Cinematic Confessions

Autumn set her suitcase down on the floor just inside the hotel room door. The wives and girlfriends had all split rooms based on the team’s roommate assignments, leaving Autumn with Kelly Keith, not that she was complaining. She liked that she was rooming with Kelly.

“You can pick whichever bed you want,” Kelly told her. Autumn started to protest, but Kelly wouldn’t allow it. “You’re the pregnant one. You need to be comfortable!” Kelly insisted. Autumn smiled at her, picking the bed closest to the door. “You meeting up with Corey tonight?” she asked. “I think Duncan and I are going to grab a quick bite to eat if you want to join us,” she offered.

“I’ll ask Corey and see what he wants to do,” Autumn replied, grabbing her phone and quickly texting Corey. He responded immediately, saying that sounded good to him. Autumn looked up at Kelly. “Yeah, I think we’ll join you guys,” she told her. “Where are you going?” she asked, wondering what she needed to wear.

“There’s this local place just down the street. Dunc and I took a trip here once and we loved it. It’s super casual, so what you’re wearing now is good,” Kelly smiled as she read Autumn’s mind. Autumn looked down at her stretch pants and t-shirt she was wearing. She definitely wasn’t dressed for anyplace fancy, but if Kelly told her what she was wearing was good, then she wasn’t going to change. Her clothes were extremely comfortable right now, and she liked it that way.

“Good,” Autumn said with a smile as she waited on Kelly to go to the bathroom before the two girls walked down the hallway to the elevator to go down two flights to Corey and Duncan’s room.

Kelly knocked on the door, and Duncan answered a few moments later, giving his wife a kiss. “I’m glad to see you made it here just fine,” he told her as he moved aside so she and Autumn could walk into the room. “Corey’s changing and then we can go,” he told them. “Autumn, how are you doing?” he asked.

“Good,” Autumn replied, looking around the room that looked identical to hers and Kelly’s.

“You’re going to love where we’re going tonight to eat,” Duncan assured her as Corey opened up the door to the bathroom and stepping out, smiling when he saw Autumn standing there. He kissed her cheek before going over to throw his clothes he had been wearing on what Autumn assumed to be his bed.

“Good, I’m starving!” Autumn told him.

“Let’s go,” Kelly said as she grabbed Duncan’s hand, pulling him out of the room.

Fifteen minutes later, the two couples were sitting in a booth of a cozy local restaurant. Autumn looked at the menu, not knowing what to order, as everything looked delicious. “Would it be bad if I ordered more than one entree?” she asked with a laugh.

Duncan shook his head. “No, I’m planning on ordering at least three,” he told her.

Kelly looked across the table at Autumn. “He’s not joking either,” she told her in all seriousness. “But, I can assure you that when I was pregnant I was ordering more food than Dunc! I seriously ate so much!”

“I feel like that now,” Autumn said, closing the menu, deciding to order two entrees. She could always take the leftovers back to the hotel room, if there were leftovers. The waitress came over and took their orders, giving Autumn a weird look when she ordered two meals, but Corey put his arm around her to let her know not to let it get to her.

The four of them ate while having casual conversations ranging from the season to if and when Kelly and Duncan were looking to having another baby to Autumn’s work. The evening flew by quickly for Autumn as Duncan and Corey paid the bill. “I think we’re going to head back to the room,” Duncan told them, giving Corey a look that said he and Autumn should find another place to go instead of back to Corey’s room.

Corey nodded his head slightly for confirmation as he put his arm around Autumn as they walked outside. “Why don’t we take a walk?” he suggested.

“Sure,” Autumn said as she said goodbye to Kelly and Duncan who walked off in the opposite direction back to the hotel.

“It looks like I’m going to have to find another room for the night,” Corey stated.

“I think I might know of somewhere you can stay,” Autumn said with a smile.

“Oh yeah?”

“Oh yeah,” she nodded her head, getting up on her tiptoes to give him a kiss.

