Amber didn't tell Mandy of her discovery of Murphy's paternity. Mandy, for the moment, was just pleased that they looked like a proper family. It wasn't easy to go back into the swing of things, though. They would have Murphy in bed by eight, then do schoolwork for three hours, then go to bed, on the weeknights. On weekends and minor holidays, Amber and Mandy would order in, and maybe watch a movie. That is, is Murphy wasn't very hungry, or very wet.
It annoyed Amber that she was stuck taking care of Ben's baby. She didn't even know if he knew that Mandy had been pregnant with his baby. Those three weeks in the hospital, only a week and a half for Mandy, constantly came back to her. She'd given the midwife the onesie, and kept a tight hold on the jewelry box containing the engagement ring, intended for Mandy. It was a daunting experience as the midwife had taken little Murphy Rose away from her, and she'd seen the nose.
It was almost as if she'd been hit by a ton of bricks, or of something of equal force. She just couldn't believe it. Knowing that the cheating had been mutual between them had been one thing, but knowing she was about to ask the woman that she loved to spend the rest of their life together...especially when she'd gotten pregnant by their ex... Amber just couldn't swallow it.
Thankfully, the classwork kept her busy. She decided to switch her art credit for her final semester from sculpting to acting. The work load wasn't as much, and she'd even been cast in a scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare. Everyone in the class would groan at his name, but for Amber, who had only heard his name in passing (and having seen the film Shakespeare in Love) decided to give it a go.
She smirked when she read her scene. She would be playing the role of Helena, who was totally hot for this other guy Lysander. The director, a wonderful homosexual man by the name of Andy Withers, decided to have Amber, in the form of Helena, grab Lysander in a fit of passion and kiss him. Delighted, the young man playing Lysander, a law major by the name of Felix, agreed that they should give it a go.
Not wanting to stick out, or be called named (although something told Amber that she wouldn't be judged as much here) agreed. However, Mr. Withers told Felix and Amber not to start the 'kissing bit', as he called it, until a week before performance. That way, he said, they would be so deep in heat and passion that it would seem more real.
Amber smirked and covered her face with her script.
"What?" Felix asked.
Amber pulled her script down and turned red. "Well, I..." She sighed. "I guess I should tell you this," she said, tucking a bit of hair behind her ear and looking away. "I'm bisexual and I live with my girlfriend."
Felix laughed. "Is that all?" He smiled. "Don't worry. I'm gay."
"You're...what?!" Amber cried.
Felix nodded. "Yeah. It's fine, really. I live with my partner Victor. He's just the best. We met our junior year of high school."
"How did you know?" Amber asked. "Like, when did you find out?"
He shrugged. "When I was five, I guess. I always had a thing for Barbie dolls or something, I don't know. Why? When did you find out?"
Amber sighed. "The summer after my senior year of high school," she admitted. "It was...pretty surprising, actually. And it all happened so fast that I..."
"What?" Felix asked.
Amber looked around. Everyone else had emptied off into separate the practice rooms, which were provided, leaving them alone in the theater. "I cheated on my girlfriend earlier this year," she said.
"Wow," Felix said.
"Do you think I'm a bad person?" Amber asked. Part of her wanted him to say that she was, but he ended up surprising her.
"No," he replied. "You're not a bad person. There's probably just something in your relationship that needs to be resolved."
"Well, I can tell you right now, that's not going to happen for another nineteen years," she said darkly.
Felix chuckled. "I didn't want to say anything... Are you pregnant?" he asked kindly.
Amber nodded. "Yes," she said. "I'm about six months now."
"But...you've got that 'I'm so tired 24/7' look. What's going on?"
"Oh, um...Mandy just had a baby."
"Both of you were pregnant?" Felix asked.
Amber nodded a second time. "Yes."
"Boy? Girl?"
"Girl. Her name is Murphy Rose Spezia-Zucchero," Amber said.
Felix grinned. "That's a great name... But what's the problem?"
"Well, we decided that I would be the one to get inseminated, but Mandy got herself knocked up over the summer...by our ex-boyfriend..."
"Your ex-boyfriend?"
"Yeah. We dated the same guy...he cheated on me with her..."
"Now, that is complicated," Felix said. "And I was all psyched because I was getting to fake kiss a girl for the first time..."
"Fake kiss?" Amber demanded sarcastically. "I don't fake kiss."
"Yes, but it'll be fake for us," Felix replied.
Amber left her acting class that day with half her lines memorized, a new friend, and a dinner invitation. Amber arrived at the condo, which was a late Christmas present from Mandy's parents, but the tenants hadn't moved out until three weeks ago, at around four o'clock.
Felix and his partner Victor lived off campus, too, and Felix said he'd be delighted to have Amber, Mandy, and little Murphy over for dinner sometime in the next week. He and Victor entertained a lot, he'd just have to check with him for a good date. Victor, from what Felix had told her, was twenty-three, and was working at his father's hospital nearby. They also had a son, who was conceived in a surrogate mother, named Nathan, who was four.
When she got home, she excitedly shared the news with Mandy and Murphy, who were online looking at baby clothes. Mandy grinned and kissed Amber on the cheek, happy that she'd made a friend.
A week later, they all arrived at Felix and Victor's upscale apartment and knocked on the massive door. Felix answered it and grinned at the three of them. "Hello, my acting partner!" he said, embracing Amber. "And this must be Mandy and Murphy," he cried. "Mandy, you're just as gorgeous as Amber said you were, totally Grace Kelly gone brunette all the way! And Murphy, aren't you adorable! We need to call our connections at Calvin Klein and/or Gerber! I see a child model!"