OH BABY! (Mario Martinez - On My Block)

Chapter Fifteen

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:

and Venus was her name
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"CAN YOU STOP STEALING the blankets?" Maria huffed tugging the quilt back onto her side. She heard Carlos groan and pull the blanket back. Boy, she was going to kill this guy one day.

Carlos had been staying in her dorm room for three days now—and Maria was surely going to lose her mind. Between his ridiculous snoring, blanket hogging, and incessant need to flirt with any female that step into her dorm room. Maria couldn't do much about it though. Her parents weren't answering either of their calls—which on her parents behalf was childish.

Maria swore she was the most grown in her own damn household. At least she knew not to keep a grudge and to actually help family struggling. It seemed as her own two parents were too prideful.

The siblings knew Carlos's thanksgiving break was long over and he had to go back to school soon, but honestly Maria didn't feel safe sending him back. Especially when Carlos still wouldn't talk about what happened—but Maria had a hunch.

She knew a lot of the women in the family suffered from anxiety and depression—and that it is genetic. Back in one of her psychology classes, she recently learned all about it. Maria knew about her mother's struggle with mental health as a child and teen, but she never noticed some of the signs Carlos showed too.

His hate for routine changes, irritability, indecisiveness—were just a few noticeable ones. She wondered how long he's noticed too.

Maria turned over to face her brother—her (always will be) baby brother. She reached out to pet his cheek, wishing that the two were kids again.

MARIO'S FINGERS DRUMMED against the steering wheel. He sat double parked outside one of the lecture halls waiting for Maria. It was her first ultrasound appointment and Mario sure as hell wanted to be there—too bad Amber and Carlos did too. He glanced in the rear view mirror watching the two get lost in another stupid debate about who the best superhero is.

Maria's class was supposed to end nearly ten minutes ago, but the ethics teacher was known for dragging class on. Nonetheless the group had plenty of time until the appointment.

He looked back out the window thinking about the past (almost) thirteen weeks. Every time he thought about it, his breath was taken away. Truly it felt like he's know Maria so much longer—the way they just clicked.

His heart and stomach got butterflies just thinking about her.

"Hey!" Maria called out from the front steps, ripping Mario from his thoughts. She quickly jogged over, a hand holding her more prominent bump. Maria definitely has put on a little more weight in the past few weeks—but Mario sure as hell didn't mind. It gave him a lot more to hold when hey were together. "Class last a lot longer than I thought." Maria apologized sitting in the car. She seemed a little breathless as she pulled her seatbelt on.

Mario instinctively leaned over to steal a kiss from her before pulling away from the school. He tried not to roll his eyes hearing Amber and Carlos "awe!" at the two of them.

The ride over was quick, especially since Maria already had the directions memorized. There was no time to mess around, not when they were going to get an estimated date of the child's birth and what the sex was. Although, both Mario and Maria could careless what they were.

They were just hoping for a healthy baby.

"OKAY, THIS MIGHT BE a little cold—but just bear with me." The doctor said rubbing a plasma jelly onto Maria's stomach. She made a face feeling chills and goosebumps go up on her torso. Maria watched nervously as the doctor dragged the handle of a machine over. She wasn't sure what to expect during this, other than what she's seen on tv.

The doctor turned a giant screen on and began to scan her stomach. Maria gripped Mario's hand, nervous over the whole thing. She was already in the second trimester of pregnancy—what if something was wrong. The doctor turned away from the couple watching the screen for hits of the fetus.

"Ah—right there." They said pausing and pointing at the screen. "It seems as everything is normal." Maria felt tears build up in the corners of her eyes. She was already over emotional with the pregnancy, but this was something different.

This made it so much more real too.

"C-Can we get a copy of this?" Mario asked, his voice shaking. He stared up at the screen with the same expression as Maria—amazement, happiness.

"Yes, of course. Would you two like to know the sex of your baby?"

"LOOK AT HOW SMALL they are!" Maria gushed holding the small strips of photos to Amber. "Look!" She started pointing all around them, overwhelmed with emotion again. She felt tears prick her eyes once more.

"Please don't cry, again." Mario teased standing behind her. He wrapped an arm around her waist pulling Maria flush against him. She rolled her eyes elbowing him hard.

"Shut up! You should've seen yourself." The two bickered for a moment, forgetting that Carlos and Amber were eager to see the rest of the pictures.

They hung around the doctors office for a few more minutes while Maria worked on planning another appointment right before Winter break began.

"Do you know the gender?" Carlos asked holding the pictures from the ultrasound close. Man, it felt good being an almost-uncle.

"Not yet, I want to be surprised." Mario admitted sheepishly. He was surprised Maria honestly agreed with him, knowing that she wanted to start planning names.

"Good call." Carlos replied passing the photos over to Amber again—rolling his eyes when he heard her squeal again. Something about babies drove all girls crazy.

Maria rejoined her friends, taking the small pictures back from Amber. She fingered the edges of the small pictures eager to share them with her family—but she couldn't.

She almost forgot.

Maria glanced back at her brother and friend, then back to Mario. She took a deep breath before smiling softly—it was okay that she couldn't show her family back at home because she had family here now.

She slipped the photos back into the large manila envelope as they made their way back to the car. Everyone indulged themselves in conversation, all eager to eat something outside of the school's dining hall.

AUTHOR'S NOTE
Sorry about the mini-hiatus, I've been a little unmotivated and uninspired but I'm back. This is a rough transition chapter until I find my rhythm again—but nonetheless I hope it will do for now.

I'm unsure whether the next chapter will be posted tomorrow or Monday (as I usually take weekends off). Anyways, please comment whether you think the baby's gender should be male or female!!