I’m going to have to ask my parents to help us with a deposit on a place in Houston so that Olivia can come back to school once the baby is born. I doubt she’d want to make a two-hour plus commute every day so that we could move in with my parents back in Austin.

I’m distracted from my thoughts by Olivia’s phone call. “Hey,” I answer.

“Hey, Baby Daddy,” she giggles.

“What are you up to?”

“I just got out of my internship so I’m about to run my ass back to campus and take a nap.”

“Are you literally running because you sound out of breath?”

“Oh shut up, I do not.”

“Yeah you do. It sounds like you after you sing both parts in ‘The Boy is Mine.’”

She cackles and the sound fills my body with pride. “And see, this is why I never defend you when Kylie starts roasting you. I hope our baby takes after her.”

“Damn, turning my own child against me?”

“You damn right. Anywho, I just called to tell you I plan to be knocked out until it’s time to go to practice so don’t call me.”

“I got you. You need anything?”

“Nope, all good. But I will see you tonight, right?”

“Yep. I’ll come meet you after practice and walk you back.”

“Such a gentleman.”

“I’ll show you a gentleman tonight.”

“Aht aht, that’s how we ended up in this position.”

“I see no problem with that.”

“We’re supposed to be working on our papers, not fooling around.”

“Okay, I’ll fool around and you focus on your paper.”

“Goodbye, Kai.”

I chuckle. “Bye, love.”

Something is wrong.

I haven’t seen Olivia in three days. I keep texting her and calling her, trying to make plans, but she keeps blowing me off. She says she’s not on campus but I don’t know where she would be. She didn’t mention any plans with Kylie or her teammates, and I’ve seen her roommate on campus a couple times.

Why is she avoiding me? It would be one thing if she just took a few days off to go somewhere to get away, but she’s acting cagey. Her messages are short and dismissive and she won’t even hold a conversation with me over the phone. When I ask her what’s wrong she says nothing.

Today, she has class, so I know she has to be somewhere on these grounds and I’m going to find her.

I called out of work tonight because Olivia finally started texting me back, but she sounds weird. Honestly, she sounds drunk but I know she wouldn’t be with the baby.

Now, I’m making my way to someone’s dorm room because that’s where she said she is.

“Yoooo, you lookin for Liv?” some guy slurs as he steps out of the dorm room Olivia sent me to.

“Yeah, she in there?”