The Fear Is Paralyzing

Quinn didn’t know which was worse, going to a Penguins game and feeling so out of place or going to the weekly dinner at her parents’ house. At this moment she was thinking the dinner won. She would have gladly been at a game right now instead of at the dinner table with everyone quizzing her about owning the team.
 
“I can’t believe you haven’t done anything about that team yet,” Corinne was telling her daughter. “Quinn, the longer you keep the team, the worse off it’s going to be for everyone involved. You need to give the team to someone who knows what to do with them.”

Quinn shut her eyes, wishing her own mother would have some faith in her, but it wasn’t that way. She didn’t want to argue with her right now. In fact, she didn’t want to talk about the team at all, but that seemed to be all that Corinne, Garrett, and Dean wanted to talk about. If Quinn tried to change topics, they would bring it right back to her and the team.
 
“She hasn’t done anything wrong with the team,” Noah spoke up for her. Quinn looked over at him, giving him a thankful smile.
 
“That’s because she hasn’t done anything at all with them,” Corinne said with a laugh. Quinn always wondered if her mother knew how badly she hurt her feelings at time. Whenever Corinne would insult her, she seemed to always do it with a laugh or a smile on her face, as if that would make the words sting less. “You’re just letting that other guy, the other owner, do everything, aren’t you? What have you even done?” she asked, looking over at Quinn.
 
“Um…” Quinn trailed off.
 
Dean snorted. “She hasn’t done anything. Except maybe try to do one of the guys,” he said. Quinn couldn’t believe his words, and she choked on her water a bit, causing everyone to look at her.
 
“Sorry,” she spat out, still coughing a bit. “Went down the wrong pipe,” she told them, taking another sip of water to clear her throat. Everyone kept looking at her before Claire began speaking to get the attention off of Quinn, for which Quinn was extremely grateful for.
 
She made it through the rest of the dinner without too many more questions about the team, as Noah and Claire did a lot of the talking, as well as Riley getting some attention. She was helping her mother clear off the table and take it to the kitchen when Claire walked into the kitchen, telling Corinne she would help Quinn finish up, and Corinne took her up on the offer, going into the living room with Garrett and the boys.
 
“What was that all about at dinner?” Claire asked, looking over at Quinn sideways, as she washed the dishes and Quinn dried them.
 
“What?” Quinn asked innocently. She knew exactly what Claire was referring to, but she hoped if she acted obliviously enough that she would drop the matter.
 
Claire saw right through her though. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. You choking on your water when Dean said you were trying to screw one of the guys. Quinn, talk. Now,” she spoke to her like a dog, and Quinn shut her eyes, knowing she had no choice but to confide everything in Claire.
 
“Fine,” she sighed, lowering her voice, just in case anyone else was trying to listen in. She really didn’t need the rest of her family to know what was going on between her and Kris, especially Dean, and she planned on keeping it a secret from all of them. “Kris and I may be trying the whole dating thing,” she said in a rushed tone, hoping that Claire wouldn’t understand what she had said so that she wouldn’t have to go into more detail.
 
Unfortunately, Claire wasn’t the type of person to let something like this go. “May be trying?” she questioned, using Quinn’s words against her. “So, you’re dating a player?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
 
Quinn instantly became defensive. “Now wait a minute, you were the one that told me to go for it! Now you don’t think it’s a good idea? What gives?” she asked, realizing how loud her voice was and instantly quieting it.
 
“I’m not saying I think it’s a good idea. Quinn, you need to date someone. Have you been on a date since Geoff?” she asked, and Quinn sort of shuttered at the name. She had dated him for a long time while she was going for her MBA, but was only dating her to get free stuff out of her. Noah and Claire both had told her what a creep he was, but she wouldn’t listen to them, and she found out the hard way when he told her that if she didn’t buy him a plane ticket to go to Colorado to ski with his friends that he would break up with her. It finally all clicked with her and she dumped him immediately.
 
“I’ve been on a date!” Quinn exclaimed.
 
“Okay, let me rephrase, have you been on a date that had any potential at all?”
 
“No,” Quinn sighed. She had been on a few blind dates and a couple of dates with guys she’d met at school, but nothing of substance.
 
“Mr. Hockey Player is different, isn’t he?” Claire asked, a knowing look on her face.
 
Quinn couldn’t help but smile. “I hope so.”
 
“Good, I hope so, too,” Claire nodded her head in agreement. “But, I feel like I need to warn you to be careful,” she continued, and Quinn gave her a confused look, not knowing what she was talking about. Did she think Kris was going to treat her badly like Geoff had? Claire didn’t even know Kris, so she wasn’t exactly sure how she could form an opinion of him just yet. “Quinn, he’s a player and you’re the team owner. Just be careful. People talk, and if this gets out, it’s not going to be good.” She saw the look that was on Quinn’s face, and she felt the need to clarify. “I’m not saying you shouldn’t date him. In fact, I think it’s a good thing, he seems to make you happy. But, just be careful, okay?”
 
Quinn nodded her head, swallowing hard. She hadn’t even thought about what would happen if anybody found out. In fact, she hadn’t thought much about it at all except that she had enjoyed when Kris had kissed her, and she wanted to know where it all could go. But, now she was realizing that this wasn’t like a normal relationship between two random people. She needed to be concerned about who exactly found out.
 
“Quinn, don’t start freaking out,” Claire said, obviously seeing the wheels turning in Quinn’s head. “Just go with it and see where it takes you.”
 
