One Last Tension

BECCA

It was the beginning of February and a little more than a month since we returned from Paris. Life was going at its own pace. Next week, I will need to fly to New York. Justin wants me to come there this week. But I can't.

The big game is approaching, and my man needs me. He returns from practices exhausted and moody. I see that even if he wants to hide it—the glimpses of his gloomy mood are there. And besides, I know him too well.

Something really good happened because of this game. Drew came to visit, and he agreed to stay in our house. He spends his time mostly with me, and it is the first time since we knew each other when he doesn't try to flirt with me or touch me.

He is acting like my friend, and I enjoy talking to him. I am finally able to be myself in his company.

Today, I woke up alone in bed. This isn't surprising because Logan is always an early bird, and these days he needs to be at practice very early.

But I wasn't able to stand up from the bed for a whole hour. I felt sleepy. And I had no desire to open my eyes. Until I heard a knock on the door. Drew's voice followed.

“Becca? Can I come in?” I sat on the bed, stretching my hands in the air. And only after that, I answered.

“Yeah,” I yawned. “Come in…”

Drew, fully dressed, sauntered inside. He looked at me, arching his eyebrow, and a little smile played on his lips. I knew that he checked me out. But I was so used to it that I wasn’t even ashamed. Besides, these days, all of our interactions were completely friendly.

“It’s 12 o’clock.” He sat on the bed near me.

“And?”

“Why are you still in bed? I even thought that you left the house without me noticing it. Until I saw your Porsche parked outside.”

“It’s not mine.”

“Your man told me that it’s your car.”

I rolled my eyes at him, and he laughed.

“Seriously, Rebecca, do you not feel well?”

“I am just tired, I guess. I have been busy these days, and Logan is stressed because of this game.”

“Yeah, you have a lot on your plate. I know.” I saw him narrowing his eyes at me. “You are pale, and you eat very poorly. Even worse than you were eating when we were together.”

“I don’t want to eat much,” I shrugged my shoulders.

“Rebecca, do you have a pregnancy test in the house?”

I choked. My eyes went wide.

“Drew! I am not pregnant. It’s a ridiculous assumption. I don’t feel dizzy or nauseous. I don’t have any special preference for food.”

“Do you have it or not?”

“No,” I folded my arms over my chest. He was annoying me.

“Okay. I will go buy it for you.”

“Drew, are you even listening to me? I am not pregnant. I know my body. And I know myself.”

“Then there is no big deal if you will do it. Agreed?”

“You are too noisy, Drew Milton! And you are too pushy! And…”

“I get that. And you know that I won’t back away. So?”

“Fine! Do whatever you want. I will be happy to show you that you were wrong.”

“We will see.” Saying that, he got up from the bed and went straight to the exit. I plopped myself on my back and stared at the ceiling. Ugh! So much for this morning being good.

When Drew came back 30 minutes later, I only had time to make myself presentable. I was dressed in sweatpants and a loose t-shirt, and my hair was in a high ponytail. I was sitting in the kitchen with a cup of coffee in front of me.

I honestly had no desire to eat anything. Drew placed this little box on the table in front of me. I stared at it as if it were my worst enemy.

“Do your thing. I will wait here.” Drew leaned his back against the kitchen counter and stared at me.

“Don't you have anything to do? Why are you torturing me?”

“I am asking you to pee on the stick, Rebecca. Nothing fancy or supernatural.”

“Fine! But when the result is negative, I will show it right to your face.”

I took the box with the test and strode to the bathroom. I did everything as it was said in the instructions and even set the time on my phone. I was checking my emails when my alarm went off. I looked at the test and felt my heart start beating loudly in my chest.

No way. No fucking way! I was pregnant. Oh my God, what am I going to do? I can’t tell Logan now. He will be distracted when he needs to stay focused. And I will go to New York next week. Shit!

I slowly walked to the exit. When I opened the door, I found Drew sitting on the floor with his back pressed to the wall. I silently slid over to him, leaning my back against the wall. I sighed, placing my head on his shoulder.

“I was right, wasn't I?” Drew’s voice was calm and soothing. I closed my eyes, and memories of my time in Paris flooded my mind. It was the only place where Logan and I were too into each other. We were too passionate, too impatient, too careless. And now there was life growing in my belly.

“Yes,” I whispered and felt tears pricking my eyes. I felt so miserable right now.

