Like Walking Into a Dream

“Eric,” I whispered. He glanced at me before looking back at Amanda and Megan.

“Why do I need to take back the truth? Eric, she used you and you shouldn’t feel the need to protect her anymore,” Amanda growled. Eric took a deep breath and slowly un-fisted his hands.

“Peyton is amazing and you’re one of the last people who should be calling her things like whore. Come on, Pey, you don’t deserve this shit,” Eric said taking me by my wrist and pulling me to the elevators where we got in and the doors shut.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“It’s not your fault. I kind of deserved that,” I replied softly. Eric hit one of the elevator walls with his fist.

“No you don’t! You wanted to be happy and no one should get punished because of that. I don’t blame you anymore and no one else even has the right to say something about our relationship,” he said, slowly calming himself down.

“You’re the amazing one,” I mumbled tears blurring up my vision. Eric smiled lightly and pulled me into his chest, wrapping his arms around me. He rested his chin on the top of my head while I cried into his shirt. All the stress and drama is finally catching up to me.

Eric rubbed soothing circles into my back and I felt myself relax against him. We let go of each other as soon as the doors opened on the first floor. I wiped underneath my eyes to fix any smeared makeup.

“Go home. I’ll fill Casey in and we’ll handle things here.”

“But—“

“Go home and relax. I’ll make sure something is done about Amanda and Megan too,” Eric said leading me to the front door of the hospital.

“Thank you, Eric,” I said with a smile. The automatic doors opened and Eric pulled me into a hug one more time.

“Call me if you need me for anything. Just to talk or to take another day off. Anything because I’m here for you.” I felt like crying again, but nodded and we let go.

“I’ll be here tomorrow,” I said forcing a smile before walking to the parking lot to get my car and go back to Brian’s. I pulled out onto the street and dialed his number.

“Peyton, this is a surprise. Are you on a break?” I could hear the happiness in his voice and it made me feel a little better.

“No, I’m on my way home. Some drama happened at work and I got permission to leave.”

“Was it bad?” he asked.

“Not really. Just some other nurses felt the need to tell me how horrible I was, but it wasn’t a huge ordeal and I just needed to leave,” I said with a sigh.

“I’m in the driveway,” I said before hanging up and getting out of my car. Brian was out of the house in 2 seconds before grabbing me and hugging me. I held onto him tightly and took a deep breath already relaxing.

“Let’s go inside,” he said and led me into the living room where we sat down on the couch together.

“So what exactly happened?” he asked once we were comfortable.

“Two nurses, who no one likes, confronted me and told me I was a gold digger and a whore basically for breaking things off with Eric and going out with you,” I said feeling the need to punch Amanda in the face.

“Then Eric came over and stopped them and told me to go home and relax. So here I am,” I mumbled and leaned against him. He wrapped his arm around me and his fingers played with the ends of my hair.

“I’m sorry, babe. Just think though. A year from now or maybe a little bit more, we can look back on this and laugh. And then think, wow, we’ve made it this far,” he said pulling closer so I was laying partly on his chest with his arms around me.

“I’ve had enough drama for one day. Let’s do something happier,” I said looking up at him with a smile. He kissed me quickly before helping me up off the couch.

“You came home much earlier than I thought you would so I hadn’t gotten anything planned yet. Let’s make some lunch and then we can figure out something to do,” he said heading into the kitchen.

“Sounds good to me,” I replied smiling more now as I followed him. Just being around Brian made me feel better.

“What do you want to eat?” I asked as I scanned our fridge and pantry. We might have to go to the grocery again soon.

“Spaghetti.” There was no hesitation which made me laugh and grab the needed ingredients.

“Can you put some water in this pot and get it boiling?” I asked while I started making the sauce and meatballs. Brian had just put the water on the stove when the door bell rang. We both looked at each other before he shrugged and went to answer the door.

I was pouring tomato sauce into another pot on the stove when I heard two voices. One being Brian and the other voice I didn’t know, but it was a man’s voice.

“What are you doing here?” Brian asked the visitor.

“My tour is coming through here so we decided to take a day off and relax. What, you don’t see happy to see me.” the man replied. I felt like I was eavesdropping so I just stayed in the kitchen and kept cooking.

“Well, the last time we talked, you chewed me out for something I didn’t even do…” Brian grumbled.

“That’s in the past. What smells so good? Are you actually cooking and haven’t burned the house down?” footsteps came closer to the kitchen.

“Wait, Dad!” Brian called after him. Brian Sr. is here? I stopped forming the meat balls and turned to the kitchen doorway to see Brian’s dad there with Brian standing just behind him.

“Who’s this?” Brian Sr. asked out loud.

“You didn’t watch anything else but the news about Michelle’s pregnancy?” Brian face palmed himself. Brian Sr. shook his head and looked at me.

“We’ve had back to back to back shows and I haven’t had time to check the news for anything about you recently,” he replied. I felt like an outside party just watching the two of them talk. Maybe I should leave, but then the water started boiling so I went over to the pot and poured the noodles into it.

“Dad, this is my girlfriend, Peyton. It’s really surprising that you didn’t know about her. We’ve been everywhere,” he grumbled the last part. I wiped my hands on a kitchen towel before holding out my hand to Brian’s father. He looked at it before grabbing me and pulling me into a bear hug.

“I like you already!” he stated happily. My eyes widened as did Brian’s.

“Call me Papa Gates, or Papa or whatever you want. I don’t have a preference.”

“It’s nice to meet you…Papa Gates,” I said shyly. It was weird calling him that, but he smiled wider.

“Bri, why didn’t you snag this one earlier? She even cooks!” Papa Gates went over to the stove and inspected what we were cooking. I looked over at Brian and he sighed heavily.

“Do you want to stay for lunch, Dad?” he asked.

“I thought you’d never ask,” he replied. Brain wrapped his arm around me and steered me out of the kitchen and back into the living room.

“I’m sorry. I had no idea he was just going to show up without a phone call. He won’t stay long—“

“Relax Brian. You’re dad is nice. Let’s go finish lunch,” I said and kissed him sweetly before pulling him back into the kitchen where Papa Gates had taken it upon himself to stir the sauce.

“Come on boys, help me with lunch!” I commanded. Brian smiled at me while his father nudged him and winked at him before walking over to me to help with the meatballs.