The Mixtape Page 21
The pregnant woman rested her jittery hands on her stomach. Even though she shook, I couldn’t get over the fact that there was a small smile on her face, which to me felt like the biggest victory in the world. Seeing people excited to meet us made me feel beyond blessed.
The two women took a step forward, and I noticed that their legs began to tremble as they linked arms and came closer.
“Hi there, I’m—” I started, but the squeaky-clean voice of the nonpregnant one cut me off.
“Oliver Smith, yes, we know, hi. How are you? And you’re Alex Smith. Oh my gosh. You’re amazing. You both are. You’re everything good and inspirational and meaningful in the music industry. People don’t create music like you do. I think you’re both the best. And amazing. And amazingly the best and and and—” And she was full-blown fangirling. I never in my life thought Alex and I would have fangirls.
Hell, we were lucky.
The other woman reached forward and pinched the chatty one’s elbow, making her halt her words.
“Sorry,” she muttered, turning slightly red. “I’m just—we’re—excited to meet you both,” she said, gesturing toward herself and the other woman, who hadn’t spoken a word at all. She held out two concert tickets for Alex and me to sign. “Sorry, I wish we had something better for your autograph, but money is tight, so these are our souvenirs.”
“That is beyond good enough for us,” Alex said. “It means the world to us that you even came out.” He turned to the pregnant woman and shared his smile her way, which made her cheeks blush over. “It’s nice to meet you both. How far along are you?” Alex asked.
She parted her lips, and as she was about to speak, I watched her nerves overtake her. No words left her mouth.
The other woman placed her hand on the other one’s forearm. “She’s due next week.”
My eyes widened. “Really? And you’re here at an Alex & Oliver concert? That’s dedication.”
“Like I said, we’re your biggest fans,” she joked.
I smirked. “Well, if it’s a boy, Oliver is a great name.”
Alex added, “I hear the name Alex is better. Alexander works too. Plus, if it’s a girl, Reese is a good choice, too, which is my—”
“Middle name,” the women said in unison with him.
He laughed. “You are our biggest fans.” He winked their way, and I was almost certain the women were going to explode into a million pieces of joy from their giddiness. “Are you two sisters? You look like twins.”
“We are sisters, not twins. You two look like twins too. I mean, obviously,” the nonpregnant sister said bashfully. She was so beautiful, in her shyness.
“Would you guys like a photograph?” I asked.
“Oh yes, please,” she replied, pulling out her cell phone and handing it to Tyler, who was in charge of snapping the photographs.
She jumped to the left side of me, and the other placed herself right in between my brother and me. I went to place my arms around her shoulder, and without hesitation the other sister snapped. “Wait, no, my sister doesn’t like to be tou—”
“It’s okay,” the pregnant sister said, shaking her head. She smiled wide and nodded toward Alex and me, giving us permission. Right as my arm landed against her shoulder blade, everything was flipped upside down.
“Oh my gosh!” she gasped. Seconds later a splash of water hit my shoe. I was so completely thrown off by hearing the sound of her voice that I almost missed what had happened to pull the sound out of her. Her water had broken, leaving all four of us with pale expressions.
“Oh my gosh,” she kept repeating, holding her hands against her stomach as she looked back and forth between my eyes and his shoes. “I’m so, so sorry,” she muttered, humiliated by what had taken place. She kept clearing her throat repeatedly as her voice shook with nerves.
“Oh my gosh, don’t worry about it. Are you okay?”
Before she could answer, her sister went into panic mode and rushed to her side. “We have to get you to the hospital. I’m sorry, but we have to go. I’m sorry about your shoes.”
I smirked. “As long as you keep considering using my name for the child, we’ll call it even. I wish you the best of luck, and congratulations.”
Alex’s light-brown eyes were bright and filled with care as he added, “You got this.”
Her eyes watered over as her smile returned to her lips. They thanked us both one more time, and the sister grabbed her phone from Tyler, who was still snapping photos with a mocking smirk on his face.
As the women began to walk away, the pregnant one looked back toward us. “Alex? Oliver?”
“Yes?”
“Your music . . . your albums . . . your music gives me light. I hope you know how important what you’re doing is to the world. You’ve saved me more than you know.”