Watermelon

Tell Them

Jace wrung his hands together nervously as he stood in the driveway of Chloe and Marty's house. He took a deep breath and silently prayed to whatever god that may or may not exist that he wouldn't leave this house with yet another black eye. Now or never, he told himself as he approached the front door. He rang the doorbell and found himself holding his breath until the moment Marty opened the door. There was an awkward beat of silence as the former best friends stared at each other.

"Hey," Marty said quietly — so quietly Jace wondered if he had only mouthed the word.

"Uh...hey."

Marty stepped back and pulled the door all the way open so Jace could come inside.

"My parents aren't home — they're also out shopping with Chloe. She's...still not allowed to go out on her own."

Jace sighed. What a stupid fucking rule. Chloe didn't get pregnant because she went out in public by herself. She's not sleeping around with every guy who looks in her direction. It was an accident. They're in love. Why could no one in this family see that? He pushed his frustrations aside and cleared his throat anxiously.

"That's fine. I was just hoping I could talk to you."

"Uh, yeah...sure. We can go up to my room."

Jace followed Marty down the hall to his bedroom. They used to hang out here all the time, but it had been weeks since he'd been there for obvious reasons. It felt...different. Not necessarily in a bad way, just not as familiar as it had once been. Jace sat down in the bean bag chair in the corner while Marty sat on the edge of his bed.

More awkward silence.

"I'm sorry for punching you." Marty was staring down at his lap. "I shouldn't have hit you...but I do think I had every right to be pissed at you."

Jace sighed. Not the apology he was hoping for, but at least it was something.

"We shouldn't have kept it a secret from you," Jace offered. "Shawn had told me from the beginning that if I was gonna date your sister I'd have to be honest with you about it but honestly I was scared that you'd be pissed at me." He ran a hand through his hair. "Clearly I was right about that."

"You got my sister pregnant, dude. You're my best friend and you got my sister pregnant. In what world would I not be pissed?"

"You know me Marty, and you know I wouldn't have done anything with Chloe unless I really, really liked her. I would never risk our friendship over a hookup. And I didn't. Chloe isn't just some random girl I got pregnant — she's my girlfriend. I care about her. I...I love her. And I obviously didn't mean to get her pregnant but it happened. I'm just sorry we didn't get the chance to tell you that we were together before all of that went down."

Marty was silent for a moment, his brows pinched together as he stared at Jace from across the room. "You love her?"

Jace swallowed hard and nodded. "I do. Well, I mean...I think I do. I don't know — I've never been in love before. But if I had to describe how I feel about your sister...yeah. I'd call it love." Marty silently looked down at his lap again. "Chloe is everything to me. And now, so is our baby. And I know it's hard to wrap your head around — it is for me too still. But we can't change what happened so instead we're just...embracing it. Hell, I literally started reading a parenting book."

Marty looked up at him in surprise, a shocked laugh rumbling out of him. "You? Reading a book?"

Jace nodded. "Not just any book — a parenting book."

"Shit dude..."

"I know. But that's how seriously I'm taking this. I'm not fucking around. I'm gonna be a dad in a few months and you know damn well that the role of a parent isn't one I take lightly." Jace surprised himself when he got a little choked up on his own words. He swallowed down his tears. He'd let those out in the attic later. "I'm a good boyfriend to Chloe. And I'm gonna be a good dad to our kid. But I don't want my son or daughter to grow up with an uncle that hates their dad. I want them to grow up knowing that their uncle and their dad are best friends. Because we are."