“I like that idea, but first I think we should go down here before heading back to the hotel,” Corey said, leading her around the corner onto another street.

Autumn looked at him curiously. “Where are we going?” she inquired.

“You’ll see,” Corey smiled but didn’t give anything away as he held hands with her, continuing to walk down the street. They walked a couple more blocks before Corey stopped. “Your pick,” he told her.

Autumn looked up to see they were standing in front of a movie theater. A big grin spread across her face. “Corey!” she exclaimed, unable to contain her excitement. As much as she was a movie fan, they tended to stay in and watch DVDs rather than go out to the movies, so she was excited to be able to go to the theater.

“So what movie would you like to see?” he asked her. “You can pick anything, even that new romantic comedy,” he said, though he really would prefer if she didn’t pick that movie. Of course, that was exactly the one she chose since Kate Hudson was in it, and he knew that’s what she’d want to see.

He bought the tickets and they proceeded to stop at the concession stand. It didn’t matter that both of them had just had dinner. They still were going to have theater popcorn and candy. Corey bought the largest popcorn for them to share as well as a bag of Sour Patch Kids, Autumn’s favorite candy.

They sat down in their seats, and Corey put his arm around Autumn’s shoulders as she happily grabbed some popcorn and started chomping down on it. She smiled at him, and he knew he had made the right choice surprising her with the movies.

Two long hours later for Corey, the movie finally finished. “Thank you, I loved it,” Autumn told him as they walked back towards the hotel.

Corey couldn’t help but smile. She was so happy over the smallest thing. “No problem, I figured it’s about time I took you to a movie,” he laughed. He had been thinking about it for a while, but the opportunity really presented itself when she agreed to come to Nashville on the trip. “Now, does that offer for a place to sleep tonight still stand?” he asked her.

“Sleep? That’s what you want to do right now?” she asked him with a raised eyebrow.

“Depends, what do you have in mind?” he asked her slyly.

“Oh, I think you know what I have in mind,” she responded, picking up her pace and pulling on his hand so they could get to the hotel quicker.

***

Autumn woke up to Corey’s alarm on his phone going off, and she groaned turning over and burying her face in his chest. “Turn it off,” she mumbled.

Corey chuckled as he reached behind him to grab his phone and shut it off. “I need to go,” he told her, kissing the top of her head. They had had an amazing night the night before after they had gotten back to her room, and he really wished he didn’t have to leave her naked body in bed, but he had to get to morning skate before their game tonight.

“No,” she protested.

“Sorry, babe,” he apologized. “But, I’ll be back in a couple of hours and we’ll go out with everyone,” he said.

She nodded her head as he rolled out of her bed, finding his pants on the floor and pulling them back on. His shirt was across the floor, and he picked it up, throwing it on over his head. He came back over and gave her one last kiss on her temple before leaving to go to his room to get his things for morning skate.

Autumn tried to go back to sleep but was finding it difficult without Corey’s warm body next to her anymore. Frustrated, she sat up and grabbed the remote, turning the television on before checking her phone to catch up on emails. She was surprised when she saw several missed texts from Katherine. She thought about texting her back but decided to call her best friend instead. “Hey Kat, what’s up?” Autumn asked when Katherine finally picked up the phone.

“You don’t really look around on the internet for information on the team’s girlfriends, do you?” Katherine asked her.

Autumn laughed. “Uh, no,” she said, confused with the bizarre question.

“Good, don’t start,” Katherine said simply.

“Kat, what’s going on?” Autumn asked, genuinely curious.

“You’re not going to like this.”

“Kat.”

“Okay, fine. But, remember, fans are stupid and believe anything.”

“Kat! Just tell me!” Autumn exclaimed, just wanting to know what was going on.

Katherine inhaled deeply before finally spitting it out. “There’s pictures floating around of you and Corey from what I assume was yesterday. And they’re talking about how Corey’s kept you a secret for so long and that you’re carrying his baby, and it’s completely out of control.”

