Amber's View

I tried to stay calm as I dialed Rhonda's number. I had taken the phone upstairs because the downstairs was crawling with decorators and caterers for the party tonight. AJ was running around like crazy trying to tell them where everything should go.
"Hello?" Rhonda said out of breath.
"Rhon, it's me – did I interrupt something?" I could only imagine what her and Howie would be doing at this time of day.
"No," Rhonda said laughing "Mere took the bead necklace from my costume and ran off with it. Missy and I were just trying to catch him" I laughed as I pictured the scene "Well you seem in a better mood today – you've been kinda bugging for the last couple of days."
"Not really,"
"Not really – why?"
"It's late!"
"What's late? I though Howie had told me that the caterers and stuff had gotten there on time," Rhonda asked not catching on to what I was trying to tell her.
"Let me put it another way – I'M late!"
"Oh my god – how late?!" I could here Missy in the background trying to pump information out of Rhonda
"About a week," I sighed.
There was a slight shuffle on the other end of the line. "Oh my god you're pregnant!" I heard Missy yell into the phone a second later.
"Well… I'm not a 100% sure. I haven't taken the test yet. Hell, I haven't even bought a test yet."
"Well there's no time like the present girl – we're on our way over. Rhon go tell Howie we're leaving and see if he can't get those beads from your dumb dog."

I hung up the phone still in shock that this could be happening to me. That one night in the woods was all it took to turn my life upside-down. Maybe I was wrong – maybe I really wasn't pregnant, but all the signs pointed to that I was. I had been trying like crazy to hide the fact that I was throwing up every day from AJ. I knew he thought something was strange – I just haven't been acting like myself lately – but I didn't think he any clue about what it could be.

"Hey babe," AJ said as I was grabbing my purse and heading to walk out the door. "Where do you want them to put the coffin?"
"I don't know. You're the one who ordered the damn thing." I said as I looked over at a Dracula coffin that was now being wheeled in by three men.
"Where are you going?" he asked suddenly realizing that I was carrying my purse and had my hand on the door.
"Ummm…I forgot something's that I need for tonight so Rhonda, Missy and me are going to go pick them up. I'll be back soon." I said as I rushed out the door and into car waiting outside.

"Where to?" Rhonda asked as I climbed into the front
"Back to the night before we left for the cabin so I can remember to pack my pills." I said with a half laugh.
"Well I didn't bring my DeLorean - so how about to a drugstore."
"That will do I guess."
Missy gave me a hug from the back "I've been through this all before – it'll be o.k."
"I hope so," I thought.

Rhonda View

We pulled into the parking lot of the drug store. Missy and I got out of the car and Amber just sat there staring out the window.
"Um – I hope you don't expect me to open the door for you," I said.
"Oh sorry – I was just thinking about how I'm going to tell AJ," she said as she got out of the car.

We went inside and walked around picking up some miscellaneous items just to make it look like we weren't going in there just for a pregnancy test. "How the hell am I suppose to know which one to use?" Amber asked.
"Here use this one," Missy said as she handed Amber a pink box.
"No thanks! When you took it, it came up positive! I want the blue box," Amber said shoving the box into my hands.
"Hey girls don't you have a party to be at?" we heard behind us and scaring us to death.
"Mrs. Dorough – um – hi," were the only words that came out of my mouth. She looked at the box in my hands and got a strange look on her face.
"Well I just came to pick up a prescription – have fun at the party," and just like that she was gone.
Missy started to laugh uncontrollably. "I don't know which one of you looks worse now! The one who might be pregnant or the one whose boyfriend's mom thinks she's pregnant."
Neither Amber nor I found it very funny.

We got back to Amber & AJ's house and we headed upstairs.
"What I don't even get a kiss?" Howie asked from the bottom of the stairs. Howie was already dressed in his costume. When I saw Howie in his Zorro outfit I had to run back downstairs to give him a kiss. "What's going on?" he asked.
"Oh, we just want to get into our costumes before everyone gets here," I answered.
"HOWIE – PHONE!" I heard AJ yell from the kitchen. Howie gave me another kiss and headed into the kitchen to take his phone call. By the time I got upstairs Amber had taken the test and was pacing across the floor.

