Heather, along with her mother, Adelaide, her two aunts, Lois and Donna and two best friends, Jillian and Lisa, gathered in the Marsh house. The mother-to-be was surrounded by presents and everyone was so ecstatic about the baby shower and the baby in general.
"What are you gonna name it?" asked Aunt Lois.
"We don't know yet. We have a couple names picked out but we're just tossing them around right now," Heather explained.
"I always liked the name Shawn," said Aunt Donna.
Heather scoffed. "That name is so overused nowadays," she said. "There were three girls who got pregnant in our senior year and gave birth before graduation. All of them named their child 'Shawn'."
Jillian nodded her head. "Yep. Shawn Tyler, Shawn Aiden and Sean--S-e-a-n--Dmitri Calvin. That one has two middle names which makes the first name pale in comparison."
"My brother named his son Shawn. Shawn Malcolm," Lisa said.
"Sweet God! Do people even have girls anymore?" Aunt Lois laughed.
"I can't believe this," Brett shook his head. "In less than a month you are going to be tied down and held captive by a baby and this is where you want to spend what could be your last free night?"
"It's my choice, Brett. Besides, this is really only thing in town that can be considered fun. I think you'll survive, Brett," Chris said.
"Fine," Brett said. "Two games and size eleven shoe."
"Size thirteen," Chris smiled.
The man behind the counter totaled the cost and gave Chris and Brett their shoes. They then went down to the alleys where they put their shoes on and began looking for a ball to use.
"Just promise me one thing," Brett said. "That you will at least attempt to get laid tonight. Like with her," Brett pointed to a girl a couple alleys down. She had short blond hair, glasses and a cute face but was short and kind of on the chubby side.
"Maybe," Chris said.
"A Night Out"
The women passed out Heather's sonogram and cooed in delight as they made out the baby's face, hands and feet. After the sonogram made the rounds, they gave it back to Heather and sat back down in a circle.
"Well, he's going to be adorable," Aunt Lois said.
"Say what you will about Chris but at least he's attractive," Heather said. "Of course I'm not really one to sleep with someone that's not attractive."
"What about that guy back in junior high?" Adelaide asked. "He wasn't very attractive. Skinny as a sign post and he had such a pointy face."
"Mom! You knew about that?" Heather was embarrassed. It was back in eighth grade and she and David had been going out for a couple months although she wasn't happy in the relationship. She had decided to have sex with him to change their relationship but mainly to just get it over with. They only had sex four times before David broke up with her.
"Of course I knew about that," Adelaide said. "Your bed kept pushing against the wall."
"Your next guy was a big step-up from David," Jillian said.
"The stories you told me about him," Lisa smiled. "I almost went after him myself when you two broke up."
"What was so special about that guy?" Adelaide asked.
Heather, Jillian and Lisa blushed and giggled. The next guy, Michael, was a senior in high school while Heather was a sophomore. They only dated for four months but during that time they had sex just about everyday, and it was with Michael that Heather first performed oral sex and engaged in anal sex. She loved both of them. Plus, Michael was huge.
"Michael was just...special," Heather blushed. "Can I open my presents now?"
Chris and Brett were halfway finished with their first game of bowling and Chris was beating Brett badly. Brett looked over at the girls they saw earlier and noticed they were getting ready to leave.
"Hey, Chris. Those girls are leaving," he pointed.
Chris looked and shrugged. "So?"
"So? So we should ask them to join us on our next game. I'm becoming kind of smitten with that girl in the green shirt," Brett said. "If you're not gonna go over there, I am."
Brett went over to the girls and stayed in the background for a minute before actually approaching them. "Hello, ladies. My friend and I," he pointed to Chris, "were wondering if you would like to join us. We have a second game coming up."
The girls all looked at each other and shrugged. "I think we can do that. For awhile anyway," said the short and chubby girl.
"I can't stay. I have a date," said another girl.
"Then it's just us three," the girl in the green shirt smiled. "I'm Wanda. These are my friends Allison, Leslie and the one leaving is Crystal. Give us a couple minutes to clean up and we'll be over to join you," Wanda smiled.
Brett went back over to his alley where Chris was sitting and waiting. "They will be over soon," Brett said. "We should hurry this game up."
The girls joined them and they took turns going since only two people were programmed into the game. It took Chris awhile to warm up to everyone but soon he had become closer to Allison while Brett focused on Wanda. Leslie was slightly left out of the loop.
In an hour, the game was finished and the five of them stood outside the bowling alley. "Thank you for letting us join you. It was a good evening," Wanda said. "I had fun."
"Me, too," Brett said. "Do you need a ride home or anything?" he offered.
"Actually, yeah. That'd be nice," she said.
Chris leaned over to Brett. "Um, Brett? You drove me..."
"Well! I'm going to take Wanda home. I'll see you later, Chris," and Brett walked off with Wanda by his side.
"All right then," Chris sighed.
"We should probably get going as well," Allison said, motioning to Leslie. "Maybe we'll see you around?"
"Yeah, maybe. It's a small town. Well, you two be careful. Thanks for making the night fun," Chris said and Allison and Leslie walked to the parking lot. Chris watched as both cars drove away. He continued to stand in front of the bowling alley. "I probably should've asked for a ride."
Kim sat at the bar in one of the town's more popular watering holes. As she nursed her drink, someone tapped her on her shoulder. "Funny seeing you here," John said and smiled.
"I thought I'd give it a try. It's not going too well," Kim chuckled.
"I just got bored sitting at home by myself. I tried to do some work on the basement but..."
Kim interrupted. "Do you think we're doing the right thing?" she asked.
"What do you mean?" asked John.
"Doing our divorce while our son and his baby and his baby's mother are living in our basement?"
"I get what you're saying and no, I don't."
"Maybe we should postpone it," Kim said. "At least until Chris, Heather and the baby move out."
"We can just see how it goes," John said.
"Who knows. This might help in keeping our marriage together," Kim laughed.
"Well, it couldn't hurt," John shrugged.
Next:
Chris runs into an old teacher; Brett and Heather talk.