Autumn’s eyes widened at the news. “What?” she screamed. This was the last thing she wanted to happen, and she wasn’t sure why it was happening now. Plenty of people had seen her and Corey out before. No, neither of them had publicly talked about the two of them dating or the fact that Autumn was pregnant and the baby wasn’t Corey’s, but she never thought that rumors would be spread around after her trip to Nashville.

“You guys need to clear this up. Or not,” Katherine said. “I mean, it’s your personal life, it’s no one’s business, especially not nosy fans,” she reasoned.

“And let the world continue to think that Corey’s going to be a dad when he’s not?” Autumn questioned. “I don’t think so!”

“Yet,” she heard Katherine mutter.

“Kat! I’m serious! How do I clear this up?” she asked.

“I don’t really know,” Katherine answered honestly. “I’m not involved with a public figure. But, you could probably ask Brent and Brianna. They had to deal with this. Especially when they first started dating,” she told her. Brianna was the first person Brent dated after his first wife, Chelsea, had died, and there was a lot of talk from fans about it. “I’d talk to them.”

“I’ll see if Bri’s free. I’d like to have some of this sorted out before I tell Corey.”

“Well let me know if I can help you at all,” Katherine told her.

“Thanks, and I’ll talk to you when I get back. Can we go to lunch or dinner or something?” Autumn asked.

“Of course! We’ll go out for dinner when you get back, maybe go out and watch the game,” she suggested.

“Good, I’ll see you when I get back,” Autumn said before hanging up the phone. She quickly texted Brianna asking if she had some time to meet up and talk, and Bri suggested Autumn come to her room that she was sharing with Kris Versteeg’s fiancee.

Autumn quickly got dressed and made her way down the hall to their room. “Hey, what’s up?” Brianna asked, her hair a mess, a clear indication of what she and Brent had done the evening before, or perhaps that morning.

Autumn gave her a quick rundown before asking for advice. “Oh Brent and I had a lot said about us when we first started dating. I got called every name in the book with people saying I was taking advantage of him when he was at a weak point in his life. So, as much as I hate to say this, watch out for all the hate you’ll get. Especially when people find out that the baby you’re carrying isn’t his. It doesn’t matter that you’re a surrogate, people are cruel,” Brianna told her, thinking back to when it came out in the open that she and Brent had begun dating. “I’m actually a little surprised that no one’s really said anything about you before now. I mean, you’ve been dating for a long while.”

“I guess we kept it under wraps from the public for a while. People probably just thought I was some random pregnant lady,” she said with a chuckle. “Now they’ve caught on to us dating,” Autumn shrugged, unsure herself how they had maintained the secret from everyone for so long.

“Like I said, people are cruel, but just ignore them. They’re going to say awful things about you that aren’t true, but you know the truth,” Brianna told her.

“People really are mean, aren’t they?” Autumn asked with a frown on her face as she sat down on the bed that belonged to Versteeg’s fiancee, which was still made from the night before.

Brianna nodded her head. “They said that I probably was waiting around the whole time for Chelsea to die so I could come in and steal Brent from her,” she told Autumn one rumor that had gone around when she first started seeing Brent. “I didn’t even know Chelsea. I met Brent after she had passed away.”

“I can just imagine what they’re going to say about me.”

“Probably that you trapped Corey,” Brianna laughed at how ridiculous that was. “All you can do is prepare yourself for the crazy lies they’ll make up and know that it doesn’t matter what they say. You and Corey are happy, and that’s what matters.”

“Thanks, Bri,” Autumn said with a smile.

“You want to go get something to eat? I was a little too busy this morning to have breakfast,” she said, biting her lip.

Autumn nodded her head as she laughed. “Sure, but first, go fix your hair. We don’t need the whole world to know that you and Brent were going at it like crazy this morning,” she chuckled as Brianna’s hand quickly went to her head, feeling just how out of control her sex hair was this morning.