Game Changer

by Amelia Whitmore

  Ethan and Aiden had taken turns driving, leaving us girls in the back seat for most of the trip. It would have normally been just a four hour drive to Austin but with two pregnant girls we had to make quite a few little pit stops along the way.

  "Well, you can't say they're stingy." I sighed, looking up at what looked to be a mansion. What did Kane even do anyways? Oh right, he used to play football ... did that mean that Aiden could afford a place like this?

  The guys grabbed our things as Kira and I went up and rang the doorbell. Erica answered, looking more like it was the middle of the day than night.

  "You guys are finally here!" She exclaimed.

  I hugged her awkwardly, feeling uncomfortable after not talking to her for a few months. After talking for a few minutes, we all headed upstairs to sleep.

  Time passed quickly the next day, with me avoiding a conversation with Erica at all costs until I was getting dressed for the party. I wore a pale pink tank top under a dark grey skirt, a white and grey striped cardigan, and tan Uggs.

  Aiden gave me a curious look when he saw my choice of shoe.

  "What? It's freezing and they're comfortable." I narrowed my eyes at him.

  He grinned and shrugged his shoulders, then continued trimming his beard. Wisconsin must have had some kind of effect on him because he was suddenly even more rugged looking; like a sexy lumberjack. Luckily for me though, he was keeping his beard very short, just enough to shade his face lightly instead of making him look like Grizzly Adams.

  My hair was in soft curls down my back and my makeup was soft. I kept the jewelry to a minimum, figuring that if I was going to wear Uggs, it'd be weird to match them with diamonds. I walked over to Aiden and wrapped my arms around his back, kissing his shoulder, then resting my head against it. He used his free hand to rub my hip.

  "You excited for tonight?" He asked.

  "No, are you?" I replied honestly.

  "I'm nervous mostly. The last time I saw your parents, Brittney had just crashed the wedding." He admitted.

  "You have nothing to worry about." I told him confidently. When I'd talked to my parents after we got back together, they'd been incredibly supportive. I was just nervous about how supportive they'd be with the baby.

  He finished up and turned towards me. "You ready babe?"

  I sighed and nodded. We held hands as we walked downstairs. People were already filing through the doors; Erica was playing the ever obedient hostess and running around filling drinks for everybody. I thought it was kind of ridiculous, to be honest.

  Aiden made sure I was safely on the first level before he let go of my hand. I ran to my parents, who were standing near the fireplace. Dad wrapped his arms around me and spun me around. From the corner of my eye, I could see that Aiden was ready to holler about the baby, but I threw him a look telling him not to and that it was fine.

  "I missed you guys so much!" I exclaimed, hugging my mom once Dad set me back down again.

  "You look so beautiful tonight Kitten." Mom said, moving some hair out of my eyes. "I wish I'd been smart enough to dress comfortably." She sighed, glaring down at her heels.

  I laughed and nodded, "I figured that since it wasn't our house, it didn't matter much anyways. Erica’s the one who needs to impress people."

  "Have you two talked yet?" Dad asked, using the tone he always uses when he's about to lecture me.

  "No, not really." I sighed.

  Mom put a hand on Dad's arm, stopping him from telling me what to do. He bit his tongue and sighed, taking another sip from his beer. Aiden came up beside me and handed me a bottled water. I smiled and thanked him, reintroducing my parents to him.

  "It's nice to meet you again, Mr. and Mrs. Smith." He said politely.

  My mom started smiling like a crazy person, "How are you Aiden?" She sounded so sneaky.

  "I'm good ma'am, how are you?" He asked, his beautiful eyes twinkling.

  "Oh, I'm great. I've been waiting so long for Emily to find a man to make her happy." I started blushing and covered his ears.

  "Mom! Stop it!" I pleaded. But of course my mother didn’t listen. I swear it’s like mother’s live for the moment you bring your first boyfriend home so they can torture the heck out of you.

