Login with:

Facebook

Twitter

Tumblr

Google

Yahoo

Aol.

Mibba

Your info will not be visible on the site. After logging in for the first time you'll be able to choose your display name.

Secrets Don't Make Friends

This Fight is Far From Over

Alex

I thought about racing over to Zack's house when I left Jack's but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I was heartbroken from what Jack said to me. He doesn't think I'm cut out to be a father? I got a job to support him and the baby. I'm considering giving up the band to support them, but I'm not cut out? Maybe I was just biased, because to me, it seemed like I was doing a pretty damn good job so far. I needed someone else to tell me if Jack was right to say that.

I drove over to Rian's house and without calling first to see if he was home. I saw his car was in the driveway so luckily he was here. I got out and rang the doorbell.

"Hi Alex. What brings you by?" Mrs. Dawson asked as she opened the door for me.

"Hi Mrs. Dawson. I'm here to see Rian if you don't mind." I told her and she nodded.

"He's upstairs. Cassadee is up there with him." She told me and I thanked her.

I went upstairs to Rian's room where he and Cass were laying in his bed making out. They pulled away from me quickly and took a deep breath.

"Fuck, I thought you were my mom." Rian said and he and Cass laughed.

"I need your help." I sighed and sat on the bed with them.

"What'd you do?" Cass asked.

"Why do you assume it’s my fault." I tasked and she rolled her eyes.

"When is it not your fault? This has something to do with Jack, right?" She said.

"It does." I confirmed.

"What'd you do?" Rian asked.

"I didn't do anything. Jack said he doesn't think I'm cut out to be a dad." I complained.

"That doesn't sound like something Jack would just randomly say to you." Rian said skeptically.

"It isn't." Cass said and I sighed. "What'd you say to him?"

"I ugh I just told him I can't deal with the fact that Zack might be the dad. I don't think I'd be able to get over it if he was actually the dad." I explained.

"Why'd you say that? For the past few months you've been going on about how you would care for the baby even if he was Zack's. What changed?" He asked.

"Long-story-short we finally got back together but then Zack called and told Jack he didn't think I was cut out to be a father. Then he starts bragging about having sex with Jack and I was going to go kick his ass but Jack begged me not to-"

"-Yeah because Zack would have beat your ass." Cass cut me off and Rian chuckled.

"Whatever." I scoffed. I knew it we true but I wasn't going to admit that to them. "Anyways I told Jack I couldn't handle Zack being the dad. Like I don't think I'd be able to handle being around Jack or the baby knowing that it's Zack's. I just hate him too much. But then Jack said he did think I was cut out to be a father either. So, I left."

"Why couldn't we just have a normal senior year." Rian groaned. "Listen, do you love Jack?" He asked.

"Yeah of course." I answered.

"Then fuck everything else, dude. If you're the father then great raise the baby with Jack. If not then you should still be with Jack and just understand that he had a kid with someone else. I get that might be hard to do but you gotta make up your mind. Either you want to be with Jack no matter what or you don't."

I laid back his bed next to Cass and sighed. "I really want to be with Jack."

"Then there's your answer." He told me, but I just continued to stare up at the ceiling.

"I know this is stressful Alex, but you have to think about how much worse this is for Jack. He has to worry about giving birth soon. And on top of all that he has to balance a relationship between you and Zack because either one of you is the father." Cass told me. "He probably didn't even mean what he said. It's just you keep going back and forth on a decision, and Zack really hasn't. Plus, Zack's parents are dicks and have threatened to take his baby away. And he's worried to death because the baby is putting too much stress on his body with the preeclampsia. Jack's just exhausted and he just needs something to finally go right in his life."

Everything Cass said was true. Jack was dealing with a lot and my little outburst weren't helping. He didn't need the extra stress I was adding to his life.

"Yeah you're right. Damn, I feel like an asshole." I said.

"It's okay, just try to understand what he's going through." She told me.

"I definitely do now. I should go apologize." I said and tried to get up.

"Maybe you should give it some time. If you go back now it'll look like you haven't really reflected on it." Rian said and I laid back down.

"You really think so?"

"Yeah, plus this way you get to think of kickass way to make it up to him." He said and Cass agreed.

