Pony
Liz looks at me wide-eyed across the table, "Soda did not tell Kate." She says in shock, I nod, she shakes her head, "I can't believe that" she pauses, "Actually sadly I can."
"He said he was drunk, and it slipped. He said she had been asking questions, I'm sure prying for information." I tell her, Liz just recently started a job as a pre-school teacher at a private school not too far from the high school. Between her starting the new job and my crazy schedule we've really not seen each other in a good week or two, she had texted me asking to meet me for lunch, knowing school was out for a teacher workday. It actually worked out well, Coach gave us this long weekend off to rest up because and I quote, "next week is hell week." We have our first of two games against Stanton next Saturday night and from what Robbie told me the week of practice leading up to the actual game is intense.
"Honestly Pony I have no words." Liz says, she smiles at the waitress who drops our food off and then slips her number under my plate and winks. I smile politely and wait till she's gone before I crumble it up tossing it on the table, "I take it things with Payton are going well?" Liz asks nodding towards the paper,
"Surprisingly yes." I say taking a bite of pasta, "Almost too good, I keep waiting for something to happen and it all to go to shit." Liz reaches across the table and pats my hand,
"You have to stop thinking like that." She tells me, "You deserve this, you deserve to be happy," She pauses, "How did she take what Kate told her?"
"Better than I expected." I reply, "We sat down the other day and I told her everything about what happened, the shit Kate told her was kind of exaggerated."
"And everything is good?" Liz asks, I nod, "And everything is ok with you and Soda?" I nod again, Payton had actually been the one who convinced me to talk to Soda, and work things out, she felt bad blaming him for something that was really Kate's doing.
"Yeah." Liz studies me for a second, "What?" I ask,
"Between us how serious is this with Payton?" She tilts her head to the side, and I know she's thinking, "Are we thinking long term?"
"It's only been official for like five months." I start, I don't mention that the other day I had without thinking about it made an offhanded comment about "getting married in the future" neither of us had acknowledged it, but when I said it, it felt right. Liz raises her eyebrow at me, clearly a trick she learned from Two-Bit, "I love her if that's what you want to hear." She smiles at me,
"It is." She says, I roll my eyes going back to my food. "And no issues with her parents?" I shake my head,
"Nope, Greg and Liv are actually really down to earth and cool." I leave out that the first night I went over there for dinner, I almost had a total anxiety attack. Liz looks at me, "Josh and Kristen are cool too." I add. I leave out that I am still surprised at how welcoming her family was, I don't have the best track record with the few parents of girls I had dated in the past, and I know how close Payton is to her family, and how important it is to her that I get along with them. She had mentioned briefly that I am the only guy she's dated that both her dad, uncle and Sawyer have actually liked. "Speaking of her parents." I start, Liz looks at me, "Tomorrow Robbie, Sawyer, Nick and I are having a private lesson with Scott, Coach reached out to him directly to work on some fundamentals with us, and Greg volunteered the rink at their house." I pause,
"Ok and." Liz presses gently,
"I'd like you guys to come and spend some time with Payton's family." Liz's eyes get wide, and I'm surprised that her jaw doesn't hit the table. "And if Steve, Soda and Two-Bit want to come they are more than welcome." I add. Liz nods,
"Of course we'll be there. Just text me the address and what time." She tells me, then pauses, "I'm glad you finally let someone in." Liz says a couple seconds later.
"Me too." I reply. After two years of constantly trying to push people away and not get close to someone, and being angry at the world, Payton snuck her way in without me realizing she was doing it, and all of a sudden things started making sense again. It was like I could breathe, and I was finally able to start moving past what happened in Tulsa and look towards the future.
"So, any other plans for your long weekend?" Liz asks as the waitress clears the table and takes Liz's credit card.
"Date night, tonight." I say with a smirk, "And then the lesson tomorrow."
"On your hockey free weekend right?" She questions, I nod,
"Apparently this rivalry with Stanton is the real deal, Sawyer compared it to the Yankees and the Red Sox or the Patriots and the Jets." Liz chuckles,
"That sounds serious." She replies,
"Speaking of serious, how is the wedding planning going? Pay was asking about it the other day." Liz groans, "That good?"
"Let's just say my parents have their own ideas of what my wedding should be like, mom actually told me she had been dreaming of this her entire life." She tells me I had met Liz's parents a few times, but I never really got any kind of impression of them, I know Darry gets along pretty well with both of them. Liz grew up in an upper middle-class family, her dad sells real estate, and her mom is a nurse.
"What sort of ideas?" I question, Darry had mentioned a few weeks ago that they were just going to go down to the courthouse, but I'm getting the feeling that, won't be happening.
"Church wedding, country club reception, bridal showers, the whole nine yards." Liz tells me, "And they are adamant that it's in Tulsa." She takes a sip of her drink, "I'm not really comfortable with all of that hoopla and you know your brother he won't go for it."