Amber's View

I paced around the bedroom floor. Three minutes had never seemed longer! "How long has it been?" I asked Rhonda who was leaning up against the wall trying to look calm.
"About 10 seconds from the last time you asked!" she said. "Don't worry Missy is timing it – she'll let you know when it's time. Now stop pacing before you wear a hole through the floor."
"It's time!" Missy called out scaring the shit out of me and Rhonda.
My legs started to shake and I sat down on the bed. "Well aren't you gonna look at it?" Rhonda asked gesturing to where the rest of my life was going to be determined by one damn stick I had peed on. "I can't do it!" I said shaking my head.
"Fine I'll do," said Missy as Rhonda came over to give me some moral support. Missy came out a few seconds with a big smile on her face waving the stick around. "Congratulations – you're having a baby boner!"

Rhonda's View

"Babe, do you need any help up there?" AJ asked.
"Um...no we're good," Amber shouted back. "Do you think he knows? How am I going to tell him? Oh my god – I'm having how many people in my house tonight?"
"Calm down Amber," Missy shouted.
Knock, knock, knock..."I said we're good!!" Amber yelled at the door assuming it was AJ.
"Um – it's Howie. I need Rhonda for a minute."
"I'll be out as soon as I'm done," I said.
"Okay I'll wait." I heard Howie sit down in the hallway.
"It's okay – you can go out there. I'll be okay. I'm just going to get ready for my party and worry about telling AJ later," Amber said.

I went out into the hallway to see what Howie wanted. He tried to get up but he was sitting on his cape and fell back onto the ground. I climbed onto his lap and gave him a kiss. He looked so fine in his Zorro costume. "You needed me?"
"Um...yeah...is there anything you want to talk to me about?"
I thought about it for a minute, "Um...besides the fact that I love you and you look hot...nope, nothing else to talk about."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah – do you want to talk about something?" I was hoping that Howie would fill me in on the topic of this conversation because I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.

Nick came flying up AJ's stairs and tripped over Howie and I. "Sorry guys," Nick said, "have you seen Missy? She's suppose to help me with my makeup."
"Yeah she's in the bedroom – oh wait a minute – let me see if they're decent in there." I gave Howie another kiss and left him sitting in the hallway.

Amber's View

Nick burst through the door wearing his cheerleader costume. We burst out laughing as we saw him for the first time.
"Missy I can't figure out where all this makeup that you bought goes," he said waving around Missy's makeup bag.
"That sounds like a personal problem that I don't want to want to be involved in," I said as I left those two alone in the room.
I took a deep breath and walked downstairs to tell AJ the "good" news. I found him in the foyer talking with Howie. Howie seemed upset about something and AJ looked shocked. "Hey guys what's going on?"
"Nothing!" AJ and Howie said at the same time. I just looked at them. I could tell something was definitely going on. I looked at AJ and he looked away – he knew I could easily get the info from him.
"Fine," I said having enough to deal with of my own without having to deal with what ever was going on between them. "AJ can I talk to you for a sec."
"Umm, can this wait? I really need to talk to Howie right now baby. You know guy stuff."
"Fine!" I said again angrily as I stormed out of the room. "He doesn't want to know I fucking won't tell him!"
"Won't tell him what?" Brian said having overheard my mumbling.
"Won't tell him that you're a jerk!" I snapped as I pushed past him and started to climb op the stairs.
"My god she's moody!" I heard him tell Kevin as I closed the door to my room.

