You Should've Come With A Warning

Ch. 5

As hard as it was for me to do, I went down to greet the guys after their game. They would’ve assumed something was wrong if I didn’t so I set aside my feelings and tried to play them off. After spending so much time with Jordan and getting to know him, I finally realized I was in love with him. Now I needed to work on putting those feelings behind me, and moving on with my life.

I didn’t stay long because I wanted to go get their presents so I told Sid and the boys I’d just meet them at his house since Mario and company were already out of town visiting family for the holidays and Sid wasn’t leaving until early in the morning.

I went home and grabbed everything I needed, changed, and made my way over to Sid’s. When I got there they were waiting for me, playing video games. I didn’t bother knocking I just walked in and yelled to let them know I was there. I made my way into the living room where they were challenging each other in whatever game they were playing.

“Okay, so you beg me to come over and you aren’t even going to pay attention that I’m here?” I put my hand on my hip.

“Just one more second, hold on, I’m kicking Sid’s ass,” Jordan responded without ever unlocking his eyes from their game.

“Hockey gods my ass. I swear, you guys are like dealing with twelve year olds,” I rolled my eyes and put down my coat.

After they finished whatever had them so intrigued in their game, they got up and hugged me. Part of it was to say hello and the other part was because they knew we wouldn’t see each other for a few days since it was going to be Christmas.

Kris handed me a box so light I could’ve thought I was an envelope. When I opened it I saw that it was a gift certificate to a spa, a very generous one. I smiled and looked up at Kris. “That’s to help you relax. I know you have work, school, and these two idiots,” he laughed as I jumped into his arms.

“Thanks Kris! I love it, it’s perfect!” I squealed.

He put me down and started to make his way back over to his controller. I started my way into the kitchen, I knew they were pretty much incapable of making something worth eating…other than microwavable stuff and chips and dip, so I wanted to whip something up for them on the last night I would see them before Christmas. When I was standing by the stove and about to pour water into mugs for hot chocolate, I felt a pair of arms slip around my waist. I placed the teakettle down and was slowly spun around to face Sidney.

“Merry Christmas,” he removed one of his hands that was wrapped tightly around me and brought it to his back pocket. When it emerged he was holding a small wrapped present.

“What’s this?”

“Open it and find out.” So I did. I carefully unwrapped the strategically taped present and found myself standing face to face with a little black velvet box. It was obviously jewelry. I felt my eyes expanding as I looked up at Sid.

“Go on, open it,” he encouraged me. He was smiling so big that I thought he might burst if I didn’t.

When I opened the box there was a beautiful pair of diamond earrings in it. They were…wow. Princess cut studs.

“Oh Sid….I can’t…this is way too much,” I gasped

“Do you not like them?”

“Of course I do. I love them! Oh, they’re beautiful…”

“I can afford it, believe me, and when I saw them I knew I had to get them for you. You put up with a lot from us and do a lot for us and I wanted to do this for you.” He was looking me in the eyes and I couldn’t believe how generous he was with his gift.

“Thank you,” I stammered out.

“Put them on!” I pulled them out of the box and placed them in my ears.

“Perfect! You’re beautiful…” he wasn’t talking about the earrings anymore.

Our bodies were still so close together that we were touching. After I put on the earrings that he had given me he slid his hands down my waist and pulled me in closer. “Do you like your present?”

The mood was different. He wasn’t saying this as only my friend. His eyes searched mine for something, anything, and as his fingers lightly rubbed circles on my bare skin behind my back I knew what he wanted. My heart was pounding. Sidney brought his face so close to mine that I thought he was going to kiss me. “I’m going to miss you,” he whispered. I could feel his breath on my face as our lips were practically touching. Nervously I nodded slowly because I couldn’t find words to let out, and as I did Sidney slowly met his lips to mine. He pulled me in closer to him and I could feel his intensity growing. His mouth opened more for me to reciprocate and he didn’t pull us apart until a loud band in the living room about a minute later startled us.

I quickly panicked and jumped out of his grasp as I turned to get the hot chocolate. “Are you okay Anna?” he didn’t know what to say because he wasn’t quite sure how I felt. To be honest, I wasn’t quite sure how I felt. I wasn’t expecting what had just happened.

“I’m…I’m great. I just I have to make your hot chocolates before they get cold,” I absolutely fumbled over my words.

