Love Is a Losing Game

Angie nervously chewed on the fingernails of her left hand, her right hand encased by Brian’s as they listened to his father give them his opinion about the subject. They had decided to call in to tell them on they’re way home from Big Bear to get it over with. they had started off with the news that they were engaged which had been received by them relatively well, his dad voicing his opinion that he thought it may be a little too soon into the relationship to make such a serious commitment, but also stating his awareness of how happy he’d noticed his son being since being with Angie.

Then had come the news that she was pregnant. News that hadn’t been received in the best way possible, but Brian Sr had begrudgingly accepted.

Cautiously Brian had then explained about the baby being David’s and his father had subsequently hit the roof, and had been ranting continuously for the past twenty minutes, not allowing his son the chance to explain his side of the story.

“Dad! Will you fucking listen to me for five minutes!” Brian finally yelled when he realised that his dad seemed to be repeating himself. Brian Sr stopped in his tracks from where he’d been pacing the living room and turned to face his son.

“I love Angie more than anything and I’m not going to lose her over this. Yes I know that this isn’t exactly the most ideal of situations we’ve found ourselves in, but it’s the reality. We’re getting married and we’re going to have this baby and we’re going to be a family together.” Brian explained, a small smile creeping onto his lips at the thought.

“But it’s not your baby, you’re going to be bringing up someone else’s child son. That’s not going to be easy.” His father retorted calmly.

“Suzy did it with me and Brent.” Brian stated calmly, his father pausing as he processed his son’s words.

“That’s different…” he began.

“Not really dad. Although unlike me and my brother, this baby won’t know any other parents. As far as it’s concerned Angie will be it’s mother and I’ll be it’s father.” He explained, both of them watching as his words sunk in with his father.

He was silent for a moment, before he turned to face Angie. “Do you love him as much as he loves you?”

She immediately withdrew her finger tips from her mouth, swallowing hard before she answered. “Yes. I do. I love him more than I’ve ever thought possible. He’s made me happier than I ever thought was possible.”

Brian Sr nodded silently, turning to sit in the chair opposite them. “I guess that if you’re both prepared to do this, are both happy and both love each other as much as you say you do, then that’s all that really counts.”

“We are happy dad, and we love each other.” Brian replied with a smile.

“Well in that case, I guess congratulations are in order.” He said with a smile as he stood up and offered Brian his hand.

“Thanks dad.” He replied, standing up to hug his father.

“Just be happy son. And I guess this means that I’m kinda going to be a granddad.” He said.

“Yeah, you will.” Brian said before turning to smile at Angie who had stood up next to him.

“Welcome to the family sweetheart.” Brian Sr said gently enveloping her into a hug.

“Wish we could stay longer dad, but we’ve got some stuff at the bar to sort out and we wanna tell the others what’s going on too.” Brian said after they’d parted.

“Okay son. Congratulations again. I’ll talk to you soon.” He said as he showed them out.

“Well, that went better than I’d expected.” Brian mused as he backed the car out of his dad’s driveway.

“Yeah, I guess. At least he was happy by the time we left.” Angie replied.

“Let’s see what the other guys have to say about our good news hey?” he replied, leaning over to lace his fingers with her as he headed towards the bar.

“So do you have any idea what this news is Brian has to tell us?” Zack asked Matt as he joined the group at one of the tables situated close to the rear of the bar.

Matt simply shrugged not wanting to give anything away. he had a good idea that Brian had asked them all to meet up so that he could tell them that Angie was pregnant. What he didn’t know was whether they were going to be truthful about who the father was.

“Maybe they’ve decided to move.” Scarlett offered.

“Highly doubt it. I reckon they’re either going to tell us that they’re getting married or that Angie’s pregnant.” Johnny said.

“You know don’t you!” Jimmy yelled pointing at Matt who had quickly diverted his eyes at Johnny’s statement.

“Am I right? Is she pregnant? Or are they getting married?” Johnny yelled.

“Both.” Brian’s voice caused them all to turn to face him and Angie.

“Both?” Jimmy questioned.

“Yes. We found out that she was pregnant before we went away and I asked her to marry me while we were in Big Bear.” Brian explained.