"That's a lot of ideas for your wedding." I say, "Did you tell them what you wanted?" Liz nods,
"I have more than once, and then it's the guilt trip." She explains, "I mentioned what they were saying to Darry, and it turned into a huge argument. Mom keeps trying to guilt me into doing it saying that I already shamed them for living in sin without even being engaged and moving across the country with someone I'm not married to." That is one thing I knew about her parents they are ultra traditional, and I know there was a lot of crap given when Liz moved here with us. "They aren't speaking to me currently," She continues, "My brother Mark, I think you met him." I nod, "He's living with his girlfriend, and they have no issues with that, and from what I've been told there is no future plans to get married, and when I asked why that was ok but me doing it wasn't, mom hung up on me and is now refusing to speak to me." Liz sighs and looks at her watch, "I should get going back to work, I have some lesson plans to work on." Both of us stand up and she gives me a tight hug, "Text me the info for tomorrow and we'll be there."
"I will, I promise." I tell her hugging her back, "You guys are coming to the game on Saturday, right?"
"We wouldn't miss it." Liz replies, "I wait until she's across the street before I head back home to get ready before heading to Payton's house.
"Pay I'm not really into surprises." I say wearily as I follow her through the house, I had figured we'd go out for date night, but she apparently had other plans. She turns and wraps her arms around my waist looking up at me,
"I know but I promise you'll like this one." She insists, she stands up slightly on her tiptoes and I lean over meeting her lips somewhere in the middle. She lets me go and slips her hand through mine, leading me down the stairs, "So I know how much you like movies." She starts one hand on a door to a room I have never been in,
"Uh huh." I reply not really sure where this is going,
"And I know you said you try to avoid going to the movies." She says, "So I figured I'd bring the movies to you." She finishes as she opens the door pulling me through it with her. It takes a minute for my eyes to adjust to the dim lighting, before I look around my eyes taking in the room.
"Damn Pay." I say, she somehow managed to turn the room into our own personal movie theater. There is a large projection screen on one wall, the floor which is carpeted is covered in piles of pillows and blankets, and to the right she's got an entire snack table set up, and the room smells like fresh popcorn.
"You like it?" She questions, I look down at her, her dark blue eyes studying my face. "I just wanted to do something special for you." She adds quietly.
"I love it Pay." I assure her, she wrinkles up her nose and smiles at me, like really smiles and when she does that, I swear to God it could light up a room. I lean down kissing her, "What are we watching?" I ask straightening back up,
"Something scary obviously." She tells me with a smirk, I was shocked when I found out that Payton is a horror movie fanatic, I never would have thought it. I had her pegged for romantic comedies, but she is all about horror, that and classic movies. I really don't think she could be any more perfect for me.
"I love you Pay." I say leaning down to give her another kiss before we head over to the snack table, she thought of everything.
"I ordered in Chinese." She starts, "And then I got all your favorite snacks and candy." The two of us get what we want and make ourselves comfortable. Payton grabs her phone and a remote and the lights go out and the screen lights up and the beginning of "The Conjuring" starts.
Payton
As soon as we're done eating, Pony stretches out and holds his arm out, I immediately move over resting my head on his chest as he wraps his arm around me tightly. I will admit I used to hate being cuddled, Carter had two moods either he wanted nothing to do with me or he was clingy like glue both drove me crazy. It got to the point that any physical contact with him made me sick to my stomach, but with Pony it's the opposite, being in his arms, being close to him in general is quite possibly my favorite thing in the world. He makes me feel warm, safe and completely content, the two of us watch the movie in a comfortable silence, something that I've never experienced with any other guy I've dated, there is no awkward silence filled with forced conversation everything is just natural and it feels right with Pony. Once the movie is over neither of us make any move to get up,
"Did you want to watch another movie?" I ask, sitting up reaching for the projector remote and my phone. Pony props himself up on both elbows and grins at me,
"I mean there are so many other things I'd rather do with you." He starts, I roll my eyes at him leaning over to kiss him, and he takes full advantage and pulls me down on top of him kissing me hard. I tangle my fingers in his hair, as he moves his hands down my back to my butt, he slips one under my shirt rubbing my back as we kiss. He pulls away for a second, and looks at me, this has normally been where I would have stopped him. The two of us stopped having sex before we even became official, I couldn't do the friends with benefits thing, not with him. When we did finally become an actual couple, we both agreed to take it slow, and even though I've spent more than a few nights with him, we always stopped before having sex. I know it's driving him crazy, even though he's been a total gentleman about it, I had explained to him that with Carter our relationship became all about sex, that's literally all Carter wanted, and to be honest it left me confused about if I could tell the difference between sex and being in love with someone. With Pony I wanted to make sure the feelings were real and not just a really strong physical attraction.
