Baby for My Brother's Friend

by Nikki Chase

And she may even remember how I turned out to be a liar and a backstabber.

  But she won’t remember what I looked like, or what my voice sounded like, or what we used to talk about at the dinner table.

  I won’t be a part of Penny’s life, or Ethan’s. I’ll be a stranger, who’ll be lucky to be recognized if we ever bump into one another.

  I’ll just be watching them from afar. It’s for the best. I won’t be able to hurt them if I can’t even see them.

  I tear my gaze from Penny’s sweet little note and make my way out of this place. It’s not my home anymore. I put my finger over the scanner and wait for the elevator to arrive. Soon, my fingerprints will be erased from the database, and I won’t ever be able to come back here.

  When the door opens, I have to squint because the light from inside the elevator is so bright.

  “…tell me why?” A woman’s voice comes from inside the elevator, loud enough for me to worry that she might wake Ethan or Penny up.

  “It’s not that I don’t want to kiss you, Piper. But that smell is vile. You know I hate pickles,” a man says in a hushed tone.

  When my eyes finally adjust to the brightness, I realize Raphael Holt and his wife are in the elevator. They step back to let me and my luggage inside. They smile politely at me, looking like they feel bad about how loud they were.

  “I can’t believe you just said that,” the woman called Piper says in hushed tones. “I’m pregnant with your baby, Rafe. Having cravings because of your baby. And you’re punishing me?”

  He lets out a heavy sigh. “I can’t wait for that baby to come out so you can stop being so hormonal.”

  “Oh my god, did you just seriously say that?”

  “Princess, we’re going out at midnight to buy some disgusting junk food for your cravings. In some circles, I’d be getting the Husband of the Year Award,” he says in the sweetest, most frustrated voice.

  “Well, not in this circle, you don’t,” Piper says.

  “I love you, but I hate pickles. That puts me in a dilemma when you say you want a kiss. Could we please compromise? I feel like we can solve this if you take one of those mint breath strips after having pickles.”

  “Okay,” she says, sounding like she’s still not completely satisfied with the outcome.

  Something about the way they interact gets me choked up. I was already emotional from having to leave the apartment and finding Penny’s note on the dining table. I’ve been struggling to hold myself together, at least until I get to my new temporary home.

  Now, seeing what I’ll be missing, knowing Ethan and I will never have what this couple has, it pushes me to the brink. I can’t hold back the tears anymore.

  A lump forms in my throat as tears prick my eyes. Before I know it, I’m openly crying, right in the elevator with Raphael freaking Holt and his wife.

  “Hey, are you okay?” Piper asks, her voice full of concern.

  “Yeah,” I say in between breathless sobs. I wipe my tears with the back of my hand, but I can’t keep up with the deluge pouring from my eyes and nose.

  “Do you want a tissue?” Piper pulls her bag over her big pregnant belly and digs inside. She holds out a rectangular plastic packet of tissues and I take it. She steps closer and puts her hand on my back. She asks, “Can we help you with anything?”

  “No, I’m okay.” There I go again, lying. I guess it’s part of my nature now.

  But I don’t want to be a burden to this nice couple. They were probably just on their way to buy some burgers and didn’t expect to meet a crying girl in the elevator.

  “Are you sure?” Piper asks again.

  “Yeah. Thank you, though.” I blow my nose into a piece of tissue.

  When we reach the ground floor, Raphael grabs the handle of my luggage and pulls it out of the elevator for me, while Piper keeps asking me if I’m okay. They offer me a ride, but I refuse. Finally, they leave me on the entrance porch of the apartment building.

  I draw some curious stares from the valet attendants, but they oblige when I ask them to call a cab for me.

  Standing there with my luggage and my blocked nose, I can’t even begin to separate all the different emotions I’m feeling.

  I’m sad, of course. That’s self-explanatory. There’s a gaping hole in my chest where Ethan and Penny used to reside.

