Worth The Wait

CH. 19

Sidney woke up with his arms linked around Phoebe. “I don’t want you to leave,’ he groaned.

With her eyes still closed she smiled. “I don’t either.”

“I have a proposition for you,” he flirted at her.

“Oh really? We haven’t been awake two minutes and you already want to bargin?”

“Yes. Well, no. I thought of it last night but I didn’t want to talk about you leaving until I absolutely had to.”

“Well, what is this plan Crosby?”

“I know you have to go back to Philly to talk to your parents and stuff. I understand it’s the responsible thing to do and all but I need you to come back as soon as you can.”

“And why is that?”

“Because. I have to take you out on our first official date.”

She smiled a smile of unexpected jubilation. “Really?”

“Yes weirdo,” he teased. “We’re finally at the place where I can treat you like a princess, not just inappropriately cross the line of we’re friends-but-not-really-and-all-I-really-want-to-do-is-kiss-you.” Then he brought his lips to meet hers unashamed of the newfound freedom he had to do so.

“We never really had a line to be honest with you,” she flirtatiously stated as their lips parted.

“I obviously know that, but you never would have admitted it.”

She snuggled up tighter into him. “I’m sorry I’m so damn stubborn.”

“It’s okay. You’re my stubborn ass,” he teased as he kissed her forehead.

*****************************************************

After prying herself out of bed, showering, eating breakfast and unable to resist making love to Sidney, Phoebe dragged herself to her car. She didn’t want to go back to Philly. She didn’t want to deal with her family or Mike. She didn’t feel like she had to explain anything to anyone, but she knew that wasn’t the truth. Had she not just had her bridal shower it wouldn’t have mattered as much, but things spiraled out of control because she let them, and she had to take responsibility for it. Sid had left about ten minutes before she did. She thought it was a little weird that he sacrificed any amount of time to be together, and left her to grab some stuff she would need for her extremely short trip, but when she finally got to her car she understood.

She smiled as she opened her car door and saw a teddy bear strapped into her passenger seat. The bear was holding a card and the envelope obviously had her name on it. She reached over and removed the card, taking it out of its paper sleeve, opened it and read what was inside. It was a beautiful generic card but what she was interested in was the hand-written note that Sid had left for her:

“My Phoebe-

I know you’re about to go on an extremely difficult trip and I’m sorry I can’t go with you. I just want you to know that I’m proud of you and no matter what I’ll be here for you. I’ll always be your shoulder to lean on and I’ll be waiting for you to get back. You’re everything I could have ever asked for in another person and more, I promise I’ll love you forever.

-Sid
Tears welled in Phoebe's eyes as she finished reading the card and immediately giggled at the thought of how in sync they were with each other. She had wrote a note to Sidney, putting it secretly in the back pocket of his jeans, telling him that she loved him and couldn’t wait to get back to Pittsburgh so they could begin the rest of their lives together, that he had nothing to worry about…granted she used a lot more words than that, and she thought it was a romantic gesture but Sid had blown her out of the water.

After driving the tedious drive she had to in order to get to her parents, Phoebe’s stomach began to tighten with knots. She didn’t know what to say to them. She planned on telling them the truth but she was unsure of how they would take it. She parked in front of their house and took a deep breath to coax herself into getting out of the car. She hesitantly walked to the front door and opted to knock on it in lieu of using her house key.

When her mother opened the door Phoebe knew by the look on her face that this trip wasn’t going to be an easy one.

“Where have you been?” her mother questioned with bitterness lingering in her words.

“I need to talk to you guys,” Phoebe quietly responded.

“That’s a damn understatement.” Her mother extended her arm, opening the front door implying that Phoebe needed to go inside. She did and walked into the living room, too afraid to sit.

“Where the hell have you been?” her mother asked again, this time louder.

“Mom. I-I know you’re angry…”

“Angry? You left during your bridal shower! I think you stayed for the entire thing but I couldn’t even tell you that!”

“I was here mom…”

“Let me finish! We go through all this trouble to plan a wedding, a bridal shower, all for you, and you are so unappreciative that you have the audacity to run off without telling a single person where you’re going? We don’t hear from you for days and then you show up on my doorstep. I hope you realize you’re ruining your life, you’re making a huge mistake fucking this Crosby kid.”

Phoebe froze, her eyes popped open and she swallowed in shock. “How-how did you know...”

“It was all over the NHL network, pictures of you and him.” Phoebe became momentarily paralyzed. She never even thought about being photographed with Sidney and now her family had a distorted version of the truth and she didn’t even get to tell them first. And on top of that Mike…she couldn’t even allow herself to think about it anymore, she just knew she was going to throw up if she permitted her brain to keep scrambling about. “I talked to Mike and he filled me in.”

“You talked to Mike?” she asked in horror, her stomach continuing to rise.

“Yeah, I talked to your fiancée. FIANCEE, Phoebe! The man you’re supposed to be marrying in mere weeks! He’s devastated! You better have an explanation for this because if you think I’m furious, you won’t want to be here when your father gets home.”

Phoebe felt the tears lingering behind her eyes. She could try all she wanted to be strong and keep them locked away but the second she started speaking they revealed themselves. “Mom…please…let me explain…”

Her mother looked at her stoically, a look she’d never seen before. “This better be damn good.”

