The Game Changer (25 page)

“What do you mean?” I ask, suddenly feeling panicked.

“I’m not gonna lie to you. It’s gonna suck for you sometimes. Sometimes, it feels as if I have no privacy, like everyone is always pulling at me, trying to work their way into my life. You know what I mean?” he asks as he slightly cocks his head to the side to look at me. Luke is in serious mode now, which is making me nervous.

“I’m not sure.”

“Baseball; it’s pretty big, JJ. You haven’t seen what it’s like once the season starts. There will be people around constantly... And a lot of crazy people, willing to do crazy stuff to get our attention.” His expression tells me he isn’t joking, but trying to be truthful.

“By
people
do you mean, girls?”

“Some.” I’m silent. I’ve heard about Luke’s reputation with girls.

“So what are you saying?”

“That there is gonna have to be a lot of trust between us. I need you to trust me. I need you to talk to me about everything. People are going to be jealous of you. They’re gonna try and get in the middle of us. Not just Alexa. There are a lot of Alexa’s out there. Look, I’m not tryin’ to scare you away. I just want you to know fully what you’re getting into. If I didn’t think you could handle it, I would have never told you how I felt about you.
You’re different than anyone I have ever been with. That’s why I want to be with you and
only
you.”

“Luke, you’re making me very nervous.”

“You’re not gonna bail on me, are you?”

“Not if you don’t give me a reason to.”

“I’d never, ever do anything that would hurt you. That I promise. I’m so happy that we are together right now, I can’t even tell you.”

“Me, too, but this is something that you could’ve brought up before last night,” I say, smiling.

“Yeah, right; and what? Risk you turning me down. No way. Now that I know how you feel about me, there’s no escaping me.” He pulls me into a bear hug, squeezing me. “We’re gonna be great, I promise,” he says, taking on a serious note. “You know what I’m nervous as hell about?”

“What?”

“David. He’s gonna flip out. He’s not gonna want his little girl with someone like me.”

“That’s not true. You know how he feels about you.”

“Yeah, well, that was when he thought we were just friends. He probably won’t feel the same way about leavin’ us alone so much.” He smirks.

“Like now,” I joke as he takes me in his arms and kisses me.

After another hour of kissing, we figure we better not push our luck. We don’t want to get caught before I have a chance to talk to my dad. I’m positive he is still sleeping, so I walk Luke to the door, instead of making him climb out the window. The cold air comes blowing in once I open the front door, reminding me that I only have on a tank top and shorts. Luke steps onto the porch and wraps his arms tightly around me to warm me and kiss me goodbye. It isn’t till I open my eyes that I see Mrs. O’Leary, our nosey neighbor, who lives right next door to Luke and who is about a hundred years old, staring right at us.

“Oh crap, look,” I whisper in his ear.

“Hey, Mrs. O’Leary, Happy New Year!” he yells over as he waves at her and she waves back as she picks her newspaper up off her driveway.

“You are such an idiot.”  I smack him on the back of his head.

“Now you’re going to be known as the little floozy of Seascape Drive. She loves me, too,” he teases.

“Figures. Everybody loves you,” I answer sarcastically. “Good bye.” I lean in for one more quick kiss.

As he gets halfway across the street, he yells to me, “Thanks for last night!” loud enough for Mrs. O’Leary to hear as he gives me a wink. I shake my head at him as I watch him enter his house.

I try to fall back asleep, but I am too wound up, thinking about the night. Will my heart ever stop fluttering when I’m around him? I hope not. After about an hour, I give up on trying to fall back asleep. I decide to put on a pot of coffee and start breakfast.

“Hey, Sweetie, Happy New Year! What are you doing up so early?” my dad asks as he walks in the kitchen.

“Couldn’t sleep. How was your night?” I give him a peck on the cheek.

“Good. After the restaurant cleared out, the staff, along with other casino workers had our own party. It was actually a good time. I thought you were staying out? Was everything okay?”

