two things: one i'm a lazy ass hoe, and two i work fast food and burned my hand real bad at work so like I actually have been inept and unable to do anything because i burned my right hand ahahhahahahaha fuck so my hand is a lot better and I started typing this today-
ALSO THAT GAME WHEN THEY WERE UP 4-1 I WAS LIKE 'NO THIS IS TOO FAMILIAR FRICK NO.' BUT THEN THEY WON SO IM HAPPY FOR NOW.
and i'm still lazy so this is unedited haha.
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Jessica and her dad were led through the Air Canada Center down hallways he didn't think he'd ever be walking down.
"Jessica. How the hell are we going for dinner with Matthews?" her father asked again.
Jessica smiled at her dad. One of those smiles where she was sorry for not telling her father sooner. "It's a long story, can I tell you later? Up ahead are his parents." Jessica motioned to where his parents were standing.
"The dressing rooms- wow," her father was reading a sign that pointed down a different hallway.
Jessica thanked the guy for leading her down to the dressing rooms. She remembered him from when she interviewed the players. That felt like a lifetime ago, but it had only been a few weeks.
"Thanks again, the seats were amazing," she smiled.
The man stopped and greeted Auston's parents, before turning back to Jessica. "Thank Mitch and Auston, they really pushed for you and Steve to get tickets."
Jessica smiled and thought to herself, of course he did.
Jessica smiled awkwardly, his mom smiled back and held out a hand. "I'm Ema, you know Mitch and Auston?"
Jessica shook hands with Ema. "I interviewed them for Sportsnet with Steve- You met him earlier tonight."
"Oh we love Steve. He's so funny," she laughed.
"But he did thank us for our son, which was a little weird," Auston's dad laughed and held out his hand for Jessica to shake. "I'm Brian."
"It's nice to meet you both," Jessica felt at ease. Auston's parents were really nice. "and Steve is a little unconventional... but he's filled with good intentions," Jessica quietly laughed. "I'm not surprised he said what he said."
Ema and Brian exchanged pleasantries with Jessica's dad while everyone made small talk waiting for Auston. Though Auston's parents didn't realize they were all waiting for the same person.
"JESSICA!" A familiar voice yelled, he ran over and hugged her. "How's my favourite reporter?" Mitch asked her.
Jessica stumbled a little, surprised by the hug, "I'm good. Good win tonight," she complimented the team.
"Well your boyf-" He started, by was abruptly stopped by Jessica pinching his side. "I didn't score, which sucks but we still won!"
"You got two points," Jessica pointed out. "Really, you guys played your best game, which is good because I would have been pissed if you'd lost."
Mitch laughed and stepped back, giving a wave to Auston's parents and smiling at Jessica's dad. "Hey I'm Mitch," he smiled.
Little did he know he was about to meet one of the most overprotective parents alive. "I'm Jessica father, David," he shook Mitch's hand.
Jessica held back a laugh as she watch Mitch turn and look at Jessica surprised. Her fathers handshakes were always strong when shaking hands with boy anyone around Jessica's age. "It was really nice to meet you- I'm gonna go back there now-" he turned and walked back to the dressing rooms.
Jessica texted Mitch and told him to warn Auston.
'Nah, He's on his own for tonight.' Jessica read the reply and replied telling Mitch he was mean. She shoved her phone back in her pocket and made more small talk with the Matthewses.
Auston walked out from the dressing rooms wearing a suit and fixing his hair. He smiled at Jessica and was wrapped in a hug by his mom. She whispered something to him which made him smile and thank her, before hugging his dad. "Hi Jessica," he smiled and hugged her before turning towards her dad. "You must be Mr. Summers," Auston shook her fathers hand.
Jessica was impressed that he didn't even flinch, making her father raise and eyebrow and glance at Jessica. "Good game, you had a nice goal tonight."
"Thank you," Auston smiled. "Who's ready to go for dinner?"
Jessica noticed the shock on his mother's face. It was obvious she was expecting to go with just Auston, completely unaware that Auston had invited two more people.
