Sick Little Games

Katherine Murphy became a whirlwind of emotions as she looked at Alex, his face portraying a light bulb going off in his head, showing her that he had put the pieces together. “I got pregnant, Alex,” she whispered, as tears ran down her cheeks, faster than he had ever seen it before. She tried to wipe them away, but they just came faster and faster. “You know Lucy? Yeah, she’s yours.”

Alex sat perfectly still, watching Katherine’s every move, from the way she played with her hair to the way she picked at her nail polish and tried to avoid any kind of eye contact with him whatsoever. “Holy shit,” he breathed, his mind shutting down.

“I should have told you a while ago, but I didn’t know how to get in touch with you, and I knew you were getting big with your band and you wouldn’t even remember me. I didn’t want to put it all on you, especially at that part of your life,” she rambled, “But mostly, I was just terrified to tell you I guess. For the fear that you would want nothing to do with either of us.”

Alex stared at her blankly, unable to say anything at all, or even think for that matter. Her make-up was half way down her face by that point and she was curled up into a ball with her arms around her knees, but she was still beautiful in Alex’s eyes.

“Shh,” he whispered, trying to calm her down, but nothing was working. “If you have a panic attack, I will never forgive myself.”

“You’re not mad?” she asked, confused.

He shook his head ‘no’, but he really didn’t know if he was or wasn’t. He didn’t know what else to say. He didn’t know what else to do. He sat there frozen with the words repeating over and over again in his head.

You know Lucy? Yeah, she’s yours.

Yeah, she’s yours.

She’s yours.

Alex knew he made a lot of mistakes in his life. He knew he made a lot of messes in his life. But he never thought he’d make this much of a mess of someone else’s life.

-----

Jack Barakat fell asleep on his couch that night, Christine by his side. They stayed up forever to see if their friends would finally talk, so of course, they were completely exhausted at 6:30 in the morning.

Jack groaned loudly when his phone vibrated under him, and he brought the mouthpiece to his ear. “Hello?”

“Jack, I know about it, we’re on friendly terms, and I need to get the hell out of this small space so I can talk to you right now,” Alex demanded on the other line.

“Alright,” Jack replied, a smile playing on the corner of his lips, happy to hear his idea was going according to plan. He pressed ‘end’ on his phone, and gently shook Christine to wake her up. “We did it,” he said grinning, and she immediately woke up, smiling too. “I gotta talk to Alex though,” he frowned, knowing how much Alex must be freaking out inside.

He hopped off the couch, walking towards his small basement on the other side of his downstairs. He opened the door slowly, finding the pair standing awkwardly at the top of the staircase.

Jack nodded in their direction, not sure what to say to the both of them. Katherine rushed past him, going towards Jack’s living room, to search for Christine he’d guess, leaving him alone with Alex. He looked up at his best friend slowly, taking note of the lifeless features he portrayed.

“God, I screwed her life up so bad,” were the first words that came out of Alex’s mouth.

Jack smirked in sarcasm, just to see a ‘what the fuck’ look from Alex. “She thinks you’re mad at her; you think she’s mad at you. Why can’t you guys just give it up?” Jack asked, real confusion written on his forehead. “Break down your walls, dude.”

Alex nodded slowly, unable to think of anything else to say, still feeling guilty even though he knew Jack was right.

“There’s more important things to think about with this matter, are you forgetting?” Jack paused when Alex didn’t answer. “Lucy isn’t just your kid; you’re her father,” he emphasized like it was the most obvious thing in the world… which it kind of was.

Alex looked surprised, like he was just realizing this. “So… what do I do?” he asked randomly.

“Either you can be a jackass and leave her and your kid,” he emphasized again, “or you can figure something out to take care of them,” he replied.

“You’re smart sometimes, Jack,” Alex nodded.

“I know,” Jack responded, a smirk playing on his lips.

“I want kids. I just never thought I’d get them this soon…” Alex thought out loud, not even trying to hide the fact that he was extremely nervous about this all.

Jack nodded in understanding, then opened the door, gesturing for Alex to go talk to Katherine. With real, actual words this time.