The Penalty Box

Chapter 53

"Stop!" I yelled swatting at the hand trying to steal more of my food," You have your own!"

"But I already ate mine!" Jared complained.

"That's your own problem. Get your hands off my food!"

I pushed his head away from me, and held up my fork, ready to attack. He did the same, ready to take my food.

"There's no place like home," Charlie grumbled," You two need to stop, you're teaching my kid bad habits."

"Oh please, the little nugget will be okay," I groaned," He's a Smith, we make it work."

Charlie glared at me as he bounced his baby boy on his leg. I smiled at my little nephew. Baby Dominic was only a couple months old, but he'd already stolen the hearts of the entire family. He had us all whipped the moment he opened his eyes.

"Guy!" Brandon yelled sliding into the kitchen, in an obvious hurry," I need help!"

"What's wrong?" Conrad asked him, trying not to sound worried or irritated.

"I don't know what to wear on a date," He said hurriedly," I'm supposed to go meet her in twenty minutes, and I have no idea what I'm doing!"

The boys all looked at me, and back at each other,"All you Callahan," Jared told me.

I sighed and looked at Branny," The shirt is fine, just unbutton the top and untuck it. Maybe swap out the old sneaks for your new Converse?" I suggested," And mess up your hair a bit. You look too put together. You don't want her to know you actually tried, not yet anyway."

He smiled and ran off, yelling a thank you as he thudded up the steps. My baby brother was growing up. Crazy to think he was just a little kid when I first met him. We were all just little kids.

"I gotta go," I said standing up," Coty wants to show me the apparent he found."

"Say hi for us," Charlie said.

I nodded and grabbed my keys off the counter, and my jacket. Coty hadn't been able to come around the last couple of days. Training, and practices were killing him, but he loved every minute of it. He only had a couple more days before his first big away weekend. He was too excited to finally hit the road playing for a team he'd grown up watching. He'd realized his dream of playing in the NHL a couple years ago, but this was a different dream entirely.

I pulled into the parking lot of the apartment complex, and looked for Coty's car. He was parked near the front, next to one of the light posts.

"Took you long enough," he laughed when I finally got out and made my way over to him.

"Says the guy who takes an hour to go get pizza, when it's only a few miles down the street," I laughed, leaning up to kiss him.

"C'mon," he said grabbing my hand, and leading me towards the apartment.

He lead me up the stairs and down a hall before finally opening a door," So, this is it. The living room is there, kitchen, my room," He pointed to an empty room off the living room," and the bathroom is right there."

There was still a door that he hadn't identified,"What's in there?" I asked.

He scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly," Well, I thought that maybe... I thought that could be your room."

"You want me to move in with you?" I asked, taken back by the gesture.

"Only if you want. But you'd mentioned wanting to get your own place, and," he stopped and took a step towards me," And I thought it'd be nice to know that I'd be coming home to you every night."

I smiled and wrapped my arms around him," If you had told me when I was a sophomore, that one day I'd be moving in with you, I would've laughed so hard I'd rupture something."

He smirked," So is that a yes?"

"Well, I think I should wait a bit, just until everything has settled down with Lightning and all," I explained," but yes, I'll move in with you."

"That's a relief," He laughed leaning down to kiss me," I thought I was going to have this massive place to myself."

I pulled away and smacked his arm. He laughed and let me go. He smiled and sat on the floor in the middle of the room.

"This is only the beginning, Smith," He told me with a smile.

"Oh is it now?" I question sitting next to him.

"I promise it is," he said with a grin.

"You have a scheming look," I noticed,"But I'll let it go, because you bought an apartment with me in mind."

He reached over and grabbed my hand. I could get used to this, being here with him. For the first time, I actually wondered what it would be like to spend the rest of my life like this. I'd never let myself think that far ahead, but now that's all I could do.

"No scheming," He told me," I'm just really happy you're here."

That made two of us.