Page 86 of Vegas with my Brother’s Best Friends

Tyler won’t stop bouncing his damn knee over and over again.

Marcus keeps casting looks at Cassidy like she’s going to fall apart any second.

Meanwhile, I can’t even read her expression. She just stares ahead at a woman seated across the room from us with an infant cradled in her arms.

It’s easy to picture her in the same position. Some people are meant to be parents. They just have this maternal or paternal energy that radiates from them, even when they’re not interacting with children. They’re the people you can run to if you’re in trouble or need advice.

She’s that person.

I want to be, but I want to be a lot of things. I want to do a lot of things.

But will I be a good father? Will Tyler or Marcus be good fathers if the child ends up being theirs?

Good people don’t always equal good parents. Some people just can’t do it. I’ve seen that firsthand.

“Cassidy Monroe,” a nurse says after thirty minutes of sitting in silence.

Tyler, Marcus, and I all get up with Cassidy and follow her to the examination room in the back.

“Oh, everyone?” the nurse says as she looks between us.

“Is that okay?” Cassidy asks her as she sits on the edge of the reclined patient table, her cheeks flushing slightly.

I’m sure this isn’t a normal sight, but we don’t need to be treated like a spectacle.

The nurse nods. “Of course. Let me check some things and then I’ll go grab the doctor.”

Cassidy nods, rubbing her knees anxiously as the nurse starts asking her general questions.

Marcus and Tyler sit down in the two seats close to the door. I remain standing next to Cassidy, my arms crossed over my chest as I listen closely.

“And you’re currently sexually active?” the nurse asks Cassidy.

Cassidy glances at the three of us, her face reddening. “Yes.”

I can’t believe we’re here right now. It seems like we were fooling around in Las Vegas just yesterday. Now, we’re in a doctor’s office to see which one of us is the father of her baby.

I never saw this coming. She said she was on birth control, but no way is a hundred percent effective.

We’re just in that small percentile of failure.

“I’ll get Dr. Torres,” the nurse says after jotting down a few more notes on the paper she’s writing on. She stands and walks out of the room, leaving the four of us alone.

“Are you okay?” Marcus asks Cassidy.

Cassidy nods stiffly. “Yeah.”

“You don’t have to act like you’re fine if you’re not,” I tell her. “This is…a lot.”

Cassidy scoffs, her eyes slightly glistening. She rapidly blinks them. “That’s an understatement. Everything is falling apart.”

I wish I could say something that would actually comfort her, but I don’t think those words even exist.

The door to the room opens, and a tall, lean man in a white coat strides inside.

“Hello, everyone,” he says.

Cassidy puts a polite smile on her face, but I can still see the anxiety etched into every single feature on her face. “Hi.”