The Compromise

"So you never told her you found the card from James?" Sid looked at his younger sister, Taylor, as she got comfortable on his bed.

The pair wandered away from their parents to discuss the gift Sidney got them when Jessica came up in conversation.

"No, never." Sidney sat next to her on his bed, crossed his legs at the ankle and rested his head against the headboard.

"I think you should. She needs to know that you know about it. How did everything go down," Taylor inquired.

"Like how Jess and I came to be?" Sid wanted to clarify before he started talking.

"Yes and do you have a picture of her?" Taylor asked.

Sid reached for his phone and pressed the home button. A photo of Jess standing in his back yard building a snowman lit up the screen. Her hair peaked out from under her ski cap, her bright red coat covered in snow, her cheeks were bright red and she appeared to be laughing. Her eyes were crinkled up behind her glasses and they looked almost emerald in the pristine colored snow and bright red of her coat. He loved that photo of her and intended on printing it so he could frame it.

"She's really pretty Sid. So tell me the story," Taylor said as she unlocked his phone and sifted through his photos. Various ones taken with Jess or of her.

"You really want to hear about your big brother's love life?"

"You act like I'm not going to understand."

"You better not understand!"

"Sid, come on, I’m 15 not completely naïve. You know what I mean." Taylor leaned against Sid and waited expectantly.

"Alright fine, it's quite the soap opera," Sid began. And without hesitating explained to his sister how he let Jess and James live with him until James' closing went through. How he offered support to Jess as she adjusted to a new city. How she gave him the same amount of support with his recovery. How they seemed to cling to each other during the summer when James would be traveling for training. How he was there for her every time she and James fought and how he knew, on his birthday, that he was in love with her but couldn't have her and chose to accept her as his best friend. And how within the last month she and Sid finally came together.

He smiled remembering that fateful day when he put everything on the line and kissed her. He didn't share with his sister how he made love to Jess that day and how in the last month he declared that love to her repeatedly. He couldn't dream of revealing how he and Jess spend more time in his bed when she is here than doing much of anything else. Some people would say it wasn't really love, but lust because of how physical they have been.

But no one realized how they have been building towards this relationship. How they spent countless hours talking about everything and anything. How they know more about each other than one would expect a new couple to know. And after all of it they still choose to be with each other.

"You guys seem pretty serious already," Taylor observed.

"Is that weird?" He looked at her skeptically.

"No it's not," Sid and Taylor looked up at the sound of their mother's voice.

"Honey, why didn't you tell us about Jess?" Trina asked as she revealed herself from behind the cracked bedroom door and let herself into the room. She sat down on Sid's side of the bed and looked at her only son. "She seems like a wonderful girl. And she makes you happy and she seems to help you forget about your symptoms."

"You're lucky we weren't talking about your Christmas gift," Taylor piped in.

"I would have let you know I was there sooner. I wasn't expecting to hear you talking about a girl Sid."

"I wasn't sure how you guys would handle it."

"Sid, you've lived an unconventional life, and you had to grow up a lot faster than most. I'm not surprised in the least that you found someone and are settling into something serious so quickly."

"It's Nealer's ex girlfriend," Sid started.

"You can't help who you fall in love with," his mom smiled. Sid felt some comfort in knowing his mom and sister knew about Jess now.

"When can we meet her?" Taylor asked.

"Uh, yeah I don't know about that just yet." Sid wasn't certain if Jess would be willing to meet them so soon. The looks we was getting made him think he better just ask Jess though, "I could call to see if she is available for dinner."

Both women nodded their heads but didn't move from their seats.

"Right now?" More head nods. His eyes grew wide in disbelief. "Alright geez. Give me my phone." Taylor handed the phone over and Sid opened up his recent calls. Jess flooded the list of names. He hit dial and waited for her to pick up. His mom and sister were discussing meal options quietly and settled on something festive since the holidays were near.

"Merry Christmas Eve eve!" Jess shouted.

"Oh my god I can't handle you," Sid moaned.

"Hahaha to what do I owe the pleasure?" Jess asked sweetly.

"They know," was all Sid said as though Jess would understand.

"Ah dun dun dun, what are we going to do now?" Jess asked in mock horror.

"They want to meet you and by the looks I am getting no is not an answer," Sid said. Jess laughed.

"Alright, when?"

"Tonight dinner at my place." Sid got up and walked into his bathroom closing the door behind him.

"Sure! I can be there by 3 if you want. No snow in the forecast so I am good!"

"Spend the night?" Sid whispered. He really wanted to spend more than a few hours with her.

"I think that can be arranged sir," Jess whispered back. He giggled at how silly she was being.

"I'm gonna go pack and then I'll be leaving. I'll text you when I am getting into my car," Jess explained.

"Ok, thanks baby," Sid said.

