Nervous.

22 - Shawn

A son. In only a few months, I will be the father to a son. This is real life, but trying to wrap my head around this is still feels like a dream. We heard his heart beat, it's surreal. Id be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little scared. What if I'm not cut out for this? Regardless, I'm not going anywhere.

"Here," Jessica says as we make our way out the clinic, handing me an ultra sound picture that she just carefully teared from the chain of pictures the doctor gave us. "For your mom." I take the picture from her hand and look down at it.

"Thanks," I say, before slipping it into my pocket and clicking the elevator button.

"Thank you both for coming with me today," She says back, smiling over at Aaliyah.

"Now that the doctor proved it's a boy, even though I already knew this entire time, are you going to start decorating the nursery? Can I help? Are you having a gender reveal for the family?" Per usual, Aaliyah's rapid questions are tossed in.

"Aaliyah," I groan.

"What?" She frowns back at me in protest.

"I-I haven't even thought about it," Jessica admits softly. I'm not sure which rapid question she's referring to, maybe all of them? I know for a fact that Jessica has been avoiding all of this. I can see it in her, she's freaked out and has been occupying herself with other things. She hasn't even been taking care of her heath from the looks of her hospital visit the other day. But today, things got more real. We actually saw the baby, he's in her belly, and he's going to be here soon.

We exit the clinic and walk over to the car. "Jess!" someone calls, catching all of our attentions. I look over to see Jessica's "old friend" standing next to his car. He waited for her? Who is this guy?

"David?" Jessica says with a frown. It's obvious she wasn't expecting him nor very fond of his presence. "What are you still doing here?"

He walks over from his car, and approaches her. "I assumed you needed a ride back."

Back? Back where? I want to ask, but it shouldn't be any of my business. "We're her ride," Aaliyah says, attitude dripping from her words. I want to smack her for sounding rude, but I also feel grateful and feel like laughing at her comment.

"Aaliyah," I whisper over to her, "get in the car."

David chuckles Aaliyah off. My sister only frowns and walks over to the passenger side of the car and hops in. "Um--I- I'm just going to head home. Shawn will drop me off," Jessica says, her awkwardness showing in full effect, just like the first night I met her.

"Shawn," David repeats my name. I hate the sound of my name coming from him, I don't know why. "Like Shawn the singer right?" he asks, looking at me. Shit. I guess my hat didn't do the full comoufage effect like I hoped. Dammit, I also forgot to put my sunglasses back on. "I forget your last name. Shawn Martin? Marquez?--"

"Mendes," I correct before he goes on. My tone sounding more rude then I intended, but it feels like he's just messing with me. He knows damn well what my name is.

"Right," he smirks. "Shawn Mendes," he repeats.

I look over at Jessica who looks scared out of her mind. This wasn't the way she wanted people to find out about our circumstances, but it looks like this guy just found us out. Hopefully he's a good "old friend" and keeps this on the low until Jessica is ready for the world to know.

"David, you can't tell anyone," Jess says, her voice low and pleading. "I don't want people talking about my pregnancy in tabloids."

"Of course not," David agrees. "It would be emotionally draining for you. I know." Oh, you know? I roll my eyes. This guy went from teasing me to acting like some kind of understanding hero to Jessica in just a few milliseconds. "I won't tell anyone, but maybe try harder to blend in," he says looking over at me. "The hat did nothing. I recognized you the second you stepped out of that car and I don't even know a single song by you." Is that an insult? I feel anger beginning to boil at the pit of stomach. If he doesn't know a single song by me then how does he even know I sing? Or my name? Or what I look like? He's full of shit.

"Thanks for the suggestion," I say sarcastically, he catches on my tone because he glares back at me with a slight scowl.

"I really want to go home now," Jessica grabs my arm and brings me back down to reality. "Thanks for the ride here, David, and for sticking around. I'll see you at work Monday."

"Anytime. I'll see you," he says back to her. I don't bother saying bye but neither does he. As soon as we get in the car, Aaliyah begins her rant.

"Who the hell does that guy think he is talking to Shawn like that!? He was decrepitly trying to be rude, what was his problem!? Is he some sort of ex boyfriend of yours, Jess!?" Aaliyah exclaims.

"Uh-" Jess begins but stops. "Yeah," she finally admits. An unpleasant feeling creeps up right in same pit of my stomach that I felt my anger boil in earlier.

"He's your ex?" I repeat.

"Yeah. Sorry, I should've said something earlier, I didn't think he was going to stick around after the drop off. But, he was out of state until last week. He just came back into town and unknowingly got a job at the same therapy clinic I work in. And then he kept insisting on dropping me off today. And we work together now so I'm trying to be on mutual ground with him." Her words come spilling out, like she was keeping them in for a while and couldn't wait to get rid of them.

That does not sound like he just "unknowingly" got a job where she works. That can't be coincidence.

"Well he was rude," Aaliyah says. "Hopefully we don't see him again."

"I know, I'm sorry," Jessica responds.

I don't say anything. I start the car and begin our drive to Jessica's apartment.

On the drive, Aaliyah won't stop pressuring Jessica into having a gender reveal party. "Isn't the point of a gender reveal suppose to be a surprise for everyone, including the parents?" Jessica asks.

"Well... yeah," Aaliyah hesitates.

"So then why have one if both Shawn and I know it's a boy?" Jessica says with a short laugh.

"Because-" Aaliyah starts but doesn't finish her sentence. "Fine, I guess you'r right." I laugh at her defeat. "But there at least has to be a baby shower! And what about there nursery? What color are you painting it?"

Silence fills the car. I catch a quick glance at Jessica who looks concerned. "I don't know," Jess finally says.

"Maybe it's time go look at the house?" I propose to her, reminding her that she has a whole ass house waiting for her and the baby whenever she wants it.

Jessica hesitates, but slowly nods in response.

"The house?" Aaliyah questions, but I really don't feel like explaining it all to her.

After a moment passes, Aaliyah is still waiting for an answer. "Uh-" Jessica clears he throat. " Shawn got the baby a house." I want to laugh at how ridiculous it sounds, but I don't.

"You got the baby a house?" Aaliyah asks me in confusion. "Why are you so weird?"

"There isn't room for the baby at Jessica's current apartment," I say, defending myself.

"So you got the baby a house instead?" Aaliyah presses.

"Aaliyah, nows not a good time to discuss this," I say, hoping she'd understand the frustration in me and cut me some slack.

We arrive at Jessica's apartment complex and she hops out. "I'll call the Realestate lady in morning to see if I can get the keys for the house. Think of a color in the mean time," I say to her, hoping to lighten her mood after the awkward encounter outside the clinic.

"I will," she smiles shyly before closing the door and walking away, leaving me with a million and one questions about Devin-- Daniel-- David-- whatever his name is.