The Boyfriend Pt. 12

XII: No Unexpected Pregnancies

Marie

"I think that went pretty well."

Marie smiled over her steaming mug of spiked cocoa at Emily as they sat all snuggled up in blankets out in the heated tent on Emily's parent's back porch, watching the snow fall outside.

"It did. Is it bad that I was a little afraid of how everyone would react?"

Emily shook her head, "Especially after how I reacted at Thanksgiving."

Marie frowned, "You already apologized for that."

Marie's redhead friend shrugged, "I still feel bad about it. You never really had anything to worry about here, though. I'm pretty sure your dad would literally do anything for you, and you're basically family. You might have needed to worry about Mah and Pah, but Lydia is young enough that she has a lot of LGBT friends and she's always talking with them about social issues, so even if it's weird for them, they know not to be bad about it."

Marie smiled, "Thanks, Em."

Emily reached over and squeezed her hand, "No problem. I'm assuming since you told the family about her that Lexi is the one that wanted more than just sex?"

"Yes."

"And you do like her for more than just that. Right?"

"Yeah, I really do."

Emily smiled, "Well, c'mon, then. Tell me about her! What's she like? What's got you all smiley about her?"

Marie knew she was smiling even wider, now, but she couldn't help it. She realized her fingers were at her choker again, but she didn't move them away.

My collar.

Even though Lexi wasn't here, touching the collar made Marie feel a little giddy.

"She's really great. She's kind of annoyingly gorgeous, and really strong. Her abs..."

Marie took a deep, shuddering breath, and realized her friends' cheeks were a little red. Her own grew warm a moment later.

"Sorry."

"Don't be. It's cute."

Marie took a sip of her cocoa and smoothed a lock of hair behind her ear, "She's also really smart and hard-working, wants to go into either journalism or law and is studying so she could do both if she wanted to. She's also a good cook--"

"As good as Liam?"

Marie sighed, "Almost, but not quite. She knows what she's doing, but Liam always experimented, and for whatever reason, it always turned out amazing."

She bit her lip for a moment, then looked back to Emily.

"Lexi's really amazing in pretty much every way, though. She's a little nerdy, which I hadn't expected, but the best thing is that she pushes me to be better. Which is good. I was kind of letting things slip for a while."

"I'm glad you found someone so amazing," Emily said, "You seem really happy."

Marie grinned, "I am."

Then she bit her lip.

But I still haven't been as good of a friend as I should be.

That was another promise she'd made to Lexi.

"Em, I--"

The door to the house opened, and a moment later, Marie's dad ducked into the tent with his own cup of coco, his burly frame taking up most of the entrance. He wore a flannel jacket, sweats, and one of the Santa hats he and Kevin always wore each year.

"Hey Em," he said, smiling, "Do you mind if I borrow Marie here for a minute?"

Em smiled and rose from her seat, "Not at all. I need more cocoa, anyway."

Marie frowned, then leaned forward.

"Wait, Em."

The redhead stopped, cocking her head.

Marie drained her cocoa--it had cooled enough not to burn her--and handed the mug to her friend, "More for me, too?"

Em snorted, taking the mug, "Of course."

"And we go after-Christmas shopping the day after tomorrow?"

Em's face lit up, "Yeah. That sounds good."

Marie beamed back at her friend as the redhead disappeared inside before turning to her dad, who took Em's seat beside her on the couch.

"You having a good Christmas Eve, sweetie?"

Marie snuggled into him and smiled as he put his arm around her, "Yeah. Really good."

He smiled, then was silent and stared at his cocoa for a moment.

Marie took a deep breath and spoke before he could.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Lexi," she said, "Or about breaking up with Liam."

He nodded, "You know you can, though, right?"

"I know. With Liam...I didn't want to talk about him. With Lexi...well, I was kind of still figuring things out until recently, and then finals happened, and now I'm here."

"Do I need to try and find a way to get his car impounded or something?"

Marie rolled her eyes as her dad laughed.

"No, Dad, trust me. He didn't do anything wrong."

"You sure?"

Marie took a deep breath, "He broke up with me, but...I was kind of a shitty person. It hurts, and I still miss him sometimes, but I don't blame him for it."

She looked up at her dad and smiled, "Besides. I have Lexi, now. And...she's really great. Things were good with Liam. He was really sweet and we got along well, but with Lexi, it's even better, and she pushes me to be better."

Her dad smiled at that.

"Well, I guess I can't argue with that."

Marie smiled.

"You're sure you're into girls, though?"

Marie pulled back, frowning up at her dad, "Dad--"

"I don't mean it that way," he said, holding up a hand, "I mean...Well, most parents just know. And with you, I apparently didn't. I just want to make sure you're sure this is more than just hormones or whatever, because otherwise, it isn't fair to her."

Marie smiled at her dad.

"I'm sure, Dad. We actually didn't start dating until after Thanksgiving for that reason. I'd told her about Liam and everything that happened with him, and she told me she liked me, but wanted to make sure I wasn't just caught up in a new experience."

Her dad smiled down at her and pulled her into a hug, "Good."

Then he sighed, "I'm honestly not sure which if this is better or worse than you dating a boy. I guess if you're with a girl, that at least means no unexpected pregnancies."

Marie's eyes nearly popped out of her head as she barely kept herself from howling with laughter.

A/N: How do you think Marie's dad would react if she told him?

Hope you're enjoying these little character moments!