Pas de Deux?

Kris sat along the boards stretching. His body was at the rink but his mind was elsewhere. He'd heard from Jordan and Marc about the little visit that Max paid to Violet earlier that morning. Only he didn’t know the details, so he assumed the worst. Of course she’d pick Max, every girl always did. Suddenly, Kris felt betrayed. He had told Talbot about how much he liked Violet. Well, not so much told as had it beat out of him with a pillow in the players lounge.

He looked across the rink, to the penalty box where he was told the girls would be sitting and his stomach began to turn as he saw Violet wearing the sweater Max had given her. No doubt that Talbot's number was on the back. She looked like she was having fun though, as she gestured wildly with her arms while Kitty and Rhea laughed. Suddenly, she stopped and began waving at Max who skated up to the boards and started talking to her. Kris could only roll his eyes before cursing himself for getting so distracted.

“Hi Max! Thanks again for the tickets, this is the best day ever!” Violet yelled, bouncing up and down like 5 year old.

“Your welcome sweet pea and PS: easy up on the candy eh?” he said with a wink, turning to Kitty so he could talk her up.

Violet struggled to sit still as she took in her surroundings. She was super excited about the game but nervous about going out afterwards. She’d worn a pair of dark jeans with her black flats and underneath her sweater, she wore her favorite green shirt with sequins around the neck. Her dark wavy hair was pinned up at one side with a gold clip and her makeup was just right. She was never into wearing a lot anyways. It was one of her favorite looks, and she hoped Kris liked it. Kris. She began searching the ice for the number 58 and when she spotted it, she smiled brightly, completely oblivious to the fact that Kitty and Rhea were staring at her with smirks on their faces. To Violet’s chagrin, they had “the” conversation, finishing just as the opening face off took place.

Midway through the third, a scrum broke out in front of the penguins net and Kris broke free from the pack with Danny Briere in tow. To call it a fight would be inaccurate because that would imply that punches were actually thrown. Instead, they just sort of wrestled around and Kris pinned Danny to the ice while Craig Adams and Mike Richards took care of the real fight.

As he skated to the penalty box, Kris looked up to see Violet, who was sitting with a huge bag of candy in her lap and a vague look on her face. Suddenly, she snapped out of whatever daydream she was having, blushed and waved at Kris.

“Hey Vi! How much do you wish you were Danny Briere right now?” Kitty teased, making sure that she was just loud enough for Kris to hear.

There was no response but if Kris knew Violet, she was probably waving her arms around wildly, trying to get them to stop without actually having to answer the question. He didn’t necessarily need a response though, the accusation was enough to brighten his mood substantially.

The penguins won the game 4-2 and the girls made their way to the locker room where they waited for the boys to finish their interviews and shower. Evidently, Max had made some sort of public service announcement so that the rest of the boy’s partners could join them at the club. Max slung Kitty over his shoulder, gave her but a smack and then took off with Violet and Rhea in tow. Kris, looked on, defeated again. He hadn't even gotten to talk to her.

They arrived at the club around 11 and went to the V.I.P booth Max had reserved. The rest of the boys slowly trickled in, making their way to the booth, or heading straight for the bar. She hadn’t seen Kris at all since they arrived even though he drove Tyler, Marc and Jordan who were now doing shots to her right

“I think I’m going to get a drink, anyone else want one?” Violet asked, leaving the table.

She finally made her way up to the bar but stopped when she saw a certain brown-haired boy sitting at the end by himself. God. He looked like his puppy just died.

“Kris?” she asked.

“Oh hey Vi. What’s up?” he said glumly.

“Max has a table over there. Why don't you come join us?"

“Nah. I'm just thinking.” Apparently he wasn’t in the mood to talk. Something took over Violet even though she'd hadn’t had a single drink.

“It is ok if I think here beside you?” she asked.

Kris smiled, pulling the barstool out for her so she could sit down.

“So you and Talbot seem to be getting along well.” he stated as Max blew by them with another round of drinks for the table.

“Ya, he’s a fun guy but we’re just really good friends. I guess that’s what happens when someone elbows you in the face,” she laughed.