  "Well…" She dragged the word out, trying to look innocent. "I'm just saying that I didn't know if you would ever find somebody. I thought you'd be alone forever."

  "Alright, time to go before she ruins your evening." Dad said, grabbing Mom's hand and pulling her away.

  "That was completely awkward." I groaned, turning to Aiden. He was laughing, "Shut up!" I exclaimed, smacking his arm.

  He pulled me to his chest with his arms around my shoulders, "You're too adorable when you blush like that." He told me, still chuckling slightly.

  "Yeah, well let's see how adorable that blush is when I announce that I'm pregnant wi..." But before I could finish, there was a loud crashing sound behind me, followed by a high pitched screech. I spun around and saw a very shocked and upset looking Erica.

  "You're pregnant?" She asked, sounding like she was accusing me of something.

  "Erica, keep your voice down." I begged, stepping forward. She looked down at my stomach, which was still fairly flat other than a hardly noticeable baby bump.

  "No, I will not keep my voice down. Are. You. Pregnant?" She asked slowly.

  I glanced around, my heart was starting to race as everybody stared at us. Aiden's hand on my back calmed me slightly and I turned back to Erica,

  "Yes." I admitted. A few people gasped, including my mother.

  "Emily, you're pregnant?" My mother stepped forward. I was starting to panic and Aiden seemed to sense it.

  "She's pregnant, we were planning to tell you all during this visit. However, this definitely wasn't the plan." He explained with a confidence I couldn't seem to muster.

  "You're not even married!" Erica stomped her foot.

  "Clearly." I said, sarcastically.

  "How dare you take this moment from me!" She screamed.

  My eyebrows drew together and I looked at Aiden, who looked just as confused as I felt. "What the hell are you talking about, what moment?" I asked.

  "I was supposed to get pregnant first!" She pouted.

  "Are you seriously freaking out because you wanted to have a baby first? Get over yourself Erica. Not everything can be about you, despite your very clear attempts." I refused to raise my voice, but my tone was strong.

  "You're always taking my moments away from me! You're out to ruin everything!" In the corner of my eye, I watched Kane take a long drink of his beer before stepping forward and rubbing Erica’s arm.

  "Right, because at nineteen, I got pregnant on purpose. Just to spite you," I scoffed.

  "Exactly, you're nineteen! Why don't you just get an abortion?" Everybody in the room gasped, clearly not expecting something like that to come out of perfect little Erica's mouth.

  Aiden's hands tightened on my arms and he pulled me to his body. I put one hand on his arm, telling him I could handle this.

  Before I could tell her off, my father's booming voice erupted in the silent room,

  "She will do no such thing. Erica, this should have been said years ago, but as of this moment you're going to stop being such a little bitch. You've been the same since you were three years old, only you're getting nastier with age. You just told your own sister to kill her baby! How do you truly feel about yourself?" When Dad was disappointed or upset, you knew something was seriously wrong. "Emm, you and Aiden go upstairs and collect your things, we're all going home."

  Home, for my parents, was about fifteen minutes away. When Ethan and I went off to college, my parents moved to Austin. I hated them being so far away, but they really seemed to enjoy living there.

  I grabbed Aiden's hand and led us upstairs. We were silent the entire time we packed our bags. Before leaving the room, Aiden set our bags down and pulled me to his arms, placing light kisses on my lips.

  "We'll be fine,"
he promised. I nodded, having never doubted that, and took comfort in his arms.

  "I think I'd rather have dealt with Brittney," I admit with a grin.

  His eyes widened, as did his smile, "Wow… that says something."

  "Mm." I confirmed, indeed it does.

  We kissed again, the uncomfortable feeling from before having disappeared.

  "Let's get out of here now." He said, leading us down the stairs.

  My parents were already in the car. They drove us to a local restaurant, where my father apparently spent a lot of money at which enabled us to get in without a reservation, and celebrated the New Year with a group of amazing strangers. For the rest of the night, we didn't discuss the baby other than my parents telling us that they were behind us 100%, and that they couldn't wait for their grandchild. However, along with their support, there was a promise to have a serious discussion the next day.

