“What a wuss!” Claire laughed.
The front door opened, and I closed my eyes, waiting for the painful shrieking of my mother. It never came.
“Uh…what happened here?” Bex said. I opened my eyes, seeing Bex stood frozen in place in the doorway, a half-eaten apple in one hand.
“Nina pulled me off Ryan,” Claire said, her voice trembling with excitement.
“Okay. So what are you doing, Jared?” Bex said.
“Nothing,” Jared replied, clearly embarrassed.
“He’s going to test the theory,” Claire said.
Jared shook his head quickly. “No, I’m not.”
I crossed my arms. “And how were you going to do that, exactly?”
Jared rubbed the back of his neck. “I was just going to throw it. I wasn’t going to….”
“Punch her?” Bex said.
Jared frowned at Bex, and then looked at me apologetically.
“What?” I wailed.
Jared held out his hands. “I wasn’t going to land it! Just to see if you would catch it.”
Claire puffed, unimpressed. “I was going to punch her,” she mumbled.
My mouth fell open.
Bex walked casually across the room, stopping a couple of feet from me. Jared reclaimed my attention when he reached for me again. “Come on, Nina. You don’t think I would punch my pregnant wi—”
Before Jared could finish his sentence, Bex’s fist hurled toward me with lightning speed. My body reacted, and suddenly his fist was in my hand.
“I’m not holding back,” Bex grunted, still pushing his fist toward my face.
Jared’s eyes widened. He tried to talk, but the only result was his jaw flapping about.
Bex relaxed and lowered his hand, and then bent down to kiss my forehead. “She’s been like that for months. You couldn’t tell?” he asked Jared.
“I uh…I could tell something was different. I assumed it was the baby.”
“It is the baby,” Bex smiled. “Bean is sharing angel juice with Nina. I haven’t taken it easy sparring with her for weeks.”
“What?” I said.
“What?” Jared repeated.
Bex rolled his eyes. “Remember that time she threw me on my back?”
Jared’s eyes dashed to mine. “She really did that?”
Bex frowned. “It hurt, too. I just didn’t say anything because I assumed you knew, and this was one of those things you didn’t want to talk about.”
“He is so like that.” Claire said.
Jared was instantly angry. “You were sparring with her on your level? She’s pregnant, Bex. Are you insane? What if you hurt the baby?”
I looked down at my protruding belly and gingerly rubbed it with my fingers. “Bean is giving me abilities?”
Bex shrugged. “Bean’s full-on angel, Nina. You’ve got more power than we do, I bet. That’s why you could hover during your dreams and climb the walls and stuff. You were pregnant then, weren’t you?”
Ryan laughed once. “What? She’s Spider-Man, now?”
“That’s what I said!” Bex beamed. “Love Spider-Man.”
Jared frowned. “You should have said something.”
Bex laughed once without humor. “She’s your Taleh…not to mention your wife. I thought you knew!”
“You didn’t think I’d mention it if I had?”
“No! That doesn’t sound like you at all!” Bex snapped.
“He’s right,” Claire said. “Being forthcoming isn’t your strong suit.”
Jared turned on his heels, crossing his arms. His biceps bulged over his hands. “I guess you knew, too?”
“Obviously not!” Claire said. “It was my idea to punch her!”
“Well, let’s brag about it,” I said flatly.
Silence overcame the room while the new knowledge set in. Jared’s eyes bounced around different points on the floor while his brain processed a million thoughts a second.
A loud bang sounded from across the room, followed by a vibration in the floor. Claire was lying on her back, looking up at Ryan with a shocked expression.
He smiled. “I told you I wouldn’t give up.”
Her face flashed red, and I waited for her to send Ryan flying across the room again. But the flush of her cheeks returned to a warm tone, and her eyes softened. A slow, small smile turned up the corners of her mouth. Ryan, without caution, kneeled beside her. His eyes left hers, and then transfixed onto her lips. He leaned in closer. I waited for Claire to grab him by the throat, or kick him in his nether region, but she slowly closed her eyes.
“What in the hell happened in here?” Cynthia shrieked, slamming the door behind her.
My mother’s surprise entrance took my attention away for only a moment, and when I looked back, I could see a familiar frustration in Ryan’s eyes.
I smiled.
“Someone had better answer me,” Cynthia said.
Realization fluttered in Claire’s eyes, and she glanced in my direction.
“Karma,” I said with a knowing grin. She had made a hobby of interrupting Jared and I when we were falling in love. It was refreshing to see her reaction when the same happened to her.