Short chapter, but I had a little extra time so I thought I'd spend it writing a little bit.
Chapter 24
I huffed frustratingly as I re-combed my hair over again, laying all of it on my forehead.
"Goddamn. Stupid. Hair." I growled, messing it up all over again. I watched through the mirror as Jason peeked his head through the doorway, an eyebrow raised.
"Okay in there?"
He glared at him. "Leave me alone. I'm busy." I snapped and opened the cupboard to take out the gel. I silently cursed Jason as he strode into the bathroom, hair perfectly gelled back.
"Why are you fussing babe?" He chuckled, wrapping an arm around my waist.
"I'm trying to look good for your mother,Jason. I don't want to give her another reason to hate me. If I go out there looking hideous she's probably gonna guess that the baby is gonna end up ugly and I'm gonna-". I ranted until I was interrupted by Jason's hard laugh.
His eyes squinted as he chuckles got louder. "W-what! Riley what the hell are you talking about?" He said through his snickers.
I turned around and pouted at him, my arms folding across my chest. "Why are you laughing? This is very serious, Jason". A part of me was kind of in awe at how beautiful he looked when he laughed, his dimples formed perfectly and teeth gleaming white. But the other part of me wanted to kick him in the shin for laughing. I was being completely serious.
"Okay okay." He breathed and gave a couple more snickers until finally he dramatically wiped away a tear. "Babe, you're going crazy. You have absolutely nothing worry about, my mother is going to love you."
"No she's not Jason," I whined. "She's going to freaking hate me. I'm pregnant with your child for godsake and you haven't even told her yet."
"Riley, look at me." He said softly, and I looked down to the floor defiantly.
I heard him sigh before he moved closer to me and picked my chin up, effectively making me looking right into his stormy eyes.
"You'll be fine. I've never seen my mom give anyone the cold shoulder. Well except if you count when I was in second grade and I was being bullied." He chuckled at the memory. "She made sure it didn't happen again."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive," He confirmed and his face lifted into a smile as he lifted a hand to comb his fingers through my hair.
"You don't even need gel. Your hair is so wavy and thick all you need is to wake up like this and you still look gorgeous. My hair takes more than ten minutes." He joked and I hid my face into his chest, wrapping my arms around his firm body.
His words brought comfort and reassurance to my head. I was merely nervous and fear kept creeping into my mind constantly but leave it up Jason to always make me feel better.
"I love you," I whispered into his warm chest.
I felt him kiss my hair. "I love you-" He started saying when the doorbell rung. My eyes immediately widened as my heart picked up.
Jason pulled me back and gave me a quick reassuring smile. "You're fine," He repeated his earlier words and I nodded, a tiny part of me relaxing. He gave a lips a peck and released, walking into the living to presumingly open the door.
I gave the mirror one last glance, fixing the maroon jumper properly over my bump. It was pretty noticeable in this jumper but I told myself that was a good thing because I'd ha proof, in case she thought I was lying or something.
I gave a sigh as I walked out the bathroom. As I walked down the hallway, I could hear muffled voice from the living room and couldn't help the fear that suddenly suffocated me. I tried to console my breathing but it was proving a hard feat. I tried remembering the words Jason get repeating 'You'll be fine' and soon enough after a couple shot breaths my breathing came back to normal and I peeked me head past the wall, leading to the living room.
I watched as a blonde lady who looked to be in he late forties gave embraced Jason. Their voices were quiet but I could vaguely hear them exchanging greetings.
I distinctly heard as he said "Mom, I want you to meet someone." Then I heard my name being called, making my eyes widen in terror.
Jason turned around and looked straight at me peeking past the wall.
I watch a smile fall on his lips,"Riley, can you come here?"
My face heated up as I coughed nervously and stepped in front of the wall. I walked forward, my steps feeling heavy and gave the blonde wide-eyed looking woman an awkward wave.
"Hi," I said softly, trying to ignore the fact that my voice was trembling. Jason gave me a heartbroken look and walked over to me, slipping a hand over my shoulders.
He leaned down and whispered in my ears. "You're fine."
I looked up at him and he gave me a firm reassuring look. I instantly took a deep breath and looked back at the lady giving her a smile.
"Who is this, Jason?" She asked but her tone wasn't accusing or cold. She sounded more curious than anything.
"This is the man I'm in love with and the bearer of my son," He stated confidently, resting his hand against my stomach.
I gave her a sheepish smile.
***
It took a couple minutes of silence until we all ushered ourselves to the couch. Jason went to the kitchen to grab her a glass of wine and while he was gone I began to feel uncomfortable as she fixated her gaze on my rounded and very pregnant stomach.
She seemed kind of dumbfounded and I took the chance of her distraction to examine the familiarity between her and Jason. I knew from the moment I looked at her that that's where he got his eyes from. The both had the same pale and sparkling blue-grey eyes. I guess he kind of had her cheekbones a little bit and their hair had the same curly texture but that's where the comparison ended. She had blonde hair he had black hair. Therefore that meant he probably got the rest from his father.
"Mom?" Jason asked hesitantly as came in the room and placed the glass of red wine in front of her.
She seemed to snap out of it as she turned her head to Jason. "Oh. Oh, shoot. Was I staring?"
Jason grimaced, taking a seat next to me. "Little bit," He confirmed.
"Gosh I'm sorry. That's pretty rude of me isn't it? I was just a little...shocked," She said. "I never thought this was the reason everything happened. You were doing this for him and the er..baby right?"
Jason nodded, casting me a sideways glance. "He's the reason why I did everything. I mean I was looking for a way to get out the marriage anyway but he just..made me take force finally."
She took a second to process his words, taking a sip of the wine. "Its just-" She gave a small chuckle, looking into my eyes. "-its so shocking. I never expected this. I honestly thought the whole thing happened because you were tired of your fathers bullshit."
Jason grinned. "I was tired of it. But like I said Riley made me want it more." He said and wrapped an arm around me.
"And it's a boy, right?" She directed the question to me with a smile.
"Yeah, it's a boy," I answered. "We got the results last week." I decided to add.
"I'm happy for you both. And I know things right now are making everything unstable but over time I'd like to get to know my future son in law better." She winked at me and I blushed a little but nodded.
"I'd like that and I'd like for you to be in my son's life too."
"I loved that too. I miss taking care of children. This one right here was a trip but I think I could handle it." She indicated to Jason.
I laughed at that and watched as Jason pouted.
"I wasn't that bad," He grumbled to himself and I shook my head, smacking a kiss on his cheek.
"I'm sure you weren't." I whispered. and he smiled, smacking a quick kiss on my lips. I pulled back immediately horrified that he kissed me in front of his mother.
"Jason," I whispered harshly, my face flushed bright and I looked over to his mother only to see her smirking and shaking her head.
"No worries sweetheart. I've walked in on worse with Jason". She laughed out and I tried to ignore the little tiny hint of jealousy that sprouted somewhere in my stomach. But I knew not to let it trouble me.
"Jason, later, I need to speak to you in private please. If that's okay?" His mother said politely and Jason gave her a weird look but nodded slowly.
Later, we all went into the kitchen and ate the food that I had cooked specifically for today. She shared stories about Jason when he was little and tried to always steer the conversation away from her husband.
And I kind of appreciated that.