Secrets Don't Make Friends

Jack

It wasn't long after Alex left, that I heard someone else knocking on my door. I was pretty sure it was Zack since I asked him if he could stop by when he got time to. I took a deep breath and called for him to come in. The door opened, and Zack and his mom walked in. Zack smiled and told me hi while his mom looked like she didn't want to be here. I'm glad my mom wasn't here to see her.

"Hey, how are you?" I asked Zack.

"I'm sort of nervous to hear the results." He said with a nervous chuckle.

"Yeah I understand." I nodded.

Zack walked over to where the baby was sleeping in the incubator. He looked down at him and touched his little head.

"Do you want to hold him?" I asked. I was sort of stalling for time cause I felt sick having to tell him the DNA results with his mom here.

"Yeah of course!" Zack exclaimed.

I reached in the incubator and carefully pulled the baby out. Then I handed him to Zack. He supported the baby's head and held him correctly. Zack's mom walked over to get a better view of the baby. She smiled down at him and reached out to touch his hand.

"He's perfect." Zack whispered to the baby and I felt my eyes water. Why did I have to do this?

"Does he have a name yet?" Zack's mom asked me. I was caught off guard by her soft tone.

"No, not yet. I um haven't been able to think of anything." I told her, and she nodded.

"Well let's get to the reason we're here for." She sighed, sounding more like herself.

"Uh okay." I wasn't sure how to start. "I um...I well...-"

"-Just tell us yes or no. Is Zack the dad?" Katie snapped. I didn't blame her for being frustrated. I had dragged this on for long enough.

I looked down at the ground before mumbling the answer.

"No."

Zack gasped and looked at me with his eyes already beginning to water. That's what I was trying to avoid. He pulled the baby closer to his chest as more tears fell from his eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Zack." I sniffled, starting to cry for the second time today.

"B-But I-I-" Zack stammered, and his mom cut him off.

"-How do we know you're not lying?" Katie questioned.

"Why would I lie about this?" That was a stupid question considering I was lying to either Alex or Zack right now.

"Because you lied to my son multiple times before." She answered quickly.

I looked around for the yellow envelope and found it on the table where I left it. I picked it up and handed it to her. She opened it and pulled out the paper with the results on it. She read over it for a few moments and then ripped it up and threw it on the ground in front of me.

"Let's go, Zack." She said while glaring at me.

"But mom-"

"-Now!!" She yelled waking up the baby and making him cry in Zack's arms.

Zack looked at me apologetically and reluctantly handed me back the baby. I tried my best to soothe him back to sleep.

"Good luck at NYU." I told Zack and his mom turned back to me.

"Good luck raising a bastard child." She spat at me.

"Mom stop! I'm sick of you being a bitch to him." Zack scolded his mom and wiped his eyes. Katie and I looked at him in shock. Zack was never one to talk back to his mom and especially not call her a "bitch."

"Excuse me? You apologize to me right now!" She demanded.

"No." He stated.

"Zachary Steven Merrick apologize right now or find your own way to pay your way through college." She threatened. I could see the conflicted look in Zack's eyes. He wanted to stand up for me, but he needed their help for college.

"It's okay Zack, honestly I'm okay." I said. It was just words, and they didn't affect me like they used to. I guess my mom was right.

"Stay out of this." Katie told me.

Zack looked at me and I nodded telling him to apologize. He could let them pay for him to go to college and once he finished he could have the freedom to leave them and do whatever he wanted.

"I'm sorry." Zack grumbled, and Katie smirked.

"Now let's go." She marched out of the room and Zack waved to me as he left. I told him I was sorry one last time on his way out.

I sat down on the bed and took a deep breath. I was exhausted, and it wasn't even seven pm yet. I looked down at my baby in my arms. He was crying himself back asleep. I looked at the floor and saw the scraps of paper from the DNA test on the floor. I could barely make out Alex's name in the individual scraps of paper.

My mom walked in the room twenty minutes later holding a Subway sandwich for me. I smiled and thanked her as she handed it to me. She looked down at the scraps of paper on the floor and frowned. I felt relieved that she and Zack's mom weren't here at the same time, they definitely would have fought each other this time.

