Chapter Three – Guilt Tripp
Derek sat on the couch in the garage with his head in his hands, trying to convince himself that none of this was really happening. There was no Scarlet, no baby, and in a few minutes when he went inside the house, everything would be back to normal. Unfortunately this was just a fantasy brought on by denial, Scarlet was here and in a few short months the baby would be too.
"Derek?"
He looked up and saw Tripp standing in the doorway. "Go away kid, I'm not in the mood for a lecture."
"Relax; I'm not going to give you a lecture. I just came in here to see if you were okay."
"Oh; well I'm not. How's Scarlet?" Why he even bothered to ask, Derek didn't know, he already knew the answer.
"Not good; Ash is taking care of her though."
Derek slumped back against the couch. "I can't do this kid; I'm not ready to have a kid! How does she expect me to take care of a baby when I can barely take care of myself?"
"I'm sure you'll figure something out. Hey I bet as soon as that comes, your parental instincts will kick in just like that." Tripp assured him, snapping his fingers.
"Kid look at me. I'm a struggling rock star living with a teenager in his mother's house, and up until a year ago I was living in a van. There's hardly a parental bone in my body. Believe me it's probably the best thing for that baby if I just don't get involved.
"So you're just going to walk out on your own baby, like you walked out on Scarlet?"
"I didn't mean for it to end like it did," Derek confessed, "I just panicked after she said what she said."
"That she's a Witch?"
"No! Kid you forget, I grew up in England, every second person over there says there a Witch, I could have cared less about that. I just used her confession to hide the real reason I left."
"Which was?"
A wave of guilt crashed over Derek's entire body. "She said she loved me."
Tripp looked at him like he had three heads. "What's so bad about that? A lot of girls tell you they love you."
"You don't understand, the way Scarlet said it was different; she meant it. At that point we'd only been dating for a couple weeks, I wasn't looking for a commitment then, and I'm absolutely not looking for one now.
Now every word coming out of Derek's mouth was just making Tripp mad. He was beginning to see a whole other side of Derek, sure he already knew he was selfish, but this time he was taking selfishness to an all new level of low, and frankly Tripp was not impressed. "Okay, now I'm going to give you a lecture. You don't have much choice of WHEN you want a commitment, because whether you like it or not that commitment was made for you the moment your ex showed up on my doorstep."
"What are you going to do about it? You can't make me be a father."
"No, but I can at least make you apologize to Scarlet."
The lead singer scoffed at the guitarist. "You're kidding right?"
"No I'm not, and you're going to invite her to dinner tonight."
"And what if I don't?"
"If you don't I'll make you explain to my mom why there's a cry pregnant lady in the living room. Plus I'm willing to bet when she hears the full story, she'll feel all to happy to kick you out and take Scarlet in."
"Oh Please! She'd never kick me out. Your mother loves…" Derek stopped mid sentence and thought about what he was saying. "Fine, I'll do it, but I'm just inviting her to dinner; I'm not agreeing to anything baby related."
Meanwhile back at the house Scarlet, Ash and Burger were all gathered around the kitchen table. She'd finally calmed down and Burger insisted that she would feel much better if she ate something. He opened the refrigerator and began listing off everything inside: "Let's see, we have left over spaghetti, left over Chinese food, left over pizza, eggs, and old – actually I don't know what that is, but it's old alright."
"Um, pizza sounds good." Scarlet replied.
Burger put the pizza on a plate and popped it in the microwave for a couple of minutes. "So what are you going to do now?" He asked waiting for Scarlet's food to finish.
"I don't know. I guess I'll go back to the hotel, get my stuff and just go home. There's no point in me staying if Derek isn't going to help."
"I'll help." Ash volunteered.
Scarlet was so moved by Ash's offer, it almost brought her to tears again. "You're sweet, but it wouldn't be fair."
"I don't mind, besides I think the baby's really starting to like me."
"It's not the only one." Scarlet said patting the back of Ash's hand.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
"Pizza's done." Burger said taking it out of the microwave.
Just then Tripp and Derek came into the kitchen, and upon seeing the pizza Derek instinctively took it, thinking it was for him. "Thanks mate, I am kinda hungry." He said taking a bite.
"Actually dude, that was for Scarlet."
Derek stopped chewing when he realized what he'd done, and then reluctantly swallowed what was in his mouth. "I knew that. I was just making sure it was warm enough." He placed the plate in front of Scarlet. "There you go, just right."
"Why are you here?" Scarlet asked
"Well, I do live here."
"No I mean, why did you come back? I thought for sure you'd stay away until I left."
Derek looked up at Tripp, who gave him a reassuring nod. "I just wanted to apologize for earlier. The kid made me see things a little differently."
"What are you saying?" Scarlet asked hopefully.
