What's The Name Of The Game

The next morning, Tianna woke up tangled up with Jon. He woke up around the same time, and they just awkwardly pulled apart.

“Uh, morning,” Jon greeted.

“Good morning,” Tianna replied. They sat there tensely for a moment until there was a knock on Jon’s door. They both breathed a sigh of relief as Jon got up to answer it.

“Tazer,” Patrick greeted on the other side.

“Kaner,” Jon replied. “Sup?”

“We gotta get to the arena soon,” Patrick answered. The boys had a game later, and the girls were just gonna hang around the house and watch. Jon nodded and went around his room, grabbing his stuff. “T-Bag, you’re still up for tomorrow, right?” He was referring to the nightmare known as the family Christmas gathering.

“Yeah, I guess,” she replied, shrugging. Pat nodded and the two boys left soon after. Kara and Tianna just spent a lazy day around the apartment, not really doing much. When it was time for the game, they grabbed a bunch of snacks and plopped in front of the TV.

The Hawks were totally owning the competition, and you could see the other team was getting frustrated. There were a few brawls, but nothing serious. Jon and Pat were constantly getting checked into the boards, and the girls started to become worried for their health.

Tianna cringed when Jon got a high stick to the face, and since blood was drawn it was a four minute penalty.

The Hawks came out with the win, and Tianna and Kara waited anxiously for the boys to get home. A couple hours passed and the girls just decided they were going to go to bed. Suddenly, the door was thrown open and then slammed back shut as the two players entered the apartment. Jon and Pat stormed past the girls and went into their respective bedrooms, once again slamming the doors behind them.

The girls exchanged wide-eyed glances, but their gazes were torn apart by both men simultaneously busting their doors open again. Patrick made a bee-line for Kara while Jon did the same toward Tianna. Both girls were grabbed and hauled off in different directions, each toward their man's room. Tianna jumped slightly as Jon slammed the door behind her.

“Uh, are you okay?” Tianna attempted. Jon turned around and Tianna held in a gasp. He had bruises on his face, and a cut above his eye where the stick had hit him. The side of his lip was busted too, and she could only imagine what kind of bruises were under his uniform.

Jon was about to snap back some comment, but when he saw the genuinely concerned look on her face he softened a bit.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” he mumbled, grabbing some sweatpants out of a drawer. “I mean, we got the win, so I guess I can’t get too upset.”

“The other team attacked you! I don’t blame you for being upset about that,” Tianna offered. Jon nodded and went into the bathroom to change.

“Do you want some ice or something?” Tianna asked when he came back out.

“Nah, I just want to sleep. I have a feeling we have an interesting day ahead of us,” he mumbled.

“You have no idea,” she responded.

That wasn’t exactly the comforting statement Jon was looking for.

Jon awoke the next morning, with Tianna unsurprisingly in his arms. Actually, it’s not that he was unsurprised, because it did startle him every time it happened. A better word would have been…familiarly. It was familiar to have her in his arms, even though it only happened twice before.

In any case, he liked it.

He pulled away before she woke up however, because yesterday was awkward when they woke up in a similar position.

What he didn’t know was that she was already awake, and waiting for him to move. Once he did, she acted like she just woke up as well.

“Morning,” she smiled.

“Morning,” Jon replied, going to shower.

While everyone was bumbling about, getting ready for the upcoming events, Tianna was just kind of lazily meandering around the apartment. She had already showered after Jon, and had nothing to pack since most of her stuff was at the house anyways.

She was kind of glad everyone else was taking a while, because it delayed going home just a little bit longer.

Patrick drove his truck to where his aunt resided. Jon and Tianna were in the backseat, but they didn’t interact much. Kara was sitting shotgun, but she was sleeping. When he pulled up in the driveway, he saw Tianna take a deep breath. Everyone grabbed their stuff and approached the front door, Tianna lagging behind. Patrick knocked on the door, and seconds later an older looking woman opened it.

“Patrick!!!” She exclaimed, yanking him forward in a hug.

“Hey Aunt Jenny,” he replied. When they parted, Pat pulled Jon forward. “This is Jonathan, my teammate.”

“Hello Jonathan!” She greeted, pulling him in for a hug as well. Jon was caught off guard, to say the least, but managed to hug her back politely. “Those are quite the injuries you’ve got there.”

“Uh, yeah,” he said, pulling back. “Hockey,” he shrugged. They all walked in, and Tianna shut the door behind her, staying near to it. Her mom hadn’t spotted her yet, and Tianna planned on keeping it that way as long as possible.

“Aunt Jenny, this is my girlfriend, Kara. But you already know her, she’s Tianna’s friend,” Patrick introduced.

“Yes, yes,” she smiled, hugging Kara as well. “So, you two are dating now?” She teased slyly. Patrick and Kara nodded, going to each other’s side. “Well then, let’s get you all settled.”

“Wait, Aunt Jen. Uh, there’s someone else,” Patrick said, motioning to the door. Tianna’s mom turned towards Tianna, and time seemed to stand still.

“Hey mom,” Tianna offered shyly. Her mom looked her up and down, studying her.

“Oh, you’re not staying?” Her mom asked, noticing her daughter’s lack of bags. There was no disguising the hopefulness in her tone.

“Um, actually, I came for Christmas. I hoped we could talk,” Tianna answered.

“Talk. Talk about what?”

The fact that she seemed to honestly not know what Tianna could want to talk about tipped Jonathan off that this indeed would be an unpleasant trip. He had been hopeful, after Jenny’s displays of niceness, that everyone had just been over exaggerating the situation. Guess not.

“Um, you know, just talk,” Tianna shrugged. Jonathan was used to Tianna being a kind of hard-ass, so seeing her this meek and vulnerable was strange for him.

Tianna’s mom didn’t respond as she turned back to Patrick.

“Anyways, let’s get you in your rooms!” She started walking away, and Pat begrudgingly followed with Kara in tow. Tianna slumped against the door, blowing her bangs out of her eyes. Jon started to walk towards her, when a loud “Jonathan!” was heard down the hall from her mom. He walked away and left Tianna, who was regretting ever returning.

She was in the belly of the beast now though, and there was no going back.

A little bit later everyone came back, but Tianna’s mom was ignoring her daughter, as usual. Tianna rolled her eyes at the absurdness, but didn’t say anything.

“Well, I should go start preparing the dishes for tomorrow,” Tianna’s mom stated.

“T and I will help,” Patrick offered, getting up.

“Oh, Patrick, you are too sweet. Tianna, you can stay in here. I don’t need you in there constantly getting in the way.” She grabbed Patrick’s arm and led him away, and he just shot his cousin an apologetic look. “Kara and Jon, you’re welcome to join too!” With that, she and Patrick disappeared into the kitchen.

Tianna, clenched her jaw for multiple reasons. One, she was afraid of what might come out of her mouth if she let it. Two, she was trying to hold back tears.

“Jon, why don’t you go in the kitchen,” Kara said, grabbing her friend’s hand. Jon nodded and left, leaving Kara to console Tianna.

When Jon entered the kitchen, he heard Patrick trying to reason with his aunt about Tianna, but she wouldn’t listen.

The rest of the night went similarly, with Tianna’s mom completely putting Tianna down as often as possible. Jon couldn’t believe that Tianna lasted so long before without breaking. Tianna had retreated to bed early, and Jon didn’t blame her.

He went into his room a few hours later, which apparently happened to be Tianna’s room too, because she was already in bed and under the covers.

When he got in bed, he saw she was sleeping, but he also noticed she’d been crying. He didn’t know what to do, so he just wrapped her in his arms and pulled her close to his body, hoping she’d feel at least somewhat comforted.