Two is Better Than One

*****Jordan’s POV*******

I slammed my phone down on the chair next to me and stared off into the dark night. She was not happy at home. As much as she wanted to go, I can tell she wants out now. I understood why she would want to leave, it was so hard hearing Steven yell at her like that and not be able to do anything about it. I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. I looked to my right when I heard the porch door open.

“Jordan, is everything okay?” My mom asked.

I sighed and looked at her. “No mom, everything is not okay.”

“What’s wrong? You can talk to me.”

“I know mom.” I sighed. “There is this girl-“

“Is her name Allie perhaps?” I just stared at her. “I’m a mom, I know things. Plus your brother told me. Continue your story anyway.”

I just shook my head and chuckled. “Well she’s back home in California for Christmas, and I talked to her today.” I stared out into the open field in front of us. “She’s not happy. While I was on the phone with her, her mom’s boyfriend came into her room and demanded to know who she was on the phone with. She was scared and I could tell she was.”

“What did she tell him?”

“That she was on the phone with a friend, which wasn’t a lie because we are friends. She told me she was scared and that she wished I was there with her. Well she called me about five minutes ago sobbing. She told me that Steven, her mom’s boyfriend, called her a slut.”

My mom gasped. “Why would he do that? Allie sounds like such a sweet girl.” I smiled. Mom hasn’t even met her and she already liked her I could tell.

“Because she’s friends with all the guys on the team and because she lived with Kris and I for a little while.”

“So he thinks that in order for her to be friends with all of you guys she had to sleep with them?” I nodded. “That’s absolutely horrible. That poor girl.”

“Mom, I was thinking about going to California in a couple of days to ask her to be my girlfriend, but I’m afraid that if I show up Steven is going to do something to her.”

“Has he been violent with her before?” She asked.

“She says he hasn’t and I believe her, but that won’t stop him from getting violent.”

“What about her father? Where is he?”

“With his girlfriend. Her parents are going through a nasty divorce right now and poor Allie is stuck in the middle of it. That’s the main reason she moved to Pittsburgh, to get away from it all. Plus, Allie hates her dad for cheating on her mom.”

“You’re worried about her aren’t you?” She asked, smiling.
“I really am mom. I’ve never felt like this about a girl before. I want to be there for her.”

We sat in silence for a little while. I was thinking about Allie, locked up in her room in order to keep herself safe. A girl should not have to do that in her own house.

“Go to California and bring her back here for the holidays.” My mom said suddenly.

I looked at her like she had two heads for a split second and then smiled. “Really? You don’t mind me bringing her here even though she’s not my girlfriend?”

“You just told me that you were thinking about asking her to be your girlfriend. Even if you didn’t I can tell that you really like this girl.” She stood up. “Plus, I want to meet the girl who has made my boy so happy and cut down on his drinking and partying.” She smiled before walking back into the house.

How did she know about my partying habits?

My mom stuck her head out the door. “Again I say, I’m a mom. Now, go book yourself a flight. Do you want one of your brothers to go with you? I’m sure one of them wouldn’t mind going.”

I laughed. “No mom. I can do this on my own.” I picked up my cell phone and dialed the airlines. Five minutes later I was on the first flight to LAX tomorrow morning. I got up form my seat and went up to my room to get some sleep.

****Allie’s POV*****

I woke up the next morning with a headache from crying and my phone vibrating off of my night stand. I sat up and grabbed the moving device and opened it. I had a missed call from Alaina and a text message from Jordan wishing me a happy Christmas Eve. I smiled and threw my covers off of me and I made my way to my door.

I made my way downstairs, but stopped when I saw Steven sitting at the dining room table reading the paper. I headed back upstairs and went to take a shower instead of getting something to eat. My stomach protested against that idea since I barely ate dinner last night, I was hungry. I showered and got dressed and then made my way downstairs. Steven was still sitting at the table, but I ignored him. I made myself some toast and poured myself a cup of coffee. As soon as my toast was done I went back up to my room.

