Sequel: Weapons of War ›
Seven Year Ache
TWO IMPORTANT MEN
December 2002
“Just... please be nice.” Riley pleaded as she glanced at the clock on the stove. Shea was due to arrive any minute and her stomach was doing flip flops. She was not prepared for this, for her father and Shea to meet for the first time. She was worried that her dad wouldn't like Shea, or that he would find some reason for why she wasn't allowed to date him despite the fact that they had been dating for almost four months now.
“I'll be nice I promise. Relax kid he's coming for dinner not a human sacrifice.” Her father told her with a big grin that made Riley roll her eyes.
“See! That, what you just said? Let's not scare him away.” She muttered.
“It was a joke kiddo.” He told her, making her roll her eyes again. She was setting the table when the doorbell rang and she practically broke the plate she was holding trying to set it down fast enough so that she could get to the door before her dad.
She sent Shea a smile when she opened the door and found him standing on the other side of it. He held up a container and with a goofy smile told her, “My mom always says not to go somewhere empty handed so I brought brownies. I didn't make them though so they're 100% edible.”
She let out a laugh at that and stepped aside to let him inside the house. She took the container from him as he slipped his shoes off and he followed her into the kitchen. As she set the brownies on the counter she motioned between Shea and her dad and introduced them, “Dad this is Shea, Shea this is my dad Dave.”
“It's nice to meet you Mr. Peterson.” Shea told him, holding out his large hand to shake.
As her father shook his hand Riley noted that even her dad, who she had always thought was so big, looked small next to Shea. Dave was quick to tell Shea, “You can call me Dave.”
Shea nodded and Riley said, “Okay...so... you've met and now you can stop bugging me.”
Dave chuckled and told her, “I don't think it's wrong for a father to want to know who's dating his daughter. Do you?”
He was looking at Shea, who shook his head quickly and said, “No sir.”
Riley giggled and Shea pinched her hip, Dave simply shook his head and said, “Dave.”
“Right.” Shea said with a nod of his head.
Dave shook his head in amusement and told them, “I'll finish dinner, you two go hang out or something. But no funny business!”
Riley rolled her eyes, “Like I'd be stupid enough to mess around with a guy while you're in the next room. Come on old man get it together.”
Shea knocked her with his arm as she said this but she and Dave simply laughed. Riley lead Shea into the living room, where they sat side by side on the sofa, though not too close. Shea was hyper aware of the fact that her father was in the next room and the last thing he wanted to do was disrespect him in his own home, especially when it was the first time they were meeting.
Riley slid her hand into his and told him, “Relax.”
“Easy for you to say.”
An hour later the three of them were sitting in the living room after dinner, Riley and Shea on the love seat and Dave was sitting in the recliner. Dave had been watching the way Shea and his daughter interacted all evening, and he had to admit that he impressed. Curiously asked, “So Shea, you graduate this year right?”
“Yes sir.” He corrected himself quickly when Dave shot him a look, “I mean Dave.”
Riley practically snorted from beside him and again he pinched her only this time it was her knee. Dave smiled gently before he asked, “Whats your plan for after?”
“Well my draft is in June so hopefully I'll get selected and then it's just trying to make whatever team I get drafted to.” Riley was nervous to see her dad's reaction to this, she knew that most parents wouldn't want to hear that from their daughter's boyfriend. Shea sensed this and added, “I know it's not conventional or anything but...”
He didn't know how to finish that sentence but Dave did, “But you have to give it a chance right?”
“Yeah. If it works out great if it doesn't that's fine too.” Riley smiled at this, she had only been to a handful of Shea's games and no matter how sure of him she was Shea always marked it down to the fact that she was his girlfriend. He always had his doubts, despite what his stats looked like and what other people said.
“And what about your plans with the handful beside you?” Dave asked him curiously, and Riley rolled her eyes as Shea chuckled at that.
“I'm planning on sticking around as long she'll let me.” Shea told him confidently.
“Why?” When Dave asked this Riley reached out with her foot and kicked his shin.
“Dad!”
“I just want to know why he wants to date you, not because there's something wrong with you but because I know what kind of intentions teenage boys have.” Dave told her but he was looking at Shea when he said this.
Shea nodded and assured him, “It took me a long time to get her to go out with me but I'm really grateful that she did because she makes me laugh, and she's not impressed by the fact that I play hockey. She's smart, and she's beautiful and she makes me incredibly happy. I know that might seem like a lot coming from an eighteen year old but I really do think she's the most incredible girl in the world.”
Riley practically melted hearing him say those things.
“That's good enough for me.” Dave said with a smile before he got up and said, “Alright well I'm gonna go get some work done. I'll see you two later.”
“Alright.” Was Riley's only reply.
