Within the space of fifteen minutes we have music playing loudly and the sound of talking and laughing can be heard in the background. Jo and Jake have arrived, as well as Stella and her date, a nice enough bloke called Nick, who I just know, Gabe and his brothers are going to take the piss out of all night; Jemma and Max and Lu and Shannon are next to arrive followed by Ryder and his date Layla, who’s a petit little blonde and barely says a word, Cooper and Jen are next and then my belly goes over as Zac and Sam arrive. Gabe is sorting drinks out for everyone but I see his hand go straight to his jaw as he sees Zac come through the gates, I watch him as he looks beyond his brother, CJ and his mate come in first, good, he still looks like a fifteen year old child. For a second Gabe’s hand leaves his jaw as he laughs and says something to Lu, who I notice keeps putting her hands on him. I will have to have words with Lorraine but that thought leaves my head entirely as I watch Louie and his mate Josh I assume, walk through the gates and over to the pool house, they’re definitely not boys, I’ve seen Lou in boardies and jeans and hoodies but I’ve never seen him dressed up like this, they are both good looking boys and both look about eighteen, nineteen and Gabe is going to have an absolute coronary if Ava and Sophie start flirting with these two in front of him.
I start making my way over to where he’s standing, removing his hand from his jaw as I reach him, I whisper in his ear. “Chill.”
He smiles and puts his arm around me and kisses my temple. “I love you, you are the most fuckable pregnant woman I have ever seen, do you know that?”
“I do know that yes. Is it safe to leave you here while I go upstairs and get the girls to help me with some food?”
“Go, I promise to behave. If you promise me another blow job.”
I wink at him. “Anytime baby, just say the word. Be good.”
I go upstairs to the kitchen and call for the girls to come and help me with some dips and chips and hot pies and sausage rolls. A must at any gathering in Australia. Sophie appears with her bathrobe still around her. “Are you girls still not ready? Hurry up and bring these down before they go cold.”
“We just need to put our dresses on; we didn’t want to crease them; we’ll be right down.”
I carry two big trays of food down and feel a bit mean for shouting at Sophie so harshly, but jeeze, they have been pampering and preening themselves for almost four hours. Jo takes a tray off of me and we go in opposite directions, offering everyone food. I make my way back to Gabe and ask him to pour me a lemonade into a wine glass so that nobody gets suspicious about the fact that I’m not drinking, he passes me my drink and I watch as his mouth falls open. I turn and look over my shoulder at Ava coming down the back stairs carrying a tray of party pies and sauce, looking like Miss Australia. The blue dress is skin tight and clings to her, she is stick thin and has no curves to fill it out, apart from her boobs, where the fuck did they come from? They must be at least a generous C cup and on her tiny size four frame, they look pretty big and her legs seem to go on forever. She has a thin silver belt around her waist and is wearing matching silver killer heels, she has added to the makeup she was wearing earlier and now has smokey eyes and red lips, her hair has been taken out of its braid and is hanging in curls over both her shoulders. If I didn’t know it was her, I wouldn’t have recognised her and she looks about twenty. I put my hand on Gabe’s shoulder.
“Holy fuck man, is that Ava?”
Zac says to Gabe from somewhere behind him, I glare over Gabe’s shoulder at Zac, take my drink from Gabe and squeeze his hand.
“Wow dude, your daughter is growing up into a beautiful young woman, you must be proud.”
Zac pats Gabe on the back as he winks at me and I can feel some of the tension leave his body, his eyes meet mine, he’s so not happy but keeping it under control, I give him a little nod and a smile. We both watch as Ava offers pies to everyone and all the women tell her how grown up and gorgeous she looks and a few of my friends ask how she’s feeling after the accident but she’s cool, she holds her own and stands and chats with all of them. I know I’m holding my breath as she approaches Louie and Josh as they play pool. Louie looks up at her and his mouth drops open too “Wow Ava, look at you. What you got?” He looks at the tray of food and turns around to Josh who has his back to them. “Hey Josh, you wanna pie?”
Josh turns, looks at the tray, then down at Ava’s legs, then up at Ava’s face, then down at Ava’s chest and they stay there, staring right at Ava’s chest. Gabe moves slightly, I squeeze his hand tighter, suddenly Louie smacks Josh around the head.