Page 41 of F Buddy

“Fuck it,” I cursed, voice low and frustrated.

If I hadn't been so hell-bent on avoiding him, I might have realized something wasn’t right sooner than this. It was still annoying, even though I was technically responsible for it.

I wracked my mind for a few minutes before coming to a couple of conclusions. There might be another reason why he was suddenly ignoring me. He might finally have tired of me ignoring him and was giving me a taste of my own medicine.

Only Zach wasn’t a petty bastard, so I knew he wouldn't do that. If I tried to contact him and he didn't contact me back, then there was something holding him back from doing so. He might be mad, still, but what if I got the reason for his anger wrong? I mean, there were certainly plenty of reasons...

My eyes fell to my swollen stomach, and I groaned. It could have been anything else, but I had a feeling I wasn't wrong about this. He’d probably found out about the pregnancy like I’d feared, and it had come from someone other than me.

It could be anything else, I thought, trying to reassure myself.

But the uncomfortable feeling in my stomach persisted. Not sure what to do on my own, I picked up my phone and dialed Olivia. She answered almost immediately.

“Scarlett, what’s wrong?”

I paused what I was going to say, a small smile spread across my lips. Olivia was one of my besties, and it hit me again just how lucky I was to have her.

“Scarlett?” she said when I didn't reply.

I drew in a sharp breath. “Olivia... I think he knows.”

There was a short silence, then, “Oh, shit. How did he find out? Do you know who told him?”

“I don’t know,” I said quietly, glad that she seemed to know what I was thinking. “I think I’m ready to tell him now, but he isn't replying to any of my messages, and he’s not taking my calls...”

“It might just be payback for you doing the same to him?” she offered tentatively. “Or he could be busy, or something.”

“Come on, Olivia. Whatever else he is, Zach isn’t a petty man. And there’s no way he could be so busy that he couldn't even manage to send a single text or email.”

Olivia hummed on the other side of the line, agreeing with me. That left us with the other explanation, and I felt a curl of betrayal in my chest at the thought of someone giving up what I’d told them in confidence when I had specifically wanted Zach to be kept in the dark.

“Why don't you text the others and ask them if they said anything? I’ll make my inquiries and get back to you,” she said.

“All right. And thanks,” I said quickly, then hung up the call.

I opened a group chat on my phone and posted the message, asking if any of them was the culprit. It was faster than calling everyone individually. But then I rethought that when it took so long for one person to send a reply. But then answers from the others trickled in, always in the negative.

I mentally marked down the names of the people that had replied already. There were only three that hadn’t, and luckily, I had their numbers. The conversation with the first two guys went by quickly. Neither had been in touch with Zach recently, and I had no reason not to believe them.

The last number... I couldn't even remember how I got it on my phone. We were a pretty big group, and I imagined the same happened in all groups, but we didn't all know each other that well. Chad was one of those people. He must have had my number as well because when he answered the call, he was more surprised than wondering why I was calling him.

“Scarlett? Is something wrong?”

I chuckled, sounding a little nervous. “Why would you immediately assume something was wrong?”

“Well,” he said slowly. “For one thing, you rarely call me. I'm pretty sure this is the first time you’ve called me. I’m not even sure how you got my number.”

I chewed on my lower lip. “It could have been how things always work in our group,” I offered. “You know when we throw parties, and everyone pretty much ends up drunk at the end and calling someone to come pick them up? That could have been it.”

Though to be honest, I didn't really remember, I was pretty sure it was something like that.

Chad chuckled. “Yeah, it could have been that,” he said, sounding amused. Then he cleared his throat, and his voice turned serious. “Now, was there something you needed? Or someone?”

“Uh, no. I called to ask you something,” I said, feeling nervous.

He was the only person I hadn't gotten a straight answer from, so he either did or said something, or I needed a different theory and a plan on how to get Zach to talk to me. I didn’t think it would be easy; Zach wasn't the kind of person you could talk into doing something he didn’t want to, or at least I thought so.

“Go ahead,” he coaxed gently.