I was finishing changing into my costume when I heard a knock on the door. "Come in," I said the door opened and it was Howie.
"Oh, I'm sorry I can come back," he said blushing all the way down to his toes as he noticed me hooking the garters on my show girl outfit.
"No, you can come in. I'm all done." Howie came in and sat on the bed. He looked a little preoccupied. "Is everything alright?" I asked
"Can I ask you something…?"
"Howie you know I love ya like a brother you can ask me anything."
"Well say someone had a secret…they would tell the other persons it involves right."
"Oh shit, he knows about the baby." I thought suddenly uncomfortable sitting here.
"Well you know…if Rhonda had a secret or something like that….she…she would tell me right?"
O.k. now I was just confused – was he talking about me or Rhonda? "If Rhonda had a secret she would tell the persons involved in secret when she was ready to," I said.
Howie looked at me with a soft questioning look. "Is there anything you want to tell me?"
"No!" I practically shouted and got a really confused look from Howie
"Is there anything Rhonda needs to tell me? You know…I get the feeling there is something she needs to tell and she isn't"
"Howie you're confusing me hon – if Rhonda has something she needs to tell you she will. If you can't wait for her to tell you just ask, I'm sure she'll tell." Howie just shook his head yes and got up to leave.
"Did I help you?" I asked hoping I did because I had no idea what I was trying to help with.
"Actually you did. Thanks." Howie left the room.
"Hmmm I wonder what secret Rhonda has…there are an awful lot of secrets floating around tonight," I though as I finished putting on my makeup.

I came down the stairs to greet the guests that had started to arrive. AJ was already down and in full costume. I had to laugh at him - it had taken him the longest time to pick one out but the one he did really was fabulous. He was in a red velvet pimp outfit with a big black hat pulled down to cover one eye. To top off the outfit he had a gold tipped cane. I walked over to stand beside him by the door.

"WOW!" he said checking me out. I turned around to model my outfit. I had decided to make the best of the night since there was no way I was going to tell him about the baby with all these people around. "Come on, I have to show you and your figure off tonight."
Ahhhhh! He would have to say that! He would have to start talking about my figure – the figure that I was going to start losing in a couple of months. I turned to storm off and ran into Howie who was just standing there watching everyone else. He didn't even seem to notice me. Kevin did though and giving AJ a look, went over to try and see if he could find what was wrong.

"Amber?"
"What?!" I said turning on Kevin.
"I just came over to see if I could do anything to help?"
"You know what Kevin, it would be great if you could but you fucking can't so if you know what's good for you'll just leave me alone right now!"
Kevin backed away slowly and then walked away to the whole group of people that were now staring at me like I was crazy. I saw Kevin talking to AJ and gesturing towards me.
I went over to sit on one of the chairs on the side of the living room, Howie came and sat down next to me. He had a kind of glazed look on his face.
"You o.k. D? You're not dancing or anything."
"I'm not really in a party mood."
"Yeah I know what you mean. I'm not really in a party mood either."
"You would think this would be one of the best days of my life."
"Me too," I said
"It's bad how one person not being able to tell you something could ruin a whole night." I looked over at Howie trying to see if he was talking about me but he was looking over at Rhonda. I wondered for the second time that night what Rhonda was hiding from Howie. I knew if Rhonda was hiding something she would've more than likely tell me. "So what's your problem?" Howie said finally taking his eyes off Rhonda to glance at me.

"I guess I have the opposite problem as you. I don't know how to tell someone something." I said looking at AJ standing across the room giving me worried glances while talking to some of the guests.
"You're gonna tell them aren't you?" Howie asked
"I have to," I said.
"Hypothetically…If the person you had to tell hinted that he already knew would that make it easier for you to tell them?"
"It would – but that doesn't help my situation."
"I might just help mine. Excuse me I have to go find Rhonda."

Rhonda

Throughout the party Howie seemed preoccupied. He didn't eat anything, participate in any of the games, and he didn't even dance!
"Are you okay?" I asked him.
"Um...yea...I just wish you would..." he stopped, looked around to make sure no one was listening, took my hand and led me out by the pool. "I just wish you would tell me already."
"Tell you what?" I was extremely confused.
"You know," Howie said as he patted his stomach.
"Tell you what's in the dip? Tell you what!?!?" I was getting really frustrated with Howie.
He looked around again, "I wish you would tell me the results."
Holy shit! How did he know about Amber's pregnancy test? "You want the results?!"
"Yeah!! Don't you think that I should know?"
"I don't think you should know before the father does!"
Howie turned white and sat down in the chair behind him. "You mean it's...it's not mine?" He looked like his heart was just shattered into a million pieces.
"I hope its not yours!!" Now Howie was the one who looked confused. "How did you find out anyway?"
Howie was barely able to speak. "My mom saw you at the store. It's not mine?"
I tried not to laugh. I knelt down to Howie, "Honey," I said as I took his hands, "Amber's pregnant, not me. AJ's going to be the daddy, not you." Howie looked into my eyes, "I'm not going to be a daddy?" I shook my head no. Howie looked a little disappointed at first but then a sudden look of relief came over him. He fell back into the chair laughing, "AJ's going to be a dad."

