43| Breaking News

207 2 0
                                    

Corey

I haven't been home in a little while. It's been a really long time, actually, and for a while I wasn't planning on being back for I didn't have any good reasons to come home. But with the season over and things changing daily I decided I should visit. And even though Bailey is still working technically she wanted to visit home too. She missed this place like crazy but she didn't want to stay too long because then she wouldn't want to leave.

So we make the long drive home to spend the week here and we decide to go to my parents house first. Her family was a few houses down but I was happy to break the news to my parents first while we wait for the rest of her family to get into town.

"Race you to the door" Bailey teases as she puts her hand on the door handle and I smirk.

She takes off out of the car and I chase after her. We were pretty close but she beats me there and knocks before I had the chance. "You cheated" I accuse as I playfully poke her side.

"I did not" she giggles.

"Did too" I smirk.

"I didn't! Now shut up your mom is coming" she tells me.

"Make me" I smile.

This is usually around the time that she would punch me in my arm and expected me to shut up. That worked when we were kids but hasn't for a while since I get hit a lot harder by the guys on the team.

But it's a little bit different now. This time to shut me up she pressed her lips to mine, a retaliation that's a lot more effective than the last one. I promptly grab her face letting her know I too wanted to play this game.

I hear a scream from inside the house and the next second the door flies open. My mom stands there with the biggest smile on her face as we break apart. "No way" she screams as she pulls us into a hug. She starts to jump up and down and I don't know if I should laugh or be embarrassed. She was kinda acting like a little kid right now.

"Mom, please" I beg.

"Oh no, you're not taking this away from me. I sat by your side and listened to your dumb girlfriends and you being lonely for too long. I deserve this just as much as you do" she claims.

"Wow. Didn't know you could still embarrass me in front of Bailey after all this time, yet here we are" I mumble.

"I think it's cute" Bailey smirks and I roll my eyes.

"So you guys are together, like really together" my mom questions as she finally lets us go. I walk over to Bailey as I wrap my arm around her. She rests her hand on my chest and I smile big.

"We're in it for the long haul" Bailey assures her.

"Oh" my mom shouts as I cover my ears. Ouch. "Come on lets find Carla and Bill" she insists as she grabs our hands. She leaves my dad in there probably confused about all the screaming going on out here.

She marches us a few houses down to Baileys childhood home and doesn't even bother knocking. She pulls us in and into the living room where Baileys parents were watching a movie on the couch.

"Oh, hey sweetie. I thought you weren't going to be around a bit later. Your brothers aren't here yet" Carla says to her daughter.

"This was my doing" my mom assures her.

"Oh! Well what's the occasion" Carla asks as her and Bill get up off the couch to come greet us. They come over to us and I'm just sure this is going to end well.

"Corey and Bailey! They're... well they're" my mom stutters and I laugh. "You explain it" she demands as she nudges me towards them.

"Oh um" I stutter. Bailey reaches over to grab my hand and I felt a lot better. "Bailey and I decided that we were kidding no one trying to stay friends and wanted to take things to the next level" I explain.

The house falls completely silent as her parents stare us down. "You mean, you guys are dating" Bill asks me.

"Yeah" I say almost like a question.

The silence in the room was gone and instead I hear cheering. Like something you would hear at the United Center after someone on our team scores a goal. Her parents and my mom celebrates together as I shake my head.

"What have we done" I ask Bailey.

"Something either really good or really bad" she giggles.

"Feels good" I claim.

"Looks a little funny but still feels good" she agrees.

"Then I'm gonna go with this is going to end up good" I insist.

Her parents insist we get stay and have a drink to celebrate this day a lot of us thought would never come so we do. We each get a wine glass and fill it to the top. We make a toast as we all raise our glasses to the sky.

"To Corey and Bailey. May their friendship lead them to a relationship filled with the same amount of laughter and love they've had the past 19 years. I hope that it brings us lots of grandchildren and they won't run off to Chicago and never coming back" Bill teases.

"Don't worry dad, we already decided that this is home. There might be opportunities in Chicago that we can't find here but this is always home to us" Bailey promises.

"You better" her dad winks.

We drink and hang out here for a little while. I got us our own place for the week not too far from here so we can hang out with our families as much as we want but still be able to make a get away when they inevitably becomes over bearing. So we hang out in here for a little before we headed back. Bailey got to find her childhood dog and hang out with him for a little before we left. I would love to get her one but the timing wasn't right.

"I'm happy for you" my dad says as I watch her play with the dog.

"So who won the bet" I ask as he laughs at me.

"I did. I had you guys together before you're 27 so I think I did pretty good" he smirks.

"Yeah. And is there a bet for when things fall apart" I wonder.

"Of course not" he scoffs. "We've practically prayed every night for this to happen. And we know you guys won't let the world get the best of you two" he assures me.

"I just want to make her happy" I sigh.

"You always have Cor, you always have" he promised.

Bridge over troubled watersWhere stories live. Discover now