Dave glanced back at them, noticing how Riley had turned in her spot so she had one arm against the back of the couch and her legs across Shea's lap. He told her, “Not to late though.”
“Ya ya.” She said with a grin.
“Riley Monroe.”
“David.” She challenged back with a smirk that made Dave chuckle and disappear down the hall into his office.
After a few minutes of silence Shea told her, “Thanks for tonight, I know you wanted to wait longer.”
She shrugged, “I know that meeting him was important to you.”
“Because he's important to you.” Shea said, rubbing her calf with his hand.
“He is, but so are you.”
“Yeah?” He asked and when she nodded with a smile he asked her, “How important?”
She thought about it for a second, cocking her head and pushing her index finger into her lower lip. Finally she told him, “Almost as important as gummy bears.”
He told her, “Child.”
“Takes one to know one.” Was her only response.
He grinned, leaned forward to kiss her and then paused, not sure if he should be doing this on her living room couch with her dad down the hall. Riley rolled her eyes, grabbed him by the front of her shirt and kissed him. They continued kissing until they heard her dad call out, “I don't hear voices.”
They parted, Shea's cheeks flushed, and Riley leaned her head on her arm on the back of the couch, exclaiming loudly, “Oh my god you're ridiculous.”
An hour later Riley was saying goodbye to Shea, she kissed him quickly before he got into his car and she watched him disappear around a corner. She went back inside, locking up the house, before she ventured into her dad's office and took a seat in the stool beside his desk. He glanced at her, before taking his glasses off and leaning back in his chair, “I like him.”
“So did he pass the test?” She asked him with a smile.
“He passed.” He told her. He shuffled around a few pieces of paper before telling her, “You know he's probably leaving after this summer.”
“I know, but I'm not gonna end things because of that.” Riley told him with a shrug.
“I just don't want you to have unrealistic expectations.”
Riley let out a sigh and told him, “I'm not. Shea's probably leaving after the school year, that's fine and I'll deal with it when it happens.”
Her dad nodded and they sat in silence for a few minutes. Riley was examining a trinket from the shelf behind her, and Dave was reading an email on his computer. He responded before turning to her, and Riley raised her eyebrow before he asked, “You're being safe right?”
“Oh my god dad.” She was mortified.
He didn't feel much better asking it but he knew he had to, “I just want to make sure there's gonna be no surprises. You need to finish school and go to college and hopefully get married in a far away very distant future before that happens.”
“Dad.” She didn't know how to tell him to stop so when he continued for a long period of time going on about why she didn't need to get pregnant any time soon she told him, “We haven't even had sex dad.”
“I know but you will, probably sometime soon, and that's fine I just want to make sure you're being safe and protecting yourself.” He cleared his throat as Riley turned her attention to him in surprise.
“Are you seriously trying to have the sex talk with me right now? I'm almost 16.” She informed him, as if sometime in the last near 16 years he might have forgotten how old she was.
Dave nodded and told her, “Well he's your first boyfriend so I figured-”
“You're about three years too late on that dad.” Riley told him, watching his eyebrows raise in surprise. She shrugged and said, “Lindsay's mom already sat us down and had the talk with us. Don't worry, I'm good.”
“Okay... well... what about birth control? Is that something we need to look at?”
“Dad just stop please.” She begged, barely being able to look at him now.
Dave couldn't help but chuckle at her reaction, he patted her knee and told her, “It's times like this I wish your mother were around.”
Riley shrugged at the mention of the mother she doesn't even remember and told him, “We've done fine without her, and we'll continue to do fine without her just as long as you stop trying to talk about sex with me. Deal?”
He let out a loud laugh and said, “Deal.”
“Good, and thank you for tonight... you know for not scaring him off.” Riley told him, she was being genuine even though she knew he wouldn't have done it anyway.
Dave just nodded, and he looked at her once more before commenting, “You haven't been hanging out with Lindsay lately.”
Riley shrugged, “She's mad at me.”
“What for?” He asked curiously, the two girls had been friends since early grade school, they were practically attached at the hip.
“She seems to think I can't have a boyfriend and a best friend at the same time and I'm interested in being forced to pick between them.” Riley explained, and it made him raise his eyebrow. She was quick to say, “And no I'm not choosing Shea. I'm just tired of making all the effort to hang out and her never wanting to because for some reason she has an issue with him all of a sudden.”
“As long as you know you need to do things separate from Shea.”
“I know that, and I do plenty of things without him, I just don't see why I can't have friends and a boyfriend at the same time but that's Linday's issue not mine.” Riley told him with a shrug.
Dave nodded slowly and told her, “You know for a first boyfriend you picked a pretty good one.”
Riley grinned, “I know, I have excellent taste.”