  I’m also angry, mostly at myself, but also at Michelle. I guess it’s my own fault for trusting a tabloid journalist.

  Writing celebrity news has never been my dream goal, so I should just leave that world and go for what I really want.

  If nothing else, this extraordinary experience as Ethan’s fake wife has opened my eyes to see what I really need to do with my life.

  After a short period of rest, my plan is to start a new life somewhere else, somewhere far away from Ethan and Penny. I don’t think I can stay in this city anymore.

  Every time I see a skyscraper in the city, I’d remember the way it looks from my bedroom in Ethan’s apartment. I’d fall apart every time.

  No, I can’t do that.

  Maybe I’ll come back in a few years, when the pain has subsided.

  But for now, I need to disappear.

  Megan

  “Hey, I saw your article on Chatter Magazine. Everybody’s talking about it in my yoga class this morning. Congrats!” Kira exclaims as soon as I pick up the phone.

  “Thanks,” I say flatly. I’m still not in a celebratory mood, even though it has been a week since I left Ethan’s apartment. “It wasn’t hard to pitch that article. Honestly, I only had to mention my name and they were practically waving money in my face, pressuring me to immediately sign an agreement to not talk to other media outlets so they could have an exclusive.”

  It took no time at all for me to find a gossip tabloid to print my story.

  After the news about the fake marriage broke, people were hungry for more information. The more sordid the details, the better. People are like vultures that way.

  So when I called Chatter Magazine, which is also The Goss’ biggest rival, they were eager to print my story.

  I’m the one in the eye of this media storm, after all. I knew I was going to sell them a ton of copies and make them a truckload of money.

  “Who cares?” Kira asks. “Everybody uses their connections to get ahead in this world. You and I, it just so happens that we weren’t born into well-connected families, so we have to use all the advantages that we do have.”

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

  “I thought you’d be more psyched about it. You’re on the cover and everybody knows your name now. Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?”

  “I don’t know, Kira. I don’t know anything anymore. I think my old plan of making a name for myself in celebrity news and then moving on to something more serious is stupid. I don’t want to be writing about some old actor’s hair plugs or some celebrity couple’s divorce rumors when I’m forty. I want to do something more respectable.”

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know. Like, actual undercover exposés, political scandals, or human rights violations in underprivileged countries. I want to actually make a difference, you know?”

  My mind flies back to Melanie, the journalist who interviewed Ethan on that fateful day. I want to be like Melanie when I grow up, conducting serious interviews and writing serious articles on serious subjects.

  “Wow. You’ve changed,” Kira says slowly.

  “Yeah. I don’t know. Being on the other side of things kinda gave me a different perspective, Kira. I feel bad for intruding on people’s privacy, even if they’re public figures. They’re just people like you and me, who sometimes want to be left alone. Their work happens to be in the spotlight, but that doesn’t give gossip journalists the right to intrude.”

  Kira stays silent for a few seconds before finally saying, “I don’t know, Megsy. You’re the journalist here. I don’t know enough about the ethics of things to make any meaningful comment. But in
the end, it’s your career. You decide what you want to do. If you want to switch gears, then go for it.”

  “Yeah.” I don’t know what kind of a response I was expecting from Kira. I guess I just need a sounding board. It’s not like I have anyone else to talk to, now that Ethan’s out of my life for good and I’m at home, where nobody ever pays attention to me.

  Like me, Kira’s just a twenty-something who has no clue what to do with her life. If she doesn’t have an answer for herself, then how could I expect her to have an answer for me?

  “So I take it everything you wrote in that article is true, then? I guess that’s a safe assumption, considering how weird you’re being right now.”

  “Weird is one way to put it,” I laugh. One thing I love about Kira is how honest she is. Too many people put on a front, which makes me nervous because I never know what they’re really like, or what they actually want.

  It’s kinda ironic, considering I just pulled off a huge undercover thing and Ethan never suspected a thing, until factors outside of my control interfered.

