The Day to Remember (15 page)

“
Fuck. I don’t believe it,” he said in a whisper. “You’re pregnant because you roofied me?” his voice increasing in volume. “How could you, Des?” There was no anger in his voice, only disappointment and disbelief. This tore at my heart. I knew I had lost him forever—not just his love, but his friendship.

“There’
s more,” I whispered.

“What more can there be?”
His eyes became more alert as he waited for me to continue.

“We
… we didn’t have sex that night.”

“What?” His voice was loud and harsh, and I flinched.
“But—”

“When I roofied you, you blacked out pretty quickly. I undressed you and got you to your bed. But … but when I tried to get you hard, it didn’t work.”
I felt ashamed of myself.

I saw Brandon’s mouth open and close a few times as he tried to say something. Finally, he asked, “Why didn’t you say something? Why did you let me believe we had sex?”

I looked away in shame. “I don’t know. I think part of me hoped that, even if we didn’t have sex, if you thought we did, you would rethink your feelings for me, and maybe you would realize that you still loved me.”

He remained silent and I could tell he was struggling between a number of emotions. “So
… I’m not the father of the baby,” he said as he looked at the bump on my stomach.

My heart was beating violently against my chest.
Could he handle yet another confession?
I drew in a deep breath and said, “I’m … I’m not pregnant.” I reached behind my back and pulled against the hook that held the belly-support belt and padding against my stomach. Brandon’s eyes went wide with shock as he saw me remove the padding and belt from under my shirt.

“Holy shit,” he muttered as he brushed his hand through his hair in shock.

“I’m so sorry, Brandon. I—”

“Why?
” he yelled, cutting me off. “Why, Des?”

Shame washed through me. “I didn’t
want to lose you,” I whispered.

“That doesn’t make sense.” He looked at me in disbelief.

“When I dropped by your place a few months ago, I was in town and wanted to surprise you. I was also hoping that we could spend some time together. But when I saw Emma at the door wearing nothing but your shirt and boxers, I was in shock. I don’t know what came over me, but I blurted out that you were my boyfriend. And once she ran off, I realized there was no turning back. I didn’t want to tell you what I said to her. I didn’t want you to look at me like you’re looking at me now.”

There was a moment of silence before Brandon finally spoke. “How long were you planning on holding onto this lie, Des? What were you going to do when nine months pass
ed and you had no baby to show for?”

“I don’t know. I hadn’t thought that far ahead at the time. I … I thought that maybe you would fall back in love with me, and then I could say that I lost the child,” I murmured.

“That’s just nuts, Des.” Brandon shook his head as he tried to take everything in.

“I’m so sorry, Brandon.
I don’t expect you to forgive me. I’m … I’m just sorry. I didn’t want to hurt anyone, but I know I did.”

H
e remained silent at my words, whether it was in shock or in deep thought, I couldn’t tell.

“Please say something!
” I begged. “Please yell at me! Please talk to me!”

“I can’t really look at you right now, Des. I trusted you
! I believed everything you had told me. We have known you for over 11 years, and we’ve been through so much together. I didn’t think I needed to question anything you said because it was
you
—the one person who has been there for me at my darkest days.”

“I know. I didn’t want to lie to you. I shouldn’t have …”

“I—I don’t know what to think or say right now. I don’t know who you are anymore!”

“I’m still the same person,” I cried. “I just made a huge mistake.”

“I don’t know, Des. I’m so angry at you. Do you know how much drama you’ve caused?” I heard the pain in his voice, and my heart ached. He was the last person I wanted to disappoint and upset. The last person I wanted to hurt.

“I’m really sorry,” I whispered.

Suddenly, something changed in his expression. “I can’t do this right now,” he said with a flash of urgency. “I need to go.”

“Go?”

“Yes. I need to find Emma. I need to tell her everything. I need to tell her everything before she falls for…” His voice trailed off. I felt a stab in my heart when I heard him say her name.
His thoughts always go to her.

Without another word, Brandon ran out the door, leaving me sitting in his condo. I knew
that I had lost him forever. I knew that I was again alone.

Emma

“What do you mean you’ve met Des before?” Shock roared through me as we got to my apartment. I had broken my heel when my shoe got stuck in the pavement, so we had walked to my place a few blocks away so I could switch shoes.

“
Yeah, I’ve seen her at the bar once,” Damian said.

“How come you didn’t tell me?” I looked at him with disbelief.

“Shit, Emma. Chill. I didn’t know her name. And even if I did, how the hell would I know it’s the same Desiree you’ve been telling me about?”

“Oh. Right. Sorry,” I looked at him sheepishly. “Sorry, that woman just seems to have a way of getting under my skin.”

He laughed. “Yeah, I can see that.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to lash out at you.”

“It’s cool. No sweat,” he said coolly.

“
What was she doing at the bar?” I asked. Despite the fact that it pained me to think about Desiree, the masochist in me wanted to know every excruciating detail about this woman.

Damian laughed. “What do people usually do at a bar? Drink, of course.”

“Are you sure it was her?” I asked skeptically.

“Yeah, it was her.”

“But how can you be sure?”

“I don’t forget a pretty face, and she’
s hot.”

“Hey!”
I hit Damian on the arm.

“What?” he asked innocently.

“You’re suppose to be on my side,” I said defensively.

“Who said anything about sides? I’m a man-whore remember? She’s hot. I’
d bang her,” he said matter-of-factly.

