The secret - an Evansson story

1

~September 2009~
He sat on the rather large sofa, in the comfort of his own home. His hands trembled as he held his phone, reading and rereading the text until it was burned into his mind.

It was a shock that lingered until the 27 year old finally obtained the courage to call his best friend.

"Chris!" She sounded so excited to hear from him, her voice smiling through the phone. He slouched further into the couch, placing his free hand on his forehead.

"We need to talk." He said in a low voice, laced with confusion and fear. His best friend immediately caught on to the emotion and stayed quiet, listening carefully to what Chris needed to say.

He kept quiet for a while, listening to the breathing that could be heard from the other end of the line.

"Maybe we should do this in person." He suggested as he found it hard to say what needed to be said through the phone. He needed to see her, know what she was feeling.

"Okay, I'll be there in 20." The woman said, her voice sounding a bit worried.

__

After hearing the doorbell ring throughout the house, Chris made his way to the front door. The dog raced ahead of his owner, barking at whoever was standing on the porch just outside the house.

The man held his dog back while opening the door, revealing the woman he used to love once. She smiled at the sight of him, her hair pulled back into a ponytail, exposing the worry she felt for her best friend.

"Hey Scarlett." He sighed in relief as he motioned for her to come in.

The dog jumped up in excitement, giving Scarlett slobbery kisses as she kneeled down to pet the dog.

"It's been a while." Scarlett smiled, stepping away from the dog and giving Chris a sincere hug.

The dog refused to be left out and continued jumping up, excited to see another person around the house.

"East, no." Chris commanded and the dog instantly jumped down from Scarlett and made his way to the living room. East silently laid down on his bed, watching the two best friends interact in the foyer.

Scarlett never took her eyes off her best friend as she tried to read him, trying to figure out what got him so shaken up over the phone.

The man let out a big sigh.

"Remember what happened between us six years ago?" He asked, watching as Scarlett became stiff, her eyes going wide.

"Chris..." She tried to say, tears threatening to fall, but he quickly cut her off. Just seeing her reaction about their one drunken night all those years ago, raised his suspicion.

"D-did you have a baby?" He asked as delicately as possible. All Scarlett could do was look down at her shoes, tears already running down her cheeks.

"Chris, I-" Scarlett choked out, her voice hoarse. Chris shook his head, his brows furrowed.

Suddenly, the 27 year old didn't feel sorry for Scarlett. Instead, he felt something much stronger, something he's never felt toward her.

"No, Scarlett!" He yelled, backing away from her. "You don't get to apologize! How could you keep something like this from me!?"

Scarlett looked back up at her best friend, her vision blurred with tears. She noticed a certain crease on his forehead, showing how angry he actually was.

"I didn't know what to do." She cried. "I was 17."

"Call me!" He shouted while aggressively pointing at himself. "I was perfectly capable of helping you!"

Chris stood there, huffing and puffing in anger as he watched Scarlett silently sob into her hands. She kept her head down as she wiped away the tears that continued to fall down her cheeks.

"Was it a boy or a girl?" Chris asked aggressively as tears began to flood his vision. Scarlett looked up at him with her glossy green orbs.

She watched as Chris' ocean blue eyes sparkled with tears. She suddenly felt a pang of guilt. He always wanted a family of his own. Knowing full well he had someone out in the world, sharing half of his DNA, she still continued to joke with him about his failure of creating a family.

"A girl." She let her lips curl into a very slight smile but immediately hid her grin when she saw Chris' expression.

Chris turned around, his back facing Scarlett, as the tears began to fall down his cheeks.

"Chris, please." Scarlett hugged him from behind, wrapping her arms around his waist and rested her head on his back.

She just wanted him to understand. She was only seventeen when she found out.

Chris peeled Scarlett off of him and walked into the living room. He sat down on the grey couch, East jumping up beside him. The dog spun in circles until he finally plopped down against Chris.

"How did you find out?" Scarlett asked cautiously as she slowly walked into the room and sat across from the 27 year old.

He looked at her blankly as he picked up his phone and handed it to her.

Scarlett's mouth fell open as she read the text from an unknown number.

Hi Chris, I was informed that you never signed away your parental rights after the birth of your child 6 years ago. Can we meet up to discuss further details?

Tears threatening to form once again as she finally realized this was real. She had a daughter she gave up. No matter how long she's been forcing herself to forget, it was still real. It never hit her until now.

"I have to go." Scarlett said quickly getting up from her spot on the couch. Chris reacted fast and grabbed her arm, not letting her leave.

"I wanna meet her, Scarlett." He said in a serious tone.

She glared at him, looking back and forth between his eyes and his grip on her.

"They contacted us." He reminded her but all she did was shake her head.

"No, they contacted you."