One Wild Night

Brian stared at her, shocked into silence. Marissa stared back, not knowing what else to say and wishing he would speak.

"Bullshit," he finally said.

Marissa had expected this. "I took two over-the-counter pregnancy tests and when they were both positive, I went to a doctor, who confirmed it."

"And what makes you think it's mine?" Brian demanded. "The show in Memphis was over a month ago. It's not like I'm the only person you've slept with in this time frame."

"Um, actually, you are." Marissa blushed. "Well, except..."

Brian smiled triumphantly. "So there was someone else!"

Marissa looked at him. "Do you remember anything that happened that night?"

"No. Why would I?"

Ouch. Marissa gritted her teeth, willing herself not to cry. What girl wanted to hear her dream man say she was totally and utterly forgettable? "Things got a bit...wild."

"Is there a point to this little recollection?"

"It pertains to the other guy who could be the father."

"I don't give a fuck who the other guy is."

Marissa shifted uneasily. Should she tell him anyway? No. I can never reveal this secret. If Brian didn't remember, then it was probably for the best.

"Look, I'm sorry that you're in this situation," Brian said, not sounding sorry at all. "But I'm always careful and I'm not letting you fuck up my life. Groupies do this shit all the time. They fuck a rock star, then go home to their pathetic lives and get knocked up by some loser and think 'oh, shit! What do I do?' Their solution is to lie and say it's the rock star's baby so maybe he'll marry them and they'll live happily ever after." Brian walked to the door, yanked it open, and looked back at her. "I'm not stupid." He strode out, slamming the door behind him.

Marissa crossed the room to stand in front of the mirror.

"You could always abort the fetus," the doctor had said.

Marissa absentmindedly rubbed her stomach, chewing on her bottom lip. How could she make Brian accept that it was a very real possibility he was the father? He thought she was pregnant with an average Joe's baby and wanted him to support them. But the other man was not an average Joe, not by a long shot...

The door opened behind her and Matt stepped into the room. Their eyes locked in the mirror, and Marissa was suddenly aware of the tears streaming down her cheeks.

Matt closed the door. "What did you and Brian talk about?"

"Nothing." She carefully wiped away the tears with her thumb, attempting to not smear her makeup.

"Nothing? Brian just risked the show tonight by punching a cinder block wall, and you're in here crying, which totally backs up your claim that you two talked about nothing." Matt's voice was filled with sarcasm.

"It's none of your business."

"See, that's where you're wrong. You and your girls just stroll in here like it's all good, then you drop some kind of bomb on my lead guitarist. Now he's thinking about whatever it is you said. He could have fucked up his hand, and he still might fuck up the show. So, it is my business."

Marissa was hit by a very strong desire to go home. And by "home," she didn't mean her apartment. She meant the place where her mom was. She wanted to crawl into bed with her mom, like a little kid, and pour out all of her sorrows. She wanted her mom to comfort her and promise her that it would be alright. She wanted to wake up and this have been nothing more than a nightmare.

Matt was still waiting expectantly. Marissa heaved a sigh. "I'm pregnant." Her voice was barely above a whisper, but it was the best she could do.

"I figured as much."

Marissa turned around to face Matt. "And do you think the same thing that your lead guitarist thinks? That I'm just a stupid whore looking for a handout?"

"No. Although, if you were going for the 'I'm not a whore' look, that outfit was the wrong thing to wear."

Marissa smiled involuntarily.

"That's better." Matt picked up a baseball that someone (probably Zacky) had left on the table and began tossing it from hand to hand. "I've been expecting this."

Marissa's brow furrowed. "What?"

"I've been expecting a girl to show up and announce that she's having Brian's baby," Matt clarified.

"He's a slut," Marissa stated flatly.

"To say the least," Matt agreed.

"I think I need to go back to the doctor."

Matt snickered. "Ah, no. Brian's clean. He gets tested regularly."

"I guess that's a requirement of being a slut. I wouldn't know."

Matt ceased toying with the baseball and looked at her very seriously. "Are you sure it's Brian's?"

Marissa opened her mouth to say yes, but stopped. For some reason, she couldn't bring herself to lie to Matt. "Not one-hundred percent."

Matt's eyes narrowed slightly. "What percent?"

"Um, fifty-fifty."

"So there's only one other possibility?"

Marissa nodded.

"Does the other guy know?"

Marissa shook her head.

"Why did you choose to tell Brian first?"

"He's the more likely candidate."

Matt frowned. "This doesn't add up. Who's the other guy? Is he someone from your hometown?"

"Not exactly."

A hint of annoyance skated across Matt's features. "If you want Brian to listen to you again, you're going to have to come clean and tell him everything."

"I told him there was another candidate."

"And you know he assumes it's someone from your hometown and you're here so that he will take you away from whatever dead-end little hole you live in."

Marissa dropped her gaze, hugging herself.

"SHADS!" Jimmy bellowed from somewhere out in the hallway. "LET'S GO!"

"You have two-and-a-half hours," Matt said to Marissa. "I'll convince Brian to talk to you again, but only if you'll be honest. Otherwise, you're on your own."

Marissa listened to the sound of the door opening and closing, and his footsteps fading away in the direction of the staircase. Her cell went off, making her jump. She flipped it open. "Hello?"

