Page 36 of Who’s Playing You (In The Nick of Time #1)

NICK SOBA

“ H ey mom. How are you?” I asked my mom as I answered the phone.

“There’s my boy!” she beamed on the other end. “I’m so glad I caught you. Nic just called me and said that I just had to give you a call. He made it seem rather urgent.”

That fucker! I was literally going to throttle him the next time I saw him.

“Oh? Is that right? How very nice of him,” I said through gritted teeth, and I could feel him laughing like the big hyena he was from all the way in Texas. He better watch out because payback was a bitch.

I looked down to Scottie who was still beneath me and her eyes were as big as dinner plates. I couldn’t help but grin at her before I dipped down and gave her a quick kiss.

She was beautiful and adorable no matter the circumstances.

“How are you doing, sweetheart? We miss you. You’ve been so busy that we’ve barely heard from you lately. I’m taking that as a no-news-is-good-news kind of thing, right?”

“Yeah, totally. Just busting my ass at work, you know how it is. We’re gearing up for the season with the first game in a few days so it’s a really busy time of year, but we knew to expect that.”

“Yes, I know, you’d told us as much. We can’t wait to come out for the first home game! Your father is beside himself,” she said and I could feel her beaming from my childhood home in Philly.

“Yeah, I got your tickets all squared away,” I told her.

“Thank you, sweetheart. We can’t wait. So, uhh, Nic indicated you had some news for me?” she hedged.

“Oh, did he now?” I said it as Scottie squirmed beneath me, trying to escape I’m sure, while she mouthed a “no” and I just grinned.

“Yeah, he wouldn’t say what, but implied that you had some sort of surprise for me? Maybe? And that I should call you right away because you couldn’t wait to tell me.”

“Oh, he’s just being a wise guy, you know how he is. But he just met my girlfriend on a call so I’m sure that’s what he’s referring to,” I said as Scottie had a stroke beneath me.

My mom audibly gasped and then she screamed out, “Nathan!! Nathan! Get in here,” I had to move the phone away from us because the decibel of her voice hurt my ears. “Nick has a girlfriend !” It was quite obvious how excited she was.

“Mom, mom,” I called into the phone to try to get her attention. “Calm down, would ya?” All while I stared down at Scottie’s beautiful face, which had flushed a deep red, and now she was covering it with her hands, slowly shaking her head from left to right.

I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Calm down? Nick, are you being serious right now? A girlfriend ? No! I will not calm down, this is huge!! Who is she? Tell me everything! Is she with you?” she demanded.

I just laughed as Scottie groaned. “Yes, she’s with me right now,” I began.

My mom gasped hearing that, “Oh my God, she just heard me lose my shit and act like a lunatic. Nicholas Joseph…” she began to yell out my full government name but I quickly cut her off so she wouldn’t let my last name slip.

“Calm down, mom. Scottie doesn’t care that you’re excited or that you’re a lunatic, right honey?” I asked her.

She mumbled in response, “No, totally fine, I’m just dying a slow death here,” she said, which had me laughing more.

“Scottie? Oh, I love that name!” mom shared.

“My eldest daughter’s best friend’s name is also Scottie, and I always loved it,” my mom continued talking as if she were talking directly to Scottie, but I needed to squash that conversation right quick before it went off the rails and helped Scottie connect the dots that seemed to be connecting themselves at warp speed at this point.

“Mom, mom,” I said to rein her back in.

“You called her honey , awww you two are the cutest! Nathan! Where are you? ” she yelled that last part for my dad in an attempt to find him, I’m sure.

“Mom, would you like to actually meet Scottie here or you want to just keep yelling for dad?”

“As if I have to answer that!” she replied.

“Mom, meet Scottie. Scottie, this is my crazy mother Natasha.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Scottie squeaked out. “You all have N-names, I love that,” she added.

“Believe me, it’s my pleasure to meet you, Scottie, although I wish I could see your beautiful face because I know you’re beautiful both inside and out knowing my Nicholas,” she beamed through the phone.

“So tell me all about yourself! I need to learn all the things about the girl who’s captured my Nicholas’ attention, which no one’s really done before.

You must be a unicorn! I already know you’re special. So tell me everything!”

“Geez mom! This isn’t an interrogation. I just said I’d introduce you. How about we save some of that for next time?”

“Fine. Fine,” she sighed out, clearly not happy with me cutting her off with her questions that were sure to lead nowhere but to trouble for me. “I suppose. I’ll let you kids go, but call me tomorrow?”

