26. Drunk?

Mateo woke up with a booming headache. He moved slightly, easily able to tell that he wasn't in his bed. He slowly let his eyes adjust to the light before realizing that he was at Jessica's on her couch. However he had no recollection of how he got there.

He leaned up slowly, not trying to get a sharp pain in his head from moving too fast. Once he placed his feet on the ground he saw a water bottle and two Advil's on the table in front of him. He couldn't help but to be thankful for the gesture because that's exactly what he needed right now.

He reached for the water and the pills quickly throwing them back. Before leaning back on the couch. He could hear Jessica coming down the stairs as she hummed a song lowly, but not low enough for him not to catch it.

She walked into the living room to check on him, "oh you're up!"

"Yeah," he let out. His voice extra raspy. He cleared his throat. "How did I get here?" He asked with a look of confusion.

She laughed as she took a seat on the opposite couch, sitting with her foot under her butt. As she grabbed a pillow holding it on her legs. "Well, you kept blowing up my phone."

"I did what?"

She nodded, "woke me up out of my precious sleep telling me you were too drunk to drive."

His eyes widened. "I'm sorry."

"It's cool, I'm just happy you didn't try to drive yourself." She paused before continuing. "And Sofia called a couple of times but you told me you didn't give a fuck and not to answer it."

Mateo swallowed. "Did I say anything else?" He was hoping he didn't say anything about the situation.

Jessica smiled as she shook her head no, she could tell he was sweating. It was clear there was something he didn't want her to know about.

"Well thank you for picking me up. Sorry I blew your phone up and woke you up. I don't know why I just didn't order an Uber." He rubbed a hand over his face. "Won't happen again."

"Everything alright?" She questioned with real concern.

He nodded avoiding eye contact, "yeah."

Jessica didn't say anything as she just watched him for a moment. He looked over at her trying to change the subject altogether. "Can I rub on your belly?" A silly smile coming to his face. He couldn't wait until his son was born.

Jessica rolled her eyes as she stood up. "I would have came over there," he quickly let out but Jess was already just about in front of him.

He looked at her belly before bringing his hands to it. She grabbed his hand, guiding it to the bottom of her belly. "That's his head, he's already in position." She smiled. Just much as he was ready to meet his son she was ready to evict him out of her body. She enjoyed being pregnant but the pains worsened the further along she got.

Mateo could definitely feel his son. He felt all around her belly astonished by the fact that he could tell where his son was by feeling around it. He put his forehead on her belly while keeping his hands on the side. He stayed like that for a second just basking in the moment.

Jessica stood with her hands on her side. Smiling as she looked down at him. She was ready for Kaiden to arrive so she could really see how he would be.

He closed his eyes, as he moved his head to kiss her belly. He leaned back disconnecting his hands from her belly. "Finished loving on your son?" She questioned before taking a seat beside him.

He nodded, "I appreciate you." He said lowly. "I appreciate you for carrying my son."

Jessica was taken aback from the comment as she pushed a hair behind her ear. "And I appreciate you. I appreciate you for being active in his life. Even now. When you don't really have to be."

He smiled, "I think we got ourselves the dream team." Jessica nodded in agreeance as his phone started to ring causing him to look around for it. "I think it's on the floor." Jessica stated with confidence and sure enough it was.

He grabbed it once it stopped ringing seeing Sofia's name. Reminding himself he needed to get home. He was still upset, but in a sense he felt like he was too harsh on her. This was the girl he planned his life with and he went hard on her because of something in her past. Granted he had the right to be upset with her not being upfront. He realized though his anger was valid he didn't say the nicest things about her to her. He let his emotions in that moment overtake him.

"My car," he let out.

"Still at the bar." Jessica finished. "I can take you to get it if you want."

He shook his head. "Nahh I won't make you do that. I'll call an Uber." He started going to the app in his phone.

"No!" She stood up. "I have some errands to run anyways. I can drop you off Mateo."

"Okay," he complied as he waited for her to change and throw on some shoes. As soon as she was dressed they headed out.

"Ooo, are you on a time crunch?" She questioned as he saw her eyes on a store nearby. She had asked him to drive so he was in control.

"I'm not stopping for you to shop Jessica."