"True. Help me think of how to apologize."

*****
Jack

"I cannot wait until this baby pops out of you and we can figure out who the father is." My mom groaned. I had just finished telling her why Alex stormed out of the house. Her "boyfriend" finally left and I didn't want to talk about him and start an argument.

"You and me both." I sighed.

My mom looked down at my hands and sighed too. My fingers were swelling which was a normal symptom from my preeclampsia. She messaged my hands for me and I laid back comfortably.

"You need to stop stressing over those boys. They're making you blood pressure go up." She told me.

"I know, I just can't help it. They're both acting like idiots. Especially Alex."

"Yeah they are. Do you think they actual fought? Cause Zack could beat Alex's ass with one hand tied behind his back." She joked and I chuckled.

"I hope not. Alex still seemed angry when he left, but not angry enough to fight someone." I said.

"He actually seemed a little hurt."

"He's a big boy, he'll get over it." She brushed it off. "Maybe he and Zack need to fight. They can get all that animosity out of their systems."

I felt the baby move in my stomach a few times. I rubbed my stomach to help him calm down. I think I woke him up because at first he was just calmly chilling in my stomach as if he was asleep.

"No that doesn't sound like a good idea. I just don't want to talk to either of them right now. The baby and I need a break from all of that." I said.

"Is he moving a lot?" My mom asked, noticing that I would wince every time he moved.

"Yeah it's like a quick movement every few seconds." I told her and rubbed my stomach.

"Maybe he has the hiccups." She said and I laughed.

"Is that a real thing?" I asked.

"Yeah they can get the hiccups while they're in your stomach."

"Oh my God that's so cute!" I gushed. "I must have eaten my Jell-O too fast. I'm sorry, baby." I chuckled. I didn't mind this movement in my stomach so much because it didn't hurt much. I just felt like a small jump every few seconds.

"He'll stop after a while." My mom chuckled with me.

I looked down at my stomach and rubbed it trying to soothe the baby back to sleep. He was a very easy baby to manage. All he did was eat, sleep, and kicked like hell if I moved too much. Hopefully he would be easy to manage after I gave birth. I haven't really given much thought to how parenting will actually be. I've been more concerned with my pregnancy and stressing over who the father is. I don't know the first thing about being a parent. I can't change a diaper and I don't know how to make formula. How am I supposed to be a parent?

"Uggggh." I sighed.

"Sorry did that hurt?" My mom asked and started to massage my hands slower.

"No, no I was just thinking about how I'm going to be the worst parent in the world."

"Why do you say that?"

"Cause I don't know how to do anything baby related. I won't even know how to change his diaper." I complained.

"Don't worry about that stuff, Jack. I can teach you."

"But I need to practice before he's born so I will be a pro it by the time he's born."

"Okay okay, how about I start teaching you tomorrow. I can go over how to feed him, change him, hold him and stuff like that." She suggested.

"Yes, thank you." I said and she nodded.

I needed something to do tomorrow anyways so I wouldn't be bored all day. I stayed at home alone all day until my mom got off, unless Alex didn't have to work. Now that Alex and I weren't talking, we wouldn't be able to spend his off day together tomorrow. I didn't have anything to look forward to except for my baby shower, but that was next month.

*****

~The Next Day~

I slept until noon today. Then I got up and worked on some of my online school work. My mom had left some fruit and a pop tart on my nightstand for me so I wouldn't have to walk all the way to the kitchen for food. I still had to walk to my bathroom though. Luckily it was right in my room so I could slowly walk there and back without too much of a hassle.

I sat back and my room and huffed. I was tired of seeing the same setting. I wanted to get out of my room and go somewhere. Anywhere! Even if it was just a walk to the mailbox and back.

I felt the baby began to kick as I ate my banana. I guess he was happy to be eating, but it hurt like hell. I sighed and tried to focus on what was on TV and not the pain. It was almost impossible to do it.

"You've been kicking me for three minutes straight. I get it! You like bananas." I said angrily to my stomach. "This is probably payback, right? For not knowing who your real father is." I continued talking to the baby. "We have like three months left then you can find out who he is. Maybe it'll be Zack so his parents can take you away and I can live a normal life like Alex said. Then Alex can still be in the band and I can still move in with him Cass and Rian like we planned."