“Great; we had an awesome time. We went to a party at this huge beach house. It was a lot of fun.” I have to ease my way into this. I pour us each a cup of coffee while he finishes making breakfast.

“Cool. Who all went?” he asks casually, sipping his coffee.

“Me, Cathy, Lori, Matt and Billy. De finally arrived late. They were delayed at the airport all day; they almost didn’t make it home... Luke met us there just as they were counting down till midnight. He and Mikey went to CJ’s earlier... But, Luke wanted to…
be with me…
for midnight.” I stare at him, hoping he gets what I am implying. Let me wait for his reaction... Am I going to have to spell it out? I can see him processing... Okay, I think he’s got it.

“So, what are you saying?” he asks. I get the feeling he kind of knows.

“I want to talk to you about that.” I get up to fix his plate. I have to keep busy while I blurt this out because I am suddenly nervous.

“Luke and I had a long talk last night about the way we feel about each other…” I glance over. He’s watching me as I fiddle around with the food. “It’s kind of been building up for a while, but we both didn’t want to admit it because of our friendship.” Again I peek over, he’s nodding,

“Go on,” he says.

“Well, we realized we care for each other more than friends and we decided that we would like to start seeing each other.” I pause again, giving him time to process.

“Well, that’s great that you care for each other, I knew that already, but why not just stay friends? What’s the difference?” He seriously asks me that question!

“Dad! We are still friends. The difference is, for one, I don’t want him to see other girls and two, he doesn’t want me to see other guys! And besides that, friends don’t kiss each other! Please! It’s hard enough telling your dad stuff like this, don’t make it worse!” I snap at him while nervously laughing.

Thank God, he laughs, too. “Okay, calm down. You’ve got to understand, this is a little hard for me. It’s new to me. It’s hard for me to think of you two...”

“Then, don’t think!”

“JJ, I’m not as blind as you think I am. I can see the way you act around each other. I had a feeling it was only a matter of time before you both realized it. Only, I would have preferred for you to be at least thirty before you did,” he jokes.

“So, you’re okay with this? You like him, right Dad?”

“You know I do, but it’s still not easy for me to think of my little girl growing up. Give me a break, okay?”

Just then De texts me,
Be right ovr. Jst got out of shwr.
“That’s De, she’s coming over.” As we continue our breakfast I shift the conversation from me and Luke, back to the house where the New Year’s Eve party was held, while trying to get some details from my dad about his night.

“Hey, David, Happy New Year!” De says as she comes bouncing into the kitchen looking rather happy.

“Happy New Year, Hon.” He gets up to kiss her hello. “I’ll let you girls talk. I’m having a few friends stop by later. I figured I’d cook up some stuff, so if the boys want to stop by to eat, let them know,” my dad says as he heads into the other room.

“Are you hungry?” I ask her as I finish up with the dishes.

“No, I had breakfast, thanks. Does he ever get tired of cooking?” She smiles as she looks at me.

“I don’t think so, he loves it. I have to get used to this whole new friend thing, though.” I look towards the other room as if I can see him.

“JJ, he probably feels the same way about you. You both are going through a lot of changes, but they’re for the good, right?”

“Yeah, sure. Compared to this time last year. It was awful. I’m happy he’s getting out. I really am. He seems much better. I’m happy. It’s just that sometimes I feel as though we are both moving on and forgetting about her.”

She grabs my hand as we sit on my bed. “You will never forget about her. From what you have told me about her, this is exactly what she would want for both of you. I really believe she is with you. Maybe a little of her has rubbed off on you and David.”

“You’re right; we both seem to be a little more outgoing since she isn’t here to talk for us.” I laugh.

“See... Did you tell him about Luke?”

“Yeah, right before you came in. At first, he was a little goofy, but then he was okay. He loves Luke. He’s just going to have to get used to the idea.” I shrug, and then quickly change the subject. She had a big night last night and I don’t want everything to be about me. “Enough about me; tell me about your night.”