“Just... please be nice.” Riley pleaded as she glanced at the clock on the stove. Shea was due to arrive any minute and her stomach was doing flip flops. She was not prepared for this, for her father and Shea to meet for the first time. She was worried that her dad wouldn't like Shea, or that he would find some reason for why she wasn't allowed to date him despite the fact that they had been dating for almost four months now.
“I'll be nice I promise. Relax kid he's coming for dinner not a human sacrifice.” Her father told her with a big grin that made Riley roll her eyes.
“See! That, what you just said? Let's not scare him away.” She muttered.
“It was a joke kiddo.” He told her, making her roll her eyes again. She was setting the table when the doorbell rang and she practically broke the plate she was holding trying to set it down fast enough so that she could get to the door before her dad.
She sent Shea a smile when she opened the door and found him standing on the other side of it. He held up a container and with a goofy smile told her, “My mom always says not to go somewhere empty handed so I brought brownies. I didn't make them though so they're 100% edible.”
She let out a laugh at that and stepped aside to let him inside the house. She took the container from him as he slipped his shoes off and he followed her into the kitchen. As she set the brownies on the counter she motioned between Shea and her dad and introduced them, “Dad this is Shea, Shea this is my dad Dave.”
“It's nice to meet you Mr. Peterson.” Shea told him, holding out his large hand to shake.
As her father shook his hand Riley noted that even her dad, who she had always thought was so big, looked small next to Shea. Dave was quick to tell Shea, “You can call me Dave.”
Shea nodded and Riley said, “Okay...so... you've met and now you can stop bugging me.”
Dave chuckled and told her, “I don't think it's wrong for a father to want to know who's dating his daughter. Do you?”
He was looking at Shea, who shook his head quickly and said, “No sir.”
Riley giggled and Shea pinched her hip, Dave simply shook his head and said, “Dave.”
“Right.” Shea said with a nod of his head.
Dave shook his head in amusement and told them, “I'll finish dinner, you two go hang out or something. But no funny business!”
Riley rolled her eyes, “Like I'd be stupid enough to mess around with a guy while you're in the next room. Come on old man get it together.”
Shea knocked her with his arm as she said this but she and Dave simply laughed. Riley lead Shea into the living room, where they sat side by side on the sofa, though not too close. Shea was hyper aware of the fact that her father was in the next room and the last thing he wanted to do was disrespect him in his own home, especially when it was the first time they were meeting.
Riley slid her hand into his and told him, “Relax.”
“Easy for you to say.”
An hour later the three of them were sitting in the living room after dinner, Riley and Shea on the love seat and Dave was sitting in the recliner. Dave had been watching the way Shea and his daughter interacted all evening, and he had to admit that he impressed. Curiously asked, “So Shea, you graduate this year right?”
“Yes sir.” He corrected himself quickly when Dave shot him a look, “I mean Dave.”
Riley practically snorted from beside him and again he pinched her only this time it was her knee. Dave smiled gently before he asked, “Whats your plan for after?”
“Well my draft is in June so hopefully I'll get selected and then it's just trying to make whatever team I get drafted to.” Riley was nervous to see her dad's reaction to this, she knew that most parents wouldn't want to hear that from their daughter's boyfriend. Shea sensed this and added, “I know it's not conventional or anything but...”
He didn't know how to finish that sentence but Dave did, “But you have to give it a chance right?”
“Yeah. If it works out great if it doesn't that's fine too.” Riley smiled at this, she had only been to a handful of Shea's games and no matter how sure of him she was Shea always marked it down to the fact that she was his girlfriend. He always had his doubts, despite what his stats looked like and what other people said.
“And what about your plans with the handful beside you?” Dave asked him curiously, and Riley rolled her eyes as Shea chuckled at that.
“I'm planning on sticking around as long she'll let me.” Shea told him confidently.
“Why?” When Dave asked this Riley reached out with her foot and kicked his shin.
“Dad!”
“I just want to know why he wants to date you, not because there's something wrong with you but because I know what kind of intentions teenage boys have.” Dave told her but he was looking at Shea when he said this.
Shea nodded and assured him, “It took me a long time to get her to go out with me but I'm really grateful that she did because she makes me laugh, and she's not impressed by the fact that I play hockey. She's smart, and she's beautiful and she makes me incredibly happy. I know that might seem like a lot coming from an eighteen year old but I really do think she's the most incredible girl in the world.”
Riley practically melted hearing him say those things.
“That's good enough for me.” Dave said with a smile before he got up and said, “Alright well I'm gonna go get some work done. I'll see you two later.”
“Alright.” Was Riley's only reply.
Dave glanced back at them, noticing how Riley had turned in her spot so she had one arm against the back of the couch and her legs across Shea's lap. He told her, “Not to late though.”
“Ya ya.” She said with a grin.
“Riley Monroe.”
“David.” She challenged back with a smirk that made Dave chuckle and disappear down the hall into his office.