“Go with what?” they heard a voice say, and both turned around to see Dean standing there. Quinn could feel her heart beat quicken. She never had been good coming up with a lie in a split second. Fortunately for her, Claire was much better at it.
 
“The team,” Claire told him. “I’m telling her to keep the team,” she stated, staring Dean down. Quinn was always impressed that Claire was able to stand up to Dean.
 
“Why do you even get a say in it?” Dean questioned, narrowing his eyes at Claire. “You’re not a part of this.”
 
“And either are you, Dean. Quinn was left the team, not you. You’re not a part of it either,” she repeated. Quinn stood there awkwardly listen to the two of them argue about her when she was right in front of them.
 
“Claire, you can,” Dean began before he was cut off.
 
“Dean, you might want to think about what you’re going to say before you finish that sentence,” Noah spoke up from behind Dean, putting his hand on his younger brother’s shoulder.
 
“Whatever,” Dean said, shrugging him off as he turned around, leaving the kitchen. They heard him tell Corinne and Garrett he was leaving, and Quinn let out a breath of relief that he was gone.
 
Noah looked at the two women. “What was that all about?” he asked them.
 
Quinn shrugged her shoulders. “What’s it always about? The team. He wants the team. Maybe I should just give it over to him and I can finally stop hearing about it,” she spoke.
 
Both Claire and Noah’s eyes were immediately on her, wondering if she was joking or not. There was no way she could possibly be considering giving the team to Dean. Noah was the one to speak up first. “Quinn, I know you’re under a lot of stress and pressure about what to do with the team. But, you need to stop listening to everyone else and listen to yourself. Forget what Corinne or my dad or Dean says. Do what you want to do. If you want to give up the team, then okay, that’s what you’ll do. But, for the love of God, do not give the team to Dean.”
 
Quinn couldn’t help but laugh at him. He was so adamant about not giving the team to Dean. “I won’t give the team to Dean,” she promised him. “I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I know he isn’t the answer.”
 
“Good,” Noah said, reaching over and ruffling her hair, causing her to yell out at him. “You’re still my little sister, I’m allowed to do that,” he smiled at her, while she tried to shrug her way out of his grasp.
 
“I hate being the little sister,” she said, rolling her eyes at him.
 
***
 
Kris wasn’t expecting a phone call from Quinn, much less one at ten o’clock at night. So when he was lying in bed, planning on getting to bed early that evening, and his phone started ringing, he looked at it confused. When he saw Quinn’s name flash across the screen, his confusion escalated. “Bonjour?” he asked, shaking his head at himself when he realized that once again he had let his French roots take over.
 
“Hey Kris, I know it’s kinda late,” she said, apparently not caring about the foreign language. “I hope it’s okay that I called you, I just needed to talk to you really quick,” she said, speaking faster than normal, and Kris sat up in bed, wondering what was going on.
 
“It’s fine. What’s on your mind?” he asked her, moving his comforter so it was just covering from his waist down, leaving his chest bare.
 
“So, I was just at my family dinner,” she began, and Kris smiled to himself. When she had first told him that she was going to a weekly family dinner that night, he had thought she was joking. He couldn’t imagine a family with grown children getting together once a week for dinner. But, she had quickly told him she wasn’t joking, and the more he thought about it, the more he loved the idea. “And, Claire knows about us now. It’s a long story, and I’ll tell you it all later, please just don’t hate me right now.”
 
Kris chuckled. “Quinn, I don’t hate you,” he assured her, wondering if that was the reason she had called him that evening, to tell him that she had told her sister-in-law about the two of them. They hadn’t discussed anything about telling other people, so it was really up in the air at the moment.
 
“That’s not all, though,” she said, and Kris quieted down, letting her continue. “She brought up a good point. She said that we needed to be careful because I’m the owner of the team, and you’re a player, and we need to be careful of who finds out about us because it could end with bad results.”
 
Kris hadn’t really thought about that too much. He’d only cared about the fact that he was always happy when he was around her, and he knew he wanted to be with her. He had never really thought about her being the owner. “I haven’t told anyone, and I wasn’t really planning on it, at least not right now. So I think we’re okay right now.”
 
“Do you think it’s bad?” she asked, and Kris crinkled his forehead, not really knowing what she was referring to. “That I’m the team owner and you’re a player and we’re dating.”
 
Kris thought about it for a moment. “There are guys that date the coach’s and owner’s daughter, so it’s not that much different,” he stated.
 
“Yeah, but they’re not dating the actual owner or coach,” she pointed out.
 
“No,” he agreed. “But, I think we’re okay. Besides, I haven’t even taken you out on our first date yet. Why should we worry about if people find out and what they’d say or do?” he asked.

“You’re right,” he said, and he could just picture her smiling right now.
 
“Speaking of our first date,” he said, smiling himself. “I was thinking we could go out on Wednesday? Night off before our home game and then we have a three game road trip,” he informed her, assuming she didn’t have the schedule memorized just yet. “What do you say?”
 
“Sounds good,” Quinn responded. “Where are you taking me?” she inquired.
 
Kris let out a light laugh. “Well, that’s a surprise, now isn’t it?”
 
“You’re not going to tell me?” she asked. “How will I know what to wear then?” she added, hoping to trick him into telling her. But, Kris wasn’t falling for it.
 
“You’ll look good in whatever you wear,” he assured her.
 
“Fine,” Quinn sighed. “Well, I’ll let you go, I know it’s getting late. I’m about ready to go to bed anyways,” she told him, and all Kris could think of was her in her bed. “Good night, Kris.”
 
“Bonne nuit,” he replied, hanging up the phone.