Chapter 34

"Jesus, Kurt, the hell did you do to him?" Reggie laughed as the two of us appeared downstairs for breakfast in the morning.

"It wasn't me." Kurt held up his hands in defense. "And he won't spill."

Coach Turner glanced over at us and his eyes widened at the sight of my eye.

"That's quite a shiner you've got there." One of the other Coaches said with a frown as Coach Turner stood up from his seat.

"Holy..." Coach Turner muttered, grabbing my jaw in his hands. "Who did this?"

"The damn lamp on the wall next to the bathroom." I lied. "Got up to shit in the middle of the night and ran right into the damn thing."

"Go get some ice from the kitchen for McKinley." Coach said to one of the underclassmen, still inspecting my face. "Wow."

"Yeah." I shook him off, taking a seat next to Elizabeth.

"I'm sorry about last night, I over reacted, I was already heated because he called me and I'm just sorry." Elizabeth whispered at such a low volume I could barely hear her.

"Fight sex is hot as shit." I replied quietly, my eyes meeting hers.

"I did that? With my shoulder?" Elizabeth winced, glancing at my eye.

"Don't sweat it." I laughed. "I kind of deserved it." I added in a whisper.

"Here." The underclassmen said, shoving the bag of ice at me.

"Thanks." I muttered before placing it on my eye.

Elizabeth sighed, turning back to her food.

"Did you mean what you said last night?" She asked suddenly, turning to face me.

Kurt stopped dead as he started sitting down next to me.

"Is this what you were talking about?" He whispered.

"Kurt, shove it." I snapped, glaring at him. "Elizabeth, we'll talk about this later."

Elizabeth sighed again, taking a bite of her eggs.

"Okay no but I need to know if you-"

"Elizabeth." I groaned, giving her a look. "We'll talk about this later. We have a long day ahead of us, please, I cannot handle this right now."

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at me but didn't say anything else before returning to her food.

~*~*~

Elizabeth kept her distance from me for the rest of the day. Through all of the programming that Coach Turner had us go through to get 'closer' as a team or whatever, Elizabeth stuck with the twins, leaving me completely isolated with fucking Kurt.

She didn't talk to me on the bus ride home either and I wasn't about to initiate that conversation with her in front of everyone either.

Truthfully, I don't even know what was going through my mind when I said it.

I didn't even know if it was true, to be honest.

It's been a week, that's barely enough time to get to know something, let alone love them.

But then again, what about all that 'love at first sight' bullshit?

From the moment I laid eyes on her, I knew she was something special.

But love?

That's some shit the guys on the team pull to get a steady fuck through high school and then they dump the girl the second they're off to school.

That's not what it's like with Elizabeth...

This could be the real thing...

So eight in the evening found me staring at Elizabeth's front door, trying to muster up the courage to knock.

What could go wrong?

We talk. We be honest. Either she agrees or disagrees.

We go on with our lives.

Before I could even bring myself to knock, the door flew open and Elizabeth stood there with a child on her hip.

"The fuck?" Was all my brain could muster up to say.

The kid was a toddler, clearly old enough to walk on his own but Elizabeth was still carrying him.

"Coach Hank's kid. He's out to dinner with my parents. What are you doing here?" Elizabeth asked, stepping aside to let me inside her house.

"Didn't get to see you much today." I commented, my eyes still on the kid. "Does it talk?"

"Barely. He is only a year old." Elizabeth gave me a look as she walked towards the living room.

She was wearing a pair of high waisted jeans and a red tank top, her hair up in a bun.

"You look like a mother right now and it's very disconcerting." I said honestly, sticking my hands in the pockets of my jeans as she turned around to look at me.

"Well I'm not." Elizabeth said quietly. "Although we did go raw last night and that can't happen again."

"I don't think either of us were thinking clearly." I muttered, scratching the back of my head. "Things were done... Words were said..."

"Were they?" Elizabeth raised her eyebrows, her eyes staring straight into mine.

I studied her for a minute, trying to figure out if that was sarcasm or not.

"Elizabeth..." I sighed.

