Chapter 32

**CHAPTER 32**

**"It's not really what you think it is, Rebecca."**

Rebecca's eyebrows met in confusion. "What do you mean?"

For the fourth time, Allison sighed. Her eyes looked dead, and the familiar aura of gloominess appeared. She took a huge gulp before parting her lips. "Well... our wedding isn't exactly like a romantic wedding. Remember that night when we went to John's Crib?"

Rebecca nodded in response, wanting to hear more.

"When you pulled Brent to the dance floor, I was left alone, taking a few sips of sherry with him who was drinking whiskey. When the music suddenly changed into a slow dance, and everybody started slow dancing..." a tear fell from her eye. A mark that she was hurt, that it pained her as she dug in the memories of her greatest fiasco. "I remembered Dane, and I cried all my aches away with glasses of sherry. You know I don't have a high tolerance for alcohol. We talked until it came about Dane. I opened up to him, Becca!" she seethed in anger. "I've never opened up to anyone, even to you guys, but I opened up to him, a man I just barely met! But I know it wasn't me. It was the alcohol and my remorse drinking.

"Alcohol can do many things to you, and one of them is to make you feel hot. He kissed me, Becca! He freaking kissed me! And you know what the worst is? I kissed him back! The alcohol drove me crazy and oblivious that I woke up the day after naked under his sheets, insensible of everything that happened," Allison wiped a tear.

"That day after I visited you, my parents called, telling me to come home. I did, only to find them having tea with him. When I learned that he told them everything between us, he even told them I was pregnant! He gave them your pregnancy test that I threw in a trash bin as proof. Dad said he checked on me every day after we did that. He must've seen me throw it and thought it was mine. And now..." she said shakily, almost a cry. She felt like a bird imprisoned in a cage. "I'm getting married..."

She reached and held Rebecca's hand and said with her faint, broken, crying voice. "Becca, you know I still have my dreams to chase. I don't want to get married yet. I'm not ready yet..."

Her dear friend stared at her as she told her painful tale, shedding every tear that she was holding back. Rebecca couldn't blame her. Even the most responsible person could do reckless things when they're hurt. A half shot of vodka can knock Allison out. What more a whole glass of sherry can do? Her reckless deeds gave her painful repercussions. A man just made her a woman, and not just that, he placed his ring on her finger.

"Ally..." Rebecca held her friend's hand. "You should've told them it was mine."

"I can't..." Allison answered, "You know I promised you that I won't tell anyone about the baby."

That touched Rebecca's heart. She felt so lucky to have Allison as a friend. The woman in front of her was one of a kind. Allison was something pricelessly rare. Even though she was already in a tight situation and had an option to betray her friend to solve her dilemma, she didn't. She stood still and kept her promise.

"Ally," she held her friend's hand tighter. "I'm sorry."

Allison shook her head. "No, it's okay. It was my fault anyway. I let my emotions take me over, which made me irresponsible. All I had to do was to face the consequences."

Rebecca sighed, feeling like a burden. "You can still tell them that you're not pregnant since it isn't too late," she said, looking into her friend's deep green orbs.

"But, Becca," Allison tried to protest. Surely her parents would ask to whom the pregnancy test belongs.

"No," Rebecca shook her head. "I know that there is no secret that will be kept forever. I know that one day, even if I give my all to hide my child, Brent will still know. It's unfair on his behalf, and hiding my baby will just make the situations worse, especially now that you impinge on this crazy circumstance," she looked down on her stomach and touched it softly, grazing her fingers as she took a deep breath and said, " I think it's time, Allison. It's time. It's time for Brent to know about our baby."

"But Rebecca, he'll hate you," Allison muttered, worried about what Brent will do to her.

Rebecca just shrugged. "He already hates me, and I can deal with it. It's fine if he will not take responsibility since it was my fault after all. As long as he knows that I have his child, then I'm okay."

Allison sniffed. Right before her eyes was the old Rebecca, the reckless femme fatale that she admired the most. How she wished she could be as strong as Rebecca. Her mouth stayed shut as she looked at her friend, trying to the latter's thoughts through her hazel brown eyes, but for an unknown reason, Allison couldn't read them.

Rebecca suddenly looked at her watch. "Oh, it's getting late. I think we better go now, Ally," she said that rendered Allison to look at the view outside. The orange sky was starting to turn from orange to hazy blue. She looked at her watch and realized already half past 6.

"Okay," she replied to Rebecca before they stood up and walked outside.