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Jessica's dad drove the two of them to a nearby restaurant; it wasn't fancy, so no dress code like last time, it was just a popular sports bar&grill. The entire drive Jessica was bombarded with questions and concerns from her father.
"How did you meet? How long have you been seeing him?"
"I interviewed him and a few others, and not that long."
"He gave you the jersey then?"
"He had one mailed to me as a surprise yes."
"How well do you know him?"
"Dad... I know a little bit about him, not a lot but I'm enjoying myself and taking my time to get to know him."
"What about Jake?"
"We're not talking about Jake," Jessica replied as her dad parked. She opened her door and stepped out, Auston's parents were pulling into the parking lot and parked near them.
"Well maybe it's time we did," her dad stared at her, the car between the two of them.
Jessica shook her head and walked towards the restaurant. "Why? Can't we just have a civil dinner? I really like him dad."
"I don't wanna see you get hurt. I know how men who travel for their jobs can be, I just want what's best and maybe that's not this," her dad fell into step with her. "You're my only daughter."
"I know dad, but let me figure this one out for myself yeah?" she smiled at him. "I appreciate you looking out for me."
"Always Jessie," her dad used his childhood nickname for her.
She rolled her eyes. "I thought we agreed, no more childish nicknames like Jessie."
"You'll always be my child. My Jessie," Her dad smiled.
Moments later Auston and his parents were beside them. A hostess appeared. "Table for 5?"
They all nodded and she motioned for them to follow her. She led them to a table, with another table pushed beside it to make it big enough. By now most the people had left since the Leaf game was over, which was lucky for them.
"So Jessica, are you still in school?" Auston mother asked as she set her menu down, already having decided. Jessica thought that was a quick decision, which made her feel anxious and pick the first item on the menu that she read.
"I actually graduated two years ago, well two years in May, with my degree for television and broadcasting, with a minor in journalism."
"Right now you just write articles for Sportsnet then?" his dad asked.
"I do, the goal is to one day be one of the Sportsnet hockey analysts, or one of the reporters just doing the sports news on TV," she explained.
Her dad chuckled. "She's wanted to do this since she was 13."
Jessica smiled. Hockey had been a huge part of her life and when she tore both her MCL and ACL at 13, her doctor recommended she step away from the sport because of the severity of her injury.
Since that she's been determined to be a sports broadcaster.
"She writes amazing articles, she took my stumbling and unorganized answers and made them sound coherent in the article she did," Auston laughed. "I'm always nervous to do those one on one interviews, some how it's less nervous post game with 40 people crowded around you."
Jessica smiled and went to talk when the waitress showed up to take everyone's orders. That took a couple minutes to sort out everyone's orders and collect the menus. Afterwards Ema, who was sitting across from Jessica, gave her a very quick once over, which did make Jessica feels slightly uncomfortable.
"Are you currently writing any big articles?" his father asked, he was seated beside Ema, and Auston on the other side of Ema. Her father was sitting across from Auston.
"Not really, just playoff articles about the Jets mostly." She replied. The waitress returned with everyone's drinks, which Jessica made sure to get just water since Auston's parents stressed her out.
"Are you not a Leaf fan then?" Ema asked.
Jessica smiled and sipped her water. "Well I grew up a thirty minute drive from the ACC, so I love the Leafs, their my hometown team," she explained. "But I guess when the Jets franchise was revived in 2013... I don't know, I just liked the idea of the team returning to Canada and bringing a cup back to Winnipeg someday."
Jessica was passionate about hockey, that's one thing Auston's parents could tell.
"What about you David? The Leafs you're favourite team?" Ema was polite, Jessica couldn't tell if she had made a good impression this far.
"Always, since the day I was born until the day I die. Never seen them win a cup though I'm hope you're son changes that soon," her dad smiled towards Auston.
"Don't put any pressure dad," Jessica joked and laughed a little. "There's enough media in Toronto to do that for you."
That earned a laugh from everyone since the media in Toronto was relentless. Hell, Jessica was part of the media and she knew how relentless she was.
For a while they talked and made jokes until the food arrived. Conversations died down as everyone ate, it wasn't hard to tell they were all fairly hungry.
After dinner, which ended after midnight. They went to pay their bills.
