"I love you, Nick."

"I love you too, Lyn."

He wraps her long dark hair around his fingers and takes her lips in a deep hungry kiss. She kisses him back with just as much force and desire.

No!

She backs up towards the bed and pulls him down with her, wrapping her legs around his waist.

Stop!

"Oh, Nick..." She moans.

This isn't real. This isn't happening.

"Marcel!"

The sound of my name jolts me and my eyes snapped open.

"Yo, get up." It's Lee. He looks at me with worry in his eyes. Just great.

Another nightmare. More reasons for him to worry about me.

I get up, wordlessly, and walk towards my bathroom to get the shower running. It's almost becoming a routine; waking up sticky with sweat from a nightmare about Evelyn and that rich playboy.

I'm so sick of this.

Lee waits until I finish taking a shower and getting dressed before he begins. "This is getting out of control, man. You're hardly eating, you spend your time either buried in work or buried in this house. And now you have constant nightmares."

I go to the kitchen to make some coffee. He follows. "So? I'm still living aren't I?" I shrug.

"This is no way to live, Cel." I get the coffee started and grab a mug from the cupboard and some creamer. "Do you think she would want you to be like this?"

I freeze. Slowly, I place the mug and the creamer down. "Do you really think she cares how or what I'm doing?" I ask, gritting my teeth. "She left. She left me."

"You made her leave," he fires back.

"What is this? Some kind of daily reminder? I know, okay. It was all my fault. Now can you please go?"

I can't believe after everything I was going through, everything he just pointed out, that he just threw that back in my face.

"No. That's not what I meant."

I shake my head and pour my coffee into the mug and add the creamer. "What do you want from me, Lee?" I ask as I take a sip from my coffee. I add sugar.

"Everything isn't your fault. But you did make Lyn leave because you thought it was," he says. My eyebrows furrow as stare at him. I am completely confused. Maybe I needed to make this coffee stronger. "I know you're confused but come with me and I'll explain better."

I stare at him some more then add more sugar to​ my coffee. "Fine. But I'm taking my coffee with me. Think I'll need it."

He mutters something under his breath but I don't catch it as I'm already making my way to the door. We drive for about fifteen minutes then we stop in a familiar neighborhood. We get out of his car and climb the small steps to J's porch.

Joey swings the door open before we even get to the door. "Hey guys. Get in," he orders.

When we enter the house, he leads​ us to the living room where I see some more of my friends. There's Kyle, Drew, Hank and Kobe. Their attention turns to me. All wearing serious expressions on their faces.

"What's going on?" I ask, turning to Lee. He said he would explain better. But now I'm more confused.

Then it clicks. Joey hadn't dropped the issue about that night at the party. I haven't heard from him again after he called last week saying he would fix everything.

"Take a look at this," Kyle says, handing me a piece of paper. It looks like a DNA test. I look at it closer. It's​... mine. Saying I'm a 99.9% match and that I'm the father.

"How did you get this?" I ask. It looks just like the one Ariel gave me.

"I made it," he replies, shrugging. Kyle is of average height and has dirty blonde hair. He isn't very muscular but he's sort of the brains of the group of us. "It's not hard. They sell DNA collection kits, you know."

"DNA what?" I wish I had more coffee.

"DNA collection kits," Kyle repeats. "Got one online. It has detailed instructions on how to collect a sample and certificates to show that you match and ones​ that shows that you don't. It's supposed to be used as a prank."

"This looks just like-"

"This," Lee says, handing me the original results I got from Ariel. He must've gotten it from my drawer in my room. "The only difference is the place and date you got the test and some other tiny details."

"But that's not hard to forge either," Kyle adds.

"You're saying Ariel forged my results? What about the original?" My head is spinning. "But how do I know for sure she did this? She's obviously not going to confess. Neither is she going to agree to another test," I tell them.

"We know. I think you're forgetting we know Ariel too," Joey pipes up. "It's simple, really. Just go back to whichever doctor you went to and ask for the original. They might've given it to Ariel but the lab is supposed to keep a copy. So they can get it from them."

"Okay. But what if I am the father after all? You guys are forgetting that detail about me waking up next to her. Naked."

"Well that's why I'm here," Kobe says, standing up from the couch.

