Pop: Chapter 19c

    "You went to the University of Tennessee?!  No wonder you never told us." Will exclaims.  

    "Like I said, I had to leave the house.  I felt that my mom was guilt-tripping me too much.  Tennessee was just the closest school that accepted me.  Besides, it has a pretty well-received education/math program.  It was a win-win situation for me." Pete replies

    Yeah, Pete was always the type of guy who would do calculus problems for fun, in high school.  The rest of us were just glad we only needed a semester of it.  Well, Will had to have a full year, but he did manage to pass.  After almost dropping out the second semester.

    "I started graduate school, and I met my first wife my third week there.  I proposed that December, got married the following June, and were divorced by the time I got my Master's in education and math.  My professors thought I should go after my Doctorate, so I did."  Pete continues.

    I look up at that, as straight into his eyes as I can in the darkened room.  Am I the only one who didn't try for an advanced degree?  At least no one else is bringing it up.

    "I stayed for a semester before returning to Kentucky and a job teaching high school advanced math back in Rowan.  At least I didn't have to stay with my parents any more, but I was still living closer to them than I would've liked."

    "What about your PhD?  Are you ever going to finish it?" Will asks.

    "Well, I take the occasional online course, as well as a summer offering every other year or so.  I would have to return to Knoxville for a final semester though.  I could possibly graduate some time next year, if the baby doesn't cause too much of a fuss."

    "It will.  Trust me." Will confides.  "I don't think I could've finished my final year, if we had had Timmy any sooner."

    Pete laughs a little before going on. "You have told me that last year."

    "At least you're back here, and you doing something you love.  Teaching has to safer than being a pro football player."  I add.

    "Well, things are a little better than you think." Pete says.

    "What do you mean?"

    "After I got the job, I found out that Melissa Andrews was teaching there herself, in the English department." Pete beams.

    "Wait.  Melissa's last name is 'Andrews?'  The same as the girl who started all of this." Will asks again.

    "Yep. She's the same girl.  Her father's family's political fortunes took a huge downturn a few administrations ago.  His second wife left him, and she cleaned him out.  He barely managed to get the principal's job at an elementary school.  That's where he's counting the days to retirement.  I swear, Melissa and I were going out and going at it for two months before I proposed.  We got married as soon as we could, and it was the best decision I ever made." Pete continues.

    "Going at it?!  Just last night, you were hounding me having seven partners over ten years!"

    "I was divorced, so the rules were different.  Besides, she 'technically' had already seen me naked, and we were both fairly sure we were getting married.  I told her father a day or to before we flew to Vegas.  I was a good five, six inches taller than him. He couldn't stop, even though I doubt he could've have done anything, even if he tried.  I managed to get my parents, Mia, and her mother and stepmother there for the ceremonies, although we did have a more traditional wedding a few months later.  Great days." Pete ends.

    "I just wish I had been there, but it was so sudden and I was still a little mad at you for leaving back in college.  I'm so sorry."

    "It's all good, Chris.  It was nobody's fault." Pete all but yells at the end as another crash of thunder rolls though.  Almost a minute now between crashes.

    "Yes, it was my fault.  I forgot to you, and I hate myself for it." Rick finally talks again.

    "Rick, it was an honest mistake. Yeah, you should have said something.  I don't know why you forgot, but it wasn't a big deal." I try to soothe Rick down.

    "You don't know the half of it." Rick exclaims.

    "What?  It couldn't have been major or you would've told us."

    "I was in the middle of a court case of the man who put naked picture of me online." Rick exclaims. 

    What?!?!