The good thing about Mae crashing with Evie for a bit, even though a couple weeks had turned into 6 and counting, was that Evie was a bit less lonely while Alex was away at school. Though Mae wasn't there a lot either, she'd found a new job and a new girlfriend so she was usually occupied with one of them, but she still made some time for Evie too, mostly so they could shop for baby stuff which was piling up in the nursery waiting for Alex to come home so he and Evie could set it up together. And when Evie came down with a brutal cold that left her confined to bed, or to the sofa at least, Mae was there to help look after her.
Unfortunately, Evie had gotten sick just in time for Alex's graduation and regretfully had to miss it. But that did mean that he was done school and would be home with her for good. Mae went to pick him up at the airport before rushing off to see her girlfriend, finally she could pass the responsibility of taking care of Evie onto Alex. Though Evie was doing much better and didn't need much help anymore.
"You're here!" Evie squeeled as Alex walked into the living room where she was trying to get comfortable on the sofa, "Sorry I'm not jumping up to hug... don't take that as a lack of enthusiasm. Sorry I missed graduation, too."
Alex gave her a kiss on the forehead before going to sit at the end of the sofa by her feet. "You don't have to keep apologizing. I just hope you're feeling better."
"Lots better. Mostly just tired and achy... well, a bit more than usual anyway. But tell me, how was it? I need to know everything."
"You didn't miss anything exciting. Here scoot over let me slide in behind you," Evie did so and was rewarded with a back massage. "I mean it felt great and all, but those ceremonies are so long and boring. And all the people... I hated all the people. And why did I agree to be valedictorian and talk in front of all those people. I honestly don't even remember what I said or anything I just like went numb I guess. I'm sure I made an idiot of myself."
"I'm sure you did great. I'm so proud of you anyway."
"Well, Katie took video of it for you. She'll send it soon if she hasn't yet. She got lots of pictures and video for you."
"That's because I asked her to."
"Why am I not surprised? I'm pretty sure she likes you more than she likes me. Oh, and I'm supposed to get you to kick your sister out so Katie can come visit you and the baby and have somewhere to stay. See, it's not me she wants to see."
"Well, I'm sure we can make it work. Mae spends most nights with her girlfriend anyway. If she hasn't moved in totally by then I'm sure she can at least stay there for a bit."
"You think they'll last that long? It seems awfully soon when she had such a big meltdown over her last relationship ending. Sounds like a rebound thing, which usually fails. And your sister can be a lot to handle..."
Evie shrugged, "She's convinced this is the one. They do seem really happy though. I think they'll last a while at least."
"So, since she's moved on enough to see somebody new, have you talked to her about Julianne and if she's okay with that now?"
"No. I still don't know how I feel about it myself, I guess I just haven't though about it much. Too much else to worry about. I mean, Julianne is being super patient which is really awesome but I don't know... I still just don't want to mess things up with my sister. We've hardly fought since we had that talk and it's nice. And I'm scared of being hurt again too. Losing my best friend was like the worst thing ever." She slid back a bit to be closer to Alex and he took the hint to just wrap his arms around her.
"You know you're going to do it eventually anyway. I mean, you've fought with and forgiven your sister how many times? And how much worse was Julianne really?"
"Not much, I guess. But the whole her having feelings for me thing just... I don't know if I can handle that. It's awkward. And anyway, I'm not really focused much on that right now. Just on getting ready for the baby and just enjoying that things are really good with me and Mae right now. I just have enough else to focus on, you know. Maybe like after the baby is born and after things start settling down."
"I don't think things will ever settle once we have a baby... or with your family."
"I might take offense to that last bit... but it's true. Still, maybe then, at least it gives me some more time." Evie yawned and curled up on Alex's lap.
"Trying to get out of this conversation are you?" Alex chuckled.
"Well... I would prefer not to talk about it right now, but I am really tired. And that massage was just so relaxing and only made me more sleepy. Keep talking if you want, just don't be offended if I fall asleep."
"God are you kidding, I could use a nap too. It's been a long few days, and that long flight here... ugh. And tomorrow, you still up to finishing the nursery? 'cause that'll be a long day too."
Evie nodded and muttered, "mhmm... sounds good." She was fast asleep a few minutes later, Alex wasn't far behind.
---
The nusery had hardly been touched in the last couple months, since the were supposed to start on it but got distracted when they found out Mae was missing. Evie and Mae had spent a lot of time shopping and buying stuff for the baby that was piling up in the nursery along with all the stuff that had been given to Evie and Alex. And they'd been given a lot as both their families seemed unable to able to walk past the baby stores and sections without finding something, friends sent a lot too, and even sometimes a fan would send something to Evie. But the best gift, above all the stuff, was how loved little Lucas (they'd decided on his name about a week earlier) would be.
Evie took on sorting through everything while Alex got stuck building and move furniture. Evie was slightly jealous since the sorting seemed so daunting but she wasn't really allowed to move anything heavy so she tried not to complain too much. It would have been easier too but Evie was sorting out what to keep and where to put it, and sorting out what she could bear to part with and send off to her mom. It felt weird and Evie didn't like it much but her mother was pregnant too, as they'd recently learned, and since it seemed everybody else found it weird too her mother was basically being ignored. And while her mother insisted she didn't mind Evie felt bad that she and her baby were being spoiled rotten while her mom was just judged. Her sibling would deserve to be spoiled a bit anyway, it wasn't like it was his or her fault, and they had so much extra stuff that Evie figured they could spare some. And of course Evie's parents were more than capable of spoiling the kid rotten themselves, but it just didn't seem the same.
By the end of the day the nusery was looking pretty good. It still needed a bit of work but it was nearly done and they did still have some time to finish as Evie still wasn't due for about 2 months. It was still full of stuff, still way more than they needed, and Evie had set aside a few boxes of stuff for her mom.