Chapter 20

Tension

Hello everyone! I'm happy to announce our little chapter name competition has a winner - Jordycakes1203! The answer was simply that my chapter names are in alphabetical order!

Response to reviews!

CreativeWritingSoul - Well, cringe is Daring's middle name…glad you enjoyed the chapter! And let's let Hopper and Briar be Hopper and Briar, lol.

princess mh - Yes, that's correct, they are! 3

Guest - Thank you so much! I'm very happy you love this!

Jordycakes1203 - Lol, thanks for all the nice compliments. I sent you a PM BTW, so you may wanna take a look!

Enjoy this chapter, guys! :)

Hopper followed as Briar, who was basically skipping in her heels, led him to the private room she had booked in a bar. Everything was very elegant, all dark chestnut wood panelling and chandeliers. The floor was echoey black marble and the bar itself was of the same material, with silver accents and dolphin-grey wine racks behind it.

Briar had organised the theme 'monochromatic' for the party, as it was, apparantly, very elegant and suitable. She had amused herself by getting Hopper to try on zebra and dalmation print suits, but then sobered up and let him choose himself. Which he did. Hopper was unsure if a tux was too formal for the occassion. But then he realised all the men were wearing tuxes, so he didn't mind.

The party girl herself was wearing something very flowy, very glittery, and very ombre. For once, she had chosen to wear a halter neck and had been forced (by Hopper) into a black belt, or else she would look like she had a nonexistent body shape, what with the flowiness of the dress.

Behind them, Raven (who was on crutches instead of in her wheelchair) was looking twenty levels of gorgeous in her off-the-shoulder black top, with a grey draped skirt and black ankle-strap peep toes. Dexter was looking quite worried, like Raven was a delicate little paper girl.

The four walked into the private room, which had a mini fridge and shiny silver bar seats.

"You excited to get trashed?" Briar asked as politely as the words could come out as. That is, not very.

"I haven't gotten drunk since that night Maddie took us out…and it didn't end very well…" Raven sighed, and everyone stiffened. Luckily, a dark grey illusion-necklined circle dress, which was connected to Cerise, decided to appear in the doorway, and Raven and Briar went to hug and greet her. Reece kind of stood there awkwardly because he didn't know anyone.

Then came Maddie and Humphrey, the first of the two in a white frilly scoop-necked frock with silver teapots all over it.

"I didn't know you two were an item," Cerise said.

"Good cups of tea are never obvious, my friend," Madeline answered in a wise-ish voice. No one knew exactly what she meant (but Humphrey seemed to).

The girls had some more discussions and Humphrey apparantly knew Reece so the latter wasn't a loner anymore. They all ordered their drinks and waited for Ashlynn and Hunter to arrive.

"They're taking a very long time," Maddie frowned, as she lifted up her silver kitten heel to gaze at the clock face hammered into the shoe. "I wonder when they'll come."

As if on cue, Ashlynn walked through the door in a very shiny silvery strapless and equally shiny and silvery half-transparent shoes.

"Speak of the devil," Raven smiled. "Hey Ash, where's Hunter?"

"A large beer, please," the strawberry blonde pleaded quite desperately to Briar (although no one really noticed how strange she sounded), who summoned a waiter to bring said drink.

"That's nice of you to order something for Hunter before he comes," Maddie said chirpily. "Anything for yourself, my dear?"

The beer arrived, and Ashlynn, to everyone's shock, picked up the huge glass mug and started gulping it down. The others' reactions were strong. Cerise's jaw dropped open, Raven albeit fainted, Maddie fell off her chair, and Briar just clapped politely but looked thoroughly disturbed.

"I'm fine," Ashlynn said, wiping her mouth. And then she burst out crying, so technically she wasn't.

"Oh dear," Briar tutted. All of the girls (who were by now very disturbed) wrapped their arms around Ash, who was now sobbing hysterically like her life depended on it.

"I shouldn't have had that beer. I'm such an idiot," she wept.

Briar patted her on the back sympathetically. "Now, now, sweetie. It doesn't hurt to have a bit of a drink now and then, does it?"

The very distraught strawberry blonde nestled in their arms only seemed to cry harder, which made Briar gulp. "You guys don't understand," she sighed quite wetly, if a voice could sound wet. "And I can't tell you why."

"That's not very helpful," quipped Cerise rather unhelpfully.

"I know…" Ashlynn groaned. "I-I…" And suddenly the four others knew exactly what would happen.

