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Jessica stepped off of the train and headed towards the parking lot. Her mother and father begged her to come for dinner and offered to drive her home afterwards. She hadn't been home in sometime, so going home for Easter dinner didn't sound too bad.
She found her dad waiting in the parking lot. He smiled when he noticed her walking over.
"My daughters met some of the best players on the Leafs," he laughed when she opened the door and got in. "Did you get your old man an autograph?"
Jessica laughed a little. She never thought about getting autographs when she interviewed the players. "I wish I had. I never thought about it when I interviewed them."
"It's fine, I'm only kidding," her dad laughed. "Next time you meet some really good player get something signed for me eh? Makes a great Christmas gift!"
Jessica gave her head a shake and smiled. "I'll get someone to signed something for you. How have you been?"
"Good, your mom and I are loving retirement," he smiled. "Well actually no, I'm bored. I have nothing to do now that I'm retired, being retired is not for me."
"Yeah, I have a bet with mom that you don't stay retired for long," Jessica laughed. "You always hated not being busy."
The pulled into the driveway and her father parked the car. The two of them stepped out and headed into the house. Jessica mother poked her head around the corner from their kitchen, looking down the hall to see her daughter home. "Jessica! Come here, I want a hug!"
She set her purse down on a table near the door and slipped off her shoes. It really had been a while since she had been home. "Did you guys paint the house?"
"We did! Had to cover up that atrocious colour from before," her mother smiled. Jessica walked over and hugged her mother who was finishing up a few dishes. "Dinner will be ready soon, the roast just needs to cook, went in the the oven right before you got here."
"Sounds good mum," Jessica opened the fridge to grab a bottle of water. "So how are you?"
"Great! I've been cooking more, your father bought me this really nice cook book!" her mother rambled about different recipes and ingredients she never thought to include in her cooking before. Jessica leaned against the counter and listened for a minute, before her mother stopped herself. "How have you been? I heard you got that really big interview with those hockey boys."
"It went really well. I might have actually got a few new friends out of them. Dad pointed out that I should have gotten him an autograph so I might ask one of them to sign something," Jessica smiled, her father stepped into the garage so she knew he wouldn't overhear her.
"Are any of them cute?" Her mom turned away from the sink, finally finished with her dishes.
"Mum," Jessica laughed and rolled her eyes. "Yeah I guess so."
"Any of them single?" Her mother smiled even more. "Athletes have amazing stamina you know," her mother raised her eyebrows and giggled.
Jessica's mouth opened in shock, her jaw ready to hit the floor. "Mum!" she scolded surprised.
Her mom stepped back and just shrugged. "What? Tell me I'm wrong."
"Anyways..." Jessica sipped from her water. She thought about how much stamina they would have, they are able to play 20+ minutes a game sometimes, 10 minutes in bed would be nothing.
"So you do like one of them," her mother concluded.
"I do not," Jessica protested.
Her mother placed a hand on her hip and rolled her eyes. "I know my kid. Which one? What's his name?"
Jessica sighed. "I don't like one of them like that. They're good people and fun to hang out with, that's all."
Her mother put away a few of the dry dishes. "You can let yourself date you know. I know you think you're not allowed to love someone but you are."
"I love Jake, it wouldn't be fair for me to love anyone else," Jessica pointed out to her mother.
"What's not fair is that you won't let him go," her mother lectured. "You're not being fair to yourself. You think you're not allowed to love or have fun without him, but he doesn't have to dictate what or who you do."
"Gross mom, I'm not 'doing' anyone," Jessica sipped her water again.
Her dad laughed. "Well I did want to check how long dinner would be but I also am not interrupting this conversation that I never wanted to hear," her dad backed out of the kitchen. "Call me when dinner is ready please."
"Sure thing honey," her mother replied and turned back to Jessica. "Why are you so hung up over Jake?"
"I was supposed to marry him mum! He was my other half and it's hard to just let that go. How would you feel if you and dad separated?" Jessica countered.
"I'd be sad, but I wouldn't let it stop me from finding someone else," Her mother softened a little. "It's been two years- over two years. You're allowed to move on, Jake would wa-"
"No." Jessica shook her head. "You're not allowed to tell me what he wants for me. What matters is what I want and if I want to hold onto Jake for a little longer- then I will do that."
"I don't want you to miss your chance to love someone else. You deserve to be with someone Jessica and I only want the best for you," Her mother stepped closer and pulled her into another hug. "You're all I have left. I want to see you succeeding and happy, it's what Calum and Jake would want for you."
