Don't Stereotype The New Girl

Chapter 5

"Where are you going?" My dad asks.

"Jimmy's." I simply answer and leave, driving to Jimmy's house. I ring the door bell and it opens revealing an older man who is not Jimmy.

"Can I help you?" He asks.

"I'm looking for Jimmy. My name's Hailey, we're friends from school." I say and as I say that his face lights up.

"So you're the Hailey he's talked so much about! My you're a lot prettier in person. My name is Jeffery Stanford, I'm Jimmy's father!" He exclaims and I shake his hand.

"It's nice to meet you. Jimmy mentioned you and your wife are Surgeons?" I say and he nods. 

"We are indeed. We met at Harvard Medical School. That was almost 30 years ago now. We married a year after graduating." He says.

"Wow that's amazing." I say. 

"Please come and sit, my wife and I have been dying to meet you." He says and shows me into the living room. I see Jimmy sitting with an older woman, who I can only guess is his mother. "Jimmy, Jennifer look whose here!" They both look up.

"Oh hey Hailey. How was the Zoo?" Jimmy asks.

"Cataleya had to stop every 5 minutes to catch her breath for 20 and she had a meltdown when my dad told her she shouldn't have In-and-out. But we got McDonalds and she was fine after." I say.

"Hi Hailey. My name is Jennifer, I'm Jimmy's mother." She introduces and I shake her hand. 

"Nice to meet you." I reply, before sitting next to Jimmy and I notice the Piano Jennifer is sitting at. "Is that a Yamaha GB1-K Acoustic Piano?" I ask and Jennifer looks shocked.

"You know Pianos?" She asks.

"Yeah, my mum was a music teacher and she taught me how to play the piano before I could even talk pretty much." I say. 

"What does she do now?" Jennifer asks.

"Oh she passed away when I was 6." I say and her face drops.

"Oh my goodness I'm so sorry. Would've been nice to know that beforehand Jimmy." Jennifer glares at her son.

"Really it's fine. I don't mind talking about her." I say and Jennifer smiles. 

"And your father?" Jeffery asks.

"Alive and kicking. He's a Mechanic, owns his own shop and my best friend. He just got remarried and they're expecting their first child so." I say.

"Oh how wonderful." Jennifer exclaims.

"Her dad's married to Cataleya Porter, the Fashion Designer ma. And they live 10 minutes away." Jimmy says.

"Oh I love her clothes." Jennifer comments.

"You should all come for dinner one night, I'm sure they would love to have you. You'll have to excuse my 10 and 6 year old stepbrothers though, they can be a handful when guests come over...Actually they're just handfuls in general." I say and they laugh. 

"We would love to, wouldn't we Jeff." Jennifer comments and Jeffery agrees. 

I end up spending dinner there and get to know Jimmy's parents who are such nice people. When 10:00 pm comes around, I say my goodnight's and drive back to the house, being quiet when I come in, just in case people are asleep, which the boys most likely are. I close the door quietly and head into the kitchen, when I see my dad's garage light on. I frown and walk in, seeing him stare aimlessly into thin air.

"Hey dad." I say and he snaps his head in my direction. 

"Oh hey Hails. How was Jimmy's house?" He asks.

"Good. I met his parents, they're super nice. I invited them for dinner one night, if that's OK?" I ask and he nods.

"Of course, just let Cat know." He says and I nod as well. 

"Are you alright?" I ask.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He says, however I'm not convinced, so I hop up onto the hood of the car.

"Bull. Come on spill, what has you worried?" I ask and he looks at me confused. "Your doing that thing with your eyebrows when you're worried." I say motioning to his face. 

"I was confused by your question?" He says trying to play it off.

"Nope, your confused eyebrows and worried eyebrows are different." I say and he sighs. 

"It's the baby." He says.

"Is everything alright?" I ask, now slightly worried myself.

"Everything's fine, the baby's perfectly healthy. It's just, it's been almost 18 years since I've raised one, which was you of course. I guess it's now dawning on me and I'm nervous." He admits.

"Dad you have nothing to worry about. I'll be here for the first few months to help out and by the time I'm off to college, you'll be a pro again." I try to reassure him. 

"It's also weird having a baby with someone besides your mother." He says.

"Well of course it is, because you've only ever had a baby with mum. The same can be said for Cat probably, whose only had kids with one other man. It's new for all of us, Paxton is no longer going to be the baby, Justin will be the oldest in the house once I'm gone and I'll be in college, knowing I have an entire family waiting for me to come back on the holidays." I say and he nods. "If I were you, I would get as much sleep as possible, before the 7 months is up, because I have a feeling you won't be getting much for another couple of years." 

"Yeah tell me about it." He laughs and I hop down. 

"Dad, you got this. I mean you've raised me all by yourself for 11 years and I like to think I turned out alright." I say.

"You turned out perfect kid." He smiles.

"So all you need is another girl and your solid." I say and he laughs. "Goodnight Dad." 

"Goodnight Hailey." He says and I walk out of the garage. Unbeknown to me, Cataleya was listening in the entire time and taps my shoulder and I grab her arm, realising it's her I spin around. "Cat, I could've hurt you don't sneak up on me." I hiss.

"Sorry. I forget your this MMA prodigy." She says. 

"What's up?" I ask.

"I want to thank you. For reassuring your father. I know he's been putting on a brave face for me, I didn't know he was that worried." She says.

"That's dad, he internalises things." I comment.

"He's not the only one." She says raising an eyebrow.

"We're Decker's, it's what we do." I respond and I head to bed.