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Stu had one duffel bag filled with his clothes, toiletries, and his CD collection. He didn't have many items to his name, but it still made him somewhat sad that his whole life could fit inside a carry-on-sized duffel bag. It worked out for him with the haste that he had been kicked out of the Strayz household and forced to move in with Nina. A part of him felt like he should apologize for being thrust upon her, while the other half was thankful that she was taking this in stride.
"Sorry that things are all over the floor. When you told me that you needed to move in, I grabbed whatever was in these drawers and tossed them to make room for your things."
Stu set his bag on the bed and looked over the two empty drawers in the dresser. Now his life was the size of two dresser drawers. "No need to apologize. Just thankful that I've got a roof over my head."
Nina sat on the bed and lay back, "Well, I had been expecting this. I mean, I had been wanting you to move in for a while, but I didn't want to rush you."
Stu looked back at Nina. She had her hands resting on her protruding baby bump as she stared up at the ceiling. Her facial expression was neutral, so Stu couldn't get a read on how admitting she had been waiting for him to make a move made her feel. It always feels like Nina was waiting on him; waiting for him to talk to her after he hid from being told he'd be a father, waiting for him to break up with Paula, and now waiting for him to accept that they're a packaged deal and live with her. It should make him feel a tinge of guilt, but in all honesty, it didn't. It didn't make him feel any certain way. He is who he is, and Nina is who she is. If she was willing to be patient for him to catch up to her, then didn't this make them a perfect couple? Stu sat down beside her, dug in his pocket for his cigarettes and lighter, and was about to take one out to light before remembering where he was. He looked over to Nina, who chuckled back at him.
"This is your place, too, now. You can do whatever you want."
Relieved, he lit his cigarette, took a drag, and turned away from Nina to blow the smoke. It felt odd asking for permission to do something that he did multiple times a day. He wondered if he would also be responsible for keeping whatever space he was in clean. He often struggled with that; letting his room get to the point that the floor couldn't be seen, and it caused him to feel overwhelmed, so he just ignored it. He knew that wouldn't fly here. Nina's place was always clean, with everything having a place. He took another drag off his cigarette, held the smoke until he could feel it burning his lungs, and then blew it out.
"I'll try."
"Try what?" Nina said, confused.
"I'll try not to make a mess of your house."
Stu was expecting an agreement of sorts, not for her to laugh. "Hey! I'm bein' serious."
Nina took a few breaths to calm down and then sat up, "You made it sound like an oath. I couldn't help but laugh. Don't worry about that," Nina kissed him on the cheek, "Just be you."
A shy smile crossed Stu's face as he stared at her. He stubbed out his cigarette and was about to flick the butt to the floor, but instead stuffed it inside his pocket and kissed her forehead. "You're too good to me, you know that?"
"I know."
Stu was the type of person who could fall asleep anywhere. Never one to shy away from sleeping on the floor of some rave party that's gone on for too long or in the tour bus rolling down the highway, sleep never eluded him.
Until now.
He lay awake as Nina slumbered beside him, her back facing him. He didn't know why he couldn't fall asleep, but he also didn't want to toss and turn in bed for fear of waking Nina up. If he got out of bed, would this bother her? Should he get out and explore the house when it was night out and he couldn't see anything? Common sense said no. So in bed he lay, every so often hearing the pitter-patter of cat paws on wooden floors. He had forgotten that Nina had four cats (he doesn't know how he forgot that information, as this isn't the first time he's been inside Nina's home). Stu could hear them walk towards the doorway of the room, pause, and then hear the sound of them walking away. It was as if they were refusing to come into the room. He stared up at the ceiling, hearing nothing but the rustling of leaves outside.
His limbs were starting to feel twitchy from lying still for so long. His body wanted to be in motion, and who was he to deny that when he was already not going to sleep tonight? Slowly, Stu eased himself out of bed and walked out of the room. Nina's house had a very simple floor plan. Two rooms, a kitchen, a restroom, and a living room, and there was nothing on the floor for him to trip on, so walking around the house was not an issue. He did, however, have to keep watch for any cats that darted out in front of him. They were black blurs in the night as they would run towards him, notice him, and then quickly make a U-turn away from him. Stu decided to make his way to the kitchen.
