Out of Desperation Came Forever After

Chapter 17

After crying on me, she stood and checked out Ethan, who was standing there shyly watching us.

She then scooped him into a huge tight hug, and cried on his shoulder, and thanked him a million times for taking care of "her girl".

And when she was done, she sobbed "and, I love your music..." and turned and winked at me, like I had picked a good one for once. So embarassing!

Of course, Ethan's mom was watching.

Oh! Everyone! Right. "You can all sit wherever. Make yourselves at home. Sorry I don't have a lot of places to sit." Does anyone want anything to drink? I probably have something in the fridge....though, it might be stale by now....hmmm", I asked everyone as they searched for chair arms, crates, and limited couch space to sit on.

Ethan's mom told me, "No dearie, don't you worry about us! You need to rest. Both of you. We won't be here long. We just wanted to get you two home safe, and see if you needed anything. I'm going to come by later with groceries. Is there anything you need? Here...", she pulled my hand and started walking, "come in the kitchen with me. We'll see what you've got."

I followed her into the kitchen, which was a separate room. She pulled me in there, and turned to me right away. I got scared for a second, thinking she was gonna tell me to stay away from her son, or something, because I wasn't good enough!

Instead, she put her hand over her mouth and looked at me lovingly, and her tears started flowing.

I was confused.....

"Oh Jenna! I haven't really gotten to meet you yet. I couldn't wait any longer. You ARE Ethan's Angel. You truly are. If it weren't for you, he'd be.....", and she sobbed harder, "he'd be GONE. My baby boy....you saved him. You saved my baby's life. And I'll be forever grateful to you. Forever in your debt. You hear me? I mean that, Jenna. You will forever be a part of our family. No matter what. No matter if you guys break up....I want you to know you have us as a family, ok?

I hear you don't have a family anymore, so it's perfect. And don't worry about me...I stay out of Ethan's business. We're very close, so he does tell me almost everything. And I want you to be able to, also, ok? Even if you want to tell me Ethan's a slob and you feel like kicking him in the arse", she laughed through her tears.

She hugged me so tight, I thought she'd break my back. But I loved it. She was awesome.

Ethan was very lucky. So was his brother.

"Are the clothes ok? I asked Brooke what you like, and what your sizes were. I've talked to Brooke a lot in the past day. She's a very good friend, Jenna. You're very lucky to have her. She's welcome in our family any time, too, ok?", and she started on a fresh batch of tears, "Oh Jenna.....Jenna Jenna Jenna.....thank you so much for saving our Ethan." And she hugged me tight again.

All I could get out through her entire speech was "Ok. Sure. Yes. You're welcome. Ok. Ok..."

She pulled away and said "expect this from my husband when you see him next, just a warning!", she laughed, and went to the sink to freshen her face.

When I turned around, Ethan was leaning in the doorway, with a big grin on his face, but yet, a tear trail down each side of his face. Momma's boy!

When he saw me see him, he came in and hugged me, and wiped my tears with his hoodie sleeves from that touching invitation into his family. Crying again, I was. Crying again. Sigh.

Michael came in just then, and pushed Ethan out of the way, and grabbed me for a big hug.

He squoze me tight, and told me thank you, several times. His brother was taller than Ethan. They looked just alike, though, except his brother was brunette and had a thinner build than Ethan.

Fresh new tears a flowin, Ethan pushed his brother off me as joking revenge, and told him not to get any ideas, or he'd end up being the villain in a nasty song. Everyone in the kitchen laughed.

I liked this family.

Ethan's mom got to looking in the fridge, and cabinets, making a list on her phone.

She asked if there was anything in particular I needed, but I couldn't even think of anything. I'm sure I would think of stuff later, though. Just not now. I was too worn out.

I was tired of being worn out!

After getting a huge hug from Steve, who told me I'd be seeing way way too much of him, and I'd be sick of him soon enough. Then he thanked me for saving the life of his cash cow. Everyone cracked up. I could tell Steve was more than just a manager. He seemed like he genuinely cared for Ethan and his family.

After some normal sounding chatter, and Steve giving Ethan and I new iPhones already loaded with most of whoever we needed in it, and showing us where the he and the Shean family's hotel was for now, everyone got up to leave. I was glad. Ethan was glad, I could tell.

With a close of the door, the entire apartment was quiet.

Ahhhhhhh.

I plopped right onto the couch. It felt GREAT to be home.

But I felt like....now what? I felt a pressure I hadn't felt before with Ethan. I felt like....I had to entertain him. Like my place wasn't good enough for a rockstar. Like, what would he do here? He's used to so much better. But when he stretched and yawned and plopped down with me, I felt better. I remembered that he's worn out, too. He probably didn't care if I lived in a cardboard box. He seemed happy to be where I was. Which made ME extremely happy.

This was happening. Starting. Us. For real now. We'd have to CHOOSE to be together if we wanted to now.

And for our start, we CHOSE to fall asleep on the couch, in eachother's arms.

It was a GREAT start.