Ready Or Not

Ch 15 - Happy Tears

** Luke's POV **

I woke up startled, but not sure why. And, fuck, Gina was still in my bed. She was lying on her side facing away from me, the sheet not quite covering her naked ass. It was quite a sight, but still. It was kind of an unspoken rule that we didn't spend the night together. Fuck buddies don't do that. At least, we didn't. She lived on campus at uni, and I had lived with my parents up until I bought my house. So there had really not been an opportunity to stay with each other anyway. Even when I got us a hotel, we'd leave right afterwards. I hoped she didn't take me having my own house now as permission to spend the night.

I sat on the side of the bed, trying to decide how to deal with the situation. If I woke her and straight up told her that she needed to go, she'd surely get the hint that the rule still stood. That would be rude as fuck, but I never did really care about being rude. If I let her sleep and didn't say anything, she'd probably assume I was okay with it. So it wasn't much of a decision really.

"Gina," I said in a normal tone. She didn't stir. I nudged her bare shoulder and repeated, "Gina."

She slowly stretched then turned toward me. "Hey, Lukey." She reached for my hand and tried to pull me in for a hug. She scowled when I resisted.

I got out of the bed and put on my boxers. "Um, you should probably go." No need in softening the blow.

Gina sat up, the scowl giving way to a look of hurt. I silently begged her, Dammit, don't make me have this conversation. I handed Gina's clothes to her and she stormed off to the bathroom.

"Fuck," I swore to myself. I really hoped I hadn't screwed up what we had going on. Oh well. There were plenty other girls I knew who would have loved to be in her position.

I headed to the kitchen because I was starving, and before I got to the bottom of the stairs I heard something that sounded like a cabinet closing. The fuck? There was someone in my house. That must have been why I woke up startled.

I debated where I could find some kind of weapon. I had a baseball bat in the hall closet, along with a bunch of other sports paraphernalia I never used. That would do. I creeped down the hall and reached for the handle. I turned it and pulled slowly in case it creaked. Naturally, the bat was buried under everything else I'd just thrown in the closet instead of putting in it's proper place when I moved in. As I pulled it out, it got caught on something, causing a bunch of shit to crash to the floor. Yeah, I never claimed to be stealthiest person ever.

"Luke??" I heard an all too familiar voice call. Mum.

"Shit," I said to myself, throwing everything back into the closet, then heading to the kitchen. "Mum, what are you doing? I thought someone had broken in!"

She laughed and said, "You gave me a key and an open invitation, son. I was just trying to fix you some breakfast and help you finish unpacking."

"Well, thanks. But it would be nice to shoot me a text or something next time. Please."

"I did."

"Oh." I hadn't looked at my phone, so I didn't know.

"Anyway... Do you want scrambled eggs?"

"Yeah."

As she was breaking eggs I heard footsteps approaching quickly. It had taken me a whole three minutes to forget that Gina was still there.

Before I could react, Gina entered the kitchen, saying, "There you are. I just want to say that I - " Gina froze in her tracks, her mouth hanging open, when she saw my mum standing to the side. Great.

Mum had met Gina before, and she wasn't too fond of her, to say the least. Probably because she figured out her baby boy was having sexual relations with the redhead standing in front of her. Mum looked at Gina, then at me. She gave me one of those looks that only mothers can give and make you feel worse than a beating ever could. She went back to her cooking and didn't say a word. But the slight shake of her head didn't go unnoticed.

Gina broke the extremely awkward silence. "Yeah, I'll just go." I didn't bother showing her out.

When the door slammed shut, Mum immediately turned to me. "Luke Robert Hemmings. Really? Have you learned nothing?"

I rolled my eyes and groaned. "I told you, I'm not talking about this with you! I'm 21, Mum. I make my own money, live on my own, and I can do what the fu- ...whatever I want to do. I'm sorry your little boy is all grown up now and you still feel the need to control his life."

She shook her head and turned back around, furiously mixing the eggs. Her silence only meant one thing. She was crying. Motherfucker. Way to go, asshole.

I got down from the barstool and took the bowl away from her, sitting it on the counter. "I'm sorry," I apologized and hugged her. There's no better way to feel like a jerk than making your mother cry.

"I'm sorry, too, honey," she muttered into my shoulder. "I don't mean to be this way. I just want the best for you, Luke. And I'm so worried about this baby situation."

I held her at arm's length and bent down to meet her gaze. "It's going to be fine, Mum. I promise. I know it's easier said than done, but I'm going to be a good dad. I know you feel like you have to take charge because you're my mother. But you can't control everything now. I have to make mistakes so I can learn from them. I know I may not be the most responsible person in the world, but I'm working on it, okay?" Damn. Where did all this recent grown up talk come from?

She nodded and wiped away the tears that had run down her cheeks, then turned her attention back to the stove. Knowing I had hurt her feelings nearly had me tears, too. She had done so much for me, and I knew she only had good intentions with all of her advice and berating. But it was true: I had to learn from my mistakes. And I had made plenty.

Mum's reaction to Gina had me asking myself if Gina was one of those mistakes. Probably. And if it wasn't her it would be someone else. Hell, I'd made too many mistakes to count if that were the case. Was Jordyn a mistake? I hesitated as I asked myself that one. If I answered 'yes' then I'd be saying the baby was a mistake. And as much as I was trying to play neutral about the whole thing, I had already started developing feelings toward this baby. How could I not? It was only natural. So was being with Jordyn a mistake? No, as long as it never happened again.

"Okay, it's ready."

Mum's announcement pulled me from the thoughts that were too deep for me to be having so early. I apologized to her again as I helped her carry everything to the table.

"It's okay, love. I know I need to back off. I went through the same thing with Jack and Ben when they moved out. And I'm sure when they have kids, I'll aggravate the piss out of them, too. I just love you boys so much. As a mum, it's hard not being needed so much anymore."

"Mum, I'll always need you. And soon enough you'll have a grandchild who will need you, too." I thought that might make her feel better. But she started crying again. "God, Mum. Sorry. I was just - "

"No, no, no. Happy tears," she said, pointing to her face and smiling. "I have to admit, even though it's not an ideal situation, I kind of can't wait."

I wasn't quite ready to admit it to anyone just yet, but in a very small weird way, neither could I.