  “So you really have feelings for the guy, huh? I never would’ve thought. You’re supposed to be the ice queen. You’re supposed to have sworn off men, which makes you a sane person I can actually talk to. Now you’re just one of them.”

  “Who’s them?”

  “You know, sappy, mopey people, walking around dazed and preoccupied with their daydreams. I swear, people are like zombies when they’re in love.”

  “I’m not in love,” I protest.

  “Yeah?” Kira asks in a sarcastic tone. “You’re the most career-oriented person I know, and you cut off your main media contact just to divert attention from some guy. With this latest article, you have taken all the blame—again, just to divert attention from some guy. You have literally put this guy above your career and yourself. So tell me what that means.”

  “Uh, that I’m trying to become a nicer person?”

  “Oh, Megsy, you’re funny,” Kira says, and I can just imagine her shaking her head, her ponytail swaying as she does. “I didn’t know what you were trying to do with the article. To be honest, at first I thought you’d made the whole thing up. The Megan that I know wouldn’t go that far for some guy, especially when that guy is her nemesis.”

  I can’t help but laugh at Kira’s last word. “Oh my god, you just totally made me sound like some character from a superhero movie. It’s kinda bad-ass. I like it.”

  “Just take care, okay? I hope this Ethan guy treats you right,” Kira says wistfully.

  “It’s…” I take a deep breath. The thought in my head is really hard to put into words right now, and I come up with words for a living—or plan to anyway. “It’s over between Ethan and me, Kira.”

  “Oh, shit. Really?”

  “Yeah,” I swallow hard to get rid of the lump in my throat, but it stays, making it difficult for me to continue the conversation.

  “I’m so sorry to hear that.”

  “Yeah, he found out about how I’d been emailing Michelle updates and how I was planning to write a story about him, then he got… I don’t know. He was angry and disappointed. And hurt. It was bad, Kira.” I pause and take a few controlled breaths. I don’t want to cry on the phone. I don’t want Kira to worry about me.

  “So he told you to leave?” “No, I just felt like I had to. There’s no way to fix this. The damage I made is too big.”

  “You need to stop blaming yourself, Megsy. You already tried your best to fix it. I think it was really brave, what you did, publishing your side of the story. I thought it was ballsy and creative, even when I thought it was mostly fabricated. Now that I find out it’s all true, your cool factor has just shot even further up,” Kira says.

  “Thanks,” I say with a little laugh.

  “Did he know you were going to write this story?”

  “No. You didn’t see it, Kira. He was furious at me, and I don’t blame him if he’ll never forgive me. He trusted me, and I betrayed him.”

  “Okay, well, maybe I’m not the person who should be giving out dating advice, seeing as my own love life is pretty bleak and depressing, but I think he’d be stupid not to take you back,” Kira says.

  “I don’t want him to take me back.”

  “What? But in the article you said he’s the best man you’ve ever met and you have real feelings for him.”

  “I do. Which is why I’m not going to subject him to the torture of having me around. I’ll only hurt him.”

  “What’s your basis for saying something like that?” Kira has a sharp mind. She’s always the first one to spot the hole in someone’s logic.

  “The fact that I’ve already hurt him and his little girl. Trust me, they’re better off without me.”

  “I’m sure you’re wrong, Megsy. But I’m not going to preach to you when I’m just as clueless when it comes to men.” Kira pauses before she changes the subject. “So if you’re not at his place, where are you now?”

  “At my mom’s.”

  “Jesus.”

  I laugh. “It’s not so bad.”

  “Listen, my new roommate sucks. You’re a tough act to follow. Could you please just move back into our apartment? I miss your sexy ass. I’ll kick out the new roommate for you, or we could share my bedroom.”

  When I moved out from the apartment I’d been sharing with Kira, I didn’t expect to need the room back. The fake marriage was going to last at least one year, after all. So I told Kira to find a new roommate.

