A Rock Prince with a Vengeance

The past couple of weeks, it's been very hot. However, today it was an unusually hot day, even for California. It was already 9 a.m. and already a whooping 94 degrees out. The worst part was, Val made all of us do some garden work, which no one enjoyed, especially me.

"Bloody hell. What kind of weather is this? I feel like I'm being baked alive." I wipes the sweat off my forehead.

"How are you that hot right now? It's not even 80 out! You must be doing some intense gardening over there," Zacky joked with me.

"You guys, I'm serious. I feel so sick. I feel like a walking hell hole. All of my joints hurt, and I feel like I'm going to puke."

"Damn, girl. Here, Zacky, take Bri up to her room. I'll go get a washcloth and a thermostat." Matt ordered as Zacky laid me on my bed. I waited patiently as the thermostat was loading. I crossed my eyes to see what my temperature was. It was way past 100 degrees.

"You're temperature is 103. That's pretty severe. Here, just sit back, relax, and try to get some sleep. If you still feel bad within the next half hour, holler for us," Matt said as he and Zacky left me all alone.

Sleep was impossible for me at the moment. With the room temperature set to 54, and a wet towel over my forehead, I still felt like a million degrees. Also, it didn't help that there was a fiery pain in my joints and lower back. The pain was so severe that I couldn't help to cry and scream in agony.

"Bri, what's the matter?" Zacky rushed into the room. I guess he heard my cries from even outside.

"I can't deal with the pain and I'm really hungry. Can you make me some chicken noodle soup?" I asked.

"Just in fact, Val was already making some downstairs. I'll help walk you down." He assisted me in getting up. Walking was difficult for me, too. I could only take baby steps my whole way down to the kitchen.

"Are you sure you're hungry?" Val asked me while placing the food in front of me. "I don't want you puking everywhere."

"Of course. I haven't ate in a couple days anyway."

"You mean to tell us that you were sick like this for the past couple days?" I shook my head yes.

"How are you doing now? Is the soup helping?"

"I don't know. I can't taste it."

"Of course you can't. How are you doing physically?"

"The same as I was a half hour ago: sore.

"I suggest you get some more sleep hun. Matt and Zacky, will you help her back up?"

Getting up felt uneasy for me. When I stood up, I felt myself starting to drop and blackness was dissolving my vision. My knees soon began to give out, and the rest was a blur to me.



I woke up in an unfamiliar environment. I was in a plain white room with fluorescent lights covering the ceiling. I looked to my left to see an IV needle in my arm, and I looked down to see that I was in hospital wear. I was in the hospital. I don't remember how I got here in the first place, but I do recall feeling really sick.

"Glad to see that you're awake now, Ms. McCarthy," a doctor out of nowhere greeted me.

"Wha? What am I doing here? I'm so confused," I said drowsily.

"You past out from exhaustion and common symptoms from pregnancy."

"Excuse me?" Did I just hear the p word?

"Congratulations, Ms. McCarthy, you're pregnant!"

I swear, I thought I was going to pass out again. I wasn't ready for a baby, and I'm sure Brian wasn't either. Oh shit! What am I going to tell Brian and Zacky? I know it can't be Zacky's baby because we had sex after Brian and I's encounter.

"Is everything alright? You seem puzzled." The doctor asked.

"Yeah, of course." I lied. "Does anybody else know about this?"

"Only the proud daddy!" Way to make things worse and more awkward, doc.

"Is anybody else with him?"

"Actually a big group of people are here to visit you."

"If he's here, can you please send in Brian Haner, and only him, please."

Brian walked in. I bet he knew what this whole conversations was going to be about.

"Hey, how are you?" He asked.

"No more pain, glad, terrified, confused; the usual. I'm pretty positive you heard the news by now?"

"And I'm guessing it's the only reason why I'm in here."

"I'm pregnant, Brian. This is serious because I'm ninety-five percent sure it's your baby. We had sex before Zacky's birthday. The thing is, that the doctor already told Zacky that I'm pregnant, and he's probably convinced and all excited that he's going to be a father. Now, I'm confused, I don't know what to do, and I don't want to acknowledge Zacky." I began to cry.

"Don't worry. We'll figure everything out." He comforted me in his arms. "In fact, I'll tell him right now, man to man."

"No, I'll tell him. This is my fault. I'm going to take the consequences."

I don't know how I'm going to handle this. Last time I told a boyfriend I was pregnant, he left.

"Bri, Zacky's not going to leave you. He loves you too much. Well, that love might drop down some since you are now carrying my child."

"Stop being a dick." I punched him hard and resumed to my crying. I stopped when I heard a knock on the door. In came a nurse.

"Briony, I talked with Dr. Miller, and he said you're free to go home whenever, but we'll have to escort you out by wheel chair. Just give us a ring whenever you're ready." She said and left immediately.

"I don't want to leave. I won't leave until I get an abortion," I whispered to myself.

"Don't you ever say that. That's just as horrific as murder," Brian said. He really wanted to keep this baby.

"Brian, don't you understand, I'm not prepared to be a mom. I can't raise a child."

"Nobody is ready to become a parent once the baby is born. All you have to do is give it time and patience."

"Brian, this is going to be my decision."

"Don't I have a say in this. It would only make sense if I did because the baby is half mine."

"You know what, I'm so stressed out right now that I'm not going to fight you about this. We'll discuss this later. I want to go home now. This place is scaring me."



Upon arriving to the house, my body was full of mixed emotions. I didn't know whether to be happy, sad, or anything at all. It also didn't help when I was greeted by a cheerful Zacky when I exited the car.

"There's my beautiful, wonderful fiancee." He took my body, swung it down, and french kissed me for what seemed to be forever. "You don't understand how much I love you right now. We're going to be parents!"

Oh, well, you're going to love me a whole lot less soon.

"Zacky, do you mind if I take a short walk by myself. I'm just so joyous about our little miracle here, that I just need some time to calm myself from the excitement."

"Take as much time as you need."



When we arrived home, Briony immediately took a walk around the block. I knew she was going to think of a game plan for everything to go well. Knowing her, she'll become a coward, chicken out, and keep this a dirty secret. Call me a dick, but I believe it's better to tell Zacky now instead in nine months when he finds out the baby doesn't look like him-or maybe even Bri.

"Hey Zacky, do you have a minute?" I asked him.

"Sure, what's up?"

"When I was talking to Briony at the hospital, she told me that she doesn't believe that the baby is yours."

He was in shock. "What do you mean?" He stuttered, "I know she never cheated on me."

"Well, it wasn't necessarily cheating in a way."

"What are you talking about?"

"While your relationship was on "hiatus", Bri and I, kinda, did it."

"You didn't. Please tell me you're joking."

"It was an accident! This happened during your break. We weren't sober."

"Get out."

"What did you say?"

"I said: get out. Pack all of your belongings, leave, and never come back. Leave my sight now before I physically kill you." He turned his back to me and walked away. He wasn't joking about this.