Chapter eighteen
Thanksgiving was today which usually doesn't always go to plan especially when my dad keeps on comparing my performance out in the ice rink to his old days. Every single year, we would talk about sports and nothing else applying the same pressure on to me to continued on his legacy it was unlike my father to show any emotions with his stone cold heart of his which made me feel instantly sympathy for his fiance for staying in their relationship relationship like that.
The only reason why I decided to go back home for the holidays even though it doesn't feel like home anymore and it was more like an empty house to me because Invited Jessasmyn over here to make tonight become a lot easier or better than last year since whenever she was around me everything changed so quickly it felt better making it additionally bearable to avoid they Same old confiscated feeling when I feel like I just simply couldn't breathe.
And then I finished driving her to my parent's house hoping that for all of our sakes that tonight goes reasonably great as I won't be putting up with how my dad made every entire conversation about himself.
"I made my pineapple upside cake but please tell me that nobody else is allergic to pineapple?" she asked me slightly overthinking again.
She turned around in her car seat facing me as she continues to rant cutely about how pineapple was the first best fruit in the world, talking about how she does like bananas or kiwis due to something that might have happened to her in the past.
We were parked right outside of my house however, I didn't have the heart to tell her since I didn't want her to stop talking incessantly about pineapples, not wanting to break my gaze off of her beautiful face at all until my younger brother Andy.
Immediately after, he was running to my car to greet our guest stopped and stares at Burkey totally having a hard time with looking away from her.
Therefore, I think that he might have a crush on her which I can completely understand by the way seeing how drop-dead gorgeous she was. She was one of the smartest girls that I knew as well as brave too.
"No, all of them aren't allergic to pineapple." I tapped on my car window lightly to try to get my brother's attention and then I said "Look like you have got another secret admirer, Burkey."
As it turned out, I wasn't the only one who was falling for her to be honest with you, she might've not known it yet but she was definitely my lucky charm and I wasn't going to share her with this world so anything else my dad would like to throw at us then I would regardless be there to be able to help shield all the hurt or sadness away from her being the world purest flower although she looked at her left as she laughed softly at my little brother Andy which she has finds adorable and here was me thinking that I might have some competition on my hands.
Shortly after, we went inside the house.
I wasn't able to hear the end of it from my brother Andy who kept complimenting her so I was pretty much glad that there was an age gap between the two of them and she doesn't even know what power she has over me.
We all went into the kitchen seeing my dad's fiance Laureen set up the dining room table while my dad didn't even help her as I pulled out a chair for Burkey to sit down at the table slowly looking over towards my brother Andy who shrugged his shoulders and then goes to sit down the other side of my flower.
"I think it is adorable that your younger brother has a crush on me," she whispered into my ears to me.
No one else got to see behind the walls of this house as far as I know other people think that I was born lucky to have a hockey legend as a dad regardless of none of them knows what it was like growing up to become more than others increasing expectations of my life so whenever people compared me to my father I think it was an insult because I was nothing like that monster acting like he was the only one who lost my mom, the angel that was always been there for me.
We both walked into the kitchen hands in hand but my flower made everything all worth it.
Laureen sighed, a tired sighed gently caressing her own pregnant belly slightly looking more overwhelmed by preparing for a thanksgiving meal herself while Burkey gave me a few looks before she and I offered to help my dad's fiance as she spoke a couple of words to her. She pulled me and Burkey into a huge hug which made my Jessamyn flower smile at the warmth of the hug feeling more at ease in this dinner.
"Well, what do you expect when you look fantastic in anything looking like a mythical princess?"I described how she appeared to be me to her.
Her standing there in her yellow dress with her dark brown hair down in her natural curls a few trills of her hair framed her face perfectly fine and it completely baffled me.
how on earth can such an amazingly attractive including intelligent girl like her ever exist in real life, wishing that she would be mine forever and this was coming from a person whose whole life has been hockey now.
She always came first before everything that I did because she would be my number one priority in life no matter what if she still chosen to be my girl or not knowing that I would constantly continued to love her in the different lifetimes with the biggest number of infinity that we had.
Right now it had already occurred in my mind that she was already my girlfriend, damn if any of my mates was here at this moment as well as had the superpower to hear my thoughts then they would say that she had me wrapped around her little fingers to be frank, I didn't mind it one bit hoping that she already knew that from the moment that i met her feeling like those just don't go away overnight especially when they continuously over time.
"Aww, there is nothing quite like young love." said Laureen, my dad's fiance with a happy smile listening to the two of us.
We gazed at each other's eyes for a strong millisecond until we heard my dad loud and commanding voice bossing around his fiance to hurry up with the food. "It really doesn't take three people that long just to serve the food doesn't it!" complained my dad.