  Chapter 22

  Mom and Dad gave us a very long speech about how we should have been protected and that if we were going to engage in premarital sex, that we should have been smarter about it.

  We wholeheartedly agreed and before we knew it, Ethan and Kira were joining us at Mom and Dad’s house before we made the drive back home a few days later.

  We got to the house and stumbled up the stairs, practically sleep walking to our bedroom. Kira and Ethan decided to sleep on our pullout couch in the living room.

  “I’m so tired!” I exclaimed, flopping down on the bed.

  Aiden chuckled, somehow finding the energy to pull off my boots and his own shoes before lying beside me.

  “Let’s get some sleep.” He murmured before pulling me to him so he was spooning my body from behind. I always slept best when he held me like this and he knew that.

  Just as I was about to fall into dreamland, Aiden’s rough voice made me feel alert again, “Emm?”

  “Mm?” I moaned sleepily.

  “Move in with me.” He said, sounding just as tired as I felt.

  “Can we talk about this tomorrow?” I groaned.

  “No, I can’t sleep until you tell me.” He said immaturely, making me grin, despite me being so tired that I was about to pass out.

  “Your apartment is too small for us to move into together. I don’t want to raise a baby in an apartment building.” I sighed, twisting in his arms until I was looking at him.

  “Then it’s a good thing I put a down payment on a house before we left.” He said quickly. I heard him clearly by now.

  I sat straight up and leaned over to turn on the lamp beside my bed, “You did what?!” I hollered as I turned to face him.

  He sighed and sat up too, “I found a house that I really like and I want us to live there.” He said, not giving me any real information to go on.

  “Aiden, what were you thinking when you made a decision like that?” I snapped. “What if I don’t like the house? Did you even consider me in this?”

  He wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me to his side; I tried to get away but he held me close.

  “Of course I was thinking about you.” He sounded offended that I had asked that. “You’re all I ever think about. I want us to live in our own house and I wanted to surprise you with this. I didn’t expect you to react like this.” He mumbled.

  I sighed, “I didn’t get any say in this and that’s not okay.”

  “I’m sorry. Really, I am.” He ran his free hand through his hair, “Maybe I can talk to the guy and get my money back.”

  I closed my eyes and shook my head, “No. You already made a commitment to it.”

  I pushed his arm off of my shoulders and laid back down, scooting over to the far side of the bed.

  “Emm, I said I’m sorry. Please don’t pull away like that.” Aiden’s voice was so soft that it broke my heart a little bit.

  I turned until I was on my back and looked at him.

  “The next time that you make a big decision like this, especially one that affects me, let alone our future child, you need to include me in it. I don’t want us to have a relationship built around you being the one who’s in charge. I want us to be equal and, to be honest, I’ve never felt like this around you until now.”

  “And how do you feel now?” His voice was heavy and he was looking straight down at the bed.

  I took a deep breath before answering, “Like a child and you’re deciding what I’m going to do with my life.”

  “God,” He breathed out harshly, laying back down and grabbing my hand, “Emi, I never wanted to make you feel that way. I swear I didn’t. I want you to have your independence and I want to make our lives together something that we both want. I’m so sorry, for everything, but especially how I’ve made you feel.” Tears were welling up in the corners of his eyes.

  That was my breaking point. Knowing that he cared enough to cry when I was upset made it seem silly that I was angry at him over something like a house. I wiggled across the bed until I was in his arms and wrapped my own arms around his waist.

  “Let’s sleep, we’ll talk about this in the morning, okay?”

  He nodded and kissed my forehead before whispering “I love you so much baby.” I told him that I loved him too and we both fell asleep.

  In the morning, I was slightly calmer when it came to the subject of the house I’d never seen yet, and would be living in soon. “I want to see it.” I said to Aiden, who was busy lying between my legs with his hands holding my tiny baby bump, talking to Sobri.