He sighed, he was internally beating himself up unsure of if he had just ruined our relationship or brought it to a new level. I couldn’t answer him because I hardly knew. I know it’s wrong to admit, but I wished that would have been Jordan. He was the one I wanted to be with, but knowing his and my relationship was anything but good lately, it probably wasn’t the worst thing to help catapult me over my feelings for Jordan. Still, it wasn’t going to happen in mere seconds. I just came to the realization that I fell for Jordan after months of hiding it from myself. It was going to take time.

“Grab that mug for Kris, I’ll get Jordan’s,” I said in my frazzled state as I picked up two mugs and motioned for Sid to grab his.

I walked into the living room, cheeks still burning red, and went over to deliver Jordan’s hot chocolate. As I made my way to him I noticed what the loud bang was that interrupted us. One of the guys had thrown a pillow from the couch and it ended up knocking over a couple picture frames.

“Hey, I know they’re throw pillows guys, but c’mon,” I teased.

As I stood over Jordan handing him his mug he looked up at me with puppy dog eyes. He didn’t look irritated or angry or frustrated, the looks he directed at me as of late, he almost looked hurt.

“What the hell!” Sid handed Kris his hot chocolate as I requested.

“Don’t look at me Captain, it was Jordo,” Kris couldn’t keep himself from laughing at Sid’s freak out.

“What the hell happened?”

“Woah, I was playing so I wasn’t paying attention,” Kris was quite entertained. He loved pissing off Sid.

Sid glanced at Jordan. “It’s not funny. Something could’ve broken!”

Jordan didn’t look at Sid, he looked at me, “Something did.”

His words were like taking daggers to my heart. Nothing appeared to be physically broken.

“Well why’d you do it?” Sid was still annoyed. It was Mario’s house and he was responsible for it when he was there alone.

“Look, I…I gotta run. Guys, have a safe trip tomorrow. Anna…Merry Christmas…all of you,” he took maybe two sips of his hot chocolate and ran out the door. It was the most awkward I’d ever seen Jordan be. He was a confidant man, he had every reason in the world to be, and seeing him so harebrained was out of his character.

“What’s the deal with him?” Sid directed himself at Kris.

“I don’t know man, we were playing. I wasn’t really paying attention. I think he got up then I saw the pillow whip past my head and heard the frame fall over. It sounded a lot worse than it looked.” That was true. From the kitchen it sounded like he broke something but the only mess that was made were having to put the frames back in their positions.

“Wow, it is getting pretty late guys, I should probably be heading out soon since you both have mad early flights to catch.”

I finished my hot chocolate on the couch with Sid trying to read my thoughts. After I was finished, I started to clean everything up. When I was finished I put on my coat and kissed both guys on the cheek, thanking them for their wonderful gifts and expressed that I would miss them. Sid grabbed my hand lightly as I turned to leave and pulled me back to him. “Wait, I’m walking you out.” I figured he would. I didn’t think he was going to let me leave so easily.

When we got to my car I turned to him as he leaned this body against mine. “Anna…” he whispered. “Are you angry with me for…what happened?”

I shook my head. “No Sid, I’m not angry with you. I just wasn’t prepared for it that’s all.”

“Are we going to be okay? I don’t want you to bug out and avoid us when we get back,” he joked. I know he said “we” as a general term, but I knew he actually meant him, specifically.

“We’re more than fine,” I didn’t want to hurt his feelings especially since it was Christmas. He had went out on the limb of his feelings and I couldn’t do that to him. I lightly kissed him goodbye on the lips and smiled into him, “I’ll see you when you get back.”

I could tell he was very relieved by how I responded and I saw the color go back in his face. His shoulders relaxed and he nodded, “Yeah, you will.”

“Go to bed! You have to get up early and you’re going to have a long day!” I got in my car, cranked up the heat and drove home with my head spinning. So much had happened today and I couldn’t register it all at once. When I got back to my place I tore off my coat, went in my room and put on my satin pajama set. There was no way I was sleeping tonight, so instead of laying in bed staring at the ceiling, I went to the couch and got more of my share of Christmas movies.

I was almost at the point where I could have dozed off when I heard a knock at my door. It definitely alarmed me since it was late and I wasn’t expecting anyone. I got up and went over to my door, slowly opening it. When I did, I saw the last person I would have expected to be there. Jordan.