“That’s cool. He’s a good guy even if he is a maniac,” Kris said, fiddling with the label on his beer bottle.

Awkward Pause.

Violet nodded. “So I never really thanked you for helping me get patched up a few weeks ago. Apparently I turn into a total spazz when needles are around. I never actually knew that about myself.” she started to ramble. “Anyways, thanks, you were really sweet.”

“Anytime. I remember the first time I got stitches. I was 6 and I ran full steam into the mirror of my dad’s car because I was afraid the ice cream truck would leave before I got there.”

As he had hoped, Violet burst out laughing, making Kris laugh in turn. And just like that, the tension was gone and they were off talking about favorite ice cream flavors, families and the show. They pulled their chairs closer to one another, partly so they could hear each other over the noise, but there were other reasons as well.

"I'm sorry Kris, I didn't quite catch that."

Kris leaned forward so that his lips were beside Violet's ear and his hand sat softly on her knee. "You look really beautiful" he said sweetly, his breath tickling her ear.

Violet thought she was going to explode. Partly from Kris touching her, partly from the words he had spoken and partly from the heat that was rising to her face. Before she could respond, Max showed up, causing Kris to groan internally.

“Hey guys!” Max said putting his arm around Kris. “We’re going back to my place to catch a movie. You in?” he asked before bouncing off to spread the word.

Kris looked at Violet hopefully. He’d had such a good time with her over the past few hours that he didn’t want the night to end. But also, watching movies at Max’s usually meant everyone cuddling up with their date for the night and falling asleep. He wasn’t clingy, but he liked a good snuggle every now and then.

“Oh my goodness. It’s after 2 o’clock. Kris, I’m sorry. I can’t, I have to go. If I’m not ready for rehearsal tomorrow Eric will kill me and I can not mess up this solo. I’ve been waiting forever to finally get a chance.”

“Oh, Ok,” Kris said glumly. He knew it was too good to be true.

“But you could walk me to the subway station, if you have a few minutes,” Violet said, hoping to make up for whatever disappointment she had caused Kris.

“Um, well its late and I actually have my car here. I’d feel a lot better if you’d let me give you a ride home. Just so I know you got home safe,” he said carefully, not wanting to sound like a clingy loser.

“I’d like that Kris,” she said with a smile.

After saying goodbye to the rest of the boys as well as Kitty and Rhea, Violet found Kris again and let him put his hand on her lower back to lead her out. The ride home was comfortably silent as the radio played softly in the background. Ten minutes later, they arrived at Violet’s apartment. She was expecting Kris to pull up in front of the building so that she could hop out and he could be on his way. Instead, he pulled into a parking spot and asked her to wait while he ran around to her side of the car and opened the door for her. In her opinion, he was being completely adorable.

“Thanks Kris. I really appreciate you giving me a ride. It was really sweet of you,” she said and began to walk away.

“What do you mean? You have to let me be a gentleman and walk you up to your apartment. Please? Otherwise my mother will have failed. You don’t want her to feel bad do you?” he said with a smile.

“Well, if you insist,” she smiled back.

“I do. I insist!” he said, offering her his arm and pretending to puff out his chest.

The elevator ride to the 8th floor was a short one and they had spent it debating whether butter pecan or tiger stripe ice cream was better.

“Well, this is my castle!” Violet said opening her door and stepping in, leaving room for Kris to follow. Violet dropped her hands to her sides and looked up at Kris, wondering what was suppose to happen next.

“So Vi, I was wondering what time you finished rehearsal tomorrow?” Kris asked shuffling his feet.

“I’m finished at 1 but I usually need half an hour to get cleaned up afterwards,” she replied absent-mindedly as she removed her coat and hung it in the closet.

“Well, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to have lunch with me tomorrow?”

“Like a date?”

“Um, well yeah. Like a date,” Kris said scratching the back of his head anxiously.

“ I’d like that a lot .”

“Great! Can I pick you up from the studio, maybe around 2?” he said stepping closer to Violet.

“Ok,” she answered sweetly as Kris took another step closer, gently placing his hands on her upper arms. He was standing dangerously close.

“I can’t wait," he said slowly leaning down as if he were about to kiss her.