Maddie chucked an ice bucket under Ashlynn's head. Briar held her hair back. Raven rubbed her back. Cerise used a towel to mop off her sweat. And Ashlynn herself emptied the contents of her stomach into said ice bucket.

She had only had one cup of booze. Albeit it was a very large cup.

The girls tended to the poor strawberry-blonde, who was now once again wailing quite loudly into another towel.

Unsure what to do, Cerise edged towards the men, who were either extremely oblivious or extremely engrossed in their conversations, as they hadn't noticed the messed-up Ashlynn.

And then Hunter walked in, to add to the chaos. Luckily, the ladies were seated away as far from the door as possible to avoid any contact between Ash and Hunter. The girls were smart enough to realise that the two had probably fought.

"Hunter! Hey man!" Hopper greeted amiably. The brunette shuffled towards him, avoiding his crying wife (who still hadn't been noticed by the other men, being surrounded by a wall of doting and utterly confused friends).

"Hi. Medium beer, please," Hunter muttered, and his order was fetched. "How's life for you, Hopper?"

"All good, all good," the ginger responded. They exchanged some friendly dialogue before Hopper chose to introduce Reece.

"Hunter, this charming fellow here is Reece, and he's Cerise's maybe-boyfriend," he said.

"Good evening," Reece greeted, shaking Hunter's hand. "You must be Hunter Huntsman. I'm Reece Fallashe."

Hunter nodded, drinking his beer quickly. "Reece Fallashe. Where have I heard that name before?"

"I used to be a soccer player," Reece explained, earning a surprised look from Cerise. "My first name's actually Maurice, but you know…it's a pretty freaky name. Honestly I don't like it. So Reece is fine."

"Cool," answered Hunter, who was now on his second beer.

Reece smiled a little awkwardly, because the brunette was obviously showing no interest and attention, and then turned to Cerise and they started a conversation.

Back to the girls who were comforting Ashlynn, Madeline and Briar decided to start consuming their own drinks. Raven, who had more common sense, decided wisely against the idea. It seemed that since none of her friends could handle alcohol very much, there should be one to stay sober. She did not mind this in the least, but ordered a salted caremal shake for herself to sip on.

"Hunter and I argued," Ashlynn murmured between very gaspy-breathy sobs. "We've never ever argued before. It was…it was terrible."

"Oh boy, if I could tell you all the times Dex and I have argued," Raven sympathised. "Arguments always happen, Ash. It's part of relationships. There's no such thing as a perfect marriage."

"Agreed. And I've never married," Maddie mused.

"If you don't have arguments, then you guys most likely don't care about each other anymore," Briar added.

They continued to dish their sage advice to Ashlynn, who seemed to be recovering.

"I still shouldn't have drank that beer," she complained. "I can't tell you all why, but I just can't. I'm a terrible human being."

"Shh, shh, shh, no you're not," Briar soothed, slightly tipsy. "You're perfect compared to us. Me, especially."

"But Raven said no one could be perfect."

"I said no relationship could be perfect," Raven corrected. "But Ash, you're pretty close. A couple of disagreements now and then won't wreck what you've made."

Before Ashlynn could say anything else, they were all startled by a loud shattering crash from the other side of the room. Four heads turned - strawberry blonde, ebony, aqua, and brunette - towards the commotion. Raven screamed.

Hunter had somehow grabbed Reece by the neck against the wall and looked ready to choke him. A freaked-out Cerise was trying to pry him off.

"What the hell is going on?" Raven cried, and the four ran towards the seething man.

"Let him go, Hunter!" Cerise screamed, and seeing nothing else to help, promptly elbowed him in the stomach. Being let go, Reece stumbled a little and fell wince-worthily on his behind.

"What the hell, man?" he half-gasped, half-shouted. He was struggling a lot for breath and Cerise was unsure what to do to help him and just kneeled there watching him.

Ashlynn grabbed Hunter's shoulder. He stared stonily at Reece. She shoved him so he could look at her. "Hunter. Hunter! What's wrong? Why did you hurt him?" she cried.

"Ash…he killed our kid," Hunter growled.

Ashlynn's jade eyes widened. "What?" she whispered. Silence filled the room. She looked from Hunter, to Reece, and then to her friends who were in different levels of shock; Raven was plain confused, Briar was horrified, and Maddie just shook her head slowly, unsure what to say.

"What do you mean?" she once again whispered. When Hunter didn't reply, she shook him. "What do you mean?" she repeated, louder.