"I'm saying, that I'd like to invite you to dinner." He said making sure to use extra emphasis on the word dinner. "But seeing as you're already eating…"
Scarlet looked down at the half eaten piece of pizza. Seeing her lack of enthusiasm towards it, Tripp said: "How 'bout I order a new pizza?" Everyone unanimously agreed, and followed him into the living room rhyming off the toppings, everyone except for Scarlet, who stayed at the table. "Derek," she said before he passed through the swinging door.
"Yeah?"
"Are you or aren't you going to help me with this baby, yes or no, I want an answer."
Derek hesitated with his reply, and eventually said nothing, following the other into the next room.
That night Beth Campbell came home from a particularly exhausting day at the Dentist Office. Her secretary had quit, she'd been thrown up on by a seven year old, and if all of that wasn't enough, she'd been bitten by an old man! Now all she want more than anything at that moment was to have a nice quiet evening at home – well as quiet as an evening can be in a house full of Rock Stars.
"Hey guys." She yawned, picking up a pile of mail off the coffee table as she made her way to the kitchen.
"Hey Beth." Thy all replied then continued telling Tripp, who was still on the phone with the pizzeria, what toppings they wanted.
When she walked into the kitchen, she was so preoccupied sifting through bills, she had yet to notice Scarlet sitting at the end of the table.
"Hello." Scarlet said.
Beth jumped, letting out a small scream, and dropped the mail when she realized she wasn't alone. "Hello…. Who are you?" she asked trying to catch her breath.
"I'm Scarlet"
"Oh, hello Scarlet. Would you excuse me for just a second?" Beth said slipping back into the living room. "Tripp; why is there a pregnant woman in my kitchen?"
Tripp, who was now off the phone, froze, as did the rest of the band, they had yet to work out what to tell his mom once she got home and now they were forced to come up with something on the fly. "Um, a, well that's Scarlet."
"She already told me that."
"She's one of Derek's friends."
With that final comment Beth was able to put all the pieces together. "So she's just a friend?" she asked directing the questing to Derek.
He nodded trying to keep calm and collect, but Beth's all knowing stare eventually made him break. "Alright, alright, she's slightly more then a friend, she's my ex."
The final piece came together, and Beth had solved the puzzle. "So the baby's…"
"Mine."
"Are you going to take care of it?"
"I haven't decided yet." Derek admitted solemnly.
Just then, Scarlet came into the living room. "Hey, I know Derek invited me to dinner, but I'm getting pretty tired. I should really be getting back to the hotel. Could I use your phone to call a cab?"
"You can't leave now," Ash protested. "We just ordered the pizza; I even asked if they could put some baby food on a slice for the baby. They said no, but hey it's the thought that counts, right?"
"Hunny, if you're that tired why don't you just stay here? We can send one of the guys to pick up your things." Beth offered.
"Oh I couldn't let you do that. I only came here to tell Derek about the baby, and now that he knows there's really no reason for me to stay." Scarlet said trying to sound grateful for the invitation.
"No really I insist! Besides it was Derek's idea
"What!" Derek exclaimed just about to object to what was previously said. Suddenly Ash, Tripp, and Burger all elbowed him in the stomach, forcing him to change his answer. "It was." he squeaked. "Stay as long as you like."
"Really?" Scarlet asked in disbelief.
All Derek could do was nod as the pain began going all through his body.
"I don't know what to say."
"That you'll stay would be a start." Tripp said
"I'll go call the Hotel and tell them someone is coming for my things. Do you guys have a phone book?"
"In the cupboard to the left of the sink." Beth directed. She waited until Scarlet was out of earshot before turning to Derek, who was lying on the couch taking deep breaths, trying to relax. "Nice to see you're going to take some responsibility."
Derek glared at Beth. "I don't have much choice now do I?"
"Well look at it this way Derek; all that anger and frustration you're feeling right now will be great material for a new album." Tripp said looking on the brighter side of things.
Ash grabbed the van keys from the bowl on the counter. "I'll go to the hotel and get Scarlet's stuff."
"I'll go with you." Burger said.
"Me too." Derek said anxious to get out of the house,
"Oh no you don't." Beth grabbed the back of Derek's shirt. "If she's going to be staying, you're going to be doing a lot more work around here,"
"But, but."
"No buts. You can start by going up to the attic and dragging down that old cot and setting it up in you're room."
"You're really going to make Scarlet sleep on that lumpy old mattress?" Tripp asked.
"Of course not hunny…I'm going to make Derek sleep on it."
This earned her yet another glare from the lead singer, but instead of protesting, he skulked off down the hall to the attic.
Tripp gave his mom a high five, impressed that she had caught on to the whole situation, and even more impressed at how she handled Derek.
"Thanks Mom, that was really cool of you."
"Well what do you expect, I am the coolest." She gave him a little hug.
"Mom please, not in front of the guys."
"AW! Group hug!" Ash declared as he and Burger joined the hug. After a few seconds every one let go, all except for Burger, who still clung dreamily to Beth's waist.
"Um Burger?" Beth said awkwardly.
"What?"
"You can let go now.
"Sorry."