I made a face.

He laughed. “I offered to bang you too, but you rejected me.” He feigned a frown.

I rolled my eyes, and then asked,
“When did you see her at the bar?” I didn’t understand why Des would be drinking when she was pregnant. And if Damian saw her at the bar before she was pregnant, why was she in SF during that time? From what Brandon had told me, she only recently moved here from L.A.

“Hmm, I think like a month or so ago, about two weeks before you and your friends were at my bar.”

“But …” My mind raced as I pieced together the timeline, “that’s when she told Brandon she was pregnant …”

“Yeah, now that you mention it, that sounds familiar.
She came into the bar in the late morning that day when we had just opened. I remembered thinking that it wasn’t the typical time of the day for a girl like her to want to get plastered. She was talking about how her ex was with someone else now. She was upset that he had refused to get back together with her, even after she had told him she was pregnant with his child.”

I tried
to absorb this new information Damian just told me. “She wanted him back,” I whispered to myself. Then I looked at Damian, “She was getting drunk? Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. It’s not every day you have a pregnant woman getting drunk at the bar. After she mentioned that she was pregnant, I refused to serve her. She then s
aid she really wasn’t pregnant.”

I looked at him in disbelief. “She’s not pregnant?” I was shell-shocked by this news. “Are you sure she wasn’t lying about that just to get drunk?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. I had asked her how she was going to pull off being pregnant, and she mentioned something about a padded baby bump or something that you can buy.”

“It’s fake,” I whispered as my thoughts raced at the news and what this all meant.

“Ohmygod, do you know what this means?”

“Um, that she’s not pregnant?” he asked uncertainly.

“Yes! It means she’s not pregnant!” I yelled excitedly.

He laughed. “But I’ve just told you that.”

“I know. It didn’t sink in when you said it. She’s not pregnant!” I squealed. “Damian, thank you thank you! I got to go!” I cried out as I put on a pair of flats and ran out of my apartment.

“What? I thought we’re going shopping?” Damian yelled after me.

“Sorry! Rain check! Call you later!”

I needed to see Brandon now. I needed to tell him this in person. If this was all true, then we can be together again. I felt an overwhelming rush of joy at that thought. Maybe I haven’t lost Brandon forever
after all.

***

Ten minutes later, I was taking the elevator up to Brandon’s condo on the penthouse floor of his building. Anxiety and delirious giddiness built inside me during the cab ride over. I wasn’t sure what I was going to say to Brandon, but I knew I wanted to see him. I knew I wanted to tell him how much I’ve missed him, how much I still loved him.

When the elevator doors opened, I rushed to his door and pressed the buzzer.

No answer.

I pressed it again.

Nothing.

I pulled out my
phone and decided to call him. I felt an irresistible pull towards him, a desperate need to connect with him in some form. Just as I was about to pull up his number, my phone started peeping. It was
Brandon
!

“Hello? Brandon?” I said breathlessly into my phone.

“Emma. Where you are?” His voice was rush, full of life and urgency.

“Um. I was actually going to ask you the same thing,” I laughed.

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah!
I’m … I’m at your place,” I admitted.

“You are? Why?”

“I needed to talk to you. Where are you?” I asked.

He laughed. “This is going to sound crazy, but I’m at
your
place. I called you because you didn’t answer your intercom buzzer.”

“Oh, really?” I felt a surge of happiness overwhelm me.

“Yeah. Stay where you are! I’ll be right over, okay?” he said in a rush.

“Okay!” I exclaimed.

I hung up the phone and squealed with excitement.
Did he know something too? Why else was he over at my place?

“I was going to see him,” I said out loud. As I impatiently waited for him to arrive, I thought about what I wanted to say, how I wanted to tell him.

As I paced up and down the empty hallway, I began to feel hot. As I took off my trench coat, somewhere in the back of my mind, I remembered something Brandon had once said to me: “
You’re the only person I would want showing up unannounced at my place, and preferably in a trench coat and nothing else
.”

I looked at the trench coat in my hands, and giggled. I quickly stripped off all my clothes and put my trench coat back on. I managed to fit
all my clothes inside my tote bag when I heard the elevator door ping.

A
surge of excitement flooded through me.
He’s here!

He came out of the elevator, and he was alone. When I saw the same deliriously-happy look in his eyes, I knew that he
somehow also found out. I dropped my tote bag and ran towards him.

“You know?” he asked with his arms outstretched to greet me.

“Yes, I know!” I exclaimed as I jumped into his embrace, my legs hugging his waist as he pulled my face down with his hands and kissed me passionately, our mouths greeting each other like old lovers.

“God,
you have no ideas how much I’ve missed you,” he sighed.

“I’ve missed you, too,” I cried. “It’s been almost unbearable without you.”

“What about Damian?” he asked. I heard the jealousy in his voice.

“He’s just a friend. I lied about being with him so that you could move on. I’m sorry,” I whispered.
I leaned down and kissed him tenderly, my arms around his neck as his hands moved up and down my back.

“How did you find out?” I asked.

“Des told me.”

I looked at him in surprise. “Really?” I asked doubtfully. “What did she tell you?”

“That she’s not pregnant, and we didn’t have sex that night.”

“What? You guys didn’t have sex?”

“No, we didn’t. I had blacked out and didn’t remember anything from that night. So when I woke up with her in my bed, I thought we did have sex. She said we did. But today, she told me the truth. We never had sex that night.”