Disregard the Lies

Sadie knocked on the door to Jonathan’s condominium, wondering if she was doing the right thing. She knew that she could get into a lot of trouble if anyone ever found out that she was dating one of the players, and she really couldn’t figure out why she was taking the risk of losing her position, and therefore not being able to do the story. But, as soon as the door opened in front of her and she looked into Jonathan’s eyes, she knew exactly why she was taking the chance.

“Hey, come on in,” he told her, ushering her inside and closing the door behind her. “Did you find this place easier than Traffic Jam and Snug?” he asked her with a small laugh, remembering her telling him about trying to go down a road that didn’t exist.

“Yes,” Sadie told him. “All the roads Google Maps gave me existed this time,” she smiled. She turned towards the kitchen, smelling something cooking. “Are you cooking something?” she questioned.

“Why?” he asked slowly.

“I could just smell something,” she replied. “Whatever it is, it smells good,” she said, taking off her black pea coat.

“Thanks, and yes, I am. I thought you might be hungry after the game. And, I have to say, I’m a little disappointed you changed out of your Ice Girl outfit,” he added jokingly.

“I’m sorry, I don’t like dressing like a whore all the time,” she told him with a sarcastic smile. “Oh, and can you keep your comments to me on the ice to a minimum? I got grilled by Amber about what you said to me!” Sadie told him.

“And, what did you tell her?” he questioned, walking into the kitchen and stirring the food that was sitting on the stovetop.

Sadie followed him, looking over his shoulder to see what was in the pan. “I lied and said you were making fun of me. And, that looks really good,” she added, pointing to the soup.

“Thanks,” Jonathan smiled. “And, you told her I made fun of you? I’m now going to be known as the jackass of the team. Thanks a lot!” he said sarcastically.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Sadie told him. “You’re Amber’s conquest. There’s nothing you can do to turn her off of you.”

“I’m her conquest?” he questioned.

“Yeah, remember when I told you that you were claimed?” she asked, and he nodded. “Amber’s the one that claimed you. In fact, I believe today she was talking about how she was going to be in your bed within two weeks,” she added.

“And, did you correct her?” Jonathan questioned, turning off the stove and opening a cabinet to grab two bowls, pouring soup into each one.

“No,” Sadie said, shaking her head. Jonathan gave her a questionable look, and she continued talking. “What was I supposed to say? ‘Amber, you’re never going to be in Jonathan’s bed in the next two weeks because he’s dating me.’ Yeah, I don’t think that one would work so well since we’re trying to keep this a secret,” she told him, as they sat down at the table to eat.

“Okay, I see your point,” he nodded.

“But, if it makes you feel any better, Kyra really wanted to tell her that we were dating, just to rub it in her face. I told her there was no way she could do it, though,” she told him, eating a spoonful of the soup. “This is really good,” she said, sounding impressed. “Where did you learn to cook this?” she asked, switching topics.

“My mother,” he told her. “She used to cook this for us all the time. I think it was her favorite thing to cook because we had it all the time for dinner. Not that I ever complained,” he added. “This is probably my favorite food.”

“You’ll have to teach me how to make it,” Sadie told him.

“No problem,” he replied. “It’s really easy to make.”

After they had finished eating, Sadie stood up, taking her bowl in her hand, and walked back towards the kitchen. “I can get that,” Jonathan called after her, grabbing his own bowl and catching up to her.

“It’s fine,” she told him with a smile, turning around to the sink and rinsing her bowl out. Jonathan grabbed her hand to get her to stop, and she turned around, finding herself being pressed against the sink with his body close to hers. He reached around her, turning the faucet off, and then placed his hands on either side of her head, kissing her passionately.

Sadie wrapped her arms around him, feeling every single muscle in his back through his t-shirt. Her hands made their way up to his hair, which she played with for a moment before moving her hands back down his back.

As things got more heated, Sadie found herself losing her train of thought, only thinking about the passion that was between them. She was suddenly pulled back into reality by the sound of a ringing phone. They slowly pulled apart, and Sadie quickly realized that it was her cell phone ringing. “Sorry,” she apologized, pulling her phone out of her pocket, answering it without looking to see who was calling her.