Jessica smiled, but it wasn't hard to tell she was ready to cry. Her eyes were glassy and she hugged her mother. "I miss Calum. He would have been so jealous that I met Leafs players before he did."
"Your brother would be jealous of your entire career. He loved Steve Dangles podcasts," Her mother laughed. "How is Steve? Your father still watches the podcasts."
"Steve is... well Steve. He died when he met the players," Jessica laughed remembering that day.
"I'm going to go get your father," Her mother gave Jessica's shoulder a light pat. "I'm sorry if I overstepped, I'm just a little over protective of you."
"I'd rather have a mother who cares as much as you do than one who doesn't care at all," Jessica laughed. She watched her mother step out of the kitchen and head towards the garage.
She pulled her phone from her pocket to make sure it was on silent so it didn't go off during dinner. As she pulled her phone out it began to ring with a phone call.
"Auston? Hey," Jessica laughed. "What's up?"
"I thought I'd call and say Happy Easter ," she could hear him doing something in the background. Possibly cooking but she wasn't sure. "Do you have any dinner plans?"
"I'm actually at my parents place right now," she gave him a disappointing answer.
"Oh well sorry to interrupt, I didn't know if you had plans and figured no one should eat take out for Easter," he rambled. "Well I really didn't mean to interrupt your time with family."
"You're not interrupting. Besides if I told my dad I declined a call from the Auston Matthews, he might disown me," she joked.
He laughed on the other end, "So your dads a leaf fan? Maybe I can get you an extra ticket for that game and you can bring him."
"That's asking way too much," Jessica replied. "I'm lucky enough to get the one ticket."
"One more ticket is nothing Jess," he used her nickname again and she felt her stomach do a flip. She enjoyed hearing him call her Jess.
"Well if you can, it definitely wouldn't be turned down," Jessica smiled. "I'd love if he could come with me."
"I'll see what I can do then," Auston said. "I really will let you get back to your family."
Jessica felt a little sad that he was hanging up. "Yeah, dinner is about to be served here. What are your plans? You have a game tomorrow so I guess you aren't home are you?"
"Nope," he answered. "Just planned cooking the steak in my fridge."
"I'm having roast, my mom got a new cook book, it's supposed to be like 'gordon ramsey cooked it himself!'" Jessica laughed as she read a quote from the back of the book.
The two fell silent for a moment, aside from the searing sound of Auston's steak in the background, there was no noise. It wasn't entirely awkward, it felt nice to just know the other one was right there.
"Did you want to get dinner this week?" Auston replied. "I know this really great restaurant and I have a couple days off since we've made the playoffs they aren't planning as many practices so we aren't tired out before the playoffs," Auston rambled again. "I need to stop explaining myself all of the time don't I?"
"I think it's cute that you always give an explanation to your questions," Jessica quietly laughed. She could hear her parents down the hall. "I'd love to get dinner this week."
"Great! It's a date then! We can text to find a day that works for both of us then?" Auston asked.
"Sounds good. Happy Easter," Jessica felt her smile get even bigger somehow. Just the thought of being able to hangout with him again was enough to give her a massive smile.
"Happy Easter Jess," Auston spoke before Jess hung up. Her mother pulled the roast out of the oven.
"Who was that you were on the phone with?" Her father asked as they helped her mother set the table with the food she had cooked.
"Just Steve," Jessica lied. It's not like she could tell her father that it was Auston Matthews. "Him and Sarah wanted to say Happy Easter."
"That's nice of them," her mother comments setting the last of the food out.
"They are kinda my people, kinda like my parents when I don't want to bother you guys with trivial things- plus Steve gives me rides to work," Jessica laughed. "They are great and have this really awesome family."
"They should come for dinner here sometime!" Her father commented as the three sat down at the table.
Jessica laughed. "You just want to meet Steve because you're a huge fan of his podcast."
"If I'm never going to meet the Leafs like you, I should at least get to meet Steve," her dad joked and cut the roast.
"Maybe you'll get to meet Steve sooner then you think," Jessica remained ominous.
Her dad gave her a questioning look. He narrowed his eyes. "What are you scheming Jessica?"
Jessica stole the piece of roast that her dad had cut for himself and stuck it on her plate, "Nothing," she smiled and shrugged.
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okay so like sorry for the filler chapter lmaoooooo. But I don't work until Friday!! yeah! So I'll hopefully update more in the coming days!! Pray that no one calls in sick because I need my days off lmao😂😂