"What am I talking about? I wouldn't be able to hand you over to them. I get too easily attached to things, and my grandparents wouldn't let me anyways." I yawned and placed my hand on my swollen stomach. I turned sideways on my pillow and went back to sleep.

"Is this really what you did all day long?" I woke up to my mom chuckling.

I yawned and wiped my eyes. "What else can I do when I stuck in bed all day." I complained.

She playfully rolled her eyes and hand me a grilled chicken salad she bought for me on her way home.

"Oh, thank you! I was starting to get hungry." I told her and opened the container. I poured the dressing on it and took a bite. "What's that?" I asked pointing to another bag she had.

"Oh yeah." She went into the bag and pulled out a baby doll. A pretty realistic one.

"What is that?"

"It's how I'm going to teach you to take care of the baby." She said as she pulled open the box. She finally got the baby out. She took out a diaper bag and sat it in front of me.

"Where'd you get this thing?" I asked and picked up the baby to examine it.

"This girl at work. I was telling her about you wanting to prepare for the baby and she told me about it. Her cousin is a high school health teacher and she said we could borrow one since they aren't using them now. So, we stopped by to get one during our lunch break." She explained and I nodded to let her know I heard her. "Let me see him." She said and I handed the baby over. My mom opened his back, added batteries, pressed a button, and then the baby began crying. She handed me back the fake baby and I stared at it as it cried. My mom opened the diaper bag and pulled out diapers, a fake bottle, and a pacifier.

"Okay so first-thing-first, you're holding him wrong. He shouldn't be laying flat in your arms. You have to support his head. Put his head higher up in your arms." She directed.

"Like this?" I asked after adjusting him.

"Yeah like that."

"But he's still crying." I told her.

"Yeah, it's because he's either hungry, sleepy, needs to burp, or needs a diaper change."

"Oh. Is there a certain way to know what he needs?"

"Well he just woke up it's either a diaper change or he's hungry. If you just fed him then he either needs to burp or he's sleepy. You'll be able to distinguish between the different cries with your real baby after a while." She told me and the doorbell rang. "I'll be right back." She said and left to go get it.

"While she was gone I picked up the bottle and put it to the make-believe baby's mouth. He stopped crying and began making a sucking noise. I smiled to myself because I figured it out on my first try.
My mom walked back in my room with Alex right behind her. He looked at me apologetically and glanced down at the fake baby in my hands.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him, as I continued feeding the baby.

"I um came to apologize. Everything I said yesterday was completely unnecessary and stemmed from stress and anger towards Zack. I've been obsessing over who the father of the baby is and so angry just about Zack and I haven't been taking your feelings into consideration at all. And I'm sorry, Jack. He said and I nodded for him to continue. “My small amount of stress probably doesn't even come close to the stress you’re feeling. And my outburst and me going back and forth on a decision has probably made things way worse for you. But I'm here to tell you that I do love you and I want to be with you. I’m still a little bothered by the idea of Zack being the father of the baby, but I'm going to be with you regardless of if it's him or me." He told me.

I really didn't think Alex would be back this fast to apologize, but I'm glad he was. I wasn’t going to put this behind us yet, just in case he changed his mind again, but I was going to forgive him for now. I wasn't always able to stay mad at him for too long anyways. I smiled and shook my head at him.

"You're going to be the death of me." I chuckled and he took a deep breath and smiled.

"I wanted to buy you chocolate but I couldn't so I got you more sugar-free Jell-O. It's in your fridge for later."

"Thank you!" I exclaimed and leaned over to kiss him. He connected our lips for a small kiss.

"You're welcome. So, what is this?" He asked pointing to the doll I was now burping.

"I'm teaching Jack how to be a parent. Wanna learn too?" My mom told him.

"Yeah it wouldn't hurt." He chuckled.

He sat on my bed next to me and we listened to my mom explain how to change a diaper.

*****

Zack

I sat on my porch waiting twenty minutes for Alex but he never showed up. I should have known he was too scared to actually come talk to me face to face. I'm sure he knew everything I said was true. It's probably a good thing he didn't come, because my mom is home and she would have either tried to break up the fight or call the police. I laughed to myself as I picked up my phone and went back into my house.

