Overnight Sensation

“Where they go?”, Rian asked when we met up. Nat and Courtney weren’t that far from us and we could still saw their backs. We followed them until they went into a deli near Times Square.

They sat at a table near the window, and Rian and I decided we should sit behind them. It felt really wrong to spy on people, but the truth really needed to be discovered.

My eyes traced Courtney’s face a bit, trying to remember where was the last time I saw her. My memory told me that I’ve met her, or just saw her somewhere. I gasped quietly when I remembered where I last saw her.

“What?”, Rian asked with a confused look painted on his face.

“Can I ask you something? Did Courtney ever go to Hawaii?”

“Well, a month before we went there, she and her college friends went there. Why?”

I peeked to Courtney, who was now caressing the bruises on Nat’s face. “I think, she was the girl I caught Nat cheating with.”

His eyes widened in surprise. “Whoa, so you’re telling me that around 4 months ago, she had sex with Nat, that guy which is your ex boyfriend?”

“Yeah.”, I nodded. “Why? Why are you so surprised?”

“Sash, her pregnancy is 4 months old, don’t you think there’s some kind of, a link, here?”

I did some mental math before my eyes bulged at Rian’s statement. “So, you’re saying that…”

“The baby inside of Courtney isn’t Zack’s. its Nat’s.”

“And didn’t you tell me that she was on the pills when she did it with Zack?”

He nodded and his eyes shifted a bit to Courtney and Nat. “Yeah, when we were in Zack’s place after they did it, I found some birth control pills on the floor of their room.”

I leaned back on the chair and narrowed my eyes. “Pills aren’t breakable or even failed. And, when I was back to my house after I caught them, I didn’t found any condom wrapper or even pills.”

“So, my theory is right?”, his brows were raised and once again, his eyes flickered to them.

“Yes. The baby isn’t Zack’s, it’s Nat’s.”

We opened our ears wide to their conversation, to know what Courtney doing here, or even what Nat doing here. Their actions were somewhat surprising, when Nat rubbed Courtney’s bulging stomach in a caring manner.

My eyes glistened when his hand trailed down her stomach. I remembered how after he proposed to me, we talked about our future together as we swung in our hammock. Our lives and our relationship was so perfect back then.

“Sash, are you okay?”, Rian asked when he noticed a tear fell down on my cheek.

I chuckled and wiped the tear with the sleeve of my hoodie. “I’m so stupid for crying over him again.”

“No, you’re not stupid.”, he smiled. “I know it’s hard to accepting the truth.”

“It’s just, I didn’t know what would happen if I didn’t catch them back then. Maybe I’ll find out when we’re already married, which means, double the pain and problems.”

Rian patted my hand and ruffled my hair in a brotherly way. “It’s okay, kiddo. Do you wanna get out of here? I have a show, and you have something to do. You know what to do right?”, he grinned.

My lips smiled widely as I put a $50 bill on the table. “This is on me cause’ I owe you so much.”
***************
Before we went to the venue, we went back to the condo first. I changed my clothes into more appropriate clothing for a concert. After I was done, we hurried up to the venue.

From what we’ve heard from Nat and Courtney, they were planning something for tonight. The plan was Courtney will be at the show as a ‘surprise’ and we didn’t catch what they were talking about after that.

The traffic was dreadful and when we were still 10 blocks away, I told Rian that we should run instead. He agreed and paid the cabbie before we stormed out the cab. I ran without caring the people who I shoved and ran into. Rian was behind me.

I didn’t care about the throbbing pain from my feet because I was wearing flat shoes to run. I didn’t care about the gazillion phone calls I got from Richie, Traver, my photographer and everyone. I didn’t care about people yelling at me for running. All I care was the feelings of the guy I loved. He was going to get hurt with the truth and I had to save him before he finds out.

Rian led me to the back of the venue and we went in through the back door. Our breathings were shallow and heavy. I almost broke down from the running, but he supported me by my arm. When we were at the door of their dressing room, the others’ eyes were on us.

“Whoa, where have you guys been?!”, Jack asked, looking us up and down. My hair was messy from the run and I ran my fingers through it.

“I need to talk with Zack.”, I panted. Rian gave me an encouraging pat on my back before he walked into the room and sat beside the confused Alex. Zack stood up from the couch and followed me out to the hallway.

I led him to the quiet part and sighed before turning around, facing him. “There’s something you really need to know.”

“Okay?”, he chuckled and leaned on the wall, with his arms crossing.

“I know, you won’t believe me—“

“Sash, I’ll believe everything you’ll tell me.”, he cut me off and flashed me his crooked smile I loved.

“Okay then.”, I nodded. “I know it’ll be hard to believe and it’s okay if you don’t want to tell me, but, when did you and Courtney did it?”

His eyes widened on the question. I bet he was taken off guard. I took his hands and just looked into his eyes. “Please, answer my question.”

He looked doubtful at first but then he nodded a bit. “Okay, we did it like, two weeks before I went for tour.”

“And did she go to Hawaii before the tour?”

“Yeah, a month before. Why?”, Zack’s eyes narrowed at me, like he was trying to gather the pieces of the puzzle on my questions.

“And now her pregnancy is four months old.”

“Sash, why are we talking about this?”, he pulled his hands out of mines and took a step back.

I sighed and buried my face in my hands. “I’m asking this because I want to protect you from the truth, which is very hard to believe, but it’s the truth.”

“And why don’t you just tell me this truth?!”

“If you really want to know, well, here goes.”, I looked down and took a deep breath before pulling my head up again. “I think the baby inside Courtney isn’t yours.”

Zack’s face went pale after I said it. He leaned on the wall to support his weight. “W-What?”

I nodded. “I know it’s very very hard to believe, but Courtney was the girl who I caught Nat cheating with.”

“You said you caught Nat cheating on you a month before we met.”

“Yea, and that was the same week when Courtney went to Hawaii.”

“So, that means…”

“The baby inside her is Nat’s.”