Well, you can do worse than Orlando Bloom Who: Alice Ayres and Verity When: Recently Where: The Tea Shoppe What: Verity’s come looking for her friend Rating/Warnings: Low/None Status: Complete
Oliver was gone. Verity wasn’t really sure what she was going to do now, though she had his word that he was going to support her and the baby. It was... confusing. He’d been healed up enough, and was headed back to Scotland to coach, or to play, or something. The idea that he was unhappy here was hurtful enough. Verity didn’t like thinking that she and the baby weren’t enough for him. So, it was over. Mostly over. It was over between the two of them, anyway.
She’d cried enough. She was tired of being sick, being sad. Verity knew that there was no way she could put it all to rest, so she’d resigned herself to a little while longer. She was going to be miserable for just a little longer. Then she’d be better. She kept telling herself that.
She entered the tea shop and sat in Alice’s section.
Alice felt terrible for being pleased with her life. Sometimes she just felt guilty that she’d been so blessed - she had a wonderful boyfriend, she had a lovely daughter of sorts, and she was about to help her boyfriend out at his shop. She was on one of the last days of her two week’s notice.
And she was glad when she saw Verity. Beaming, she moved to hug her tightly. “Hey, you.”
“Hi!” Verity said, putting on a smile. She climbed to her feet and wrapped her arms around her friend in a tight hug. “How are you? I hear you’re not going to be working here much longer??” She asked, pulling Alice down to sit with her at the booth in the back.
She sat down with Verity in the booth, beaming. “I’m great, actually. And yeah, I’m going to work at Jefferson’s shop.” Alice couldn’t help but blush a little.
“That’s wonderful! It’s going to be a marvelous shop. I love his designs.” Verity said, lowering one hand to run over her tummy. “How is Jefferson? Busy, I bet. And Grace? How’s she settling in?”
“Oh, he’s nervous. He thinks he’s going to cock it all up, but I keep telling him there’s no way. He’s amazing, and I’ll be there to help him out.” Alice smiled, ducking her head. “Grace is amazing. She’s doing really well at school. We were going to take her out to a fancy dinner to celebrate her recent report card, actually.”
“That’s wonderful! Getting good grades? A’s? I was pretty much a B student growing up.” Verity admitted, leaning back a bit in her chair. “And I’m sure that Jefferson’s shop is going to be fine. I’ll definitely be there to shop.”
“Straight As, yeah. She must get it from her father, I know she didn’t get it from me,” Alice joked. “Oh, his shop will be fantastic, he’s just paranoid and nervous by nature.” It was part of why Alice knew they still hadn’t done anything physical but snog. Alice and Jefferson both wanted to take things slow for Grace’s sake.
Verity grinned. “So you and I were in the same boat. Probably would have gotten each other in trouble for talking in class. Since I did that sort of thing all the time.” She lifted her water glass for a sip. “Poor thing. I understand about paranoid, though.” She’d spent the last couple of months withdrawing from a lot of people out of pure fear that things were going to go wrong. She hadn’t ever had sex with Oliver, either, because of fear.
“Oh, did you know how to make those triangle things?” Alice mimed her fingers moving. “Where you lifted the flaps and it showed you your future?” She giggled. “I loved those.” But she noticed Verity’s change in posture and reached out to squeeze her hand. “Things will be fine for you now, though.”
Verity took a moment, then gave Alice’s a hand a squeeze in return. “I’m not sure if fine is exactly the word, but... I’m going to survive.” She responded, somewhat sadly. “I’ve got a lot of support, so... I’m not going anywhere.”
“Anything you need, Verity. Anything.” Alice sighed and bit her lower lip hard. She felt guilty somehow, like she’d set things in motion.
“Aww, honey.” Verity squeezed Alice’s hand. She could tell that the other girl was feeling... sad? bad? Whatever it was, and it wasn’t her fault. “It’s going to be okay. And in a few years, I’ll have a built-in babysitter in Grace, right?”
“Oh, I think you’ll have to pay her to keep her away,” Alice laughed. “I’ll help too, promise.”
“Oh, good.” Verity looked both relieved and happy about that. “Good. Because, well... I don’t know what I’m going to do without a lot of help.” Especially now Oliver was gone. “I’ve got my sister-in-law, and her kids... and my brother, of course, but... Well, and there’s Fred and George... and Abigail. And Thor.” She had a lot of support, actually.
Alice smiled. “People who know you love you. That’s just how it works, Verity. It’s your magic, you know?”
Verity blushed deeply. She couldn’t help a shy smile, one that made her nose crinkle a bit. “Really? You think so?” It made her feel so warm, so loved, so honored that Alice thought so highly of her.
“I know so.” Alice took Verity’s hands. “I was always really upset that you and I weren’t friends. You know, during the hard parts.” She smiled and ducked her head. “You’re just one of those people that other people want to be around.”
Verity’s nose began to burn. She gave what she could of a nod, though her eyes were filling with tears. They started to spill and Verity gave a little sob. “Oh, Jesus,” she scolded herself. “It’s these hormones.” She added, then let go of Alice’s hands so she could lift her napkin to dab at her eyes.