"Shhh!! Don't say it so loud! She didn't tell him yet!"
"Why not?"
"Probably cause there is like 100 people in her house. Wait a minute – do you really think that if I was pregnant I wouldn't tell you?" Howie just looked at me. I climbed onto his lap, "baby, you would definitely be the first one I would tell."
"Promise?"
"I promise. By the way, you should probably call your mom and straighten this story out."
"Yeah – I'll call her later. I have other things on my mind at the moment."

Amber's View

"Hey Howie," I said seeing him and Rhonda walking back in together holding hands. "Looks like you worked out your problem."
"Yeah I did…are you o.k.?" I glanced over at Rhonda to see what the hell Howie was talking about. She looked away and I knew she had told him.
"I'm fine Howie. Don't worry about me, I'm a big girl and I can take care of myself and who ever else comes along."
"Well do you need to sit down or something? Do you need to rest?"
"Why would she need to rest?" AJ asked coming over to us. I looked away.
"Ohh…umm…" Howie stuttered not knowing what to say.
"Rhonda…?" AJ asked turning to her to see if she would tell him what was going on. Rhonda just started to stutter too and wouldn't even look him in the eyes.
"Why the hell does it seem like everyone but me knows what the fuck is going on!" "You want to know what's going on?! Fine! Congratulations…you're a father. Your super sperm did the trick that night in the cabin!" I screamed not being able to take it anymore.
AJ just stood there with a stunned look on his face. "I…I…I need to sit down," he said and proceeded to sit down on the Dracula coffin. It obviously wasn't made to sit on because as soon as he did it broke and he ended up on the floor.

I looked around at all the people at the party who were all now staring at us and ran upstairs crying. This was not how I wanted people to find out that I was pregnant – it was definitely not the way I wanted AJ to find out. I ran into my studio and slid to the floor. "Damn how fucked up can my life get?" I asked myself out loud trying to wipe the tears off my cheek.

"How is it fucked up now?" AJ asked standing in the doorway.
"You mean besides being knocked up by a guy I've only been dating for eight months?!" I asked.
"Wow, we've been dating that long?" he asked trying to get me to smile.
"You're not helping!" I glared at him.
"Sorry." AJ came over and sat down by me on the floor. He just sat there for awhile quietly. "Are you positive your pregnant?" he finally asked.
"Well I haven't seen a doctor yet but the little stick in the bathroom says I am. What are we going to do?"
"We're gonna have a baby," AJ said as if he were still trying to believe it himself. "I'm gonna be a daddy."
"No shit – tell me something I don't know!"
AJ reached over and pulled me unto his lap. "Here's something you don't seem to know – it's gonna be alright. We're gonna get through this," he said stroking my back.
"Are you mad?"
"Mad? How could I be mad? The girl I love is having my baby – there's nothing to be mad about."
"I love you," I said leaning over to kiss him.
"I love you too – and you," he said gently rubbing my stomach. "So I guess we have to tell our parents."
"No we don't, isn't it enough that our whole party knows." I said climbing back off his lap.
"Honey, I think they'd eventually notice a kid running around at family reunions calling us mom and dad."
"No they wouldn't."
"Honey…"
"Fine - when do we tell them?" I asked, still not quite sure it was the best thing to do.
"Well I guess we should tell them as soon as we check it out with a doctor."
"I guess we can tell your mother then," I said hesitantly.
"What about your parents?" AJ asked.
"After the baby is born works for me."
"Honey…" AJ said again.
"Fine! They're coming down for Christmas – I guess we can tell them then," I said giving in.
"That's my girl," he said kissing me. "Now how about we get back to the party, there are some people down there that probably want to congratulate us."
"Don't remind me," I said remembering just how many people I had announced the 'good news' in front of.
"It'll be fine," he said reaching down, pulling me up and leading me back downstairs to where our friends were waiting with hugs for both of us.