going, trying to embarrass me."

"Enough about him. I'm the one who should be embarrassed for linking you two up in the first place." She tossed the gloves in the bag on the bed to discard.

"Stop saying that. You always say that Char. You couldn't have known. It's not your fault."

She sighed and took a moment before speaking. She decided to change the subject. "The nail tech and masseuse should be on their way. Kenzo is showing out."

"He really is, he such a good boyfriend." I smiled thinking about everything he's done for my daughter and me. He's so attached to her already. I can just imagine him after she's born.

He told me he didn't want to talk about or come up with a plan for the role he would play in her life. He wanted things to happen organically, like how it happened with us.

"Yeah he is, we lucked up in that department. Kenzo and Julian are both really good men."

"Yep." I agreed.

We finished up and got everything cleaned and cleared away. The nail tech and masseuse came and went straight to work on us.

****

Kenzo and Jr. came rolling in. I was down taking a nap. Kenzo figured we would go across the hall tonight to my condo, instead of driving back to his house.

"Thank you, Char, Jr. I appreciate you both." I spoke deliriously and out of it. I was so tired and sleepy I just wanted to lay down.

"No problem, go get some sleep." Char giggled at me.

Sleep quickly found its way to me once again. Kenzo carried me across the hall to my condo. He somehow got me ready for bed, stripping me down and putting a T-shirt on me.

"I don't have my pillow." I referred to the long one I usually keep propped between my legs.

"Crap, —ok let me see if I can line these up." He piled all the pillows on the bed around me, tucking some under my legs.

"You're the best babe." I squeezed the pillows, smiling.

"Get some rest. I'll be right back."

I pulled at his arms pouting. "Where are you going?"

"I need to shower. I've been out all day running around. —Stop being thirsty."

I sighed. "Ok, hurry up and be quiet."

He chuckled, "I'll be quick— go ahead and finish your nap. We can do the belly cast when you wake up."

"Don't let me sleep too long."

He nodded, quickly kissing my lips. "I need to check on your B-Day gifts anyway."

He knows I don't want him buying me anything. I just shook my head then rested it on the pillow. He's so stubborn.

I slept and slept. Pregnancy's not easy at all. It tires me out so fast. I'm emotional, sleeps uncomfortable and I want Zo all the time. I also forget things, and it takes so long to leave the house now.

Kenzo came in and woke me up after my long nap. I still felt sluggish. At this point, my body's at the finish line, and I'm just feeling it.

I went to the bathroom to clean myself up. Zo peeked his head in checking on me. He's paranoid. Every time I go to get up, he thinks my water will break. Or something will happen to progress labor.

"Aight come on so I can carry you downstairs. I have everything set up." He scooped me in his arms before I could protest.

"Well, dang," I mumbled.

He was right. He did have everything spread out. He had; vaseline, water, bath sheets spread on the sofa, and the instructions all ready to go. We sat in the family room. Everything was on the table in front of us.

"I think I can do this with you sitting down. You have to sit up straight."

I nodded while I peeled my shirt off. When I pulled it over my head, I heard Zo mumble something inaudible. I didn't bother to wear a bra. I was bare from the waist up. I don't want to be the only excited one in the house.

The second my breast sprung out his eyes locked in on them. No need to cover up, he's my man now.

"So you're just going to do that with no warning." He bit down on his lip.

"Yep, now let's get started."

"You play too much." He chuckled, taking another look.

"I'm not doing anything." I tried hiding my smile.

"Aight lets concentrate. Stay focused on the task." He took an exaggerated breath.

"You're the one staring."

"I'm about to do more than stare if we don't get started."

"Take your time then," I stated. Zo glanced up at me. He doesn't understand how much I want him. He thinks I'm joking, but I'm so serious.

He shook his head, smiling at me. "Hand me that vaseline, —you are something else, Di."

I handed it to him, "I'm for real. We could seriously make this happen before baby girl makes her debut."

He scooped out a handful of vaseline, spreading it out in his hands. "Scoot back a little bit."

I did so, preparing myself for this very intimate baby bump sculpture session.

He rubbed the vaseline all over my stomach. "The instructions say to make sure you're well covered so we can easily get it off when it hardens."

Breath girl, just breath normally and think about something else.

"Cool."

He scooped more petroleum out of the jar. Things were now pretty quiet. He was concentrating.

