Loving the Game

* Mama's Baby, Daddy's Maybe *

• Deshawn's POV •

"Harris!" The nurse called as she entered the waiting room. I sat there in one of those cushioned wooden chairs reading a magazine article on how to train your dog. I always wanted a dog of my own but momma didn't like animals and it was a monthly fee to have one in the apartments I lived in.
I stood up and walked towards her. "I'm just going to check your weight, height, and blood pressure if that's alright." She informed me. I nodded even though I wasn't alright with that. I never have been a big fan of going to the doctor because the percentage of hearing bad news was high.
"Stand here for me," the nurse said pushing me towards the scale.
"Ahh, weight: 205 lbs. and your height is...6'1" which pretty decent overall. Let's see your blood pressure is 115/65 which is even better. You take care of yourself pretty well Mr. Harris," the nurse applauded," at least on the inside." She was pointing toward my foot that was still wrapped up in a Ace bandage. "Nothing major," I assured her. "Alright, so it says here that your here to take a DNA test."
"Yes" I confirmed.
The nurse sighed,"Don't want any kids?" She had me follow her to an office and sit on the hospital bed as she asked the question.
I raised my eyebrow because technically that was none of her business. All she needed to do for me was swab me for a non invasive parental paternity test and see does it match the DNA from Ashleigh's bloodstream that came from the baby. I was already ready to get out of here even though I just got in, but I decided to answer her question anyways.
"No, I'd like to have some...later on in life," I answered truthfully.
"Ahh so was this a slip up?" She wondered while putting on a pair of blue latex gloves.
"I'd rather call it a false accusation."
The nurse dipped the ends of the cotton swab in something that resembled Vaseline. "Open up," she warned. I let my jaw drop. She took the swab and ran it across the inside of my jaw and used the other end for the other jaw. "Perfect," she said as she put the swab into a plastic bag. She went over to the counter where she pulled out a small tube of blood labeled PATERNITY DNA TEST: A. BROWN.
"Give me about five minutes and I'll be back with results. Sit tight," the nurse said shutting the door to the office.

I sighed and laid back on the cot with my hands over my head. I wasn't the least bit worried but I knew there was still a chance that this wasn't going to go in my favor. I didn't even tell anyone I was going to be here today. Mostly because I didn't like people in my business that weren't supposed to be in it. I rubbed my hand across my face   praying I wouldn't have to tell any of this to my momma and sister. More so that I wouldn't have a chance with Brianne because of this. Why her standards got to be so damn high anyways? Because she's a good girl, i thought to myself, at least that's what she has me believing. She was pretty pissed at me yesterday but I knew she wasn't going to get it. Yes the usage crack ruined my family but not the selling. So far the selling has paid for my way out, but nobody really knew that except for Bri. If my momma knew she would of bout damn near had a heart attack because she hated anything that reminded her of crack. She even disliked baby powder she made us use the lotion growing up instead. (Which was something I found ridiculous) But what I was selling it for was a good thing in my eyes. Where I come from you don't see to many educated black men making it do what it do and I want to be that. If I have to do some illegal to get legal...well that's my choice. Getting a job wasn't too much of an option because it wasn't enough money and well... I wasn't too good with working with certain people and their authority.

There was a knock on the office door and then a click from it being opened. The nurse entered the room with a big vanilla envelope in her hand. She wasn't as cheerful and questionable as before either. I sat back up.
"I have your results Mr. Harris," she stated firmly.
"Good," I said clasping my hands together," tell me."
"What do you think it says?" She asked handing me the envelope.
I stared at the paper in my hand...her choice of words were making me too scared to open it up. She already knew what was inside because she put it there.
"...I...I don't know," I shrugged.
"Take a look," she urged.
I tore the packet open three sheets of paper were inside. The first one was a copy of the confidentiality form I signed at the receptionist desk when I first came in. The second one was a bunch of statistics such as tables, percentages, and graphs that only the doctors in here were probably able to understand. At the bottom of that page it had my name, Ashleigh's name, and how many weeks she was which was 9. I felt my heart skip a beat as I flipped to the final page. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before I finally looked at it. Towards the middle of the third page it read:

The alleged father, Deshawn Michael Harris Jr., CAN be excluded as the biological father of the unborn child of, Ashleigh Lauryn Brown. Based on the genetic test results, the probability of paternity is 99.9% when compared to an untested, unrelated random individual of the African American population (assumes prior probability equals 0.50)

Under that was the signature of the head doctor here, the nurse, and a place for me to put mine.
"I don't know whether to say congratulations or I'm...sorry," the nurse smiled.
"You can say congrats," I mumbled. I was so happy on the inside that I couldn't express it on the out. "Well you don't have to worry about breaking the news to the mother of the child, our front desk will be responsible for handling that procedure."
"Thank you," I uttered. "Now you're free to go, Mr. Harris. Go straight and take a left to exit the building." I nodded and got up of the cot. As I headed for the door and went down the hall, I pulled out my phone and began to dial Bri's number.
Now nothing, not Ash, the baby, not even my rudeness, was in the way of us giving this 'relationship' thing a try anymore.