Those Will Be The Best Memories

Maddy sat in her bathtub completely dressed with her makeup on. For the past twenty minutes, she had locked herself away in her master bathroom, chewing on her bottom lip and playing silently with her fingers.

Three consecutive knocks sounded on the door, “Mads? Are you okay?”

Maddy let her head fall back against the wall of the bathtub as her hand closed around the object in her hand. Ben continued to knock, softly asking her to unlock the door and tell him what was wrong but Madeline simply sat there, ignoring him.

“Madeline, if you don’t open the door I’m going to bust it down; I’m not joking,” Ben said, his voice becoming louder.

Maddy stared down at the object in her hand as she went over the actions in her hand. No matter what she did, it wouldn’t turn out right. It was now or never.

Madeline stood up in the bathtub, her bare feet sticking to the bottom of the white tub, the bright orange nail-polish providing a contrast, and stepped out. She placed the object onto the counter and walked over to the door. Unlocking it, Maddy opened it slightly until she could see Ben’s frustrated face.

“Hi,” Maddy whispered.

Ben gave her a concerned look as he pushed the door open farther, “What the hell are you doing, Maddy?”

Madeline simply turned around, closed the lid on the toilet, and sat down. Ben walked into the bathroom but was silent. The only sounds were those of the cartoons that were playing on the television in the next room for Matthew.

“I don’t know, Ben. I don’t know anymore,” Madeline whispered as she placed her head into her hands.

Ben raised his eyebrow as he leaned against the wall, “What do you mean you don’t know? You just locked yourself in the bathroom for twenty minutes.”

Madeline stared over at the counter and more specifically at the object she had placed on it. It seemed to mock her the longer she stared at it until she couldn’t stare any longer.

“Just, look on the counter,” Maddy told Ben.

Ben looked down at the counter, confused at first, until he saw the small, white, plastic stick sitting beside the sink closest to the toilet.

Ben slowly walked over, his heart beating, and looked at the object; a pregnancy test.

The pink plus sign seemed to glare at him, all bright and happy looking, as all thoughts were wiped out of his mind. Ben carefully picked up the pregnancy test and held up in front of his face, running his thump over the plus sign.

“I’m sorry Ben,” Maddy whispered, not daring to look at her boyfriend’s face.

Ben walked over to Madeline and kneeled down in front of her, still holding the pregnancy test in both hands.

“I…I don’t…I don’t understand why you’re sorry,” Ben said, shaking his head.

Maddy immediately looked up at her boyfriend’s clean shaved face with wide eyes, “You’re not upset?”

Ben shook his head, “Well… no not really. We already have one; I knew we were going to have another one eventually. Now is as good a time as any.”

Madeline gave out a quiet laugh, “I always think I have you figured out and then you just… surprise me.”

Ben smiled and stood up, his knees quietly clicking as he stood up and held his hand out to his girlfriend, “Why, because I was so upset when you told me you were pregnant with Matt?”

Madeline nodded, “I remember that day as if it was yesterday; you yelled at me and then you just left.”

A frown covered Ben’s face as he thought back to that day, “I felt like such a dick for doing that, you don’t even understand Mads. I was just… scared; I didn’t know how to react. I’m not upset though, I’m actually pretty happy.”

Madeline smiled and took the pregnancy test from his hands, “Now give me that – I peed on it – and go wash your hands.”

Rolling his eyes, Ben nodded and turned the water on, quickly washing his hands with the scented, liquid soap. He dried them and then walked over to Maddy, placing his hands on her hips and pressing a soft kiss to her forehead and then to her lips.

“I love you,” Ben said quietly.

“I love you too,” Madeline whispered back.

The two young adults walked out of the bathroom, Madeline putting the pregnancy test into a small box with her other test and washing her hands, and walked out into their room. The sounds of cartoons could still be heard as well as the sounds of toys crashing together.

Walking into the playroom, Matthew was sitting on the plush carpet with more than 50 Matchbox cars around him, crashing them together and having races. My Gym Partner is a Monkey was playing on the television and Matthew was staring at the television while playing.

He had a small, blue Toronto Maple Leafs Hockey Club t-shirt on and a pair of dark blue jeans. His hair was curling at the ends, looking more like Patrick Kane’s hair than Ben’s hair, but his blue eyes were the exact same shade as Ben’s.

Ben reached down and picked up his son, sitting him on his hip as he turned around, “Are you hungry?”

“Yah Daddy,” Matthew smiled, gripping his shoulder.

Ben walked over to the door; his sock covered feet softly thudding against the carpet, and held his hand out to Madeline, “Your boys are hungry.”

Maddy rolled her eyes, “And?”

“And we’re going out to eat; where do you want to go buddy?” Ben asked Matthew, walked carefully down the hardwood stairs.

Madeline picked up Matt’s small black shoes, handing them to Ben, and slipped her flats on her feet.

“I don’t know,” Matthew told Ben, keeping his feet still so his shoes could be put on.

Handing Matthew over to Madeline, Ben slipped his own shoes on, picked up his keys, placed a Chicago Blackhawks hat on his head, and opened the front door. It was April 2nd already, only about a week and a half until playoffs would start. As soon as playoffs started, Madeline knew that spending time with Ben would come to a close as most of his time would be spent at the UC practicing and weight training.

She knew that this was the time to spend with him, and their son, and she also knew that this year most of the team was confident that this could be their year. If this wasn’t their year, she couldn’t imagine how all of the boys would react.