My mom was just about ready to burst. The whole family was at the breakfast table, and my mom could barely reach her plate having her belly between her and the table. My dad wasn't giving it any thought, but she was straining more than usual, grimacing even, and I asked her if everything was okay.
"I think so, sweetie," she said. "It's just kicking, maybe."
Meanwhile my sister was next to me, biting her lower lip. You've got to understand something about my sister, Courtney — there isn't a more jealous person on the planet. When I worked two jobs to get a car, she forced my parents to buy her one for her eighteenth birthday, even though she doesn't like to drive. She takes note of how much all of her friends spend on their birthday parties, and then makes sure hers cost double. That sort of girl. And for the past nine months she's been mad as can be that my mom's been getting all the attention while pregnant, just because she's forced to sit the sidelines for once.
"She's fine," Courtney said. "She's always making it out to be worse than it is."
I kicked her under the table, and she returned it with a punch to my shoulder.
"You two stop," my dad said, putting the newspaper down. The action finally made him take a look at my mom. "Hun, maybe Mike is right. You don't look so great."
It wasn't long before we were preparing to head to the hospital. Courtney didn't want to go, but dad was adamant the whole family wait it out together, just in case this was really the big moment. But Courtney took so long to get ready that my dad couldn't wait, and said I should just take her in my own car.
Of course, I had to wait thirty minutes for her get out of her room. She'd put on a pair of ass-hugging yoga pants and a high-cropped white sweatshirt that exposed the entirety of her abs and put her tits on display for anyone who cared to look.
"Really?" I said.
She pushed her tits together, winked, and blew a kiss to me, before rolling her eyes and flipping me off and tossing her blonde hair behind her head. "Nobody asked for your opinion, jackass."
By the time we got to the hospital my mom had already been admitted, my dad was pacing in the waiting area, and Courtney was chewing gum and texting on her phone. I have to admit that I was as nervous as my dad, and I kept checking the clock and tapping my foot on the linoleum. Then Courtney put her hand on my leg and sneered at me.
"Quit. The fucking. Racket."
I guess I long ago stopped wondering what happened to the sister I used to have. It's no coincidence she turned into a bratty selfish bitch when she got a pair of double D's and an ass that could grip a baseball in its clutches. Every guy wanted her — she'd learned to play the role expected of her. But that didn't mean she was about to boss around the same older brother who'd kept her in line the last eighteen years of her existence.
Before she could take her hand off my lap I grabbed it with my own and pulled her up. "Come here," I said.
"Fuck you!" she said, trying to pull away. I tightened my grip. "That wasn't a request."
My dad roared: "Both of you stop this—" Suddenly the doors swung open and a nurse appeared. "Mr. Connolly. It's time." His eyes went bright with the news. "Follow me," she said, "We'll get you prepped."
For a moment he looked back at us with a stern grimace before following the nurse. The room fell silent, and the few people who were there had their eyes glued on Courtney and me. With one swift motion I pulled her forward and led her down the hallway into the men's bathroom.
"Jesus Christ, Mike, what the hell's your problem?!" She looked flustered, strands of hair falling down past her eyes, getting caught on her ruby red lipstick.
