The quiet and crazy life of Tessa Hartman and Kelley O'Hara

As much as I'd like to continue, I don't really want our first to be here.

May 2007.

"Are you sure they'd like me?"

"Of course they will, don't worry about it." Kelley reassures me before giving me a peck on the lips.

After our little impromptu 'date', Kelley and I began hanging out more when we could despite being at different universities and soccer teams, but that's when we'd call each other on our cell phones. Our relationship grew even more and one day while we were hanging out, Kelley asked me out to dinner. I did, and she asked me if I wanted to be her girlfriend later that night.

She also wanted to meet my dad, but since he and I have a rocky relationship, I didn't want to introduce her to him. Right now we've got some time off, so she brought me up to her home in Georgia to stay with her and to meet her family.

Kelley walked to the front door of her parents home and knocked on it. Internally I was freaking out, what if her family doesn't like some girl wearing a leather jacket and jeans who their daughter started seeing. Kelley must've noticed how nervous and shy I was as she squeezed my hand and smiled.

The front door opened and Kelley was instantly brought into a hug from her dad. "It's so nice to see you Kel. How's Stanford treating you?"

"Nice to see you too, dad. And I'm good." She says and he looks at me, I smile at him and he looks back at Kelley, "Is this?" She nodded, "Yeah. Tessa, this my dad. Dad, this is Tessa."

"Hi Mr. O'Hara. Nice to meet you." I say as we both shake hands, "Nice to meet you too Tessa. Call me Dan." He then grabs our bags and we follow him inside.

"Kelley!" A girl, who I assumed is her sister, exclaims as she runs over and gives her a hug. "You missed me that much Erin?"

"Of course I did. You're my little sister for Christ's sake."

Kelley looked at me and smiled, "As you can see, this is my crazy sister, Erin." I chuckled and Erin pulled me into a hug which I wasn't expecting, "Don't listen to her. I'm not that crazy. You must be Tessa."

"Uh, yeah."

"Well if Kelley's being a little shit, let me know and I'll sort her out." She says proudly and I grinned while Kelley smacked her on the arm.

Kelley then introduced me to her brother and her mom. All of her family members instantly liked me and I found it pretty cool. I asked Dan about his time in the navy and my respect for him skyrocketed. We all sat in the living room while her mom, Karen, was in the kitchen.

"So, what do your parents do?" Dan asks, and I didn't want to answer her, but these guys were good people.

"Um, my dad is a builder. He went back to doing it after he was honorably discharged."

"Wait, your dad was in the military?" Jerry asked.

I nodded, "Yep, he was a member of Delta Force while the Gulf War was happening."

Jerry smiled, "Cool! I bet he'd have heaps of stories. What cool dad's we have!"

I looked down at my lap and I felt Kelley's eyes on me as she rested her hand on my thigh, "Jesus, Jerry. Don't make her feel uncomfortable," Erin exclaimed.

"I didn't mean to, sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable." He apologized and I shook my head.

"You're good. It's just that my dad and I don't have a great relationship at the moment."

"Ah, I'm sorry to hear that." Dan says.

Kelley's mom walked in the living room and gave me a huge, beaming smile. "Let's change the subject. Kelley told us you're a big history buff, right?"

I looked at Kelley and she shrugged her shoulders and gave me a goofy grin, "Yeah. Some people don't like what I'm interested in though."

"Is it a certain part of history that's frowned upon?" Erin asked.

"Yep. World War II is what I'm into, more specifically I'm interested in all of the German stuff. Reason being is that my grandfather served in that war and before he passed he gave me a crap ton of German medals he collected from dead soldiers."

"I guess being in the army is a family thing then?"

"Oh yeah. All my uncles served in Vietnam too."

We eventually all had dinner and chatted more. Erin told me some embarrassing stories of Kelley during childhood and watching both sisters bickering like little kids was a laugh. I even joined in on it for a bit which made everyone else laugh more.

Later on afterwards, Kelley took me upstairs into her bedroom. The walls were covered with posters of women's soccer players from the 90's whom I looked up to for inspiration in some way shape or form. She had a poster of the '99 World Cup team as well. "Big fan as a kid, huh?"

She smiled and nodded, "Yep. Started playing when my parents took me to my first ever practice at 4 years old. Been hooked on the sport ever since."

There was one shelf which had all the trophies, awards and certificates she won back before middle school, during middle school, and during high school.

Kelley sat on her bed and pulled me down with her, giggling as I came face to face with her. "Glad you like my room," She joked and I snorted before she kissed me.

We both eventually got ready for bed and crawled under the sheets together and snuggled up together in a peaceful silence. I stared at the ceiling as I was lost deep in thought, and Kelley noticed this. "Whatcha thinking about?" She asked as she rested her head on my shoulder.

"My dad. I might actually introduce you to him when we get back to Cali."

"You sure? You don't have to." I just shrugged my shoulders slightly as Kelley then moved around, wrapping her arms around me and burying her head into the crook of my neck. "I love you Tess."

"Love you too Kel."

**********

The morning Georgia sun shined through the curtains, the birds chirping away. Kelley's face was still buried in the crook of my neck as she lightly snored. This when I took my time to look at the freckles spread across her face, and how peaceful she looked.

I stretched my arms and legs, and Kelley stirred slightly before opening her eyes, "Hey," she says, her voice still full of sleep.

"Morning." I leant it and gave her a kiss on the lips. She deepened it and I let her tongue slide into my mouth. We both made out for a bit before she pulled away, "As much as I'd like to continue, I don't really want our first to be here."

I smiled at her and gave her one last kiss, "Can't blame you for that."

We both got up and put on some clothes before walking downstairs to the kitchen. "Good morning, girls. Sleep well?" Her mom, Karen asked.

"Yeah we did. Mmm, that smells good. What is it?" Kelley asked as she walked over to see what her mom was cooking while I sat down at the dining table.

"Just some bacon and eggs Kelley, you should know that by now."

I chuckled as Kelley came and sat next to me. Dan had already left for work and Jerry and Erin were still asleep. Don't blame them for sleeping in on the weekend.

"What have you two got planned for today?" Karen asked us as she dished up our plates and brought over to the table.

"Um, I was thinking about giving Tessa the grand tour of Peachtree City, and show her all the spots I always hang out at. You don't mind that, right?" Kelley looked at me and I shrugged my shoulders.

"Sure. Why not."

After we quickly finished breakfast and had a quick shower, we were out the door hand in hand. We spent the whole day with her showing me around, all the spots from her childhood, and even introduced me to some of her friends around this area. They all took a quick liking to me and were quick to tell Kelley that.

This was way better than me hanging out by myself or hanging out with my dad.