A Night to Last a Lifetime

I fell asleep quickly and awoke to Jeff yelling at someone. I quickly rose and went into the living room to see what the hell was going on and found Jeff talking on the phone.

“Mom! I know! I already said I was going to take responsibility! I’m here!”

I went to sit next to him on the couch, trying to offer some support, but nausea quickly hit me and I ran into the bathroom.

“Mom, one second,” I heard Jeff say. Then, a knock on the door, “Are you okay, Tor?”

“I’m fine. Go back to talking to your mom. I’ll be out in a minute!” I called out to him. After a few rounds of throwing up I quickly brushed my teeth and went back out to the living room.

“I told you, SHE’S FINE! Oh my God, mother. Wait, she just got back. I’m putting you on speaker phone so you can ask her whatever the hell you want.”

“Hey, Mrs. Skinner!” I said. “I really am fine. I just got out of bed a little too fast and I guess my body wasn’t too happy about it.”

“See Mom! Jesus. Just listen to me when I tell you stuff. Sometimes I do actually know what’s going on you know!”

At that moment the door opened and Sophie and Gabriel walked in. Jeff was thrilled to see him – they hadn’t seen each other since that party – and throughout it all we figured out Jeff’s mother’s real fear and put it to rest. We explained to her that no, I wasn’t some crazy fan-girl and that seemed to calm her a little. We got off the phone and Sophie explained that Mom and Dad would be there soon so we sat there, simply waiting for the war to start.

Sure enough, as soon as Dad walked in he started cracking the uncalled for “baby daddy” jokes which irritated both me and Jeff. After a while I snapped, confronting them on the double standard there would be if it was Sophie that was pregnant. Soon after that Sophie and Gabriel made the decision to leave and I couldn’t help being jealous that they actually HAD the option to leave me at the apartment with these people. However, it was when they were leaving that the sleeping situation was mentioned. When Dad said they’d be sleeping on the couch I immediately responded, asking about Jeff.

“Looks like he’s sleeping with you,” my mother said, rudely. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”

I could feel myself start to blush and I was immediately furious but I shut up and waited until Sophie and Gabriel left before I really got into it.

As soon as the door shut, I yelled, “Can you PLEASE stop with all the jokes and snarky fucking comments?! I know I disappointed you – it isn’t the first fucking time – but you don’t need to make me feel shittier than I already do. AND, you don’t need to embarrass me in front of him,” I yelled, pointing to Jeff. “In case you forgot, this is MY baby. And HIS baby. Not yours. WE make the decisions on this one!”

Mom and Dad sat down on the couch, pointed to the chair across from them and told me to sit down. Jeff was already sitting in the chair next to mine so the moment I sat it felt like we were facing each other, ready for a show down.

“Yelling isn’t going to accomplish anything,” Mom started. “And frankly, getting all worked up isn’t healthy for the baby. So, we’re going to calmly talk about this and I’m going to start by saying to the both of you, you have no fucking idea what you’ve gotten yourselves into. Jeff, I honestly don’t know you so I can’t speak about your level of maturity but the fact that you’re even in this situation says a lot. Tori, I know exactly how irresponsible you are and I honestly can’t say I’m surprised we’re here. But, I’m disappointed that it actually happened. We really thought that sending you out here would help you grow up a bit. And we honestly thought it was working!”

“I know, okay! I fucked up. We both fucked up. But, we decided that we are taking responsibility for this. I change, now. I need to look out for this baby and I’m stepping up. We’ve talked it out and I want to move back home. Staying here isn’t logical moneywise, with health care and stuff so I want to come home and then Jeff will come to Kitchener when the season is over.”

“What then?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you’ve got the first – what? – four months of this child’s life planned. What then? When Jeff goes back to North Carolina? You’re stuck in Kitchener with the kid and he’s gone until the off-season again?”

“Well, we haven’t really gotten that far…” I responded.

“With all due respect,” Jeff chimed in, “we do understand how tough this is going to be, with my job and everything factoring in. Yes, I have to be in North Carolina next year. But, we’re still getting to know each other. And honestly, that stage is about 10 months down the road. I feel like, this early, having as much figured out as we do is a big accomplishment. We know where we are both going to be when this baby is born and for the first few months. We have months to figure out what happens after that.”