  It’s a tempting offer, but I’m not coming back. I have other plans and I’m afraid I’d just fall back to my old patterns of behavior if I did.

  “I’m moving, Kira.”

  “Back to your hometown?”

  “No, to another city.”

  “Where?” Kira asks.

  “Wherever I can find a good job, or even a good unpaid internship. With the job market as bad as it is, I’d be lucky to get anything.”

  “And yet you’re going to try.”

  “Yeah. You know me. I don’t see any other option,” I say.

  “You’re so bad-ass,” Kira says, a hint of admiration in her voice. She’s being genuine in her compliment, which is kind of embarrassing, although it also feels great. “If you ever decide to change your mind, you’re always welcome to live with me, okay? Even if I have to share my room with you.”

  “Thanks, Kira. You’re a good friend.”

  “I know.”

  Megan

  “What do you mean you don’t know how long?” Frank’s voice booms from the kitchen.

  “It’s her home, too. She can stay here for as long as she wants,” my mom says.

  “Fuck that. She’s a freeloader, that’s what she is. She can start paying rent if she’s staying much longer. Isn’t she married to some rich guy anyway?”

  “No, Frank. She said it’s all a big lie. Tabloids print fake stories all the time—that’s what you always say. And keep it down. She might hear,” my mom says in hushed tones.

  I snort as I stuff my clothes into my luggage. It's a little late to keep their fights a secret from me. I’ve only been living here for two weeks, and I must’ve heard, like, twenty arguments between my mom and her long-term, live-in, perennially unemployed boyfriend, Frank.

  And, to be honest, I share Frank’s sentiments. I don’t want to be here either, but beggars can’t be choosers.

  I know I don’t have to do it and I know I’m being dumb. But I want to do everything I can to make it up to Ethan.

  It’s the most idiotic plan I’ve ever come up with, but hey, I came up with it on the night my cover was blown and I lost everything. My world was falling apart and that was the only plan I could think of, so give me a break.

  My biggest mistake, I guess, is putting it down in writing. Now I have no choice but to follow through.

  I can’t get over how dumb it is, though, to scrounge up money so I can pay back all the salary that Ethan has ever paid me. Luckily, I only worked as his
personal assistant for a few months and he hasn’t paid me for being his fake wife.

  If I work hard and live frugally, I should be able to pay him in full in a year. It occurred to me that I could take some cash advance from my credit card and pay him that way, but that would be yet another bad decision, on top of the incredible number of bad decisions I’ve already made.

  Look at me, trying to fix my problems with money, when I don’t have any myself. I’d make a good rich person.

  I smile wryly to myself, appreciating the irony in my own predicament.

  To think that only a couple of weeks ago I dared to hope that I’d live happily ever after with Ethan and Penny in their luxury apartment, driving around town in their shiny convertible, eating the meals meticulously prepared by their personal chef.

  I close the luggage, but it won’t zip up. As I sit on top of it to compress the contents, I hear voices from the kitchen.

  My mom and Frank are being quiet and loud at the same time. You know how people sound when they’re whispering and speaking in low tones, but shouting at the same time? Yeah, that’s what they sound like.

  I hate that my mom’s life seems like such a struggle, but I’m pleasantly surprised to hear her standing up for me. I hope that means she’s been standing up for herself, too.

  When my dad left, the Mom I knew and loved went away, too.

  She was always sleeping in her room. After losing the business, she hadn’t been working at all. And after losing her husband, she hadn’t even bothered to get up.

  Whenever I went into her room to give her some food, I’d see a new pile of tissues scattered all over the floor, drying off after being soaked with her tears.

  I was an afterthought to her.

  I was old enough to feed myself and bathe myself. I didn’t even need her to help me with my studies anymore. Even if she neglected me, I wouldn’t die, and I wouldn’t leave her either.

  Like a pet rock, I could take care of myself. Hell, I could even help keep her alive. I could buy food with her credit cards, and I kept doing that until we had maxed out all her cards.