“You got it, mom. Love you. Tell dad I said hi.”

“I will. Love you too. Nice meeting you Scottie and I can’t wait to talk more,” my mom sing-songed back with nothing but excitement in her voice.

“You too Natasha. Yeah, I can’t wait,” Scottie replied.

I looked at her after the phone line went dead, and she just stared at me. “So that was my mom,” I said all innocent-like.

“Yeah, no shit,” she replied and swatted at my chest to which I just laughed.

“She already loves you,” I told her matter-of-factly as I placed a kiss on her lips. “So now you’ve met her and one of my best friends.”

“An eventful afternoon is an understatement. I think my heart stopped beating when you put your mom on. Way to put a girl on the spot, Nicholas.” I just grinned at her as I moved back so she could sit up.

“Sorry, babe. But it’s not that big of a deal,” I tried to downplay it.

“Nicholas! It’s a huge deal! She’s your mother !”

And our sensual moment from some minutes ago was effectively over thanks to Nic and my mom.

I blame Nic for all of this by the way, he was the biggest cockblock ever.

Up until this, I’d only heard the stories about his cockblocking abilities.

I didn’t love being on the receiving end.

And now Scottie was feeling a certain kind of way.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to put you on the spot. But you were going to meet her anyway, so… I don’t know,” I just shrugged. “Don’t worry, my parents are the coolest people and you’ll love them.”

“That’s reassuring,” she mumbled.

“Listen, I’m sorry I blindsided you, okay? But what’s really the problem?”

She let out a heavy sigh. “Yes, it would have been nice to have had a choice in the meeting . To like, prepare - mentally and emotionally and be ready to put my best foot forward to make the best impression possible. I also didn’t realize we were quite there , you and me.

So this is all just moving super fast. We’re still getting to know one another, I didn’t realize we were at the stage where we’re meeting friends and family,” she said and I simply shrugged.

“And not to mention, you introduced me to both of them as your girlfriend…”

To me this was inevitable, so I didn’t see why this was such a big deal.

“I’m sorry,” I said the only thing I could say as I leaned forward and kissed her lips, but she pulled away slightly, and I hated it.

“You’re so important to me, and she was calling so it just felt natural to introduce you.

I won’t hide you, Scottie. Ever. I’m proud of you and am honored that you’re by my side,” I told her honestly.

“So I wasn’t going to answer her call and pretend you weren’t here with me.

That would be both rude and disrespectful towards you, and just plain old dismissive. I’d never do that to you.”

My answer surprised her.

“Oh,” she said. “Well, thank you for that. I guess I didn’t expect that you felt that way…”

“What? That I wasn’t going to pretend you weren’t here? Honey, you’re front and center in my life! I was beyond proud to introduce you to some of the most important people in my life, even though Nic’s not worthy of you. He’s an ass and he’s proven that,” I joked.

She softened and laughed with me.

“Ok, apology accepted. And,” she took a deep breath. “Your mom seems wonderful.” She gave me a big smile as she stood up.

“She is. But not as amazing as you,” I said and grabbed her to give her a big hug. “Now, since our moment was ruined, wanna teach me how to draw some more?”

She laughed, “I’d be happy to,” she told me and kissed my lips, one of the first that she initiated.

I loved it.

“As for me introducing you as my girlfriend,” I began to address her previous question. “I got a little ahead of myself I guess. And now this feels totally high school, but Scottie?”

She smiled shyly at me, “Yeah?”

“Do you wanna be my girlfriend?” I asked her as I grinned from ear to ear and ran my fingers down the length of her arms, not able to refrain from touching her. I totally acknowledged how cheesy and high school it was, but it was also one of the most important questions I’d ever ask her.

I desperately hoped that she felt the way that I did, but I knew that I still had years on her. So I could only hope she threw a Hail Mary at this whole situation and said “Why the hell not?!” and would tell me yes.

“Come on, sweetheart. You know you wanna say yes,” I said as I leaned in and kissed her neck. It wasn’t below me to try to sway her with seduction.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this but…”

I grabbed her and threw her up in the air before catching her again which had her screeching at first before it changed to laughter. “That’s a yes!” I exclaimed in pure delight.

“You’ve made me so happy, Scottie,” I told her honestly.

She giggled and said teasingly, “Don’t screw it up, Nicholas Joseph.”

“Aww, honey! Not the middle name!” And I playfully admonished her before laughing with her.

Today was another big day for us. And I just hoped that this meant that I could persuade her to move in with me before my self-imposed timeline was up.