Secrets Don't Make Friends

Jack

Waking up without a happy anniversary call/text from Alex hurt more than I expected it to. Today was supposed to be filled with hugs and kisses between us, but instead all I felt was misery. I picked up my phone to distract myself from today, but I was met with a notification from Facebook. It was reminding me to wish Alex a "happy birthday" today. I groaned and slid my phone under my pillow. I didn't want to be bothered today. I just wanted to lay in bed until today was over with.

"Hey Prego!" My mom exclaimed as she walked into my room. I would have been annoyed if she didn't have food in her hands.

"Hey mom." I mumbled and took the plate of toaster strudels.

"I figured I'd come cheer you up with breakfast to make today suck less." She said and I nodded. "How do you feel?" She asked.

"Like there's a rock on my bladder." I answered.

"No I mean emotionally?" She chuckled.

"Not very good. I wish this day didn't mean anything to me."

"I know. It sucks because I thought Alex was a perfect match for you, but now I know he was just an asshole." She said, making me lightly chuckle.

"He was always one, he just did a great job of hiding it." I said. "But he actually apologized to me at school yesterday."

"He apologized?" She questioned.

"Yeah, he came up to my locker and tried to make small talk. Then he apologized."

"What'd you say?"

"I told him 'okay' and walked away. I didn't know what else to say."

"It's okay. You don't have to forgive him unless you're ready to."

"I know, I don't think I'm ready to. But I miss him like crazy. I don't understand." I sighed.

"What Alex did to you was really fucked up. He left you alone and scared to deal with the pregnancy on your own and now he thinks he can easily just waltz back into your life. It understandable that you're feeling conflicted."

"Yeah I just need more time to think."

"Take as long as you need. Oh and I need you to text Zack and invite him to dinner on Sunday." She said and I frowned. I didn't need Zack getting the wrong idea by meeting my family.

"But whhhy?" I whined.

"Because your grandparents and I hardly know anything about him and he might become part of this family."

"No I'm not doing that." I complained.

"I wasn't asking you, Jack Bassam." She said sternly and I huffed. I knew if I didn't do it then she would tell my grandma, who would make me. So I pulled out my phone and sent a text to Zack.

Jack
Hey are you doing anything Sunday evening?
Delivered 12:37pm

Zack text me back almost immediately.

Zack Merrick
No, why what's up?
Read 12:37pm

Jack
My mom and grandparents want you to come over for dinner so they can get to know you a little better.
Delivered 12:38pm

Zack Merrick
Okay cool! What time?
Read 12:39pm

Jack
4pm
Delivered 12:39pm

Zack Merrick
I thought you said dinner, 4pm is lunch time lol
Read 12:40pm

Jack
Lmao my grandma likes to cook after church so that's what time dinner is.
Delivered 12:41pm

Zack Merrick
Lol I understand. Okay I'll see you Sunday!
Read 12:42pm

I sat my phone back down and my mom looked at me expectedly.

"He said he'll be there." I told her.

"Okay I'll let them know." She said. "It's going to be a slightly awkward dinner."

"Just try not to embarrass me. And make sure you don't treat it like Zack and I are dating." I begged and she laughed.

*****

Alex

"Imma be a dad so you have‘a get ready to be a stepmom." I slurred for the eighth time tonight.

The sorority girl I was talking to frowned and walked away from me. I shrugged and downed the rest of my drink. I wasn't really in the mood to hook up with anyone. The only reason I was engaging in conversation with these girls was because Rian was making me. He thought that random hook ups would take my mind off of Jack, but he was wrong. Nothing could make me stop thinking about Jack and what he might be doing with Zack. Their date was probably over by now and they were probably fucking in Jack's bed.

"Hey what the hell was that?" Rian asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

"What was what?" I asked.

"Why do you keep telling girls that you're going to be a dad, Alex?"

"Because I am. Jack's pregnant with my baby." I told him and he shook his head.

"No, Jack's pregnant with a baby but we don't know if it's yours or not." He reminded me.

"Imma be the dad no matter what. So it's my baby." I told him and he rolled his eyes.

"Let’s go get some air." He pulled me towards the back door and I grabbed a beer on the way out.
Rian took me over to Vic, Matt, Vinny, and Jaime who were sitting in the backyard smoking a joint. I took a seat next to Matt and he handed me the joint next. I smiled and pulled it to my lips to take a deep drag.

"Where's Mike?" Rian asked the guys. It was Mike’s birthday today too.

"He's inside one of the rooms fucking some sorority girl." Vic said. "Something the other birthday boy should be doing." He said and hit me on the back. I went into a coughing fit as I pushed the smoke out of my lungs.

"There were multiple girls throwing themselves at him, but he pushed away each one." Rian told him.