"Do you feel better?" My mom asked when I stepped in the kitchen. I lied and told her that I was going outside to get some fresh air.

"Uh yeah, I feel much better."

"I know you've been stressed for the past few months about potentially having a baby, but I'll be here to help you through it all." She said and I nodded. "I was thinking we could turn the upstairs guest bedroom to his or her room." She was talking about the baby.

"His." I stated.

"It's a boy?"

"Yeah, Jack told me today."

"Aw I was kind of hoping for a granddaughter. Oh well, we can paint the room blue and we can do a baseball theme!" She exclaimed.

I've been thinking of the right time and right way to tell my mom that I didn't think it was right for us to take full custody of the baby. My mom was only trying to do what she thought was best so convincing her otherwise was going to be difficult.

"About that. Mom, do you think that it's right that we take full custody of the baby? I mean joint custody would really be fair." I said and she sternly looked at me.

"Soul custody is the only way I can make sure my grandchild is being properly taken care of. Those heathens are probably only going to use him for the welfare check." She said and rolled her eyes. I ignored her rude comment for now to stay on her good side.

"Jack's family isn't poor. And his grandparents are really nice people. They're pretty well off and they're going to help Jack and the baby too." I informed her.

"Yes, but the baby won't be living with his grandparents, they'll be living with Jack and his mother. And that women can barely take care of herself, let alone her own son."

"You're making judgements based on their social status. That isn't fair." I called out.

"No what isn't fair is that baby staying with those people when we have more than enough to give him a happy life. Don't you want what's best for your son?"

"Of course, I do but-" I was cut off by her.

"-Then it's settled. I'll call the painters tomorrow."

"Mom-" I was about to make the argument that I just turned eighteen two weeks ago, and ultimately what I say goes, but she stopped me again.

"-Zack, darling, I've already made up my mind and your father has already started the paperwork for you. And it's not like Jack will never get to see the baby. He'll get some weekends and holidays. We'll just be the soul caretakers. I don't want to take the baby away, but it's what's best."

That did kind of make sense, but I still felt bad for Jack. "But Jack is carrying the baby. I wouldn't feel right taking it away from him." I sighed.

"Just because he's carrying it, doesn't make the baby any less yours. After all he'll most likely take your last name." She said and I stayed silent, thinking to myself. "And what if they're planning to take custody of the baby away from you." She said and I looked up at her from where I was sitting.
"Jack wouldn't do that." I said while shaking my head.

"I don't know, you said he's been spending an awful amount of time with Alex." She shrugged.

"Yeah so?"

"So maybe they're back together and maybe they'll want to raise the baby together even if Alex isn't the father. And that would be so much easier to do if he gives you limited to no custody of the baby."

I knew my mom was just saying things to try and convince me to agree with her, but it was kind of working. Jack was spending more time with Alex which meant they were probably back together. Plus, Jack's been saying we couldn't hang out because he was on "bed rest" but that didn't stop him from seeing Alex. My mom was right, Jack was going to screw me over.

"I think the guest bedroom upstairs is a great idea and a baseball theme sounds perfect."

Notes

Comments

@dirtylaundry
You’re welcome <3 and thank you so much for reading it!!

Jalex95 Jalex95
10/16/17

@T-what
I’m so happy you enjoyed it! And thanks again for reading it and all your feedback! I hate reading stories that take forever to update and that don’t finish too, that’s why I try to make stories that I can upload at least once a week lol but thanks again <3

Jalex95 Jalex95
10/16/17

I loved this story! Thank you for taking us on this lovely journey and for a wonderful ending!

dirtylaundry dirtylaundry
10/15/17

Awwww, no thank you, it was a lovely journey and I enjoyed this fic so much. Probs to you for never abandoning this and pulling through to the end. I hate reading stories that are put on hold randomly and never get finished.

T-what T-what
10/15/17

@Apathy4Sympathy
Lolol Alex has finally come to his senses. And a PTV and ATL hybrid would be weird in real life now that I think about it lol I don’t know what I’ll do without this fic either, Well I might become bored and write another one haha

Jalex95 Jalex95
10/11/17