“Just sit down and I’ll tell you everything.” Thankfully, Phoebe watched as her mom did what Phoebe requested. “I’m sorry. I know I was wrong. I know I messed up but you’re only seeing a tiny portion of what’s happening.”

“And what’s that Phoebe? That we’re paying for you to go to school in Pittsburgh and while you’re there you’ve turned into a mattress for fucking hockey players? All but the one you’re marrying?”

“No. Mom…” Phoebe’s sobs were preventing her from breathing. She had to get control of her emotions or she was never going to be able to make it through this conversation. “I’ve never been completely honest with you about my relationship with Mike.”

“What do you mean?”

“I know that I’ve been with Mike for as long as either one of us can remember. I know that on the outside we look like the perfect couple, but it isn’t true. I’ve never been happy with him. He only proposed because I moved away. He’s been living his life here in Philadelphia and I’ve been sitting around waiting for him in Pittsburgh. He’d never tell you that he’s cheated on me the entire time or that he barely made any effort to act like my fiancée.” Phoebe felt her knees buckling and finally needed to sit down. “I met Sidney completely on accident. We met at Starbucks. He spilled his coffee on me and felt so bad about it he walked me home. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t attracted to him, but I never had an intention of this. I…I became friends with him and he was so honest and so loyal and I tried to fight it. But you know what? When you’re spending nights alone in your room with no one there, not going out with friends because your absent fiancée doesn’t like it yet he has no problem going out, doing whatever he pleases and screwing whatever comes his way…then it gets hard not to accept an invite from a guy who treats you like gold. I didn’t intend to fall in love with him but mom…he loves me and he respects me and he won me over. Not because he put the moves on me or seduced me…because he loved me enough to let me go.”

Phoebe searched her mother for a reaction. Her heart was pounding but it felt so relieving to finally get all this off her chest. She’d been holding in the truth for so long and it finally got to a point where she just couldn’t do it anymore.

“…Why didn’t you ever tell me any of this if it’s the truth?”

“How could I? Mike puts on the perfect front in front of you guys. Why do you think he finally decided to set a date? He knew I was going to end things with him and he wanted to destroy any pending happiness I had with Sidney. The reality of it is that him and Sid…they hate each other. And Mike can’t stand losing to him. It has nothing to do with him loving me and wanting to marry me, it has to do with him hating to lose to Sid. I’m sorry I let it get this far mom, I really am, but I can’t pretend to be happy with Mike because I don’t think that the man you marry is supposed to treat you the way Mike treats me.”

Phoebe breathed in heavily, unsure of what to say next. Her mother finally looked at her after sitting in a contemplative silence and took in a deep breath.“If this Sidney character is as wonderful as you say he is, your father and I expect to meet him.” Phoebe was unsure whether or not her mom was being genuine or mocking her words, but when she saw the slight smile spread on mothers face, she smiled too. Phoebe knew her mom was finally on her side, or at least on her way.

****************************************************
Half her battle was over, Phoebe knew that, and she survived it. She faced her mother and finally told her the truth. Now she had to tell Mike, who she was certain already knew their fate. If he truly cared? She wasn’t sure.

As tempting as it was for her to start driving back to Pittsburgh opposed to Mike’s place, she resisted and forced herself to go see him. She didn’t know what he’d say to her or how he would react but as she waited on the outside of his door and he opened it she could tell it was going to be worse than the trip to her parents.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” he spat.

“We need to talk Mike.”

“About?”

“Everything! All the stuff we haven’t talked about in all the years we’ve been together!”

“What’s there to say Phoebe? You’ve been fucking Crosby behind my back and I’m the one who is at fault.”

“You aren’t?” she spat in disbelief. “What about all the years I sat in Pittsburgh waiting for you to set a date. Huh? What about all the girls you fucked while we were engaged? What about that stuff? The fact that you never called me, never acted like a man who was engaged to be married. The only thing that prompted you to set a date was the fact that you knew you were threatened in some way by Crosby. Other than that you couldn’t give a shit about me or my feelings.”

“Shut the fuck up! You’re nothing but a whore. The moment things get hard you run to someone else.”

“You know that isn’t true. You know I would’ve waited for you forever…but I fell in love with someone who actually loves me back in the meantime.”

“And what,” Mike crept towards her. “What happens when the thrill of it all fades?” he stopped in front of her, standing so close to her that their bodies were almost touching. He leaned down and brought his mouth to her ear. “What’s going to keep him from doing the exact same thing I’ve been doing for years?” he whispered.

Phoebe breathed out slowly and took in deep, uneasy breaths. “He wouldn’t,” she stammered.

“How do you know that? We’re not that different. He’ll have his cake and eat it too…only difference is you’d figure it out faster because you live in the same town. Girls throw themselves at him constantly, believe me I know the feeling. Too bad we couldn’t make this work-you and I- I would’ve had the perfect wife and still been able to fuck whatever I wanted.”

Hearing Mike’s revelations made Phoebe sick. Without thinking she raised her hand and slapped him across the face. He moved back and looked at her with rage in his eyes.

He reached around and grabbed the hair on the back of her head. “Your new fuck isn’t going to want to look at you when you get home,” he laughed sadistically and in a move that surprised even Phoebe, forcefully shoved her down. She felt her face go numb when he hit her and grabbed the side he struck. Tears treaded down her cheek and she looked up at him in disbelief. There was nothing to say. He looked almost remorseful when he saw what he had done, but she grabbed her stuff and scrambled out the door before he could say a word.