Drew tensed; he felt my discomfort. He got up and extended his hand to me. I took it, and he helped me stand up. He walked me back to the kitchen. My coffee was already cold, but honestly, I couldn’t care less. I poured orange juice into a glass and plopped myself onto the stool.

“First of all, I am so happy for you, Rebecca. Really. You will be an amazing mother. Caring and loving. And Logan? Logan will be the happiest man on this earth, and he will do everything for you and your baby. Trust me.”

“I can’t tell him.”

“What?” Drew stopped pacing and rushed to me. He was staring at me while standing right in front of me. “You don’t want this baby? You don’t want to be a mom?”

“Don’t say such stupid things.” I slapped his hand slightly. “I want it. Even if I wanted to get pregnant after receiving an engagement ring…”

“It’s your fault that you don’t have this ring on your finger. Logan told me.” Drew’s curt laugh brought a smile to my face. “Why can’t you tell him?”

“Right before his game? No. I can’t distract him.”

“And then what? Will you go to New York? When do you plan to tell him?”

“When I get back. It’s not so long. Just two weeks. Even less.”

“You need to see a doctor. I can go with you.”

“Drew…”

He stepped even closer and placed his hand on my cheek.

“Rebecca, I want to be there for you. I want to support you. And I want to make sure that you’re doing everything for yourself and your baby. Please…”

We stared at each other. Drew leaned in, and for a split second, I thought that he was going to kiss me. But then he just pressed his lips to my nose, then to my forehead. I closed my eyes, sighing.

“I still love you, Becca. And I always will. But he is the love of your life, and I am okay with that. Truthfully. I love him too because he is not just my best friend. He’s my family, Becca, and it only means that you are my family too.”

“I love you too, Drew…” I whispered and looked back into his eyes.

He closed his eyes, and it looked as if he was trying to remember my voice and these very words that had just left my mouth. Without thinking, I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his. Briefly. Then I leaned back and straightened my back. I saw a smile playing on his lips again.

“Let’s go, Rebecca. We need to be back before Logan comes home.”

I went to my room, changed into jeans and a hoodie, and followed Drew to the exit of the house.

Thankfully, I knew just where to go. It wasn’t that far away from our home. I was glad that I wasn’t doing it alone. I was grateful to him. And sad. He would have loved to be the father of my child. But Drew changed.

These months away from me and Logan did him good. Maybe he will be ready for a new relationship?

Soon after, I walked out of the doctor’s room. I knew that I missed a few days of my cycle, but it wasn’t the first time, and I wasn’t worried. I thought it was just stress. Because I had no symptoms, but apparently, I was pregnant for a month already.

For now, everything looked good and on time. The doctor wrote me some prescriptions for vitamins and anti-nausea pills and explained what I would need to do before my next appointment.

Drew was right, insisting on me coming here. It did me a lot of good.

My mind changed, and I was able to relax. And I finally started to feel happiness. I am carrying Logan’s baby. I will be a mom.

“Finally, a beautiful smile on your lips. I started thinking that you would always be sulking in my presence.”

“I did not! I feel good around you.” We were on our way back home. Drew was a driver while I was sitting near him with a smile.

“Because I was behaving myself. Like I should have done for a very long time already. I acted like an asshole with you, Rebecca, and I am sorry for that. I was too persistent and blinded by my jealousy. I like to be friends with you.”

“Me too.” We smiled at each other knowingly. God, how good it felt. “Is there someone special in your life?”

“Really? You wanna know about my love life? What happened to you, Rebecca?”

“If you think that Logan has secrets from me, then you’re delusional. He knows that I care about you. So I know about your sexcapade.”

Drew started laughing uncontrollably. He even had tears in his eyes.

“Rebecca, oh my God… You are adorable. I am good like I am. I don’t need any woman right now. I was in love with you for a very long time. I still love you. But I was able to let you go finally. If I find a girl who will be able to replace you in my mind and my heart, I will be with her.”

“I am sure that you will find her. You deserve to be happy. And you are amazing, gorgeous, hot, smart, and very caring. You won’t be alone for long. Call it intuition.”

“Yeah... Intuition. You weren't able to guess that you were pregnant.”

“Shut up, Drew.” As we drove closer to the house, we saw Logan parking the car. I was torn between two desires—to tell him that he will be a dad and to hide it from him.

“Are you sure about that?” Drew was able to guess what was on my mind in seconds.

“Nope. But time will tell if I was right to hide it from him.”