"You're not a cad."
"Exactly, and that's why you're taking the bed. I can sleep on the floor. Won't be the first time."
"You know, this is ridiculous. It's a queen bed, so it can definitely fit two people. We can just share the bed and nobody has to sleep on the floor."
"I don't want to make you uncomfortable," he said.
"Jess, you're...you," she said, rolling her eyes. "I've known you half my life."
"Right," he drawled. "So I'm an asexual old man. Good to know."
She giggled. "No, there's nothing asexual about you. I'm just saying I'm not afraid to sleep with you. Next to you," she quickly amended, blushing.
He gave her a half smile, half smirk. "Well, that's good to know, I guess."
"It is good. Not all that surprising, though. I don't think there's a female alive who thinks you're an asexual being. Well, except my mom. She's never been that fond of you."
"Which I'm grateful for, as the alternative would be kind of disturbing."
Janine grinned. "It would, wouldn't it?"
He smiled and nodded. "A little bit. What do you want to eat?"
She raised an eyebrow and looked at her stomach. "What are you going to let mommy eat today?" She paused as if awaiting an answer. Then she shrugged. "Seems to be in a good mood at the moment. But if I get sick after I eat it isn't the food's fault, it's this unruly little child. He doesn't seem to like when I eat anything but maybe a cracker or an apple, and the apple thing is iffy. My brother actually thinks I'm on a diet."
"It's so weird to think of you pregnant," he said, glancing at her stomach.
She nodded. "I thought so too at first. Even more when it started making me sick, but now I've pretty much gotten used to being a statistic," she said lightly, offering a smile.
"Ask if it'll let you eat bacon and cheese."
"Together?"
He nodded. "On a potato with sour cream. It may not sound all that great, but trust me."
"What do you say, little one?" she asked her stomach. "Well, it isn't lurching, so I think that means okay."
He smiled as he stood, then gave a little bow to her stomach. "Coming right up, Your Majesty."
She smiled. "The baby does tend to act like royalty and it isn't even born yet. Can you imagine when it comes out?" She looked up at Jess's hair intently. "I think I'd like it if he had hair like yours." She touched her own hair. "You never know, it could happen. My mom has black hair and my dad had blonde and I came out with...this."
He reached down and took a lock of her peculiar hair. It was sort of a brownish golden copper. A variety hair color. He wrapped a strand around his finger. There had to be at least three different colors in that one strand. "You know, it could be a girl."
"Well, your hair's perfect. It would be a good color on a girl as well."
"I think if it's a girl, it would do better with your hair. You have...really beautiful hair. I never noticed it before."
Janine blushed. "Thank you. I've always thought you had gorgeous hair, too."
"Imagine what a child of ours would come out with," he said lightly.
Her stomach did a flip that wasn't baby-induced. She forced a light chuckle. "Well, it would definitely be voted 'Best Hair' in the school yearbook."
He gently ran a hand through her hair again and smiled. "Yeah. Well...I'm gonna go make the food."
"Okay," she said, watching him walk away.
***
It was wonderful being around Jess again. They ended up mostly playing the day away, teasing each other just like they had for all those years when Jess would hang out at the house with John. Sometimes it had almost felt like she had two older brothers. But Jess didn't feel like a brother anymore.
Around 11:15 that night, a young man with dirty blond hair and hazel eyes came barging in the door. He raised his eyebrows when he saw Janine with a pair of Jess' boxers hanging over her arm, getting ready to change for bed. He looked her over and then smirked.
"Nice. Where's Jess?"
She started to reply but Jess was coming up behind her, his eyes down, looking at the shirt in his hand. "All I have is my T-shirts, so..." He looked up and saw Todd. "Oh, hey."
He smirked at Jess. "Hey. What are you doing out of bed? Looks like you have better things to do."
Jess shot him a look. "Hey, have a little respect."
"Sorry," Todd said mockingly.
"This is Janine, my best friend's little sister."
"Ooh," Todd said with a grimace. "That's never a good idea, man."
Janine blushed as she took the shirt. "I'm going to...go change."