I spent the rest of the day in my room watching Christmas movies, only going downstairs if I absolutely needed to. It was around six at night when there was a knock on my door.

“Go away please.” I said nicely. Mom had been pretty understanding about me not coming out of my room, but she was starting to get impatient.

“Allie,” My heart jumped at the sound of that voice. “It’s-“

I opened the door and jumped on my unexpected guest. “Ohmygod. What are you doing here?” I asked as he hugged me back. Everything from last night vanished as soon as I was in his arms.

“I realized that you needed me here with you.” He smiled.

I pulled him into my room and shut the door. “So how did you get past Steven down there?” I asked.

“He was busy and your mom ushered me up here before he noticed.” He laughed,

“God, I love my mom.” I said giving him another hug.

We didn’t say anything for a while, we just sat on my bed in each other’s arms. I was almost asleep when Jordan sat up and looked over at my clock.

“Allie, I have a question for you. Do you have a passport?” He asked
I gave him a questioning look. “Yeah. Why?”

“Come with me to Thunder Bay. You aren’t happy here and last night was a nightmare and I wasn’t even here. I was so worried about you last night.”

“Jordan, are you sure?” I asked

“My mom was actually the one who came up with the idea.” He looked at me with those blue eyes of his. “I told her about everything that happened last night. I’m sorry, but it was bothering me and I tell my mom everything that’s bothering-“

I cut him off by placing my lips on his. It just seemed like the right thing to do at the time. “I would love to leave this hell hole.” I said when I pulled away.

Jordan smiled at me. “I was hoping you’d say that. Now here’s the catch though. Can you be packed in about an hour? Our flight leaves in about three hours.”

I nodded and quickly jumped off my bed to grab my suitcase and I quickly repacked it. I made sure I threw Jordan and Alaina’s presents into it before I zipped it up. I grabbed my ever famous Pens hoodie and put that on because I knew it was going to be cold on the plane. Jordan grabbed my bag and we made our way downstairs. That’s when I froze. We were going to have to face him.

Jordan nudged my lightly to keep moving. We went into the living room where my mom was hanging up the stockings and Steven was watching TV. When we entered the room and he saw who I was standing next to his eyes bugged out of his head and he stood up from his seat.

“Who the hell is this?” He demanded, looking at Jordan like he was something stuck to the bottom of his shoe.

“This is Jordan. Jordan this is Steven my mom’s boyfriend.” I said introducing the two men.

“So has she slept with you?” Steven asked

“No, sir. She and I are just friends.” Jordan answered coolly.

I shook my head at Steven and went over to where my mom was standing. I leaned in close to her so all I would do is whisper and she’d hear me.

“Mom, Jordan is taking me home with him. I can’t be here, not after what happened last night.” I said, watching Steven and Jordan out of the corner of my eye. They seemed to be having a silent conversation with their eyes.

She nodded and reached under the tree and pulled out three boxes with my name on them. “Here, open these on the way to the airport. I love you sweetie and I’m so sorry about last night.”

I hugged my mom. “Mom, it’s not your fault. Him and I just don’t get along and you finally saw that. I will call you tomorrow and I need to really talk to you about some things. I love you mom.”

“I love you to baby. Have fun and a safe trip home.”

“I will. Will you tell dad that I’m sorry to bail on him?” I asked.

She nodded and hugged me again. I tucked the boxes under my arm and reached for Jordan’s hand. “Come on Jord, let’s go.” Jordan nodded and picked up my bag. We were almost out the door when I heard Steven mumble under his breath. Before I could even turn around to reply, Jordan was already there, shoving Steven against the wall.

"If you think that you can get away with making all those little fucking snide comments you are in for a rude awakening." He hissed.

"Why the hell do you care about that lying slut of yours so much? She just fucks you, then goes to your buddy and fucks him too. If I were you, I'd get myself checked for some STDs." Steven smirked, clearly not fazed by the 6'4" hockey player's threat.