"No I don't want to do that but they have the best triple chocolate brownies," she pointed to the place. "And I'm craving one."

Mateo made the left into the shopping center that housed the brownies she was talking about with no hesitation.

She smiled, "thank you! It'll be quick and you have to try one!" She quickly got out the car as he followed.

"Brownies in the morning?" Mateo questioned as he held the store door open for her.

"Brownies are for all times of the day." She quickly went to the counter ordering with the girl who stood by all the desserts while another rung someone up.

He stood by her with his hands in his pocket as he looked at the selection. "Mateo?" He turned towards the register where he heard his name called. He smiled as he noticed it was Marie.

"Marie! What's up?"

They walked towards one another. "I didn't know you liked this spot! It's so good isn't it?" Marie questioned with a smile.

"This will actually be my first time trying it." He looked over at Jessica kind of pointing at her with his head. "Jessica had me stop here. She's swearing by their brownies."

Marie furrowed her eyebrows, "Jessica?"

Jessica was now at the register at this point as she turned at the saying of her name. She smiled Marie's way. Mateo took that as the time to introduce them. He cleared his throat.

Taking one of his hands out of his pocket. "Marie this is Jessica," he pointed towards Jessica. "Jessica, Marie" he then pointed towards Marie.

"Hi!" Jessica said with a toothy smile while Marie gave her a fake closed mouth one, not speaking back as she quickly averted gaze to her belly putting two and two together. This was his baby mama.

She looked back up at her face. "You're the baby mama."

"Jessica, I'm Jessica." She stated with a fake smile before turning back towards the register to pay. "Sorry," she said to the cashier. Mateo quickly pulled out his card. "Here! I'll pay for it."

Jessica shook her head no as she was already swiping her card. She looked back at him once the transaction went through. "This is on me."

He gave a small smile as he put his focus back on Marie who was watching their every move and interaction. "Sofia know you're here with her this early?"

It was ten in the morning, Mateo didn't think it was that early but him and Sofia were never ones to get out early unless needed. And it was also clear Sofia hadn't informed her cousin on their situation.

Jessica touched his arm letting him know she would be in the car. It was clear that Marie felt a way about her and she didn't even know the girl but she wasn't about to deal with the shade.

"I'll be out shortly." He put his eyes back on Marie. "No, but I have to go. Always nice seeing you Marie. Take care."

Mateo quickly made his way to Jessica's car as he hopped back in the drivers seat. Marie came out behind him looking at the two as she walked to her car and pulled out her phone. There was no doubt she was telling Sofia.

"Who was that?" Jessica asked as he drove off.

"Sofia's cousin." Jessica nodded, it made sense why the girl acted how she did. She took out a brownie from the bag unwrapping it as she torn off a corner of it and put it in your mouth.

"Mmm," she moaned out as she closed her eyes causing Mateo to look her way and laugh. "I'm sure it's not that good."

She opened her eyes looking at him. "Oh but it is. You're going to see once you try it yourself."

"It better live up to the hype."

"It will and if you don't think so then that just means something is wrong with you."

Mateo chuckled lowly as he shook his head and focused on the drive back to his car.

—

Sofia stood with her arms crossed by the door as Mateo entered the house. He mentally cursed himself knowing it was about to be some bullshit. However he reminded himself that she wasn't his girl anymore. Though he knew it looked bad with him staying out all night, he really didn't owe her an explanation.

"This is bullshit, you know that?" She asked once he took off his shoes and headed deeper into the house.

He sighed as he went to the kitchen, he sat the brownie on the counter and grabbed a bottle of water. "What is Sofia?" He asked tiredly.

"You breaking up with me. Like I've really thought on this shit and it's bullshit, you really ended it with me because of some shit in my past Mateo! Yet here I am willing to stand by you when you got another girl pregnant."

He listened as he stood there drinking the water, finishing the whole bottle before throwing it in the trash and responding to her. "Did you not break up with me once I told you?"

"I was angry. I was hurt. I needed time." She stopped realizing that he could be all those things at the moment too. "Okay." She said instead.

"Listen," he started keeping his same calm voice. "I'm sorry for some of the shit I said yesterday it was out of line. But it's not just about your past Sofia. It's the fact that I had to hear about that shit from somebody else. That's embarrassing as fuck. It's the fact that you knew Dwayne knew and you still didn't tell me. You still decided to keep that shit quiet. You do realize this shit was bound to come out right?"

