My Best Friend Is Having My Fiancé's Baby Chapter 2

At one in the morning, Leo slid back into bed beside me.

The tear tracks on my face had long since dried, my throat raw.

He wrapped an arm around me, his lips finding my shoulder in a familiar, gentle kiss. “Babe, I’m so nervous,” he murmured into my skin. “The engagement party is tomorrow. It all feels like a dream.”

That night, we were worlds apart in the same bed.

The next morning, my parents were already a whirlwind of activity. Our families had a traditional streak; an engagement party was a big deal, a house filled with neighbors, friends, and relatives. Leo’s family arrived with flowers, platters of food, and cases of wine. He told me to rest, that I looked tired, and then seamlessly took his place beside my parents, playing the perfect son-in-law.

It was Chloe’s parents who pulled me aside, their faces etched with a gravity that made my stomach clench.

“We need to talk to you in your room, sweetie.”

The moment the door closed, Chloe’s mom, a woman who had bandaged my scraped knees and baked my favorite cookies, fell to her knees in front of me.

“Mrs. Evans, please, get up,” I pleaded, rushing to help her.

Her husband, a man I called Uncle Mark, had been a second father to me. They both had.

“What is it?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

Her words were choked with sobs. “Ava, I know what we’re about to ask is unforgivably unfair, but Chloe… she’s our only daughter. We can’t stand to see her like this, completely shattered.”

She looked up at me, her eyes begging. “Could you… could you find it in your heart to step aside? To let her and Leo be together?”

I stumbled back, the room seeming to shrink around me. I couldn’t draw a full breath.

Uncle Mark spoke, his voice heavy with regret. “Chloe was wrong, we know that. But you can’t plan who you fall in love with. She’s stubborn, and now with the baby… we’re terrified she’s going to do something reckless.”

A cold dread spread through me. My face felt like a mask. “So… you’ve known? You’ve known about them this whole time?”

Growing up, with my parents working long hours, I basically lived at their house. They treated me like a second daughter. Every gift they bought for Chloe, they bought one for me, too. Our friendship was a twenty-six-year-old monument, something I thought was indestructible.

And I was the only one who didn’t know it was built on a lie.

Mrs. Evans clutched my hand. “Blame me, Ava. Don’t blame Chloe. You know how much she truly loves you, how much she treasures your friendship.”

She squeezed my hand tighter. “If she knew you broke up with Leo to make way for her, the guilt would destroy her. Please, for my sake… don’t let her know we told you. Just let it be your decision. Please?”

I stared at her, my mind numb, before slowly pulling my hand from her grasp.

“Okay,” I heard myself say. “I’ll do it.”

She burst into tears of relief, whispering, “I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry,” over and over.

When I walked out of the room, I saw Chloe and Leo standing at opposite ends of the living room. She was laughing, playing a game with the neighborhood kids, handing out cupcakes I had baked. “These are from the beautiful bride-to-be, Ava! Make sure you tell her congratulations later, okay?”

Leo’s gaze was fixed on her. It was tender, possessive, a look of profound, unbreakable connection.

It all clicked into place. Every anniversary, when he’d insist I invite Chloe along, I thought he was just being inclusive. The three tickets he’d always buy for the amusement park. The extra skincare set he’d tell me to pick up for her. It wasn’t thoughtfulness. It was guilt.

They’d been lying to me for six years. Six years out of the seven we’d been together.

My mind flashed back to high school. Chloe, getting a month of detention for punching a boy who made a crude joke about me. Chloe, after my first big fight with Leo in college, getting on a nineteen-hour Greyhound bus just to show up at my dorm and take me out for drinks.

Now I had to wonder. After she’d tucked a drunk me into bed, had she met up with him? Had they connected under the stars, bonding over their shared love for me, a love that twisted into something else entirely?

Every memory of her loyalty, every act of love, now felt like a dose of expertly administered poison.