“Shit! Congratulations guys!” Zack said embracing Brian before the other guys followed his lead.

“Thanks guys, but there’s something else we need to tell you too.” Brian said his tone becoming serious.

“Everything okay?” Aly asked.

“You all know what’s gone on over the past couple of months concerning Angie, and well, the baby, the baby is actually…” he paused.

“David’s.” Angie finished for him quietly.

“But only biological. I’m going to be the baby’s father. I will raise him or her as my own.” Brian said, watching as his friends sat with open mouths.

“You sure about this dude?” Zack asked cautiously after a moment’s silence.

“Yeah I am dude. You all know how happy I’ve been since I’ve been with Angie. I love her and I want to spend the rest of my life with her.” Brian said pulling her gently closer to him.
Jimmy glanced nervously between the two of them, “But it’s another guys baby-“

“I know Jim. And this hasn’t been easy on either of us, but we’ve made our decisions, all we need you to do know is be happy for us.” Brian said with a smile.

“Of course we’re happy for you guys.” Aly said with a widening smile before they all exchanged congratulations again.

“I’m just going to pop to the office.” Angie whispered as Jimmy announced that he was getting a bottle of champagne to celebrate.

“Okay baby.” Brian muttered, kissing her lips briefly before watching her walk off towards the office.

Not thinking about knocking to enter her own office, Angie gasped at the sight before her as she opened the door.

“Fucking Hell!” she yelled at the sight of Stuart and Neil fumbling around rearranging their clothes.

“Angie, hey, um…nice holiday?” Stuart said his cheeks flushed.

“It was lovely thanks and it’s nice to see you’ve been enjoying yourself in my office too.” she retorted.

“Oh um, yeah, I can explain about this.” Stuart muttered.

“Seriously no need. Just make sure you clean my desk.” She replied quickly turning and walking away.

“That was quick, everything okay?” Brian asked as she reached his side, his arm slipping around her shoulder pulling her closer to him.

“Let’s just say we’re not the only one’s to find the office desk a comfortable place to…well, you know…” she trailed of with a smirk as she watched Brian’s eyes widen.

“Stuart?” he asked.

“And Neil.” She said with a nod of her head.

“Neil? When did that happen?” Brian asked.

“I don’t know. But I intend finding out later that’s for sure.” She replied as she heard a throat clearing behind her. “Talk of the devil.”

“Ange, I’m sorry, I –“ Stuart began quietly.

“Save it for later. Brian and I have some news.” She replied with a smile.

“What’s up?” he asked taking a few steps closer to them.

“Well, obviously you already know about the baby, but while we were away, Brian asked me to marry him.” she said, not being able to stop the smile she wore widening at the thought.

“Really? Oh sweetie, that’s brilliant news.” He said pulling her out of Brian’s arms into a hug.

“Thanks. And you’ll give me away right?” she asked.

“Of course I will.” He replied with a proud smile.

“And will you be my best man Jimbo?” Brian added turning to face Jimmy.

“Seriously? Dude I’d be honoured.” Jimmy said before the pair hugged.

“So I know it’s early on, but have you given the wedding any thought?” Jenni asked.
Brian and Angie glanced at each other and nodded before Brian spoke. “Well actually yeah, we’ve given it a lot of thought. Angie doesn’t want to be an obviously pregnant bride with a bump, and we’ve also decided we want to be married before the baby is born.” Brian started.

“Which doesn’t give you much time.” Aly stated.

“No, so we were thinking, about Vegas, in a month.” He said.

“Vegas?” was the unified response.

“Yeah, neither of us want a big wedding, so we were thinking we could all head up there for a long weekend, have our bachelor/bachelorette parties and then get married.” Brian explained.

“Sounds fucking good to me dude!” Jimmy yelled holding up his glass of champagne.

“Yeah, you know us! Any excuse to head to Vegas and get hammered!” Matt said with a smile.

“Glad we could help dude.” Brian chuckled as he gently pulled Angie into his arms, kissing her temple.

“To Angie and Brian.” Jimmy announced raising his glass again, the others following suit and joining the toast.