She really didn't think it would. She felt like it was something they definitely could have been buried. Until Dwayne popped up in the picture. She nodded instead however. "I'm sorry." She somberly started.

"But you left last night and didn't come back until this morning! And Marie tells me she saw you out with Jessica? Like Mateo it seems like you did all of that just so you could go be with her." She continued.

"But I didn't Sofia! I didn't ask to be told by someone else that you were a completely different person in LA. I wasn't trying to really come across a clip of you tonguing another girl down with cum being exchanged. None of that is what I wanted but that's what happened! If I wanted to be with Jessica then I would pursue that. But that's not what I'm doing right now!"

There wasn't much she could say to that. "So you don't want to be with Jessica?"

He shook his head annoyed at this point, "where is this coming from? Because Marie saw me with her this morning?"

"Yes! And you broke up with me! Then you didn't come home last night so you clearly stayed with her."

"So what! That doesn't mean I want her."

"Out of all the people to stay with, her Mateo! Her!? The girl you got pregnant on me? Not your mom, not Xavier, not coming home. But with Jessica."

He shook his head, "I'm not doing this."

"But why not? We're not together! You can be real."

"I know we're not together which is why I don't have to do this shit."

"It's because you want to be with her!"

"No!" He yelled getting fed up. "You want me to be her! You want me to want her! You're so fucking insecure when it comes to her and it makes no sense. I've never gave you a reason to feel like I wanted her. Yes I got her pregnant Sofia. I fucked up! But it doesn't go past that! It's like you're trying to push me into her arms is that what you want right now? You want me to be with her? Damn! Don't confuse me wanting to have a positive relationship with the mother of my child as me trying to have a romantic one." He walked out the kitchen as he was deading the conversation as a whole.

But Sofia wasn't letting it go that easy as she followed behind him. "No Mateo! That's not what I want! I want you to fight for me! I want you to show me that it's me you want. I want to feel like you put me before her! I want us! I know I was fucked up for not telling you. But I told you why I didn't. But it's my past and I can't stress it enough. Like that's all it takes for you to be done Mateo? Some reckless shit I did in my past, before I met you? By the time I met you I was a completely different person!"

Mateo shook his head as he turned to face her. "Sofia all I did was fight for you, all I did was put you first. But that shit is not enough for you! And I've already told you that it goes beyond it being your past! It's how I found out. Not to mention we're always at each other's necks now. I'm to the point where I'm getting over this!" Having this conversation with her was further making him want to be completely done. It was bringing more issues they had to the forefront.

"I love you to fucking death! But you're always upset about something. It's like I can't keep you fucking happy! I come in here after breaking up with you and it's still some shit!" He paused as he shook his head. Realizing that anything that had to do with Jessica, which really dealt with his son was a problem.

"I'm about to have a child Sofia. It's not about to be all about you anymore and I think that's what the real issue is. You're so used to being first in my life and you're not about to be anymore. But you fail to realize that it was not going to change the love I have for you, or your position in my life. You would have still been just as important. But you're being selfish and it's becoming suffocating because its causing you to be insecure and argumentative all the fucking time."

"So the video isn't the real reason you ended it." She stated with confidence as her emotions started to get the best of her. "You just wanted to end it and used that to justify it." She crossed her arms. "Because this conversation has nothing to do with that video."

Mateo shook his head. "No Sofia, I didn't have intentions on ending it. But you're right, it doesn't have anything to do with that video. But now that we're here it's also a huge issue in our relationship. And since we're talking about shit that bothers us let's talk about it all! I told you the video was the boiling point for me. I reacted off of emotions. The fact that you didn't tell me. The fact that you acted like it wasn't a big deal that someone else told me. Someone else you knew I didn't fuck with."

"I didn't know he was going to tell you."

"The moment you knew he was aware you should have told me Sofia."

She shook her head, "Okay Mateo. But if you knew you wanted to end it with me before this then why didn't you?"

He let out a deep breath. "I just fucking told you that I didn't plan on ending it! I literally said the video took me over the edge! I was pissed. I was in my feelings. But now that you're making me have this conversation, this shit," he pointed. "Is a reason to be done with this shit for good. Because it's always some shit!"