"Can you hold him for a minute? I have to pee and he keeps running off." Elizabeth sighed, handing the kid to me.

My eyes widened as I took hold of him.

Elizabeth swiftly left the room and I was left holding the kid at an arm's length away from my body.

"What do I do?" I whispered, glancing around me as if something would give the answer.

The kid just grinned a huge smile at me, only a few of his teeth showing as he kicked his legs.

"Hi." I said softly, still holding him far away from me. "What's your name?"

The kid said something incoherent and stuck his hand in his mouth.

I grimaced. That can't be sanitary.

Elizabeth finally came back a few minutes later and let out a laugh as she took him from me.

"You held him like that the whole time?" She asked, putting him back on my hip. "Travis do you want to go play outside?"

"Outside! Outside!" The kid cheered, clapping his hands together.

"Come on." Elizabeth gave me a smile as we walked out back to the patio.

Elizabeth set Travis down on the ground and handed him a piece of chalk then went and sat down in one of the chairs.

I sat down next to her, taking a deep breath.

"Alright I've been thinking a lot about it and I think that I was all out of whack from the game, and the fight, and I was feeling a lot of things, and I may have said something that..." I trailed off, rubbing my face. "Just forget anything I said last night, please."

Elizabeth took a deep breath, her eyes on Travis as he sat down in the middle of the patio and started drawing with the chalk.

"Your eye is a mess." She said softly.

"I didn't mean forget everything I said." I muttered. "You can acknowledge that I'm talking to you."

"Charlie everything we said to each other last night... Everything." Elizabeth muttered. "I understand where you were coming from because I live my life every single day with countless insecurities. Stretch marks, cellulite, my stomach isn't flat, my skin isn't clear, my hair is a bush, my calves are bigger than most girls' thighs... Every day I see you talking to other girls and there's this little piece of me that thinks 'what if all of the physical stuff between us is fake, what if there's no attraction'." Elizabeth said softly, turning to face me.

"Elizabeth..." I whispered, reaching to grab her knee. "Your body is exquisite. Who the fuck wants girls who starve themselves to achieve a standard set by photoshopped Victoria Secret Angels."

"Every guy I've ever been with." Elizabeth snorted, crossing her arms. "I am always ready to commit and they drop me for a skinner girl, a whiter girl, and quieter girl."

"Whoa, your outspokenness is sexy as hell. When you go on about all that feminist shit..." I grinned, shaking my head.

Elizabeth glanced back at Travis for a minute before turning back to me.

"All I'm saying is that if you have any insecurities... Don't think that's going to change my opinion of you. I think you are the most magnificent guy I have ever seen. You're interesting and smart and complicated. And I'm hardcore falling for it."

"Yeah?" I said softly as she rested her hand on top of mine.

"But I think we both need some time to let this develop on its own... We need time for more getting to know each other, more fights... More fight sex." Elizabeth laughed, her eyes lighting up.

"Preferably with no black eyes." I whispered.

"No promises." Elizabeth winked, shaking her head. "But do you get what I'm saying?"

"One hundred percent." I nodded. "And I'm sorry about last night."

"Don't be. Everyone says stupid shit when they're on the brink of-"

"No I'm talking about getting jealous." I cut her off with a laugh. "I mean yeah, that, but mostly about getting all pissy just because he was calling you. I have no right to-"

"But you do. Charlie get as jealous as you want. I had no right to get so upset with you over it."

I took a deep breath, my eyes meeting hers.

"You mean a lot to me, Elizabeth, I just don't want to lose you." I admitted quietly.

"I'm not going anywhere, quarterback." Elizabeth said softly.

"Good, because I don't plan on it either." I whispered, leaning towards her.

But before I could kiss her, Elizabeth pulled back suddenly.

"Do you smell that?" She whispered, glancing over at Travis. "Oh God..." She whispered, walking over to the kid.

She sniffed his butt and gagged, holding him at an arm's length away from her.

"We'll be back." She choked, walking into the house.

I leaned back in the chair, soaking up the sun.

This was the best possible outcome.

We're fine, we're still together, and there's no mention of the dreaded 'L' word.