Puck The Halls | Jack Hughes

How It All Ended

Six Months Later

MOM AND I WERE MOVING THE LAST OF MY BOXES INTO MY dorm, and I was pretty sure Mom was just about ready to burst into tears. It was the middle of the year, but I was only moving into a dorm now, since I'd spent the first six months of the year travelling, with Jack.

We'd tried the whole long distance thing, decided it wasn't for us, and that we missed each other, and I got on the first available flight out to New Jersey to surprise him at a hockey game. Jack had been pretty excited, to say the least, so excited that he blessed me with bruise marks on my hips from gripping so tight and a bite bark on my shoulder. Yeah, the sex has been phenomenal.

But reality set in, I had to start college, and so I did. In the middle of the summer, because, the NHL season is over, and Jack spends summers in Michigan, right where I went to college.

I was excited for the next three months. I'd get to see Jemma and America, Quinn, Cole, Alex, my brother. I'd never gone to a lake house summer before, in fact, I'd actively avoided them, but this years things would be different. This year I'd have sex by the make and have a boy love me on July Fourth.

"I think that's the last of them," Mom chirped, though I could see how badly she wanted to burst into tears.

I toyed with the necklace Jack had given me for Christmas last year, gold, the letter J. I'd teased him for being my literal Troy Bolton, but I also didn't mind. It was a pretty necklace, and I loved wearing it. At first, it was a gift to remind me of him while he was on the road, but then I'd gone and followed him, so now it was just a reminder that I was the luckiest girl alive.

I still remember my mother's face when she's found out Jack and I were officially dating. She'd flipped out, but, in a good way. Her and Ellen were ready to plan the wedding, just as I'd predicted. She'd also given me a stern warning not to get pregnant over the summer, which was embarrassing as shit, because somehow she knew Jack and I were kind of like obsessed with sex, or was that what all new relationships were like?

Either way, absolutely not ideal for my mother to know, so all I have her was a curt nod and walked as quickly as I could to my bedroom.

My dad had packed condoms in my bag for college, which again, majorly embarrassing. I'd reminded him that I was dating Jack, that I wasn't about to go out and be a horny college kid.

"It's the summer, Mira," he'd said, raising a single eyebrow. "Don't think I don't know exactly who you'll be spending all summer with."

And shit, he was right. Parents are fucking terrifying.

I turned to my mother with a tight lipped smile, sort of half wanting her to stay but also sort of wanting to kick her out so I could take my new room mate, Evie, out to meet Jack and Trevor.

"I love you Mom," I sighed, pulling her in for a hug. "But I'm going to be fine, and so are you. I've already been pretty much gone for six months anyway, this is just a permanent stop. You can visit all the time."

Her lips pulled slightly to the left. "I know, it's just that, my baby girl is growing up. It's hard. I didn't think it would go this fast. I thought we'd have more time."

This time, I really do smile as I hug her tighter. "Mom, you're my best friend in the world and we will always have time for each other. You and dad should visit the lake house when Ellen comes up."