How did Nick know?

"You told him!" I scream at Lauren. But she looked equally shocked and confused as I felt. "How? Since when?" I asked.

Calm down sis, and I'll tell you.

"About three months ago I was at a conference near your campus. At some point, I saw Paul and some blond girl getting into a car outside your apartment. I didn't think much of that at the time other than that the girl looked familiar. "

"Kelly was also out of town that week, helping out at a salon that had a lot of wedding guests booked."

My mind was racing. I could see the lines forming of how this weird set of circumstances had given him a suspicion. But I couldn't figure out why.

"When we both got home she showed me this picture she had taken on her phone" Kelly handed me her phone and I looked at the picture. I was sitting next to Cindy and some other girls at the salon, getting our hair and makeup done before the wedding. How had I missed Kelly? Had she been there the whole time?

"Kelly thought it was cute how this one girl at the salon had looked so much like mom when she was younger". Holy shit! You looked back at the picture, and he was so right. You looked so much like your mother. You remembered the wedding photo on the wall back home. She must have been around my age then.

"And I thought it was weird that she was the same girl Paul got into the car with," Nick explained.

"And that made you think it was me?" I asked.

"Not at first but there were some other things. "

"What other things?"

"Well, you said you were out camping that week. And I asked you afterward how it went. Then you said it was fine, and that you all fell asleep under a starlit sky. But... since I was in town that week I know that it was pissing down with rain, and also you would never say stuff like falling asleep under the starlit sky." Shit, he was right about that last part. Aaron would not have said that.

"There were a few times after that, where I texted and you kept giving me the heart emoji, instead of your usual lol". Yep, that too was an obvious tell, you thought.

And finally, when Lauren called to invite us out to dinner with a surprise she sort of confirmed it.

"I KNEW IT!" I exclaimed. "You told him" pointing at Lauren.

"No, she didn't" Nick interrupted. "She called me at the office... with your phone." I didn't understand, but Paul nodded in apparent understanding.

"Your caller id says Erin now" Paul answered.

I just sat there gaping at him. "Well if construction stuff doesn't work out for you, you could always become a detective or something." Nick laughed. "Yepp you guys should try harder to surprise me next time."

"Laurens pregnant" I shot in quickly. Lauren nearly choked on the bottle of water she was drinking.

"WHAT? NO WAY! I'm gonna be an uncle?" Nick smiled and laughed.