Auston offered to cover the entire bill, which surprised Jessica's father, but he wouldn't step aside and instead tried to pay for everyone's food. This resulted in good laugh between everyone before David payed for himself and Jessica and Auston for himself and his parents.
"Thank you again for the tickets, I don't know if you helped in getting them, but the seats were amazing and it was the best game I've been too." David said as they left the restaurant. It was much colder outside than it had been a couple hours ago.
"The only game," Jessica corrected him, jokingly and smiled
"I'm glad you enjoyed the game Mr. Summers," Auston adjusted his suit jacket.
Her father smiled. "Please, you can call me David."
"It was a pleasure meeting you David," Auston turned to shake hands with her father once again, her father smiled and gave a nod to the player. He had great manners which went a long way in David's book.
"You were a delight," Brian smiled and nodded his head. "I hope I see you reporting on TV someday soon."
Jessica was surprised that Ema leaned in to hug her, which she hugged back. "It was a pleasure meeting you, I think you're a really good person and I'm glad Auston's hanging around someone with a good head on her shoulders."
"Thank you," Jessica smiled. There was a relief that washed over her; she thought his mother hated her, which wasn't true.
"Come on Jessica, if I'm gonna get home before 2am I we gotta hit the road," her dad smiled.
Auston spoke up. "If it's any help, I'm headed that way, I don't mind giving Jessica a ride home," Auston offered.
Her dad shared a look with her, telling her to be safe and not stupid. A look she used to get when she was in her undergrad. "Okay, thank you," her father smiled. "That's a huge help, are you sure it's not an inconvenience?"
"I'm sure."
Her father said goodbye to her and Auston to his parents before every got into their separate vehicles.
Jessica let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.
"So, your dad has one hell of a grip eh?" Auston joked and she saw him flexing his hand while the car warmed up.
Jessica laughed. "You're mom is really protective eh?" she countered.
He thought about it before laughing. "Yeah... I guess she is." The two spent a minute just laughing at the awkwardness of the entire dinner before Auston left the parking lot in the direction of Jessica's apartment.
"Alright so what made you think that was a good idea tonight?" Jessica asked. Her face hurt from laughing so much.
He shrugged. "Honestly, nothing. I just really wanted to spend time with my parents and you and figured that dinner might be a good common ground."
"Did you see the shock on your moms face when she realized we were all going to dinner.. together?" Jessica laughed remembering the surprise.
"Yeah, she called me while we were driving over. I got a lecture about planning these things well in advance and a bunch of other things," Auston have his head a shake. Jessica didn't notice that Auston had rested one of his hands on her knee as he drove down the near empty streets. It was a stark contrast to the usual busy of Toronto.
"Yeah my dad asked me a million questions about you and then we bickered about Jake and he got annoyed with me. Thankfully he dropped it so we could all have a nice dinner," Jessica rambled. She was tired and knew there was still a few minutes until Auston would get to her apartment.
He stopped at a red light and turned to look at her. His hand left her knee, which she noticed the loss of contact immediately. "Who's Jake?"
"Jake?" Jessica felt her heart stop and the car move forward. Auston looked back at the road. "How do you know-"
"You just said you and your dad argued over a Jake," Auston reminded her.
"I said that?" Jessica asked. She was tired and more anxious than ever.
Auston shook his head as he pulled into her parking lot. "Yeah." She could tell he was upset; but was he mad or sad? Jessica couldn't read his emotions that well.
She bit her lip and looked out her window at her apartment. She could leave this car now and go inside her apartment and delete his number, or she could talk about it.
Auston put his car in park and looked over at her. "Jessica?"
"I'm sorry-" she turned and smiled at him. "I had a really amazing time with you. Thank you Auston."
Before he knew what she was doing she was already nearing the glass doors to her buildings lobby. He watched her from the car and slammed his hand on the steering wheel before leaning his head on it, hunched over in his car.
She felt herself start to cry as she opened the glass doors. Somehow they were heavier now that she was tired and upset. She wiped away her tears and looked back one last time; she found a small smile knowing that they had fun, before the smile disappeared because it was over.
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