“This is true,” Dad said. “And with respect to you guys too, we want to be included in the decisions too. We understand that this is your child – and believe me, you will both be fully responsible for it – but we have the experience and, Tori, you need to understand that we aren’t going to let you go through with any decision that we don’t think is best for that kid. If you think, 3 months down the road, that it’s a great idea to move in with Jeff and become some sort of family, that isn’t happening. Period. You guys talk and get to know each other but we aren’t going to let you jump into anything just because of a baby. Clearly, it would make us much happier if you two were together, long term and raise this child in a stable family but you aren’t forcing it. That’s not healthy for a child to grow up in.”

“I know that,” I whispered. “We’re not looking to move in together – at least, not for a while if it happens at all. There’s a lot we need to know about each other and we still need to figure out exactly what WE even are. But, it’s hard to do that with you guys around. That might be harsh but I want us to be here, alone, for a while so we can figure this out without any added pressure.”

“That’s understandable,” replied my mother. “We have a flight booked for tomorrow night anyway and Sophie and Gabriel are leaving tomorrow afternoon. That’ll give you guys some time, right?”

“Yeah, I’m still here for a little more than 2 days,” said Jeff.

“Okay then. Well, honestly it’s been a long day and I’d kind of like to get some sleep…” my dad hinted, standing up.

“Yeah, alright. We’re leaving,” I stood up and looked at Jeff. “Um, I guess you’re coming with me…” I said, hesitantly.

“I guess so…” he grabbed his back and carried it back to my room.

As soon as I shut the door I turned to him. “I’m so sorry about that. He can be really dumb sometimes. He thinks he’s being funny but it’s just really rude.”

“It’s fine. I was expecting worse, honestly. I’m pretty sure if any of my sisters got pregnant my dad would shoot the guy so, at least I’m still breathing!”

I laughed, “Well, yeah. That’s definitely a bonus because I’m gonna need you for the next few years.” I sat down on the bed. “Wow. Years. That’s scary.”

“I know, eh? Big commitment,” he came over and sat next to me. “Look, I don’t know where we stand or what we’ll ever be but I’m here for that kid. You need to know that.”

“I’m starting to really think you’re serious about this, you know. The way you stood up to my parents out there was kinda… Well, it was pretty hot actually. I was expecting you to just sit there, scared shitless.”

He laughed, “Well, I don’t want anyone telling me how we’re going to be raising my kid. No way. You and I make those decisions.”

“Yeah, we do,” I looked over at him and smiled. “I really like how you’re stepping up here… It’s seriously turning me on…”

I saw Jeff start to blush. “Um, yeah, okay…” He looked at me. “I mean, um…”

“It’s alright,” I laughed. “Let’s just go to bed.”

“No,” he said. I turned and looked at him, surprised. He grabbed my hand and pulled me towards him. “I’ve kinda wanted to do this all day…” he said, kissing me. “To be honest, I was drunk to the point that I couldn’t really remember what you looked like and seeing you on Skype yesterday, my God you’re beautiful…”

“Oh, um. Wow. Okay,” This was NOT the guy that I hooked up with two months ago. He was so shy and seemed so innocent. “This is different…”

“This is me sober,” he replied. “I’m much better at saying what I want when I’m sober.”

I stared at him for a second. “My parents are right out there.”

“I don’t care.”

“Hm. Well, I’m already knocked up… What the hell?” I leaned into him and kissed him, hard. I hadn’t had sex since him and honestly, I was really turned on by the way he was sticking up for me. I pulled my shirt up over my head. “Let’s do this!” I pulled him over to my side and started taking off his shirt. “You better fucking be quiet though! My dad is not making any comments on this tomorrow,” I whispered.

“Promise,” he whispered back.

When we were finished, he looked at me and said, “I’m happy I was sober that time. At least now I’ll remember how fucking amazing that was.”

“Well what can I say? I’ve had some practice…” I said.

“How many?” He asked, looking me straight in the eye.

“14…” I said, slightly embarrassed. I had never even told Sophie the actual number. “None since you though. I was really starting to make a change…” I trailed off. “I really didn’t see this one coming. Anyway, what about you? What’s your magic number?”

“12,” he said and I looked at him, shocked. “What? I like sex. I just try to be discreet about it, unlike most NHLers.”

“Wow,” I whispered. “I guess that’s why you were so good.”

“Oh, no. That’s just a natural talent,” he said and I laughed. “I’m going to sleep.”

“Alright, super star. Me too,” I said, rolling over to face away from him. I fell asleep quickly and slept better than I had in days. I woke up the next morning to Jeff cuddled into me and I quickly untangled myself and started to get dressed. “Man, this is a complicated situation,” I thought to myself as I headed out to the living room.