After a few minutes of silence Shea told her, “Thanks for tonight, I know you wanted to wait longer.”
She shrugged, “I know that meeting him was important to you.”
“Because he's important to you.” Shea said, rubbing her calf with his hand.
“He is, but so are you.”
“Yeah?” He asked and when she nodded with a smile he asked her, “How important?”
She thought about it for a second, cocking her head and pushing her index finger into her lower lip. Finally she told him, “Almost as important as gummy bears.”
He told her, “Child.”
“Takes one to know one.” Was her only response.
He grinned, leaned forward to kiss her and then paused, not sure if he should be doing this on her living room couch with her dad down the hall. Riley rolled her eyes, grabbed him by the front of her shirt and kissed him. They continued kissing until they heard her dad call out, “I don't hear voices.”
They parted, Shea's cheeks flushed, and Riley leaned her head on her arm on the back of the couch, exclaiming loudly, “Oh my god you're ridiculous.”
An hour later Riley was saying goodbye to Shea, she kissed him quickly before he got into his car and she watched him disappear around a corner. She went back inside, locking up the house, before she ventured into her dad's office and took a seat in the stool beside his desk. He glanced at her, before taking his glasses off and leaning back in his chair, “I like him.”
“So did he pass the test?” She asked him with a smile.
“He passed.” He told her. He shuffled around a few pieces of paper before telling her, “You know he's probably leaving after this summer.”
“I know, but I'm not gonna end things because of that.” Riley told him with a shrug.
“I just don't want you to have unrealistic expectations.”
Riley let out a sigh and told him, “I'm not. Shea's probably leaving after the school year, that's fine and I'll deal with it when it happens.”
Her dad nodded and they sat in silence for a few minutes. Riley was examining a trinket from the shelf behind her, and Dave was reading an email on his computer. He responded before turning to her, and Riley raised her eyebrow before he asked, “You're being safe right?”
“Oh my god dad.” She was mortified.
He didn't feel much better asking it but he knew he had to, “I just want to make sure there's gonna be no surprises. You need to finish school and go to college and hopefully get married in a far away very distant future before that happens.”
“Dad.” She didn't know how to tell him to stop so when he continued for a long period of time going on about why she didn't need to get pregnant any time soon she told him, “We haven't even had sex dad.”
“I know but you will, probably sometime soon, and that's fine I just want to make sure you're being safe and protecting yourself.” He cleared his throat as Riley turned her attention to him in surprise.
“Are you seriously trying to have the sex talk with me right now? I'm almost 16.” She informed him, as if sometime in the last near 16 years he might have forgotten how old she was.
Dave nodded and told her, “Well he's your first boyfriend so I figured-”
“You're about three years too late on that dad.” Riley told him, watching his eyebrows raise in surprise. She shrugged and said, “Lindsay's mom already sat us down and had the talk with us. Don't worry, I'm good.”
“Okay... well... what about birth control? Is that something we need to look at?”
“Dad just stop please.” She begged, barely being able to look at him now.
Dave couldn't help but chuckle at her reaction, he patted her knee and told her, “It's times like this I wish your mother were around.”
Riley shrugged at the mention of the mother she doesn't even remember and told him, “We've done fine without her, and we'll continue to do fine without her just as long as you stop trying to talk about sex with me. Deal?”
He let out a loud laugh and said, “Deal.”
“Good, and thank you for tonight... you know for not scaring him off.” Riley told him, she was being genuine even though she knew he wouldn't have done it anyway.
Dave just nodded, and he looked at her once more before commenting, “You haven't been hanging out with Lindsay lately.”
Riley shrugged, “She's mad at me.”
“What for?” He asked curiously, the two girls had been friends since early grade school, they were practically attached at the hip.
“She seems to think I can't have a boyfriend and a best friend at the same time and I'm interested in being forced to pick between them.” Riley explained, and it made him raise his eyebrow. She was quick to say, “And no I'm not choosing Shea. I'm just tired of making all the effort to hang out and her never wanting to because for some reason she has an issue with him all of a sudden.”
“As long as you know you need to do things separate from Shea.”
“I know that, and I do plenty of things without him, I just don't see why I can't have friends and a boyfriend at the same time but that's Linday's issue not mine.” Riley told him with a shrug.
Dave nodded slowly and told her, “You know for a first boyfriend you picked a pretty good one.”
Riley grinned, “I know, I have excellent taste.”
♠ ♠ ♠
So I figured I'd post this now because its a little short and then update a longer chapter tomorrow.But basically this was a very important chapter because this was a very important moment for Riley and Shea. This was a solidifying moment in their early relationship.
So back to present time next chapter, so drop a line and tell me anything you want. Predictions, Requests, etc.
I'm really loving this story and how it's unfolding.