What It Is (Secret Santa for Loli-popp)

[Bongo]

This is a secret santa for loli-popp. It is also the first sneezefic I have written in what I believe is a year, and the first original story I have posted.

I hope I followed your character preferences, and I wish you a happy new year!

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WHAT IT IS

Alexandra McCallum rolled over in bed, stretching one arm above her head and reaching the other to curl over her fiance’s chest in greeting.

But her arm was met with nothing but cold sheets and a hint of crumpled blanket where Luke had pushed it aside when he abruptly left her side. “Baby,” she moaned sleepily, “come back to bed. I’m cold.”

Luke poked his head out of the bathroom door, hair disheveled, and said “I’m getting ready for brunch with your parents.”

Once Alex had deciphered his toothbrush-addled speech, she rolled her eyes and threw the blanket back to join him.

Formerly graceful, she waddled in her giant flannel nightshirt over to the en suite bathroom and (with assistance) relocated herself on the counter next to the sink. “You have no reason to be nervous,” she promised, rubbing his shoulder with one hand while the other reached for her own toothbrush.

He eyed her swollen stomach. “No reason?”

Alex followed his gaze and flushed, covering herself protectively. “Fine,” she conceded, “a little reason. But not enough to be getting

ready for bagels and overcooked eggs five hours in advance.”

“I just...want to make a good impression. This is the first time I’ve seen your dad since you got pregnant.”

“And you will. My dad likes you, don’t worry.”

Luke looked up and met her eye in the mirror. “He calls me Ringo.”

Alex stuck her toothbrush in her mouth and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. It is what it is, she seemed to say silently. A reminder

of what she said to him six months ago, when her parents had told her never to come back. What he had said to her last week, when

her mother called and said they changed their minds.

And that was the truth. It was what it was. She could have ended the pregnancy. He could have shaved the sideburns her father so

detested, brought her mother flowers and been the ideal gentleman they always imagined their only child bringing home. He could

have made her an honest woman before the baby was born.

But it was what it was. Alex didn’t want a maternity wedding dress, and it didn’t matter that her mother wanted her to get married

quietly and let the baby be legitimate. He wasn’t a tie-wearing yuppie businessman with a baby-smooth face. The messy hair and

sideburns went along with the band management he did, and that was who he was.

Alex spit in the sink and switched out the toothbrush for a hairbrush. “So why are you really hiding in the bathroom at six o’clock in the

morning?” She asked, smiling, and she worked on yanking a knot out of her long brown hair.

Luke looked away. “I’m coming down with a cold. Wanted to give the medicine time to kick in, and I didn’t want to wake you up

sneezing.”

Brush tossed aside, Alex pulled his face toward her by yanking on his bangs. He hissed in annoyance, but she still moved on to feel

his forehead, then his cheeks, then let her hand rest back in his dark curls.

“You don’t feel warm. Are you sure you’re getting sick?”

Luke nodded, pushed her hand away gently, then turned away and sneezed mightily into the hand towel she hadn’t seen him holding

“HERRTSH!” He turned back to her and huffed out a breath. “Pretty sure, yeah.”

Alex studied the bottle of cold medicine on the counter. Shook it. Put it back.

“Feels pretty light,” she commented. At his shrug, she prompted. “Been fighting this for a few days?”

Another shrug, followed by another tremendous sneeze. Alex rolled her eyes. “I’m calling and cancelling.”

Luke’s head snapped up. Watery eyes glared into her, twitching slightly at the corners. “You can’t cancel,” he told her, voice starting to sound stuffy. “Your dad’ll kill me.”

“He’s human, he’ll understand. Besides, I’m sure he would just as soon not have you infecting him and my mom if it’s possible. People are weird that way.”

Luke pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’ll infect you.”

“Doubt it, considering I brought the damn cold home in the first place.” As a third grade teacher, Alex had a tendency to pick up random bugs from her kids. “And you took great care of me. So come on, let me take care of you.” She waggled her eyebrows again. “I’ll even wear a nurse’s uniform.”

Luke snorted, partly because Alex hadn’t fit into anything other than what he considered to be pregnancy muumuus in three months and partly because he was trying his hardest not to sneeze in front of her again.

As his fiancé wiggled herself back onto her feet, Luke turned away, pinching his nose in his towel again. He hadn’t started sneezing until she came in and caught him, and now it’s all his body wanted to do.

“That’s not very good for you,” Alex chided, poking him in the ribs and pulling his arm away.

He immediately pulled his sweatshirt over his face and sneezed a harsh double that almost had him groaning. “HRRRUTSCH! CHHRSHH!” He sniffled loudly before lowering his shirt and giving her a lopsided and weak grin. “Excuse me.”

“Come on,” Luke felt himself being pulled out of the bathroom and, though he wanted with all his might to fight it, his feet followed without hesitation. Just as they had always followed her without hesitation.

Alex pulled at the messed up heap he had left of his comforter when he bolted from the bed in the early morning, sneezing so loud he heard the neighbor’s dog bark back in greeting.

“Pretty please?” she pleaded. “I need the practice.”

He eyed the bed, fighting to keep the longing from appearing in his over-tired eyes. “So I’d be doing you a favor?’

“Oh yeah, a huge one,” Alex agreed.

“And you don’t want to let pregnant women down…”

“Never. We get very emotional when we’re disappointed.”

Luke sat down, slowly, not sure who was holding onto the upper-hand at that moment. When his nose started to twitch, Alex shoved a handful of tissues into his hand and guided it toward his face just in time for him to cover an uncontrolled “AERRTTSCH!”

“Bless you,” Alex chimed, pushing him backwards so his head hit her side of the pillows, and essentially left him sprawled out across their entire bed. She dropped herself down next to him, shaking the bed and pulling the blanket over them.

She reached over for her phone, sending a brief explanation to her parents over text, then tossing it on the bed and curling up next to Luke.

“You know,’ Luke pointed out, “you could still have gone. You haven’t seen your parents in ages.”

Alex shook her head against his shoulder. “I know, but I don’t want to. I’m staying right here with you, whether you want me to or not.

“You’re going to spend your Sunday morning lying in bed with a snot-filled idiot instead of being with your family?”

“Basically.”

“Why?”

And that was the end of the conversation. An unnecessary question, one that Alex didn’t bother to speak to, leaving it with the answer with which they lived their lives.

That was how it was, and it simply is what it is.

[VividBubbles!]

This was adorable.

I imagined Luke as John Stamos in his Full House days. Mmmm.

Any chance of a continuation?

BYE!

[em4]

Aww, this is so cute. It is written very well and has good rhythm (if you know what I mean). I felt like I really got to know the characters, or rather they popped out of the screen and shook my hand. They are such a cute couple (your description of Luke was particularly adorable, including his loud sneezes), and they seem very real, like they could have been some friend of friend's that you were telling me about.

Even though I'm not loli-popp, thank you for sharing this. I enjoyed reading it!

[LovelyLinda]

Rowrrr. Sounds very tasty.

I hope there's more? =D