“Oh, Ver, you don’t have to apologize.” Alice moved across the booth to sit next to her, wrapping her arms around her and hugging her tightly.
Verity cried and laughed at herself, cuddling in against her friend. "I’m so glad I've got you. I don't know what I'd do."
“Same.” She loved having Jefferson, but she really did like having a female friend to be with.
Boys were great, but not the same. Verity finally pulled herself together, wiping her face again with her napkin. “Ugh. Great. Now my nose is all stuffy.” From the crying. Y’know. “How’s my mascara? I bet it’s everywhere.”
Alice rifled through her bag until she found some tissues, dabbing at Verity’s eyes. “Less than you’d think. Here.” She found a compact and dabbed some pressed powder under Verity’s eyes. “Nobody’d know.”
Verity was a good make-up model person thingy, and looked up at the ceiling while she let her friend dab powder onto her face. For a moment she felt like she was 14 all over again. That is, until she felt the baby in her tummy move. It made her squirm just a little and give a gentle ‘oof’ sound.
Pausing, Alice put the compact down. “You okay? For a second, you looked like you were going to horf.”
“No, I’m over that now.” Verity said. She took hold of Alice’s hand and pressed it against her side, right where the baby was shifting. “Can you feel that?” She asked, digging Alice’s fingers into her abdomen. “Right.... there! There it was again!”
Brown eyes lit up, and Alice couldn’t help but grin. “Oh my god,” she murmured. “Was that the baby?”
Verity laughed, nearly crying again. “No, that was some weird alien... of course it was the baby.” She was beaming. “I can’t believe you felt it, too! That’s the first time anyone else has felt him move!”
“Him? Did you find out for sure?” Alice smiled, leaning down to press her ear to Verity’s belly. “Hey, little one, it’s your aunt Alice.”
“No,” Verity said, shaking her head a little. She was smiling down at Alice, and gave a little laugh when Alice bent down to listen and talk to her tummy. “Not for certain. I just change it up. Never know what to call him. I’d prefer to use the wrong gender than to say something like ‘it.’” She said, shrugging. “Ooh, more movement. I think she likes you.”
That made Alice chuckle. “Hey, little one!” She stroked Verity’s belly, her eyes tearing up. “That’s ... really wonderful.”
“Yeah.” Verity was starting to wish Oliver was here for all of this a little less, though she’d never give up on him. Not really. He would always be there in her heart. And a part of him in her tummy, apparently. “...it’s a miracle. Like, literally. He/she/it is a product of immaculate conception.”
“It’s true. I”m so glad you’re here - you’re just the right person to have this sort of miracle, you know?” It was like the love everyone had for her had sort of manifested itself into a child.
“You’re so sweet to say such nice things.” Verity said, blushing a bit. “I just hope I can live up to your expectations.” She reached for her water. Hydration. Now that she wasn’t nauseous anymore, she wanted to eat and drink everything in front of her.
“It’s true.” Alice took a nibble of a macaroon, smiling and offering one to Verity.
Verity accepted the macaroon and chowed down. “God, food is so good.” She said, leaning back a bit as she chewed. “I can’t believe I went for so long not being able to eat it.”
“I can’t either. I’d have cried a lot.” Alice wasn’t kidding; she had the metabolism of a hummingbird.
"That's how I actually lost weight in my first trimester. I wouldn't recommend it, though." She shook her head. "Ah, well, my days of skinny jeans are over."
“They’re not over, they’re just on hold. And let’s face it, skinny jeans need to stop being a thing.” Alice wrinkled her nose. “Aren’t you glad that ballet flats are still trendy?”
Verity laughed. “Well, you’re right about that. No idea what’s going to be back in style when I’m back down to my normal size.” Since the girl was so tiny to begin with, she looked more pregnant than she was. And she was already in maternity wear, too. “I don’t know what I’d do without my ballet flats. Oh, speaking of being trendy, please tell Jefferson how excited I am for him to design some amazing maternity wear for me.”
“I’ll be sure to let him know.” Alice laughed a little, squeezing Verity’s hand. “You’ll be stunning. You’ve got that glow, you know?”
“I do?” Verity asked, blushing. She gave Alice a smile, returning the squeeze. “You’re really sweet. I don’t feel like I’m glowing, but it’s really kind of you to say so. At least I’m eating again, I’ve got more energy... but damn if I’m not horny as hell.” She confessed, giving a little chuckle and lowering her voice. Her cheeks went pink. “Can you believe an orgasm woke me up? I was having a really, really great dream about Orlando Bloom, and … y’know.”
“You do.” Alice’s eyes went wide. “Holy shit, that’s possible? I didn’t realize that could even happen.” Alice really wanted to find Verity a boyfriend or someone to love her, but it wasn’t like they had a Good Men R’ Us store.
“Yeah, apparently...” Verity nodded. “I mean, I didn’t believe it when I was reading one of those pregnancy posting boards, but it happened to other women... then it happened to me. It was insane.” She was glad she was sleeping alone at the time. ...not that there was anyone for her to be sleeping next to. She didn’t even have a pet.
“Huh. Well, you can do worse than Orlando Bloom,” Alice giggled.
Verity laughed. “Definitely. You can definitely do worse than Orlando Bloom.”