"I don't want meaningless sex. I want Jack." I poured.

"Isn't he with Zack now?" Vinny asked and I sighed.

"We're not going to talk about that now." Rian changed the subject. "Alex, what about that girl over there. She's pretty." He pointed to a girl that was talking with her friends by the pool.

"She's not my type." I mumbled without even looking at her. I needed to talk to Jack so I could keep him from falling in love with Zack. I was pretty confident that if I talked to him right now I could convince him that he still loved me. I took the joint from Vinny before he could hand it to Jaime and took another big hit of it. Then I handed it back to Vinny. I didn't want Rian to know that I was calling Jack because he was going to try to talk me out of it or take my phone away.

"I have to pee." I told Rian and he rolled his eyes.

"Come on." He helped me up and back inside of the house. We walked to the bathroom downstairs but someone was in it. Rian sighed and helped me walk to the stairs. I stumbled up each step but he finally got me to the bathroom.

"I'll jus-just be a second." I slurred and closed the door behind me. I locked it too to make sure he couldn't get in.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and unlocked it with my fingerprint. I scrolled down to Jack's name in my phone and pressed the call button next to it. The phone rang six times and then he answered.

"Hello?" He said, sounding confused.

"Happy Anniversary, Jay." I told him. He was silent on the phone before talking to me again.

"Alex don't-"

"-no no shhhh just hear me out… I miss you." I cut him off.

"Are you drunk?" He asked.

"Maybe a lil."

"Alex." He sighed. "I shouldn't have answered." He said to himself.

"Why not? Because Zack is there?!" I questioned, feeling myself become angry and jealous.

"What? No! Because I don't want to talk to you while you're drunk."

"Alex, who are you talking to?" I heard Rian ask through the door.

"No one." I answered him.

"What?" Jack's asked.

"I was talking to Rian. But how am I supposed to know that you're not really with Zack?" I asked.

"Because I just told you I wasn't."

"It wouldn't be the first time you lied to me."

"Yeah I'm definitely not doing this with you right now. Goodbye, Alex-"

"-If not now then when? You wouldn't even talk to me at school when I was sober." I complained.

"Is there really anything for us to talk about?" He questioned.

"Well we could talk about us. . . getting back together. I wanna be there for you and our baby." I told him and he took another long pause on the phone.

"Did you lock the door?!" I heard Rian yell at me, but ignored him.

"It might not be "our" baby, Alex." Jack finally said.

"I know, but I still wanna be there for you both. " I said sincerely, but he probably couldn't tell because of how drunk and high I was.

". . . I um. . . I um have to go-"

"-Wait! Can we please talk about this when I'm sober? I want you to know how serious I am." I begged.

"Um yeah. We should talk when you’re sober." He said and hung up.

I smiled down at my phone as it said call ended. I was finally able to tell him how I really felt. Plus he agreed to talk once I sobered up. I was ready to go home and sleep the alcohol off.

Before I could unlock go unlock the bathroom door it was being pushed open by Rian. He handed a bobby pin back to a random girl and thanked her. Then he turned to me with a scowl on his face.

"Who were you talking to?" He interrogated.

"Jack." I mumbled and his scowl deepened. He walked over and grabbed my arm to pull me out of the bathroom. There was a line of people waiting outside of it.

"I wanna go home, Ri. I don't feel so good." I told him. My stomach was churning and it felt like the house was spinning.

"Yeah we're leaving." He told me. He helped me back down the stairs and towards the front door. I guess we were leaving without telling our friends bye, but I don't think I would have made it to the backyard.

I felt relief as the cold wind hit my body once we made it outside. We still had to walk down the street a bit to Rian's car, but being outside was better than inside.

"So what exactly did you say to Jack?" Rian asked.

"Umm... oh shit I don't remember." I panicked. I just talk to Jack like five minutes ago and already forgot what we talked about.

"What do you mean you don't remember?"

"I can't... I just remember telling him I miss him. Oh God, I miss him so fucking much."

"You're a fucking mess." Rian scolded me. I wanted to argue with him but instead I bent over in the middle of the street and threw up. My insides were on fire. Rian helped me stay balanced as everything I drunk and ate came back up.

"Oh man, did I just do that?" I laughed pointing down at the throw up in the road.

"Yes, idiot. Let's go to my house. Your parents would kill you if they caught you like this." He said.

"Take me to Jack."

"I'm not even going to entertain that with an answer." Rian walked me over to the passenger side of his car and opened the door for me. He helped me in and then went to the driver side. We didn't even make it to the first street light before I had passed out.

Notes

I don't mean for Rian to come off as a jerk in this chapter. He's just trying to make sure that Alex doesn't get his hopes up and get hurt again.

Title Credit: Take Cover by ATL