When he turned on the light, he realized that now he would have to figure out where everything was without making a lot of noise. He just wanted a bowl of cereal, so that shouldn't be cause for noise, right? He opened cabinet after cabinet, but all that he met with were dishes and mugs. Pretty, colorful mugs, but mugs nonetheless. Feeling his annoyance rising, he scratched out the plan for cereal and instead was just going to have himself something to drink. He took a mug out of the cabinet and then went to the fridge, where it looked like it was overflowing with Tupperware containers filled with food. In between them, he did see a half-gallon jug of milk and carefully got it out. After he poured it into his mug and placed it back, he sat at the table. He'd have to ask Nina where all the non-refrigerated food was kept and why on Earth she had so many mugs.
It was an eerie feeling sitting at the table by himself. It felt as if there were a pair of eyes on him.
It didn't feel like this back at his other place, despite there being many unoccupied rooms and three other people living there. Stu turned around and saw that there were indeed eyes watching him as two of the cats sat watching him. He let out a chuckle.
"Care to join me?"
Stu knew they couldn't understand him, but it didn't feel right to outright ignore them. A thought crossed his mind, and he had to keep himself from snickering as he moved to sit on the floor and set the mug of milk away from him. The cats stayed watching him, their tails slowly swaying side-to-side. Stu didn't care how long it would take for the cats to come towards the milk. He had the whole night to wait. Using his arms to prop himself, Stu leaned back and stared at the ceiling. He knew how he and Nina looked to people. He was a world-famous rock star who knocked up some no-name person up and now poor him is stuck with a child for eighteen years. People were relentless online, and not to mention the fans who feel as if he's an idol and basically worship the ground with words of praise, while in the same keystroke, degrading Nina just for the crime of existing. He didn't want to get involved in that, but to act like it wasn't happening would be foolish to think of all the harassment Nina had to look at while managing their forum site, keeping up with the media scrum, and the daily ins-and-outs of office life; he couldn't imagine all the stress that she was under. He shook his head. No, he wasn't going to let Nina be just another belt on his notch of women he's slept with and then forgotten about. He knew he had done Paula wrong. Paula had been there since the beginning and did nothing but care for him, but she expected too much. She wanted him to become a person that he wasn't. She tried chipping away at him so that he could be a family man, and that just wasn't him.
But look at him now. He's expecting a baby.
He liked Nina, though. Never once had she tried to change him. She accepted him for who he was, faults and all, and instead of forcing him to change, it was as if she was guiding him. She didn't pressure him to respond to her when he stopped talking to her after she told him she was pregnant. Instead, she waited for him to process everything and come to his own conclusion. Nina trusted him. It was more than what anybody else has done. Nobody has given him that in all his years of living. So now he had to make sure not to ruin that trust. The sound of milk being lapped up broke through Stu's thoughts, and he looked away from the ceiling to the sight of a calico cat drinking the milk. Stu chuckled, causing the cat to pause and look up at him for a few seconds before going back to drinking the milk. He wondered if he could reach out and pet it, but as he straightened himself out, the cat froze, eyes staring straight at him. Stu stood up and stretched his arms.
"Don't worry. I'm not gonna harm you. Hope you like the milk."
He did a lazy salute to the calico before heading out of the kitchen. There was plenty of milk in the mug, so the other cats could drink some if they wanted to. It would be their midnight snack. Stu let his fingers trail against the wall as he walked back to Nina's bedroom and then slowly got back into bed. He looked over at Nina, whose back was still facing him, and he turned to face her body and inched himself over to her to where his body molded against hers as he placed an arm over her. He could feel the warmth from her body start to seep and envelop him. He let out a contented sigh as he felt the tugging of sleep in his eyes and gave in to closing them, sleeping together in their home.