“Sadie, hi, I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” she heard Lydia say on the other line. She quickly shot a glance at Jonathan, internally sighing. “Do you have time to talk?” Lydia asked.

“Um,” Sadie began, looking at Jonathan with pleading eyes, letting him know that as much as she didn’t want to, she needed to take the call. He seemed to get the hint as he nodded his head and walked into the living room. “Yeah, I can talk,” Sadie told Lydia.

“Good, I just wanted to make sure everything’s going well being an Ice Girl,” Lydia told her. “I haven’t talked to you since you got the assignment, and I wanted to make sure that everything was going fine.”

“Yeah, everything’s going fine,” Sadie told her. “It’s been pretty crazy these last two weeks, trying to get a routine down and everything,” she added, trying to give her at least some type of reason why she hadn’t been in contact with her since she started the assignment.

“Oh, I understand,” Lydia told her. “As long as you’re getting information on the story, I’m happy. You don’t need to check in with me like I’m your mother or something.”

“Thanks,” Sadie said, happy that Lydia had confidence in her.

“And, you’re not doing anything that will get you kicked out of being an Ice Girl?” Lydia added jokingly.

Sadie leaned against the wall behind her, staring into the living room to see Jonathan sitting on the couch. She couldn’t help but have her stomach go in knots, as she realized she was doing the one thing that actually could get her kicked off the squad. “No, I would never do something like that,” Sadie told Lydia, knowing it was a lie.

“Good. Well, I’ll let you go, and I’ll talk to you later. Goodnight,” Lydia said.

“Goodnight,” Sadie said weakly, shutting her phone and walking out to the living room, sitting down on the couch next to Jonathan.

“Everything good?” he asked her.

“Uh, yeah,” she told him unconvincingly.

“You don’t sound so sure,” he observed.

“Really, everything’s fine,” she assured him.

“Okay,” Jonathan said, putting his arm around her and grabbing the remote, flipping through channels, trying to find something to watch. “Is there anything you see that you want to watch?” he asked as she laid her head on his shoulder.

“Whatever you pick is fine with me,” she told him as he stopped on an old movie.

***

The following morning, Sadie walked into the Red Wings’ team store, where she and five other Ice Girls were doing a meet-and-greet. She still couldn’t figure out why anyone would want to meet the Ice Girls and have them sign something for them, but she was assigned to do it, so she couldn’t get out of it. She figured the Ice Girls meet-and-greet would be something to add to the article though. She could talk about how many people actually cared about meeting some random girls just because they skated on the same ice as the players.

“Hey, where were you last night?” Kyra asked her when she saw her walk through the front door. “I tried calling you, but you didn’t pick up.” Sadie looked around to see Dawn and Dana sitting at a table, and she pulled Kyra out of their earshot.

“I went over to Jonathan’s,” she whispered, making sure no one could hear their conversation. “Sorry about turning my phone off,” she apologized. Sadie had shut it off after getting the call from Lydia.

“No worries,” Kyra told her. “And, how was your date? Did anything interesting happen?” she questioned.

“If you’re asking if we slept together, the answer is no,” Sadie told her.

“I wasn’t asking that, but thanks for the information,” Kyra laughed. “I was just wondering what you guys did.”

“Oh,” Sadie said, her cheeks going a little pink. “Well, he cooked us some food, and then we sort of made out, and then we watched an old movie,” she said quickly, intentionally leaving out the phone call with her boss.

“Wait a minute. Back up here. Did you say you ‘sort of made out’?” Kyra asked excitedly, and Sadie slowly nodded her head, not wanting to talk about it in the middle of the store with people around. “How was it?”

“It was good,” Sadie said vaguely, and Kyra gave her a look that said she wanted more information. “I’ll tell you about it later, though. I don’t want to talk about it right now in this store,” she said as Macy walked into the store. Kyra got the hint as she nodded her head, and she and Sadie walked over to the table with Dawn and Dana.