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

 

Chapter 13

About a month after Adam dumped Lexi, Mal’s midwife put her on bedrest until the baby would arrive and it was official: Ben’s anxiety was getting near the breaking point. Since the baby was about to be born, Belle and Beast took over everything so Ben could be there to take care of Mal and they both needed things to do, so Ben brought books from the library and snacks from the kitchen. Ben would take care of Mal, of course, but he also would escape into a thick book most of the time.

“Ben, are you okay?” Mal asked finally after Ben just read and read for hours on end but also kept looking up at Mal every five seconds. Ben just shook his head. 

“I’m just worried.” he muttered, blushing slightly, in spite of himself. Mal smiled and laughed.

“Is that all?”

Ben just stared.

“What do you mean?” he quired. Mal gave him a mischievous smile.

“Can I tell you a secret? I’m scared too,”

“You are? Why didn’t you tell me?” Ben asked seriously.

“You didn’t tell me,” Mal pointed out, shrugging. Ben chuckled.

“Touche.” Then Mal and Ben just started laughing so hard because they were both so scared and amused at the fact that they didn’t tell each other. Then they decided they would go on a walk to try and induce labor. They strode across the dirt path where Ben had been captured, but they didn’t really have post-traumatic stress about it, though. But Mal had started to have contractions earlier that morning and they were steadily getting closer together and doubling in pain. Eventually, she had to sit down on a park bench to rest for a moment and Ben told her to take all the time she needed. When she felt like she could get up again, she got up only to find the bench soaked in amnionic fluid! Ben barely had time to scoop Mal up and take her back to the castle when a dark hooded figure came out of nowhere and grabbed Mal and teleported away! Ben tried to keep a cool head but he couldn’t do it anymore and went into an anxiety attack before he remembered that wouldn’t help Mal in any way. He took some deep breaths and then called Evie, Jay and then Lexi. He just hoped they would get there in time.

Thaddeus was getting ready for homecoming! He was so excited and he called his older sister, Hailey, who basically taught him everything he knew about girls, to get his look approved. He knew how to get ready for such affairs, but this was his first time going with a young lady. So, he asked for her help. He had most of it down, but he did a little help from Hailey.

“Oh!” Hailey exclaimed. “You’re golden! I taught you so well!”

Thaddeus chuckled. He was wearing a grey suit with a lavender bowtie to match Lexi’s dress with his hair in its usual wavy style.

“Thanks, Hailey.” He said as he started down the stairs to the living room where his younger sister, Hadley, and his cousin, Lucy were sitting on the floor and playing a board game. But they stopped when they saw Thaddeus and his cousin, Austen walk down the stairs.  

“Wow! You guys look great!” Hadley said excitedly. Lucy nodded.

“If Lexi doesn’t want you, she’ll have to be out of her mind!” she remarked. Thaddeus laughed at his charming little cousin’s statement.

“Well, let’s hope she’s not crazy,” Thaddeus joked. After Aunt Emma took a few pictures of Thaddeus and Austin, they walked out of the door and Austin took his dad’s car and Thaddeus took his aunt’s car. When they were out of the door, Lucy leaned over to Hadley.

“I am so shipping them,” she whispered, meaning Lexi and Thaddeus. Hadley nodded.

“Girl, same!” she exclaimed softly as they both giggled. Meanwhile, Thaddeus had just pulled up Lexi’s house. What he didn’t know, was who was about to answer the door.

That morning, James had come home from his service trip and later that afternoon, Conner came from college to see him! They were both sitting on the couch, catching up on brother stuff, when the doorbell rang.

“Oh, that must be Thaddeus,” James said, grabbing a Nerf gun he had prepared, just for this. Him and Conner got up and answered the door. As soon as they did, all of the color drained from Thaddeus’s face.

Uh oh. I thought they were both out of town! Oh, I’m in so much trouble! Thaddeus thought frantically as James, for some reason, cocked a Nerf gun.

“Hey, Thaddeus.” James said. Conner looked over at him.

“No, dude, I told you not to do that.” he whispered as he threw the toy gun back into the living room. Then they both started laughing because they were just kidding around but Thaddeus still looked worried. Then they turned back to Thaddeus and gave him a friendly smile. “Hey, man!” he exclaimed as he gave Thaddeus a bro hug. “Hey, thanks for covering for us in our job while we were gone,”

Thaddeus tried to make his breaths slow as he stepped his left foot in through the doorway, followed by his right.

“Your job? What job?” he asked tentatively, even though he was pretty sure he knew what they were talking about. James nodded, rather insistently.

“Embarrassing that Adam guy in front of the whole school. Not to mention defending her,” he reminded him. Thaddeus could feel his face burn, which was beyond embarrassing as Lexi’s brothers were standing right there in front of him.

“Oh, you heard about that?” he whispered, trying not to run his fingers through his hair. Conner nodded.

“Yeah, she was really impressed about it.” He explained. Then he filled his lungs with air shouted up the stairs,

“Isabella, your boyfriend’s here!!!!” (Camillo, We Don’t Talk About Bruno, Encanto.)

Thaddeus buried his face in his hands because he was POSITIVE that his face might have actually caught fire. He heard Lexi let out a snort of laughter before he heard her reply, which was only a little bit affected by her earlier laughter.

“Coming!” And then she was walking down the stairs, wearing a lovely lavender dress that reached her knees with a lacy top with lace flowers sewed into it and elbow-length sleeves and a skirt made satin and had a sheer overlay. Her strawberry blonde hair fell in a cascade of ringlets to her upper-back and some of it was pinned back with a sparkly lavender barrette and she wore silver shimmery high-heeled shoes that matched her eye-shadow. Thaddeus had to try and scoop his jaw off of the floor as he also tried to remember how to breathe properly.

Wow. . . I feel like Ben right now. I finally understand the difference between pretty and beautiful. And she’s gorgeous. Thaddeus thought as all of the sudden, Lexi tripped and slipped down the stairs! Thaddeus’s eyes expanded as he rushed to the staircase and kneeled down to where Lexi was now laying sprawled out on the last two steps. “Are you all right?” Thaddeus asked in concern as he offered his hands to Lexi. Lexi grinned as she took both of Thaddeus’s hands.

“Never been better,” she told Thaddeus as he helped her to her feet. Thaddeus gave Lexi a surprised smile as he looked into her hazel eyes and tried not to get lost in them.

“Good, I’m glad. And you are beautiful! But then again, you always look like this to me,”

Lexi blushed and beamed at Thaddeus.

“Thank you!” she said happily. After Lexi’s mom took many pictures of her and Thaddeus, they walked out of the door. Then Thaddeus just looked at Lexi. “What?” Lexi asked curiously.

“You told me that your brothers were out of town,” Thaddeus said, letting some of his earlier fear flood into his voice. Lexi shook her head.

“No. James got home this morning and Conner got home this afternoon,” she explained.

“Thanks for the warning!” Thaddeus replied sarcastically. Lexi laughed.

“You’re not afraid of them, are you?” she giggled teasingly. Thaddeus started laughing then. Fake laughing.

“What? No! No way!”

Lexi began to laugh again.

“Yeah, okay.” she chuckled. Thaddeus rolled his eyes, but he was smiling.

“Ha, ha. Very funny.” he said sarcastically. Then he returned to his normal self as went around to Lexi’s side of the car and opened the door like the gentleman he was. “Your carriage awaits, fangirl,” Thaddeus grinned as he took Lexi’s hand and held it as he helped her into the car.