I'm Addicted to the Thrill

"So your parents are coming up for Halloween?" asked Niki.

The Predators were coming to town, and I couldn't wait. I had been able to talk Mom and Dad into coming up and staying at with me and Hope, since I moved back into the apartment, but I wanted them more to come and meet Patrick. They still didn't necessarily know I was dating him, but I figured now was as good of a time as any.

"They land at 4. I asked Hope to get them for me and give them a tour of the city while I finished cleaning,” I told her. I swallowed my last bit of Coke and stood up looking around the apartment.

“Are you going to meet Pat up at the airport?” asked Christine.

I shook my head. I had told him that I would see him on Saturday after he woke up and actually came by the apartment after the game. He hadn’t been upset by the fact I refused to go to the game on Saturday. We had even planned to spend all of the day together on Sunday. Niki and Christine lounged in their chairs as my shoulders slumped.

There was too much to do in the several hours I had. I had focused on my room that morning. Meaning that I had just packed all of my Blackhawks related things into the back of my closet and hid all the pictures of me and Patrick that we had compiled. They weren’t going to be told who I was with until they actually got to meet him.

-x-

“Momma! Dad!” I yelled as they came into the apartment. It was as clean as five hours between me, Niki, and Christine could get it.

I embraced both of my parents and stood aside to let them see where I was living. My friends were still sitting there since we had all chipped in to buy dinner while waiting for Hope and my parents. They were already wearing Chicago t-shirts underneath their jackets, and I was happy to see that they had a good time.

“So which of you is Christine? And which is Niki?” asked my mom as my dad dropped the bags he was carrying. The two were staying only for a week, but they had brought two large suitcases each. More clothes than I was actually expecting them to have brought.

Each girl raised their hand and said their name only to be hugged.

“I feel like we already know you from all of Ellie’s texts, calls, and emails,” said my mother.

A smirk spread itself across Niki’s face as she heard my other nickname. I hadn’t told anyone here that I was called Ellie for a while, and it seemed like that was what I would get to go by from my friends for awhile. Personally, I always thought that I was more of a Dani than an Ellie, but my parents begged to differ.

“We feel like we know you guys, too,” grinned Christine. “Ellie has told us so much about you, too.”

I glared at both of my friends and turned to face my parents again. I smiled at them and took a suitcase to show them to my, well now their, room. They followed obediently as I heard my friends laughing out in the living room. That was not going to be fun to go back to after my parents left.

“Honey, we’ll come join you after we unpack,” my mom grinned.

-x-

I woke up to someone on the door to the apartment. I rubbed my eyes and looked at the clock on the microwave. It was late enough for Patrick to have gotten back from Carolina. I sighed and got up to open the door.

“Why didn’t you just go home?” I asked him.

“I wanted to come see you,” smiled Patrick.

I rolled my eyes and pointed to the floor. I crawled back onto the couch and repositioned myself to go back to sleep. I loved that he came to see me, but I wanted to go back to sleep so that I could figure out how to explain a new visitor to my parents. Hell, I still had no idea how to break it to them that I was dating Patrick Kane.

I felt him push me over on the couch to make room. He wrapped his arm around my waist, and I just sighed. The floor wasn’t too comfortable. Neither was the way we were laying on the couch. He would at least be gone in the morning… or I could hope he would be gone so that he was going to be at practice.

-x-

“Danielle Louise Halbrook!” yelled my mother. “Who is this? Why is he here?”

Patrick tumbled off the couch at the surprise of someone yelling at us in the morning. I stared at my mother with wide eyes. She and my father both stood there glaring at me. I gulped.

“Momma, Daddy. This is Patrick,” I said. I forced a smile, but I couldn’t figure out how to make this look good for me. It was possible.

Patrick stood up and sat back down at the edge of the couch while I stared up at my parents. I hadn’t seen them look this disappointed since my brother had failed two classes in the same school year. The knots in my stomach tightened. I bit my lip and looked away from them.

“Patrick. He looks familiar. Son, who are you?” asked my father.

“I’m Patrick Kane,” said Patrick calmly.

He seemed to be taking the whole situation better than I was. It was a bit pathetic. I stood up and looked my parents in the eye. This was not exactly how I wanted to break the news to them.

“Patrick Kane as in the Blackhawks player?” asked my mother.

I stared at them like they were crazy. Of course that was who it was. They may have just been acting this way to try and get over the fact that it was possible for their daughter to be with someone like him. I wanted to just go back to when he showed up at my door last night and tell him to leave. That would have been the wise option. I should have done that and not this.

Patrick nodded slowly then stood up next to me. He put his arm around my shoulders, and I smiled at my parents. They gave us a blank stare back. I didn’t want to tell them that this was how I was spending my time here in Chicago.

“I’ll just head out. I need to get home and change for practice. See ya, Dani. It was nice to meet you two,” Patrick said. He gave me a quick peck on the cheek and waved at my parents. I walked to the kitchen and wondered where this was going to lead us and their trip.

-x-

“Oh yeah. Kaner dominates everywhere he goes,” said Anna.

She and my parents had enjoyed talking about my relationship during the time I had introduced them to now. I wanted to just walk away, but I couldn’t. My family didn’t have to approve of what I did with my life. I was an adult. I could do anything.

“I can’t believe that she would actually choose someone like him. Ellie has always had great taste when it comes to guys,” said my mother.

“You know what? I don’t really care. Stop talking about my relationship and me as if I’m not here,” I finally said.

I was sick of this bullshit that was coming from my parents and my boss. Sure, this was the way things were supposed to be. How often was it that I found people whose parents liked who they were dating? Actually more often than not.

“We know you’re here. We’re just trying to persuade you to make a better choice,” grinned Anna.

I glared at her then looked up as I heard people walking towards us. Patrick was there with Jonathan. I couldn’t believe that they were done with practice. I figured that the two of them would soon leave to go eat and have a nap before the game tonight.

“Hey, guys,” I said trying to get away from the conversation that was going on right in front of me.

I hugged both Patrick and Jonny. Pat gave me a quick kiss then stared at the group of people who seemed to dislike him already without any help from knowing our brief history. I wanted to just forget about this whole deal.

“You may not like me, but I could hear some of that conversation. Fuck that. Dani made her choice,” admitted Patrick.

I felt my stomach drop. Right, that’s the way to make my family like you, I thought. The fact was that this was going to make it harder for my family to like him. Or they could like that he was going to stand up for me in this situation.

“Mr. Kane, you do realize that being with someone like you could just destroy our daughter’s future?” asked my mother.

“How? I mean, Mom, Dad, really? I’m happy,” I said.

“You know what, Dani. We’re gonna head out,” said Jonny. I could tell he was uncomfortable in the situation that my family had just put all of us in.

“Yeah. Dani, talk to me when you can which will likely be after they leave,” sighed Patrick.

I watched them leave. I could feel the tears of frustration welling up in my eyes. This was not how I wanted my week with my parents to go. I couldn’t do anything about any of this. It was going to tear me apart until they left.