  He stopped mid coo to look up at me, “When?”

  “Now.” I answered with a shrug.

  He jumped up and carefully pulled me off the bed, making me laugh. When I said now, I meant that we should start getting ready any minute, not that we should jump up and go.

  “Let me get changed first!” I exclaimed, looking down at my pajamas.

  “Why? It’s not like we’re going anywhere fancy.” He looked like a typical guy, and sounded even more so.

  “Fine, but if I see anybody I know, I’m kicking your butt,” I teased.

  “That’s kinky.” He mused, making me laugh and push him out the door.

  Fifteen minutes later, we pulled up to a, much to my relief, gorgeous house in a more upscale neighborhood than I was used to.

  “Wow,” I whispered, in disbelief. River Oaks was probably the most prestigious neighborhood you could live in, inside the city itself.

  “Is it okay?” He asked, sounding really nervous.

  I felt bad for how I reacted the night before, not that it was at all okay for him to buy a house without consulting me since we would both be living there.

  “So far,” I grinned. He took my hand and we made our way inside. It was all dark hard wood flooring and spacious. I loved it.

  “I’m sorry for making you feel bad, I should have at least seen the house before getting so mad at you.” I said when we were standing on the balcony attached to our master bedroom.

  My arms were around his waist and we looked over the backyard where our child would play eventually. He rubbed my back and kissed my neck.

  “I’m sorry for doing this without you, you should have been a part of the whole process.” We pecked lips before heading back downstairs.

  Aiden started driving towards his place, so I asked him why we were going to the apartment.

  “A buddy of mine was watching Presley when we were away and I can’t wait to see her again.” He looked giddy. I tilted my head, in the entire time we’d been together, I hadn’t met his dog. I remembered him talking about her on the bus in Cancún, but I’d forgotten he even had a dog until now.

  “Where was she all the other times I was there?”

  “She moves from friend to friend when I’m out of town, and when I’m in town, she’s either here or at the neighbors.” I felt sad for the dog since it was always moving around.

  “Well she’s welcome to stay with me any time, it can’t be easy on her.” I said, suddenly feeling like crying for the animal I hadn’t even met y
et.

  Aiden chuckled lightly, detecting what was about to happen, and grabbed my hand.

  “Calm down honey. I make sure she’s comfortable with the other people before I leave, I call her and talk to her when I’m away even though I sound like a dumbass to the guys on my team, and I don’t know if there’s ever been a time when she comes home that I haven’t taken her out to play for some Aiden and Presley time. You better now?” He asked, smirking.

  I nodded, wiping a tear away. We got to his apartment and could hear the pomeranian’s barking through the door.

  “She’s happy to see me today.” He explained before we were attacked as the door opened.

  Aiden bent down and talked to her, petting her fur and rough housing a bit, before she even realize I was there. She sniffed around me and nudged my hand, clearly telling me to pet her. I laughed and sat by Aiden and we both loved her up a bit.

  “She’s beautiful.” I told Aiden with a smile.

  “Yeah, she really is, isn’t she?” He said, sounding like a proud papa.

  I nudged him with my arm and stood up. “How about you take her to the park and I’ll make lunch?” I offered.

  “Sure.” He was about to walk away but turned back to me.

  “How would you feel about going out to dinner tonight?” He asked.

  “Sounds good, but why?”

  “Because the team wants to meet you.” He said before leaving quickly, before I even had the chance to let that sink in.

  Chapter 23

  A few hours after Aiden got back with Presley, who looked delightfully content to have spent the day with him, we were heading out again to meet his friends and teammates at Griff’s, the sports bar Aiden and I first saw each other in after we came home from Cancún. Fortunately for me, I kept some clothes at Aiden’s apartment, so we didn’t need to stop by my house first.

  “Are you nervous?” Aiden asked with a chuckle, running his thumb across my palm. I realized that I was squeezing his hand and immediately relaxed my grip.