"What happened?" She asked.

"It's a long story." I said, and she nodded, letting it go for now.

"So, where's the dad? Shouldn't he be here spending time with his son?"

"No." I mumbled.

"Why not?" She questioned, and I looked down.

"Because he doesn't know he's a dad."

"What do you mean?"

"I told Alex that Zack was the dad." I clarified, and she glared at me.

"Why the hell would you do that?" She scolded me quietly since the baby had fallen back asleep.

"Because he told me that a record company was thinking about signing them and I panicked. I didn't want to ruin all his hard work. He's so close to everything he's ever wanted." I told her.

"And what about you? What about what you want?" She said, and I shrugged, not knowing what to say. "You can't go through life trying to please everyone else, Jack. You gotta look out for yourself too. What do you want out of life??"

"For my baby to be happy." I said, and she sighed.

"Don't we all." She said to herself. "You have to fix this. You need to call Alex and tell him the truth before it's too late."

"Is it so bad if I don't? I mean, you raised me on your own and I turned out fine." I complained.

"Yeah but that's different. Your dad didn't want to be a father. He was too chickenshit. Alex wants to be a dad, I could see it when he first laid eyes on the baby. You don't get to make the decision for him."

"Can I just think about it for a day or two?" I whined.

"You have an hour before I call Isobel." She warned, and I pouted. "And what did you tell Zack?"

"That he wasn't the father." I said.

"Did it ever cross your mind that he and Alex were going to see each other again? I mean they still go to school together, one of them was going to bring it up at some point. They would have figured out that you were lying and demanded the truth." She shook her head at me.

"Oh...yeah." I said, now feeling like an idiot.

"Didn't think that one through." She said and playfully nudged my arm. I rolled my eyes and handed her the baby, so I could pick up the remains of the DNA test.

*****
Alex

I couldn't bring myself to go home. I wasn't ready to tell my parents that they weren't going to be grandparents. You would think that was a good thing, but we had all grew accustomed to the idea of having a baby in our lives. It was torture to think about taking that excitement away from them. So, I went to Rian's house instead. He and Cass were at his house by themselves watching a movie. I came in, laid in Rian's bed and curled into a ball. I felt all my emotions hit at once.

"What's wrong?" Cass asked and that opened the flood gates in my eyes. I quickly tried to wipe my tears, but it was too late. "Aw Alex, it's okay tell me what wrong." She said, worriedly and climbed into bed next to me. Rian handed her a few Kleenex and she wiped my eyes for me.

"I'm not the father." I sniffled and the both gasped.

"I'm so fucking sorry, man!" Rian said, and placed his hand on my back.

"Me too. I almost can't believe it." Cass said.

"I just left the hospital and Jack told me. And I feel empty inside. I held the baby today and I got use to the idea of him being mine and now I know he wasn't. It just fucking sucks."

"Well look on the bright side, you're still with Jack so the baby is your stepson. And also, you can focus more on the band now and we can plan tours." Rian said, trying to make me feel better.

"I know dude, but I would give all of it up just to have my blood coursing through his veins." I sighed, and Cass wiped my eyes more. "I just don't feel right touring and leaving Jack alone with the baby. I know he'll have Zack to help take care of him, but I want to be to here for him too."

"I totally understand, Lex and I'm fine with whatever you want to do." Rian said, and I took a deep breath.

"I quit the band."

Notes

This chapter was supposed to be longer, but I decided to post this half first because the whole thing was like 9000 words. And I should explain lol I flipped the coin but I accidentally kicked it so it didn't count, but I saw that it was for Zack. Then I flipped it again and it landed on heads for Alex so I took it as sign to write the story that way. I thought you guys would pick up that Jack was lying to Alex by the way he was wording his words. Like when he said he was debating on what to tell Alex before telling the results and when he tells Alex "I really wish I could tell you it was you" but maybe it wasn't as obvious as I thought. Anyways, I hope you're all happy now (well probably not since Alex still doesn't know the truth)!