"Don't even try to flip this Mateo!"

"I'm not flipping shit! As soon as I walked in this house you started Sofia and you're not even my girlfriend right now!" He yelled. "It's always been some shit since Jessica came in the picture and I get it. I'm not taking away how it makes you feel or how fucked up it is. But why even try and make this shit work with me if this is all it's ever going to be? I have enough shit to worry about and deal with and I'm not trying to come home and have to do it as well. I just want some fucking peace! And we don't have that right now."

"Then you shouldn't have got her pregnant. Then maybe shit would be more peaceful. It's your fault I even feel insecure Mateo!" Sofia stated with ease.

Mateo lowered his tone. "And like I said a thousand times I'll take fault for that. But I'm not going to kiss your ass all the time to make you feel good. I'm not going to say fuck Jessica to make you feel better. I will do a thousand other things to make you feel secure but I'm not going to keep compromising how I feel and my peace. So just like it could be more peaceful if I wouldn't have gotten her pregnant. It can be peaceful with me just leaving this relationship. You haven't forgiven me for getting her pregnant Sofia. You're not at peace about any of this. So it's no reason to even do this anymore."

She rolled her eyes as tears started to roll down her face. "You're so full of shit," she said as the hurt was apparent in her voice.

Mateo didn't want to keep going back and forth with her, especially since his head was starting to hurt again. "Sofia, we're done. We need space apart." He made his way up the stairs ready to take a shower. Leaving Sofia downstairs with her tears and her anger.

—

"So do you know what happened?" Alexis questioned as she sat across from Jessica on her couch. She was back in town to see Xavier and she was more than happy she had Jess here now too.

Jessica shook her head no. "No, I just know I had to get him from a bar at two in the morning."

"Damn, I want to know. Xavier came in pissed and he wasn't trying to talk about it. They clearly got into it. I just want to know what about."

"Then ask!" Jessica let out. "You have a better chance of finding out than I do. That's your man."

Alexis sighed, "I'm going to try to. But how has it been here?" She smiled referring to San Diego.

Jessica shrugged. "It's been cool. Me and mama Santos hang out a lot," Jessica laughed. "I freaking love her. But otherwise I be chilling. I be bored as hell sometimes since I'm not working right now. I need some friends."

"Why don't you join one of those mommy groups on Facebook or something?"

"Never thought about it. Plus I don't have a baby yet."

"Still! I'm sure there are pregnant women on there! I say join one. It'll help you make some mommy friends at least."

Jessica had to agree with her, it wouldn't hurt. As much as she loved Catalina she's not exactly the person she would ask to go get a drink with her in the future.

There was a pause in their conversation as Alexis' phone went off, "it's X." She said before answering with a smile. Jessica zoned out as she changed channels on the TV trying to find something she wanted to watch.

In no time Alexis was off the phone, "sooo," she started out with a smile causing Jessica to look over at us. "We're going to dinner tomorrow, Xavier wants you to come."

Jessica brought her eyebrows in as confusion set in on her face. She wasn't a fan of Xavier and she knew he wasn't a fan of her. "What? Why? I don't like that nigga."

Alexis laughed. "I told him he was dead wrong he was nonchalant about it and we actually got into an argument about it. Guess he had a change of heart today."

Jessica shook her head, "I'm good."

"Jess, please come! He owes you this and if anything do it for me! I think he's bringing one of his friends whose in town too."

That really was suspect to Jessica. "Nahh."

Alexis pouted. "Come on, what better do you have to do."

"Nothing, but I'm not about to sit and be fake knowing I don't like him and then it's sus as fuck that he wants me to come and he's bringing a friend."

Alexis sucked her teeth, "no! I don't think he meant it like that. He meant like you won't be a third wheel."

Jessica didn't say anything, "please!" Alexis begged out.

Jessica looked over at her as she had her lip poked out. "Just this one time and I won't ever ask you to come to a place with me and X again."

"Yeah, cause I won't next time."

Alexis jumped up hugging her, "thank you!" She squealed.

Jessica rolled her eyes, she wasn't looking forward to the dinner because she didn't trust Xavier. But she was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt for Alexis. She just hoped he wasn't on any sneaky shit.