"Hey I get to see you! That's all that matters. I need to get as much of that as I can before you start traveling with the team again and start playing again," Jess said.

"I know what you mean. I love you."

"I love you too Sid. See you soon." Sid walked out of the bathroom after he no longer was connected to Jess. His mom and sister were no longer in his room. Instead he found them in the kitchen scrambling to cook something all the while explaining to Sid' dad the scenario before Sid got to them.

He walked in right when he heard his mom saying that Sid's girlfriend would be joining them for dinner. His dad noticed Sid lurking at the entrance to the kitchen and directed his question towards him.

"You have a girlfriend?" Troy asked.

"Uh yeah. I do." Sid chewed on his lower lip. He felt like a child being reprimanded for taking a cookie out of the cookie jar.

"Tell me about her," Troy said. He was completely stone faced.

“She’s 22, she’s a teacher. She has two older siblings and she is from West Virginia,” Sid was trying to be as vague as possible with him.

“She used to date James,” Taylor said from her position at the sink where she was washing some vegetables for a salad. Sid inwardly groaned and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

“As in James Neal, your teammate?” Sid sighed, he was going to have to tell his dad.

“Yes as in Nealer,” Sid provided.

“What, did he not make enough money for her? Gotta get her hands on you?” Sid bit his tongue. He wanted to tell his dad to fuck off, but he chose a more subtle way to say it.

“Guess you’ll just have to wait and see,” Sid turned and stalked out of the kitchen. He was pissed that his dad would just assume that Jessica was after something. He was also pissed that Taylor told her dad about Neal and Jess. That was not something he needed to know about, especially when he is more cautious than Sid was about who should be in his son’s life.

Sid decided the best way to release his anger was to get in a workout. He quickly raced to his room, changed out of his jeans and into workout shorts. After he changed his clothes, he walked downstairs and headed towards the basement where his gym was set up. He could hear his mom talking sternly at his dad. He didn’t stop to listen, choosing to just go downstairs for a run.
He placed his earbuds in his phone, and turned on his workout playlist. He powered up the treadmill and started to run. He got lost in his run and inevitably his thoughts. He may have been angry with his father and sister, but he was starting to get angry with himself. He never allowed a woman to consume him as much as he allowed her, and he never lost his confidence before. But now he was getting worked up over whether Jess reciprocated the feelings that James professed in that card. He knew he sister was right; he needed to talk to her about it.

He lost himself when he worked out and didn’t notice the time when he felt a hand touch his elbow. Glancing to his left he saw Jess. I pulled out his buds and hit stop on the treadmill at twelve miles. Jess seemed to notice how much he ran and looked concerned.

“What’s wrong babe?” Sid loved that she could tell he was troubled by something. He stepped off the treadmill and reached for a towel. He didn’t say anything instead choosing to wrap Jess up in a sweaty embrace.

“You didn’t text me that you left,” Sid said, his chin resting on top of her head.

“I did text you, you were a bit consumed it appears,” Jess said. She tried to move back to look at Sid, but he wouldn’t let her move.

“Just a lot on my mind,” he finally said. He sat on the edge of a weight bench and wiped his face with his towel. Jess sat down next to him. “I’m surprised you weren’t harassed by my family already.”

Jess was determined to find out what was bothering Sid, and his brief response did nothing to appease her.

“What’s on your mind, Sid? Talk to me,” Jess encouraged. She reached over and squeezed his thigh comfortingly. He watched her hand on his leg, but made no effort to touch her back. He couldn’t quite understand how he allowed himself to get so worked up over this letter. She was here with him, not running to James. And he came downstairs to let off steam over his conversation with his dad. It was his dad that made him lose all sight of what was real with Jess. Troy made him doubt that Jess was with him for good reasons, instead choosing to look into the darker reasons for her wanting Sid. He needed to address the letter sooner rather than later and if that meant Jess left angry then so be it. At least some of this weight would be off of his shoulders.

“So Saturday was fun, right?” Jess looked quizzically at Sid.

“Yeah…we had a great day. The party was a good time,” Jess responded. Sid stood up and walked away from Jess. With his back towards her he started to laugh. His laugh sounded off though, almost as though he was cackling.

“Sidney,” Jess started.

“Yeah, it was a good time. The best part of the night was seeing that necklace just magically appear on your neck,” Sid pointed to the charm that rested on Jess’ chest now. The silver stood out against her black sweater. She reached for the offending piece of jewelry and studied it in her hand. When she didn’t respond, Sid continued.

“Even better was when I found the card that went with the necklace,” Sid said. He turned around and watched as several degrees of emotion plagued Jess’ face. She looked sad, bitter, and angry all at once.

“Sidney, you’re really going to do this?” Jess asked. She stood in order to try to gain some even ground.