Honestly, i didn't quite know how my dad's fiance did put up with his condescending comments or his horrible attitude toward Laureen as I gave her a concerned look instantly, thinking that he would doesn't give a damn about her when I noticed the bruises on her forearms were hidden behind her make-up and her long sleeves dress knowing that something wasn't quite adding up here.
Since nothing felt right as she shook off my worries reassuring me that everything was fine nonetheless, I was very worried for my brother's safety as well as my dad's fiance safety just because I may come from a very dysfunctional broken family but it doesn't mean that I was a wrong-un. As we all entered back into the dinning room to place the food on the table and sit at the table too.
"So, tell me how the two of you met?" asked Laureen.
"We saw each other around campus, the Java or skydrive cafe. He saw me figure skating in the rink and ever since he sorta followed me around everywhere." She laughed at her own joke and then she continued to speak. "I was an recovery figure skater and he's a hockey player so we-"
I interrupted her from speaking as I gently placed my hand on her thigh and I said "come to some mutual agreement to help each other and then the rest is pretty much history from there."I waited for her to shoved off my hand on her leg but to my surprise, she entwined our hands together and supportively traced circles lightly around it whenever my dad made a snarky remark or rude indirect comments saying that maybe if I wasn't distracted by other things then maybe I could be just as good as him in the sport hockey.
However, all i needed to keep me sane right now was my lucky charm named right after the most beautiful flower in the world was sitting near having a great conversation with my younger brother who kept on blushing previously red anything she looked at his direction and then the atmosphere dropped .
.
.
.
No scratch that it literally plummeted into thin air.
Also, I never hated anything more than looking similar to my dad but we were not the same and there were many differences between me and my dad. One of them was that I would never lay a hand on any women or girls knowing that it would possibly harm them.
"An recovery figure skater? So what happens if he gets hurt or the pain gets too much for you that you go back to rehab?" questioned my dad.
I mouthed a simple and small words sorry to her in sympathy feeling very empathetic for her in this situation hoping that my dad would just dropped the subject already as she kept on smiling and bit back her tongue that the rest of us, non-shallow people who were in this room could tell how hard it must have been for her to been thrown into this lion den and before I could had said anything she goes to beat me to it.
"See, Mr Beckett, I wasn't an alcoholic or a drug addict but only the people who really know me would know about my past." she said to my dad.
Never in my life have I been so proud of her as she stood up to my dad like that as if it was anymore, possible that I might have fallen harder for than I did immediately after she had put my dad in his place for turning up his nose at her.
This was such an eventful dinner leaving early from her not wanting to discuss her past with my dad, meanwhile we were standing in the corridor talking to my dad's fiance who had kept apologizing to us for his mistakes along with my little doey eyes brother Andy looking at her like a lovestruck boy.
"There's no need for you to apologize to us for my father's behavior and if he ever hurt you again, don't be afraid to call any one of us." I paused quickly, looked over our shoulders checking if my dad was somewhere close to us and then I said " you and my brother Andy still deserve so much better than this."
Afterwards, we left my house to headed straight out of the front door soon entering my car as I drove her back to campus since she was collecting her suitcase while I waited to drive her to her mum house especially when it was farther aways from my house not even close to ten miles radius which I did get it because all the news that circulated around a town like ours with our neighbors knowing how she was Miss national solo finalist and i was supposed that I was a hockey legend legacy two people who was trying to feel whole again.
Three hours and a half, we arrived at her mum's house standing outside in her driveway talking for a couple of minutes as i pulled her into a hug messing with her hair staring into her dark brown eyes that had a small hue of maroon in them, looking right back at mine and I desired to kissed those perfect lips of her.
"Well, this is my stop. See you after the holiday." she said,looking up at me and smiled before she turned to leave me standing there.
I had to think of something fast to get her attention again so I shouted "Wait!"
Slowly, she walked back to me patiently waiting for me to say something instead of saying any words but in a split second I asked her "can I kiss you?"
She nodded and said "yes."
My hand gently caressing her cheek as the other one slightly pushed a strands behind her ear and then my lips lightly brushed over her hearing her sudden gasps of breath while I kissed on her delicate lips as much as she was trying disguise her blushing to this kiss was due to the weather being so cold that caused her even already rosy cheeks to redden even more but for now I would let us both have this magical moment was shortly-lived though when we heard the front door opening to both her mum and little sister waiting for her to come inside their house.
She looked up at me and then she turned around to looked at her family members watching as an exhaled escaped from her lips leaned her forehead against mine giving her a few second of silence soon I helped her carried her bag inside her house no matter how she kept on saying that she had to did it her with a short debated about it being the highly independent girl that she was lose the debated because I won in the end.
Jessasmyn Burke was my very independent girl and forever she would be my flower.