She is bursting to tell me, I can tell by the way she bounced into the kitchen this morning. She fills me in on the details of her night with Timmy. She had a completely different experience than she had before and any bad memories that she had from then have now been replaced by how special Timmy treated her. It’s pretty much what I would expect of Timmy; he’s a good guy and he adores Deanna. He always has this little smile on his face as he watches her walk in the room or when she’s telling a story.

After filling each other in on our details about the night, the dark gloomy day and the lack of sleep finally catch up to us. We dozed off for several hours across my bed. It isn’t until I hear the buzzing of my phone, that I wake. It’s Luke, asking what we are up to. I reply, telling him and Mikey to come over. I jump in the shower, allowing Deanna to sleep. A while later, I join the small get together in the kitchen.

I recognize the people at my dad’s little gathering from Christmas Eve. One, being the lady that De, Luke and Mikey were busting on me about. There are two others I don’t recognize; my dad introduces me to them and I’m thankful for the sound of the door, so that I have an excuse to head out of the kitchen. I meet Mikey and Luke in the doorway.

“What’s going on?” Luke asks, hearing the laughter from the kitchen.

“My dad’s having a few friends over.” I smile and roll my eyes.

“Ah, what’s the matter? You don’t like David having fun?” Luke asks as he lifts my chin and kisses me.

“Really, JJ, loosen up. Give the guy a break,” Mikey chimes in.

“I know. You’re right. I’m just not used to him being so... social,” I say to them.

“Did you tell him?” Luke asks nervously, while Mikey shakes his head and laughs at us like we’re pathetic.

“Yeah, he’s fine,” I answer shyly.

As we enter the kitchen, my dad introduces them to everyone. I’m happy that everything is normal as usual. There is no tension between my dad and Luke. Of course, when Mikey and Luke see the lady from Christmas Eve, they both look at me. I shoot them a look, warning them not to start. My dad made pizzas, wings, and burgers with all kinds of toppings. We fill our plates and the three of us sit at the counter.

“God, JJ, how come you’re not fat?” Mikey asks looking at my filled plate as he takes a big chunk out of his burger.

“I don’t know, Mikey. I guess I have good metabolism,” I answer sarcastically.

“Her mom was hot, too, so you don’t have to worry about her getting fat,” he says as a matter of fact to Luke as if I’m not sitting right next to them.

“What is wrong with him?” Luke asks, looking at me and laughing.

I just roll my eyes and laugh. You’ve got to love Mikey. He doesn’t say it to be disrespectful, that’s his way of throwing out a compliment. Besides, I like the way they’re not afraid to mention my mom. It makes me feel better to talk about her, she would have liked them.

“Where’s DeDe?” Mikey finally asks, looking around.

“Sleeping.”

With a look of disgust on his face, he asks, “Why is she so tired? Too much to drink last night? It’s after four.”

“No, it’s that kind of day. Probably everything just caught up to her. Traveling all day yesterday, rushing around, and staying up late… She probably just needed to crash,” I say, trying to cover for her. He still doesn’t seem satisfied with my answer, though.

We settle in the family room. It seems much later than it really is due to the lack of light outside. It is a lazy kind of day. Mikey sits on the recliner chair as Luke and I cuddle on the couch. They put the
Outback Bowl
on as I flip through a magazine. I listen, enjoying the closeness as they discuss the game and their recent trip. De comes strolling in with a plate full of food.

“You look like shit,” Mikey says to her as she walks in. She doesn’t. She actually looks gorgeous as usual.
More so, to be honest
, I think. By the way he is looking at her I know he thinks so, too.

“Who asked you?” she shoots back cockily as she sits on the arm of his recliner. He gives her a smile, grabs her waist and gives her a little nudge as if he is pushing her off, but then makes sure he steadies her so she doesn’t fall. They smile at each other. I glance up at Luke to see if he notices these little exchanges between them the way I do, but this is just normal to him; he’s not fazed by it. De picks up the remote and they both flip out on her, daring her to change the channel.