"You guys have a kid?" Dexter queried, shocked.

"He's a murderer! He killed Harmony!" Hunter spat.

It was Hopper's turn to borderline scream. "Holy shit! Harmony was your kid?" He turned wildly to his wife, who was freaking out. "Briar, why didn't you tell me? I thought Harmony was just a friend! You never even told me they had a kid! Holy shit!"

Briar was lost for words. "I-I…"

"Ashlynn was pregnant," Hunter said stonily, trembling. "We were rushing to the hospital with Briar."

Hopper shot her another look; Briar bit her lip guiltily.

"And then…this bastard didn't look where he was going, and he crashed into us. It was a still birth. He killed our child! He ruined Ashlynn! She can't even fucking have children anymore!" Hunter shouted.

"WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!" Briar screamed. "Is this what you've been hiding, Ash?" She turned to the strawberry blonde, who had tears streaming down her cheeks but made no noise.

"Reece?" Cerise asked gingerly. "Is this true?"

Reece looked away.

"I don't believe it," Ashlynn said, shaking her head. "No. Reece is a good guy. He's good. He's kind. He wouldn't—"

"Ashlynn," Hunter interrupted with a coldness she rarely heard. "Reece's full name is Maurice. He is Maurice Fallashe."

If Ash's eyes could get any wider, they did. She looked like she had been hit by weight. She fell down, knees buckling under her. Briar knelt down and held her close. Ashlynn's eyes were glassy. "Oh my godmother…no, this can't…"

"You're a murderer! You're selfish, you're an idiot, and you don't even think before you do something. Your mother was probably ashamed you were born!" her husband lashed out.

"Hunter, stop—" Raven tried.

"Everything about you is a fucking disappointment! You not only killed our baby but all our babies to come! Do you ever wonder why people drive urgently to the hospital! Maybe it's because they fucking need to go! Get it into your head, you bastard!"

"Hunter!" the girl on crutches pleaded.

"You are the most disgusting, terrible—"

"Hunter!"

"Scum of the earth…"

"HUNTER!"

Reece suddenly looked up. "Fine! Fine! You wanna know why? You wanna know why I accidentally crashed into your car?" He stood up so he was Hunter's height.

"I was coming back from the hospital. No one was there to pick me up because all my relatives - get this into your mind - are fucking dead. Okay? One of your kids are dead, what about my entire family? I get you care about her, but I didn't mean it! And the only reason why…why I couldn't see where I was going because I just left an operation. And people can't drive after an operation! But like I said, no one was there to pick me up!"

"Operation? My ass!" Hunter scoffed.

"You shut up!" Reece shouted. "You say I'm inconsiderate. Have you ever looked in front of a mirror? I had an operation because I—" he faltered a little and looked down again, slumping, as if he felt shameful. "I…I have leukamia."

Cerise had, in her entire five years of knowing Reece, never ever seen him cry. Ever. But now, seeing that in this short period of time - two or three months - she had seen Briar, Maddie, Dexter, and Raven all cry. And herself as well.

Without another word, Reece exited the room.

The room was enveloped in silence.

Everyone stared rather accusingly at Hunter, with the exception of Hopper, who was staring rather accusingly at Briar.

Cerise left.

Ashlynn slowly got up and sat down again on a bar chair, shaking her head mournfully. Briar, seeing nothing else to do, joined her. Raven began to cry. Maddie emptied her cup, slammed it down on the floor, and walked out the door like nothing hapened, with Humphrey trailing behind.

—

Cerise was looking around for Reece. He didn't seem to be in the bar, so she brisk-walked outside. The night air hit her like a beacon. She looked around wildly and chose the left path. She followed the footwalk to a dark alley, where she heard the unmistakeable sound of a grown man sobbing.

"Reece?" she called tentatively.

He didn't answer, but she knew he was there. She knelt down beside a curled-up figure.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

"What are you apologising for?" she whispered.

"For making a scene."

She wasn't sure what to say, so Cerise sat down beside and put her arm around him.

"Can I ask you something?" Reece asked.

"Anything."

"Would you go on a date with me?" he said. "The doctors don't know how much longer I'll live. Maybe not very long. So I just wanna…you know…"

"Shh. I know. And yes, I will," Cerise reassured.

They sat there in silence, and Cerise let a tear roll down her cheek, for the third time this week.

I hope you guys enjoyed! Tell me in the reviews how you feel about Reece's big secret and the newly created tension between Hopper to Briar to Ash to Hunter!