"I love you." I tell him, running my fingers slowly through his hair, he smiles at me,
"I love you." He replies, "So much." He adds as almost an afterthought, turning my insides into liquid. I bring my lips back to his, I can feel him smile against my lips as he rolls over until I'm under him. Thirty minutes later I roll off of him panting, "Shit Pay." He pants, he pulls me closer to him, I rest my head against his shoulder running my fingers over the hard flat muscles on his stomach, while he absentmindedly plays with my hair, our breathing slowly becoming regular again.
"Can you spend the night?" I ask sitting up starting to get dressed, he pulls his shirt back over his head and looks at me,
"Are we talking about spending the night together in your bed, or like staying here in general and hanging out with your brother?" He asks curiously.
"With me, in my bed." I tell him,
"Your parents are cool with that?" I nod, mom had sat down with me earlier to let me know that her and dad were ok if Pony wanted to spend the night with me, and how she'd rather know where I was and that I was safe, then have the two of us sneaking around to have sex. I did get the safe sex lecture and how the last thing either of us need is a teenage pregnancy. "I mean I'm not going to say no to spending the night with you." He says, "And I do have to be back here tomorrow, so it just makes sense." He adds, the two of us do a quick cleanup before I shut the lights off and head upstairs. I push open my bedroom door letting him in before I pull it half-way closed, he strips down to his boxer-briefs and slides into bed, I change into a t-shirt and go in the bathroom taking my makeup off and brushing my teeth, when I'm done, I slide into bed next to him. Immediately he pulls me closer to him, till I'm pressed against him my head on his chest, one hand resting on the side of his face. "I love you Pay." He murmurs into the top of my head,
"I love you too." I reply, before closing my eyes, between how warm and safe I feel and the sound of his steady breathing it takes no time at all for me to fall asleep.
Liz
"Tell me again why we are doing this?" Darry asks as he slows to the gate house, he rolls down his window and gives his name, we sit there and wait for the huge gate to swing open before driving through.
"Damn." Two-Bit mutters from the backseat, all the guys had been happy to come,
"Because Pony wants us to be here." I tell Darry pulling down the rearview mirror to make sure my lipstick is still on, "And this is important to him." I add. I step out of the car after Darry parks, and look at the house,
"Whoa." Soda says coming up to my right side, the house looks like something you'd see in one of those movies about the glory days of the Old South, it's straight out of Gone With the Wind. We make our way up the front steps and Darry hesitates for a second and then rings the bell. He's never come out and said it, but I know that even though he's ok with Pony being with Payton he still has some doubts about them being together. He sighs and rings the bell, a few seconds later the door opens.
"Hi!" Payton greets brightly, "I'm so glad you guys were able to come." She says,
"Well, hello there beautiful." Two-Bit says pushing between Soda and I to give her a hug. She smiles at him,
"Payton Madeline Cooper you had better invite them in." A voice says, from around the corner, Payton rolls her eyes in the general direction and motions for us to come in. She shuts the door behind us, a few seconds later who I imagine is her mom comes in. Payton looks like a younger version of her, down to the blonde hair and big blue eyes.
"It's so nice to finally meet all of you." She says and I catch a hint of Southern accent.
"It's so nice to meet you Mrs. Cooper." I reply, she smiles gently,
"Oh no call me Liv." She says, "Mrs. Cooper is my mother-in-law and she's a special snowflake that we don't really like to talk about." Two-Bit chuckles, Payton makes the introductions and all of us get a warm smile. "I just want you to know," She starts putting one hand on my arm the other on Darry's, "Pony is an amazing young man, and we just adore him."
"Are we talking about the same Pony?" Two-Bit asks with a smirk, as Steve elbows him in the ribs.
"Your house is lovely." I tell her,
"Payton why don't you show her around and I'll take these gentleman out to the rink, I think they are just about to start." Payton nods,
"Sure." She replies,
"Your mom she's not originally from Boston, is she?" I question as Payton leads me up through a door into the kitchen.
"You caught the accent?" Payton asks with a grin, I nod, "She's from Georgia born around raised outside of Atlanta, my grandparents still live there." She says as we continue walking around the house, which I find has an overwhelming sense of family and just plain happiness. I was expecting something fancy with breakable items and expensive artwork, but I'm surprised to see there are more family pictures of Payton and Sawyer at all ages that line the walls than things that belong in a museum. "She came to Boston for art-school, met dad at a bar in Cambridge, he was playing for Boston College at the time, and she decided to stay." Payton tells me,
"She's the curator at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts?" I ask, Payton nods, "I am dying to go there, but none of the guys will go with me." I tell her,
"Let me know and I'll go with you." Payton tells me, "Mom can get us behind the scenes access to exhibits that aren't out yet."
"I'd really like that." I reply, the two of us finish walking around the house and Payton leads me outside to the rink.