Dirty Little Secret

*POV Switch*

I walk into the waiting room to hear a loud round of congratulations, laughing, and talking.

I furrow my brow, isn’t it a bit late for the congratulations? The baby’s been born for a few hours now… Or are we really that slow?

“Zack!” Chuck calls out with a huge smile on his face. “You’re back!”

“Yeah, I decided that I should be here. What’s going on?”

“Angel and I just got engaged!”

I feel my stomach lurch.

Did he just say ‘engaged’?

“Really? Wow… That’s great! Congratulations, man!”

“Thanks,” he replies with a smug smirk on his face.

I want to punch him in the face so bad, it’s not even funny.

I walk off, trying my best to give a convincing smile.

I take a seat next to Bri and let out a heavy sigh.

“So when did this happen?” I ask him.

“Not too long after you left. It took her a while to give him an answer apparently, but when she did it was a ‘yes’. He’s been getting congratulated for the last half hour I’d say… All smiles and everything. No one’s seen Angel yet. Chuck said she’s sleeping or something and we shouldn't bother her. Fucking bastard...”

“Wow… I sure missed out on a lot.”

“What are you doing back anyway?”

“Gena and I broke up… And now I find out that Chuck and Angel are engaged…”

He sighs. “Zack, I know this must hard for you.”

“No, not at all,” I reply sarcastically and quickly kick myself for it. I can’t take my anger out on Bri; he isn’t the one that did this to me. “Sorry, man… It’s just that I feel like someone kicked me in the nuts. I wasn’t expecting this to happen, not this soon anyway… But what can I do? She’s happy and that’s all I really want… I just want her to be happy.”

“God, Zack, you really do love her.”

I sigh and give him a sad smile. “Yeah, I do, Bri.”

“Then fight for her!”

I turn to look at him as if he’s lost all his marbles. “What?”

“You heard me, fight for her!”

“I can’t…”

“Do you want her to end up with a douche like him?” he asks, discretely gesturing towards Chuck.

“No, but--”

“‘But’ nothing. You can’t just give up on her like this. You’ve gotta be willing to do whatever you can to win her heart. You’ve got a chance, and a damn good one.”

“Bri, don’t.”

“Zack, you don’t see what everyone else sees. The way she looked at you today when you walked into that room; it’s nothing like the way she looks at Chuck, or anyone else for that matter.”

“She was crying, Bri.”

“And you didn’t see past the tears? How her eyes lit up, she was happy you were there.”

“You’re reading too much into this, Haner.”

“She cares about you a lot, Zack. I know she does. I was the one who consoled her after you stormed out of the room.”

I bite my lip hard and hang my head in shame when I remember how I reacted after she told me the truth. How I yelled at her. How I was basically the biggest dick on the planet for those few minutes.

God, I was an ass…

“Did you know that Chuck thinks that there’s something going on between you two? Did you know that Chuck’s even accused her of being in love with you?”

My head lifts up as I turn to look at Bri. “What?”

He smirks. “I thought that’d get your attention.”

“Where did you hear that?”

“Angel told me. Now what do you say? Are you going to fight for your girl or not?”