I heard my mom's intake of breath, followed closely behind by the unmistakable sound on a fist meeting a face. I looked back over to Jordan and Steven to see Steven on the ground, holding a bloody nose. Jordan picked him up and slammed him back into the wall, lifting his feet a few inches off the ground in the process.

Jordan had a look of pure hatred on his face. He leaned in until he was mere inches away from the mangled face of Steven. "What the hell don't you get, asshole? If you ever insult her like that again, you will have a team of pissed off hockey players at your front door, personally led by me, and we will beat the shit out of you one after the other, until you understand how wrong you were, and how far friends will go to protect each other, got it?!"

Steven glared at him with murderous looks and just spit blood at him.

"You little fucker!" Jordan shouted, punching Steven in the gut this time. He crumpled to the floor with a moan. Jordan then picked up my bag, grabbed my hand again, and started walking towards the door.

Slightly shocked, I followed him out of the door, but before I closed it I had some things to say. “Mom, I love you.” I smiled and then glared at Steven, who was still on the ground. “Steven. Fuck You.” With that I slammed the door and quickly made my way to Jordan’s waiting rental.

Once I was in the safety of the car did I finally let my tears fall. Jordan slammed his hand against the steering wheel. “Fuck!” He sighed and then grabbed his hair. “God damn him.” I wanted to comfort him, but I was shaking and trying to calm myself down. After a few more minutes of releasing more pent up anger, Jordan finally calmed down enough to notice me breaking down. He reached over and stroked my cheek. “Shh, Allie it’s all over now. He won’t hurt you.” I pushed my face into his hand as he rubbed small circles with his thumb. I pressed a light kiss to his palm before pulling away and, taking a shaky breath. I looked at the boxes mom gave me and began opening the top box.

Inside was the most beautiful red dress and a necklace to go with it. The next one made me and Jordan smile, it was a Pittsburgh Penguins blanket. The third box was a bit smaller and I was curious to see what was inside. It was a simple black picture frame that had my mom’s signature handwriting on it.

“What does that say?” Jordan asked, glancing at it quickly.

I chocked back a sob. “Me and my sibling.” I read. I looked at Jordan. “Jordan, my mom’s pregnant.” I placed my face in my hands and sobbed. Jordan pulled off the road and rubbed my back. My mom was pregnant and I just walked out on her. Damn it that meant that that asshole got her pregnant and he was now going to be a father. Ha, yeah right. The guy hates me, I’m pretty sure he’s going to hate this kid too.

“Shh babe, it will be okay.” He said quietly.

“No it won’t. That asshole got her pregnant, he hates me. What makes you think he isn’t going to hate this baby or try and hurt my mom?” I was suddenly scared for my mom. “Jordan, I have to go back there. If he finds out, he’s going to flip shit on her. He could hurt her.”

“Allie. Allie, look at me.” I finally looked at him. “Your mom is a strong woman. Call her tomorrow and tell her your fears, we can always arrange for her to come to Pittsburgh if something happens.”

I looked into those blue eyes and saw nothing but concern and love. I did the one thing that seemed natural in a moment like this. I kissed him. He kissed me back and when we pulled apart he rested his forehead on mine.

“Everything will be fine, Allie. You’ll see.”

Jordan put the car back into gear and we continued our journey to LAX. Before we checked my bag in, I put the red dress in my carry-on bag since we weren’t landing until tomorrow morning, I was going to need something to change into. I also put the blanket and picture frame into my suitcase. Once we were all checked in, we sat at the gate for about an hour before we boarded. I was almost asleep before we were even taxied out to the run way. Jordan lifted the arm rest so I could lay on his chest with his arm wrapped around me. I closed my eyes and quickly drifted to sleep. That last thing I heard before I was all the way asleep was Jordan humming Two is Better Than One