The best part of being with Taylor was waking up with him. There was nothing better in my world than the feeling of waking up with his arm wrapped around me tight, it was like it was a sense of security, a reassurance that my life was going to be alright because I had him by my side.
I woke up the next morning earlier than I would've liked to, but my phone was ringing and it was my dad, so I decided I needed to answer it, he never called me in the morning and usually texted before calling, so I figured he was probably calling about Mom.
"Hello?" I answered.
"Hey Tess," Dad said, "Do you have a minute?"
"Yeah, I'm not busy," I replied, sitting up in bed.
"Tess, your mom was released from prison yesterday," he sighed.
"Rach called and told me," I sighed.
"I don't know what to say," he said, "The evidence wasn't handled properly and there were issues with the legal process and the state didn't feel like it was worth their time to prosecute her again."
"I'm really pissed," I said after a minute, "She needs to be in prison where she can't screw up anyone else's life."
"I know," he sighed, "But I wanted to tell you and be there if you wanted to talk to me."
"I don't know," I sighed, "I guess I'm just glad she got out when I wasn't around, you know? I don't know what I'd say to her Dad, honestly."
"Me neither sweetie," he said, "Me neither."
"How's Lisa?" I asked.
"Doing well," he said, "Henry and Lisa are doing well, he's the cutest thing, you should see how he sleeps with his mouth hanging open."
"I'm so excited for her," I said with a smile, "I wish I could be there, I love all the pictures you guys are sending me."
"She understands you can't be though," he said, "I'll make sure to send you more pictures."
"You better!" I laughed.
"I really am sorry about your mom," he sighed after a moment.
"You don't have to be Dad," I replied, "You've protected me from her as much as you can; there's only so much you can do now."
"Thanks, Tess," he said, "I'm glad you can see that."
"I've seen it since I was ten," I replied, "You've done more than enough Dad, don't worry, please."
"I'll try," he chuckled, "I'll be down in Aladine in three weeks for your games."
"Great," I smiled, "I'll let you get back to Lisa now, tell her I said hi."
"I will," he said, "Bye Tess."
"Bye Dad," I said, "Love you."
"Love you too," he said with a smile before hanging up.
"Thanks for waking me up," Taylor said groggily with a lopsided smirk as I laid back down next to him.
"Sorry," I laughed, "You should probably get up anyway."
"Yeah, probably," he said, "I take it you were talking about your mom?"
"Yeah," I replied.
"That sucks," he sighed.
"Yeah," I sighed in return.
"No shit," he said after a moment of silence as he turned toward me.
"What?" I asked as he rolled over.
"You've got a little mark there on your neck," he snickered.
"No!" I exclaimed, grabbing my phone and turning on my front camera, "Taylor fucking McCarthy!"
"I'm sorry!" he laughed.
"You don't look like it!" I laughed in return, elbowing him in the ribs.
"That hurt!" he whined.
"Yeah well you gave me a purple hickey, now we're even," I replied.
"Not the same," he laughed.
"You're right, everyone will see this thing," I said, "Nobody's going to know that I elbowed you in the ribs."
"Unless I walk around shirtless," he added.
"Please don't," I laughed, "You'll get frostbite."
"But what if I want to?" he asked.
"You're a dumbass," I grinned.
"I know," he grinned, "That's why I keep you around, you're a good influence."
"Yeah, that's why," I laughed, "I'm just kidding."
"I figured," he laughed.
"So how were the games? I couldn't get the stream to load Friday but I watched yesterday," I asked.
"Friday sucked," he replied, "We had a lead but then we choked and luckily won in overtime on a lucky shot from Campbell. Coach lit a fire under our asses though and we played better yesterday afternoon."
"You looked good yesterday," I remarked.
"I'm glad that was the one you caught," he laughed, "I looked like shit on Friday."
"Must've been because I wasn't watching," I grinned.
"Yeah, that's why," he laughed, now sitting up in bed, "Want to go get breakfast?"
"Sure," I replied, sitting up next to him.
"Then go find your pants, I'm not letting you out without pants," he laughed.
"Oh but you can go out without a shirt?" I asked with a smirk.
"Yes," he replied.
"Then why can't I go without pants?" I asked.
"Because I want to be the only one who sees your ass in those underwear," he said, trying to keep a straight face, only to end up grinning like an idiot.
"You're such an ass," I laughed, playfully shoving him, nearly knocking him off the bed.
"But you love this ass," he grinned.
"For some reason I do," I laughed as he kissed me on the lips.
###
I spent the rest of Sunday with Taylor, mostly studying for our first exam in our Monday class. I did most of the studying and he mostly just threw wads of paper at me and kissed me occasionally.
I got the exam done in ten minutes the next day, Taylor took a little longer but eventually got to practice on time by some miracle. We practiced an hour after they got off the ice, so I figured he'd stick around to watch me.
"Hey Tess," Amanda greeted as I sat down in my stall next to hers.
"Hey Amanda," I replied, "How's it going?"
"Good," she replied, "ready for this weekend, that's for sure."
"Me too," I said, "I'm really pumped. I hope we can get the sweep."
We were playing Lake Forest, the team that knocked us out of nationals last season but we hadn't played them yet this year so everyone was ready to go kick their asses.
"If we play like we did two weeks ago we should," she replied as the rest of the team trickled in along with Matt.
"Alright ladies, don't get dressed yet because we're going to have a little team meeting here first," Matt announced.
"Jeez Matt," Amanda grinned, causing Matt to shoot her a look, followed by an almost identical grin.
"As you've all more than likely noticed there's an empty stall here today," he said, looking over across the room from me where Kayla's stall was, "You guys probably are wondering why exactly Kayla is gone. Well, she was blackmailing another student with a falsely incriminating video. I know it's going to be the talk of the school, I was going to tell you guys what happened, but now I'm thinking Tess could probably tell you better."
"Well," I sighed, taking a deep breath, "You guys all know that Kayla was dating Taylor McCarthy until Thanksgiving. Taylor and I started dating a week later and she got pissed, like crazy pissed. Then over break she called him and said she had a video of him that was going to ruin him unless she took him back. He ignored her, but then when we got back she showed him this shitty video of some guy shooting up with some drug in the gym but you couldn't see his face. She told him if he didn't take her back she'd send it to Coach Lawrence and get him kicked off the team and out of school."
"Holy shit!" Lauryn exclaimed.
"Well I got ahold of the tapes from the other camera to prove it wasn't him and he basically said screw it and told her to eff off and she sent it to Coach Lawrence but then we gave him the other video so all is well now," I finished.
"Kayla was kicked off the team and the school and the local police department are charging her with blackmail," Matt added, "I won't tolerate anything like that, that bullshit doesn't need to happen. Does everyone understand?"
"Yes coach," we said in unison.
"Alright now, lines are up on the board, first and third lines wear white, second and fourth wear yellow, defense black, scratches wear whatever color," he said, "You've got half an hour."
"Hey Walters," the other Amanda remarked as we walked out of the locker room.
"Yeah?" I replied.
"I'm sorry if I was a bitch to you," she said, "I believed everything Kayla told me about you and I should've just gotten to know you and judged you off of how you treated me."
"It's okay," I replied, "really."
"Thanks," she smiled before getting onto the ice.
It's funny how things work out sometimes.
###
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