Chapter 13 of Fangirls, book two!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D:D

 

Chapter 13, Magic in the air

Mal and Ben were sitting on their plush couch in their living room. Mal had been put on bedrest until the baby was here and it was official, Ben was going to lose it. There weren’t very many royal duties for either of them because the baby was almost here so Ben brought books from the library and snacks from the kitchen. And Mal was starting to notice how so very nervous Ben was. “Ben, are you okay?” she asked as he was reading and looking up every five seconds to look at her. Ben nodded. 

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine,” he explained, but he didn’t seem fine and Mal didn’t believe this story. Mal cocked her head to one side.

“Are you sure?” she inquired concernedly.

“Please stop asking.” he said as he returned to his book. Mal smiled at him.

“You can tell what’s wrong,” she whispered teasingly “I won’t make fun of you,” Ben smiled too. He was suddenly feeling like he wanted to say what was on his mind. 

“I’m just scared,” Ben told her softly. Mal sighed in relief.

“Is that all?” she asked. Ben looked confused.

“What do you mean? 'Is that all?'” Ben asked in surprised tone. Mal smiled at him.

“Can I tell you a secret?” she asked. Ben nodded.

“I’m scared too,” she whispered. Ben raised his eyebrows.

“Really?” Ben asked. Mal nodded.  “Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked. Mal laughed.

“You didn’t tell me,” Mal chuckled. Ben shrugged.

“Touché,” he admitted. Then they both just started laughing because they were both so nervous and they were surprised that they were both nervous. Then they decided that they would take a walk. They were both getting cabin fever and Mal needed a distraction from her Braxton Hix contractions. So, they walked out to the dirt path where Mad Maddy had captured Ben. They didn’t really have post-traumatic stress about it, though. They both were very pleased at the sunshine and warmth of the day. But Mal’s contractions were slowly getting closer together and doubling in pain. Eventually she had to sit down. And slowly Ben’s panic was building up. But when she felt a little better, she stood up from the bench she was sitting on and found that it was soaked in amnionic fluid. Mal and Ben gasped in unison.

“I guess it’s time!” Mal cried before she fell to the ground in pain, one hand on her swollen stomach. Ben acted fast and scooped Mal up and ran back to the castle. He immediately went to the car and opened the door on the passenger side and put Mal inside. Then he ran to the driver side and got in too. 

And he flew to the hospital.

 

Meanwhile, in another dimension, Thaddeus was getting ready to go pick Lexi up for the dance. He knew how to get ready for such affairs, but this was his first time going to the dance with a lady, so he called his sister Hailey while he got a ready do get the look approved. He had most of it down, but he did a little help from her. “Oh, you’re golden!” she exclaimed as he showed her how he looked. He wore a navy-blue suit with a lavender bowtie to match Lexi’s dress that she got. He chuckled.

“Thanks Hailey,” he said, still chuckling. Then he headed downstairs to where everyone was hanging out. 

“Wow! You look amazing!” Hadley exclaimed. Aunt Emma nodded in agreement as she came out of the kitchen, where she was cooking dinner. 

“You do look quite handsome. If Lexi doesn’t want you, she must crazy!” Lucy informed him. Thaddeus laughed.

 “Well, let's hope she's not crazy,” Thaddeus said nervously. Then after his aunt took a few pictures of him and Austen, Thaddeus took the car keys and headed out the door. Austen took the other car his mom and dad owned. As soon as Thaddeus and Austen walked out of the door, Hadley and Lucy exchanged looks. 

“I’m so shipping them,” Lucy said in an undertone. Hadley nodded.

“Girl, same!” she exclaimed quietly. Meanwhile Thaddeus had just pulled up outside Lexi’s house and walked up the front path and rang the doorbell. What he didn’t know was who was about to answer the door.

 

Lexi, her mom and her dad had got up early to pick up James from the airport because he got home from his service trip. And then later that day, Conner was visiting from collage and had got home that afternoon! Conner and James were sitting on the couch in the living room, catching up on brother stuff when they heard the doorbell ring. “Oh, that must be Thaddeus.” James said as he grabbed a nerf gun he prepared, just for this. Him and Conner went to answer the door. As soon as they did, all color drained from Thaddeus’s face. Uh oh. I thought they were out of town! Oh, I’m in so much trouble!

 Thaddeus thought in fear. “Hey, Thaddeus.” James said as he cocked his nerf gun. Conner shot him a look.

“No, I told you not to do that,” Conner said softly as he grabbed the nerf gun and threw it back in the living room. “Hey man!” Conner exclaimed. “Hey, thanks for covering our job while we were gone,” Conner said appreciatively. 

“Your job? What job?” Thaddeus inquired tentatively as Conner let him into the house.

“Yeah. Humiliating that Adam guy in front of half the school! Not mention defending her!” Conner exclaimed. 

“Oh, you heard about that?” Thaddeus asked softly as his face turned red with embarrassment. James nodded.

“Yeah, she was really impressed about it,” James explained. Just then, Conner filled his lungs with air and shouted up the stairs. 

“Isabella, your boyfriend’s here!!” (Camilo, We Don’t Talk About Bruno, Encanto) Conner shouted up the stairs as Thaddeus blushed even more. 

“Coming!” Lexi replied as they the click of high heels on the wood floor. Then Lexi was walking down the stairs, wearing a beautiful lavender dress that reached her knees that had a lacy top with little lace flowers sewed into the dress and a flouncy skirt that twirled easily. She was wearing gold sparkly two- and half-inch heels and her hair was curled and some of it was pinned back with a sparkly lavender barrette. Wow, I feel like Ben right now. I finally understand the difference between pretty and beautiful. And she’s gorgeous,    

Thaddeus thought as he looked at her and tried to remember how to breathe again. “You look gorgeous,” Thaddeus said sweetly when he caught his breath. Lexi smiled at him.

“Thank you!” she said as she blushed. Lexi and Thaddeus soon headed out the door after Lexi’s mom took a few pictures. As soon as they were out, Thaddeus staired at Lexi. “What?” she asked confusedly.

“You told me your brothers were out of town.” he said to her. Lexi shook her head.

“James got home this morning and Conner got home this afternoon,” Lexi told him.

“Thanks for the warning!” Thaddeus exclaimed sarcastically as he approached the car. Lexi looked at Thaddeus in amusement. 

“You’re not scared of them, are you?” she asked, guessing the answer. Thaddeus started laughing. Fake laughing. 

“What? No! No way!” he exclaimed. Lexi started giggling.

“Yeah, okay,” she chuckled. Thaddeus raised an eyebrow in disapproval.

“Ha ha. Very funny,” Thaddeus said sarcastically. Then he returned to his normal self as he opened Lexi’s door. “Get in the car, fangirl.” Thaddeus said, smiling brightly.