Kobe's tall, dark skinned and has a commanding presence. He and Hank shared those qualities except Hank is a lot more muscular. Drew's Latino but he didn't fit the stereotype where Latinos are always covered in tattoos and such. He did wear his dark hair long, though.

"Joey said he told you that he asked around to find out who Ariel was really with that night." I nod. "It was me. No questions asked. I wasn't as drunk as the rest of guys to forget."

"What do you remember from that night?" Joey asks, his auburn hair falling over his forehead.

I sigh. "Not much. You guys had me drinking a lot that night. But I remember that she showed up late for the party even though it was her house. I saw her when I was outside getting some fresh air. We talked and she led me back to the dancefloor. The next thing I know I woke up next to her the next morning."

"Well we'll fill you in." Kobe said.

"I was dancing with a lot of girls that night. So I was on the dancefloor for half the night. You and Ariel were close by at one point and I heard you two talking and I butt in," Hank says. "You were telling her something about how Drew and Kyle could've thrown the party at one of their houses. And I said Ariel hardly stays at that place and besides those two cowards have girlfriends who wouldn't agree with it."

Images started to flash across my mind.

"Shut up. At least we have girlfriends." Drew yelled over the music.

Girlfriends... Evelyn.

"Marcel, are you okay?" Ariel asked, running her fingers over my chest. My shirt was unbuttoned halfway down and she was dancing really close to me.

"She started muttering something about Evelyn," Hank goes on. "I'm not sure what. The red head I was dancing with said something to me and I laughed. Next thing I know you were running up the stairs."

"I'm fine. I need to call Lyn." I said, mostly to myself.

"Who's Lyn?" Ariel pouted. I told her Lyn was my girlfriend. "Your girlfriend let you come to a wild party like this without her? Does she not know that you're on my most wanted list?"

"What?"

"Don't play dumb, Marcel. You know I still want you." She giggled.

I couldn't have gotten away from her any faster than I did. I went upstairs and found the closest room I could that wasn't occupied and dialed Evelyn. But she didn't pick up.

So I sat on the bed in the room and waited for her to pick up.

"When you went upstairs, it was the last any of us saw you for the night," Joey says.

"I took the red head upstairs to handle my business and saw you fast asleep in one of the rooms we passed," Hank says. "Fully clothed and alone," he adds.

"I saw Ariel dancing with some guy I'm sure wasn't invited to the party and cut in. She started getting touchy feely so eventually we went upstairs," Kobe speaks. "And like Hank here, checking for available rooms, I saw you fast asleep. Fully clothed and alone."

Shit. I've forced myself to forget that night for a month; seems I did. And when Ariel came around and we did that test, I just gave up and accepted that it happened whether I remembered or not.

I look at the guys. I guess I should've come to them sooner instead of dodging everybody. I guess I sort of blamed them for that night too.

I run a hand through my hair and took a seat. This is overwhelming. Imagine finding out that everything you've been through for the past three to four months is a lie.

"So does that mean the baby's yours, Kobe?" I ask. The thought runs across my mind despite everything else.

"Uh... that's another thing," Hank says hesitantly. I groan. There's more? "Have you noticed that the belly is a little bigger than three and a half months?"

Apparently, I'm the only one of us who didn't notice that detail. But Hank was a ladies' expert in a way so of course he'd point that out. Everyone turns to look at him except Kobe and Joey, who I'm guessing already spoke to him about this.

"What? I've dated pregnant chicks before. I know stuff," he defends. Kyle and Drew roll their eyes. "Anyway, Ariel looks to be about five months. I could be wrong, though. Every pregnancy is different."

"With that said, I'm willing to bet it's not mine either. But I can't be sure. So we're gonna help each other," Kobe says.

"We're going to find out what Ariel's up to and make her come clean," Kyle voices out.

"About everything," Joey adds.

I nod. But my head is hardly here. All I can think about now is Evelyn. Would it change anything now that I know that I didn't cheat on her? Now that I'm not having a baby with another woman?

I'm​ hoping it would. But I know I hurt her in other ways. That time I told her it was over. That time I told her to let go. I might've screwed everything up.

"Cel," one of them calls. I hadn't noticed I zoned out.

"Yeah?"

"Are you gonna go get your girl or not?" Joey asks.

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