"Where are you?" Sabrina asked.

"I'm in the dressing room."

"Are you okay? We saw Brian punch the wall..."

"He doesn't believe that it's his."

"I'm sorry, honey. Why don't you come to the stage? The show is starting and the boys are letting us watch from the side."

"Yeah, okay." Marissa snapped her cell shut and trudged out of the dressing room, her mind racing.

****

Marissa didn't enjoy the show. She couldn't. She had too much on her mind. The other girls sang loudly and danced around happily while Marissa gazed at Brian and tried not to cry.

When Avenged Sevenfold filed off the stage after performing their version of Black Sabbath's "Paranoid," Marissa still wasn't sure what to do. Jimmy, Johnny, and Zacky started talking to Sabrina, Carmen, Jess, and Cecelia. Brian walked past all of them, keeping his eyes straight ahead. Matt stopped in front of Marissa. "What are you gonna do?"

"I don't know."

"If you'll be honest with him, I might be able to convince him to submit to a paternity test."

"If I'm honest with him, he's just going to insist it's not his. He'll never submit to a paternity test because he doesn't want to admit there's a chance he screwed up and got a girl pregnant!"

Matt sighed. "You're being stubborn. It may take some time, but I think he'll take one if the other guy will."

Marissa slumped against the wall, covering her face with her hands. Jimmy, Johnny, Zacky, Sabrina, Carmen, Jess, and Cecelia filed past on their way to the dressing room.

"Marissa." Matt was suddenly invading the hell out of her personal space. He grabbed her wrists and pulled her hands down. "I swear, it won't seem so complicated once you get all the facts out into the open."

"It is complicated, Shads!"

"I know, but you can at least find out who the daddy is. Will you tell Brian who this other guy is?"

Marissa stared into Matt's hazel eyes, seeing nothing but sincerity in his expression. She nodded. "Yeah, I'll tell him."

"Good. C'mon." Keeping one hand clamped firmly around her wrist, Matt hurried towards the dressing room. As they entered the hallway that led to the dressing room, they heard the voices of the others. Marissa recognized Carmen's flirtatious giggle.

She stopped, causing Matt to almost dislocate her wrist.

"What?" he asked, a bit impatiently.

"I can't do it." She twisted her arm free of his grip.

"Do you want him to believe you?"

"This won't make him believe it's probably his!"

"This will make him believe that you're not lying to him to get him to support you or that you're not some creepy fan-girl that's so obsessed you'd lie and say it's his just to have him."

"I don't care. He can think whatever he wants." She backed away from Matt.

"Marissa!" Matt reclaimed his hold on her wrist. "I don't understand why this is such a big deal. Why do you not want to tell him who this other guy is? It's not like it'll matter to him; he just needs to know that it's not some loser from...well, wherever you're from."

Marissa's eyes stung with tears. "It matters, okay? If you knew..."

"I'm not who needs to know."

The dressing room door burst open. Carmen, Jimmy, Johnny, Jess, Cecelia, Sabrina, Zacky, and Brian streamed out into the hallway.

"There you are!" Carmen exclaimed, spotting Marissa. "The guys want us to go to a casino with them."

"Yeah," Jimmy said. He lifted his eyebrows. "Unless you and Shads have your own plans?"

Cecelia was looking at Marissa and Matt. Her face was blank, like a mask, but Marissa could see the hurt in her blue eyes. Matt was her favorite member of Avenged Sevenfold, and Marissa knew that the fact that she was interacting with Matt more than any of the others was making Cecelia suspicious.

Matt released Marissa's arm. "Nope. We don't have any plans. Let's fuckin' gamble!"

Marissa was frozen with indecision and fear. The Avenged boys and her four best friends climbed the stairs, Sabrina glancing back at Marissa with a mixture of curiosity and concern.

Marissa wanted to scream and break something. This was the worst situation she'd ever been in, and she wanted nothing more than for it to be a nightmare.

You've got to tell them, a voice in her head commented. They need to know. Brian needs to know. You're not being fair by keeping it to yourself.

Reluctantly, Marissa admitted to herself that the voice was right. She pounded up the stairs, praying that she would catch them before they left. She ran faster than she'd ever run in her life, through the maze of hallways and corridors that made up the venue.

Clutching at a stitch in her side, she shoved through the door that led to the lobby and the exits. One of the heavy glass doors was slowly closing. Marissa darted to it and pushed out into the warm night air. Matt, Cecelia, Jimmy, Carmen, Johnny, Jess, Sabrina, Brian, and Zacky were crossing the parking lot to an idling black limousine.

"Wait!" Marissa cried breathlessly.

The group turned simultaneously. Like a scene in a movie, Marissa thought. Then she realized that Brian hadn't turned. He'd stopped walking, but he wasn't looking at her.

"What is it, Rissa?" Sabrina queried.

"I'm sorry, Sabby," Marissa said.

Sabrina's expression became one of gentle puzzlement. She started to speak, to ask what Marissa was talking about; however, she didn't get the chance.

"Syn." Marissa took a deep breath, let it out, and dropped the bomb: "The other person that could be this baby's father is Zacky."