I was concentrating on breathing through my overly excited body responding to his touch.

"I don't want to wait either, but —let's wait. Ok?" He gave me a solemn lusty stare.

I nodded slightly irritated. My hormones are all over the place, and I want Zo to give me what I want. Which is me preferable, lying down legs spread wide with him in between. —Or me bent over either one. I'm not picky.

He resumed spreading the petroleum jelly, working his way up to my breast.

Every touch was tender filled with electric energy. It's like dangling something you can't have in front of you. Something you've been craving and wanting for so long.

I wanted to cry. It finally hit me. I won't be able to have sex for at least six weeks after the baby's born. It's finally settling in. I have this delicious looking man in front of me and can't have him the way I want.

I know it will be magical, especially with the chemistry we share.

"Are you crying right now?" He asked, shocked.

I shook my head while wiping the tears away from my eyes. "No."

He leaned in and kissed me, a light one.

He stared into my eyes for a moment wanting to say something. Instead, he brought his attention back to preparing the mold. He poured the water into the mixture and stirred it up.

I dried my eyes entirely and inhaled then exhaled. At that moment, I realized I should be enjoying my time with Zo, not dwelling on something that I can't change.

"Thank you for this." I smiled at him.

"Don't thank me just yet I still have to figure out how to make sure I'm doing this right."

It was taking us a while to finish. I dipped the strips and handed them to him. He placed them on.

"Are you nervous about the playoffs yet? You guys killed game one and two."

"I'm anxious and excited. I feel like we can win with the group of guys we have. I'm confident. I believe our team is strategically better than any team in it right now. —But this is the first round. I'm trying to only focus on our current opponent, not the finals."

"It's good we're number one in the western conference." He added.

"Home court advantage baby." I sang out, earning a laugh from both of us. He placed the last strip on me.

"Baby girl and I will be in the building for the finals. I can't wait." I gleamed at him.

"Now, that will make my day." He smiled, smoothing his hand over his finished work.

"Your nipples are poking out." He used his index fingers to poke at them.

"Stop." I giggled. He poked them again.

"It keeps coming back out when I push it in. We should've taped them down first."

"Un un, you're not ripping tape from my nipples."

He chuckled. "I didn't think about that.— I guess your nipples are a part of the mold then. We can't show this to anyone."

"I'm hanging it up on the wall."

"Adira you can see the shape of your breast with this." He nuzzled into my neck, kissing my collarbone.

"You're doing too much. It's not that deep."

"Let me wash this stuff off my hands." He stood after planting one right on my lips.

"How long is this baby cast thing supposed to stay on for?"

He washed his hand, then came back to grab the box and flipped it over to the directions. "You can take it off in five to ten minutes. Most of the strips on the outside are already dry. I'll go ahead and paint it now. When I'm done, we can take it off to let it set."

"I want flowers or a butterfly painted on." I looked down at the mold and smoothed a piece of the strip that was peeling up.

"I'm no Van Gogh or Da Vinci, but I can do a little something, something." He opened some of the paint and poured different colors on a paper plate. He used the remaining water in the cup to dip his brushes.

I sat back in the chair, getting comfortable and ready for him.

"You need anything before I get started?" He pulled the bath sheets out a little from under me to better cover the sofa.

"No, I'm ok. What are we eating after this?" I lifted to help him out. "I want you to choose, I always pick."

"Hmm, let me think about it. I'll have it figured out by the time we finish this."

I nodded, resting my head back. He went ahead and got started.

We made light conversation about some of the places he wanted to take me to. We also talked about the latest gossip from locker room chatter. Nothing major just silly stuff.

Before I knew it, he was done, and he did an excellent job.

"I love it. It'll be perfect for her room." I examined, making sure not to touch it. "It's perfect."

"I'm glad you like it. It'll stand out for sure in her room, with the off white and soft pink colors in there." He stood up and leaned into me. "Kiss me."

I obliged.

"Now let's get this off, so we can eat. I was thinking tacos."

"Ouuu that does sound good. We can make them together real quick." I shifted a little so he could get the cast off of me.

"Alright, take a shower first. I'll clean this up and get everything cut up and prepped." He easily removed the baby cast with no issues. "Mmm."

I blushed a little looking down at my breast, then slowly covered them up with the bath sheet under me.

We both laughed.

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