Mr. Whitfield- By: Riley Rivers

Chapter V

"Wedding day! It's finally here." He handed his boss an invitation. "Mr. Hughes, I'd appreciate it if you could come to my wedding. Nicole and I are finally tying the knot. It's going to be the most awesome wedding ever, trust me her father knows exactly how to make weddings fun."
"I wouldn't say weddings are necessarily fun... I've been married four times and look where it's gotten me."
"You killed them?"
"What? No."
"Oh, my bad I was thinking of that movie I watched with my fiancé  last night. You divorced them?"
"Only one I divorced. The other three rejected me for other women, apparently I didn't realize they were only trying to cover it up by "pretending to be straight."
"Ha, ha! Damn!"
"Don't laugh at your boss' failures. I can still fire you."
"Sorry, I'll act more mature." Jesse cleared his throat. "Anyway, will you at least come to the reception if you can't make the wedding?"
"I'll see if I can come, I'll let you know in advance."
"Sounds good. I will see you tonight."
"Maybe." Principal Hughes added.
"Right." He smiled and looked around for some of his students so he could give one of them an invitation. Mr. Whitfield walked to one of his beloved students' locker and witnessed Greg Harden picking on James Smith.
"Hey, pipsqueak gimme something valuable." Greg ordered.
"No. My name is James, not pipsqueak you ignoramus."
"What'd you just call me?"
"You heard me you Tubby, I called you an ignoramus."
"Why you little-" Greg banged Bubs head against the locker.
"Stop, stop!" Bubs begged.
"Let me guess you have that dorky scientist call you Bubs, huh?"
Jesse intervened, not only because he did not like to be called a dork; but he hated when people picked on others. "Hey Greg, quit bullying him." He ordered.
"I'm not bullying him. We're just horsin' around, he likes it."
"You're not horsing around, I can tell he doesn't like what you are doing to him. So you either stop now or I'm going to stop you myself."
"Try me b****!" Greg laughed and Jesse took off his shirt to go fight the bully.
"Leave him alone." Mr. Whitfield stammered with Greg in a headlock.
"I- I can't breathe!" Greg gasped.
Principal Hughes walked up with his arms crossed angrily looking at Jesse's tom foolery. "What in the hell are you doing?"
"I was just-uh..."
"My office now!" He gritted his teeth.
"Damn it, you win Greg. I swear though if I see you bully anyone you're a dead man."
"Ah-ah-ah, we don't threaten the kids." Principal Hughes reminded.
"But he-"
"No... Go apologize."
"I'm sorry for threatening to kill you." He mumbled.
"You weren't threatening me."
"I know, he's a-" Jesse signaled to Greg that his boss was cuckoo and his boss eyed him.
"Would you like to finish what you were saying, Jesse?"
"No, sir. I'm done. Wait coach give me that megaphone please." He spoke into the megaphone. "You suck Greg, the only b**** around here is you."
That was all Hughes needed to hear, and he took Jesse straight into his office without another word. "This is the last straw, Whitfield."
"Greg was bullying James Smith, you have to understand."
"You little liar! Every single thing about you is just straight up lies. You lied to me about having intimate relations with Nicole Needham, (A.K.A. my daughter)."
Jesse chuckled stupidly. "Oh my God, that so ****** up."
"Yes as bizarre as it may seem, I am Nicole's father."
"That sh*t's hilarious! Ha, ha, ha, oh God, I'm literally laughing my ass off."
"What? You think this is some kind of joke? Did you expect me to be more attractive or something?"
"Hell no! If you'd have been Hawaiian, I'd still barely believe it."
"I am Hawaiian."
"Man, this sh*t gets even better!" Jesse guffawed.
"Technically I'll be your father-in-law, since you two are getting married tonight."
"You're more like my boss-in-law than anything."
"Enough with the wisecracks, Jesse."
"Hell, you're already my father-in-law."
"Yeah. Ever since you put your thing up my daughter, you made yourself crowned as my son-in-law."
"I'm a hella proud, made her pregnant too."
"Boy, you shut your damn mouth!"
"Nope. Guess you never got the invitation to the shower, huh? Maybe it was because you weren't invited."
"You wanna be sterilized? I got a knife and I can slice your thing right off." Jesse's boss threatened, holding a big knife.
"Damn you are one crazy father-in-law!"
"Wanna look forward to never having any more kids?" He grinned, fiendishly.
"Aw hell naw! Nicole and I were going to try again-oops..." Jesse slipped.
"So you want me to have two grandchildren?"
Mr. Whitfield sighed. "No. When I got her knocked up on my desk nine months ago, she ended up losing our first baby due to early labor at month four..."
"Oh, you and my daughter had a miscarriage." Hughes dropped the knife.
"Yes, Steve."
"I'm your father-in-law. Do not call me by my first name."
"Sorry."
"I hate that you lost the baby, son."
Jesse nearly cried, nobody had ever called him "son" before, except for his deranged father. "It's ok, Dad."
"I'm sorry I called you son, I know from your interview you said you had father issues and-"
"Please adopt me as your new son. It would help my sore heart."
"Okay, son." He smiled. "You know you would have made a great father to my daughter's baby."
"I know and I'm going to try to be a dad. After we marry, it's just going to be trying, trying, trying until we get pregnant again."
"You take good care of my daughter now, ok?"
"I promise, Dad. Nicole is a sweet woman."
Principal Hughes sniffled. "She got that from her mother. Jane was a good wife, had a kind-hearted soul... One day-" He paused. "One day, she just got so sick and-"
"Mph, that must have been hard on both of you."
"It was, it was. But that was in sixty-nine."
"Not too long ago."
"No, but not too recent either."
Jesse sighed. "Are you still going to fire me?"
"I'm not firing my son-in-law, you're not getting the notorious boot today."
"Boot? What boot?"
"My army boot. Served as a naval captain for five years then dropped out when Nicole's mother went into labor."
"Thank you for your service." Jesse saluted him.
"You're welcome. It was hell serving this damn country, but it was worth it."
"Not everyone is fit to be a soldier."
"That's true."
"I kind of wanted to run this by you-even though I'm getting married tonight and it's sort of last minute but... Do you think I should marry your daughter?"
Steve put his arm on Jesse's shoulder reassuringly. "Every day I'd wake up, my little girl would be sighing and thinking about you. I think she's ready to marry you, Jesse and I believe you are too."
"Well, not exactly... I feel I'm rushing everything instead of going slow. I mean it wasn't but nine months ago that we were sort of "dating."
"Hmmm... Do you want to marry her?"
"Yeah, but I have real bad commitment issues. I don't know if I'm ready to have a family or wear a ring. I'm just-"
"Tell her you're not ready and that you want to take things slow."
Jesse paced around the room and sat back in the chair with his fingers gripping the bridge of his nose. "It's just not easy. I wish there was a way to make it easier, but there's not."
"How about this? You tell her you want to know her better and then when you feel you are truly ready, you marry her."
Mr. Whitfield sighed. "I guess that would work, but I've kind of regained my confidence by talking to you."
"Oh, okay."
"I better get ready for tonight. You are coming right?"
"Yes, I believe I'll be able to come. I will make time to come for my son and daughter." Hughes smiled and Jesse left to go get ready for his wedding.