𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐞𝐥 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫 | 𝐭. 𝐳𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐬

chapter 41

it was time for tori to actually start being productive and pack. she told the boys they had to leave her alone for at least an hour so she wouldn't have any distractions. of course, trevor thought this didn't apply to him. this resulted in her having to kick him out of the room and a pouting trevor stomping down the stairs. she couldn't help but giggle at the image. tori closed the door when she saw that trevor had joined the rest of the group.

tori began sorting through her clothes and figuring out what she was going to wear tomorrow for when she had to fly home. she already eliminated a decent amount of clothes and piled them into her suitcase. she was in between two t-shirts when there was a knock on her door. tori dropped the shirts and headed towards the door. before meeting the person on the other side, she yelled, "trevor, i thought we agreed on—"

the girl cut herself off when she realized the person standing in front of her was not her boyfriend. instead, it was ellen who wore a grin. ellen chuckled, "sorry to disappoint, but i am not trevor."

"it's probably better that you're not trevor," tori smiled. ellen took this as a sign to walk into the room. the brunette continued, "i just want to thank you so much for allowing me to stay with you guys this summer! i really appreciate it!"

ellen started waving her hands at the girl to make her stop talking. as much as the mom appreciated tori taking the time to thank her, she felt like she was one the who should be thanking tori. she saw how happy her boys were with tori, not that they weren't happy with the rest of the boys, but it was clear that what tori and her sons had was special. plus ellen missed seeing her as well. it felt like her family was finally complete.

"tori, there's no need for that. you're always welcomed here and i'm just really happy you came and visited us! i know the boys truly appreciated you coming! i haven't seen them this excited since they got drafted!" ellen exclaimed.

it was all true. jim and ellen both loved having tori around and watching their boys interact with her from the sidelines. even though ellen wanted to thank tori, that was not her original intention. the hughes mother loved tori like her own child and wanted to make sure things between tori and trevor were good. she knew how hard long distance relationships could be.

ellen continued, "the real reason i came up here was to actually talk about you and trevor."

to say tori was shocked would be an understatement. "what about me and trevor?" the young girl asked.

"well, i was just wanted to make sure that the two of you were on the same page with the whole long distance thing. the last thing i want to see is both of you get hurt," the caring mom explained.

tori's heart swelled at ellen's words. she truly was her second mom. the brunette smiled, "trevor and i agreed to try long distance. we're hoping we can make things work between his hockey schedule and my college classes." when ellen didn't react to tori, her smile dropped. she started to worry and added, "do you not think this is a good idea?"

ellen could see tori was starting to panic and regret the decision that her and trevor had made. she grabbed tori's hands and held them, "oh no, honey, don't freak out. i have full confidence that you and trevor are going to pull this off. it is clear to everyone that he cares so much about you. it's just hard watching you grow up." tears started to well in both tori and the mom's eyes.

"this is all just so new and scary to me. what if i mess up?" tori stated while the tears started to fall down her cheeks.

the mom did what any other mom would do and pulled the young girl into a hug. as much as tori wanted to act like she was perfectly fine with long distance, it became hard to mask all her insecurities in front of ellen. so many worries and doubts filled tori's head every time she thought about returning to toronto. what if they lost interest? what if they couldn't find time to ever see each other? what if one of them decided it was all too much? the worst worry of them all was that trevor was going to meet someone better. that's what truly scared tori.

"don't listen to those voices in your head. you and trevor are going to get through this, i know you will. don't forget the entire hughes family has your back and are always available to talk to. i'm sure the rest of the boys are too," ellen said stroking tori's hair. it had always been something that calmed the girl down.

after a few minutes, ellen released tori from the hug. tori wiped the rest of her tears off of her cheeks and recomposed herself. she told ellen, "clearly, i needed that so thank you! once again, thank you for allowing me to stay with you guys and for being my second mom!"

ellen smiled, "of course, sweetie! you need to visit more often!" tori nodded her head in agreement. the blonde continued, "now, i will leave you be so you can finish packing, but i think you and the boys should do something fun for you last night! it will be my treat!"

"i'll talk to the guys and see what they want to do," tori responded. 

and with that, ellen left tori to continue her packing. she texted in their groupchat that they needed to do something together one last time. all of them thought it was a great idea. tori saw that they were brainstorming and decided to shut off her phone in order to not distract herself. little did she know what they had agreed upon.