“Why did you accept it Jess? Do you still love him?” Sidney replied to her questions with two more of his own.

“How dare you. What are you accusing me of Sid?”

“Well, plenty it seems.”

“I would have expected this from him, not from you.” Jess spun around towards the stairs and started towards them.

“There you go running. Just like every time with James, you ran when you fought. Now you are doing it to me,” Sid exclaimed. Jess stopped midway up the steps, then reluctantly turned back around and walked back over to stand in front of Sidney.

“Fine, you think all I do is run, good for you. But I see no point in trying to justify to you why I was being friendly to someone who used to be important to me.” She crossed her arms and stared Sid down.

“You’re encouraging him.” Sid mimicked her actions.

“No I’m not! He and I both agreed that being apart was better. How dare you make assumptions and go through my personal property! And when were you going to tell me you saw the letter? Had you said something in the beginning instead of letting these ridiculous thoughts fester in your brain you would have known that I was compelled to tell James that the feelings weren’t mutual. That I am in love with you, you stupid idiot!”

Sid’s anger started to dissolve into shame and embarrassment. He should have just said something to her the other night, and then they could have avoided this mess. He could have stood up to his father a bit more too. His eyes shifted upwards and found Jess still standing, headstrong, arms crossed, in front of him. He reacted on his first instinct, reaching out and grabbing her crossed arms and pulling her body against him.

“Sid, stop,” Jess struggled to pull away. But he was stronger and his hold on her was firm. He pressed his lips against hers and felt her rigid shoulders begin to ease as she allowed him to kiss her more deeply.

Her arms fell to her sides and gripped at the waistband of his shorts. He held her face in his hands and began to back her up towards the weight bench.

“Wait, what if your family comes down here?” Jess whispered as Sid started to sit down and pull Jess to straddle his lap.

“They won’t. They don’t bother me when I am working out,” Sid smirked when he saw Jess get red faced. “You can bother me whenever you want though.”

Her skirt hiked up around her waist as Sid busied his hands to release his straining cock from the confines of his shorts. Jess pushed her panties to the side and eased down onto Sid with a muffled groan. She buried her face into his neck and allowed for him to guide her along his length. He was hurried with his movements, needing a release all the while not wanting to get caught. Their frantic actions, on top of the remnants of anger between the two, brought both of them over the edge faster than ever. Sid bit down on Jess’ shoulder as he spilled himself inside of her. Jess pulled at his hair as she came around him. Both were breathing heavy as they came down from their highs.

“We survived our first fight,” Sid said as he held Jess flush against him. Outwardly it appeared that the two were embracing, only the couple knew how intimate the position they were in was.

“I’m still kind of pissed, but I can get over it if you intend on doing that again,” Jess said referring to their quick romp on the weight bench. Sid laughed.

“I should have told you I saw that letter, I’m sorry for everything I said,” Sid kept his hands on her back as he pulled away and studied her face.

“It’ll be fine. Just don’t hold stuff back from me please.” Jess stood up and adjusted her panties much to Sid’s protests. He quickly adjusted himself and pulled Jess back down to sit next to him.

“It’s funny, I was fine with everything. I even wanted to tell you that I knew about the letter, but wasn’t sure how to do that without you getting upset. Then my dad sort of spurred me into questioning everything. Which I shouldn’t let him do, but he always has done that.”

“What do you mean?” Jess wanted to know more about Sid’s relationship with his father, who for all intents and purposes appeared very pleasant towards her when she arrived.

“He is very cautious about who I let into my life. He doesn’t want me to just let my guard down with anyone. He voiced that concern when Taylor mentioned you dated James.” Sid clasped his hand with hers and gave it a tight squeeze. Jess understood, and almost expected it.

“He thinks I am after the money,” Jess said. Sid was shocked she spoke so bluntly about it.

“Well, not exactly. I mean..” Sid fumbled with his words.

“Sid, it’s okay. If I were in your father’s position, I’d feel the same way. I can see how this looks to someone who doesn’t know our story.”

“I hope you aren’t mad, he’s not an asshole,” Sid said, defending his father.

“I just need to work a little harder to win him over. It will be fine. I am up for the challenge,” Jess said. Sid beamed. He expected this reaction from her and knew he loved her that much more for it.
Jess started to stand and reached to pull Sid up with her. “Let’s go, I’m famished! My boyfriend just gave me mind-blowing make-up sex.”

Sid stopped her as she started to ascend the stairs. She turned around and felt him slip his arms around her waist. She stood a step above him and was almost level to his height.

“Thanks for coming up,” Sid said. Jess ran a hand through his damp hair.

“Wild horses couldn’t keep me away,” she sang, causing Sid to giggle. She broke from his embrace and raced up the steps singing Christmas songs at the top of her lungs.

Notes