Northern Lights

1 month. 4 weeks. 30 days. 720 hours. 43,000 minutes. 2,592,000 seconds. That's how long ago TJ saw Ava. That was the last time he touched her. Felt her skin on his. Held her in his arms.

He'd be lying if he said he thought about her all the time- because he didn't. But she was on his mind a lot more since he had left NoDak. He even sent a few calls towards his old college friends, asking about her leaving and what it was like when he left and she was there for a few short months.

He would stay up late because she wasn't there to talk to him until he fell asleep. And because he wasn't there to wrap his arms around her tiny waist. TJ called her a few times, but they usually never had time to talk. They were leading two very busy lives and they were never in the same time zone, let alone state. To say he missed her was putting it lightly.

Memories of college were constantly floating back to his mind. Good times, bad times, and the times they just lay in bed all day. Ava was truly unlike anyone he had ever met and he couldn't believe it took him so long to realize something like that.

Most of his time was spent regretting the stupid things he had done and all the times he took advantage of her. He may have been young and "living the college life", but that was no excuse to walk all over the only girl who truly cared about him. She had never said anything, but he knew it must have bothered her. And he almost wished she was the type of person to get angry and tell him he was being a douche. Just so he could get some sense slapped into him.

Ava on the other hand was totally busy. It seemed that injuries were stacking up and she felt a lot more pressure this year to do her job correctly. The Blackhawks were hopefully going to make it to the playoffs for the first time in years, and Ava felt the pressure of keeping the players healthy.

She enjoyed her job more than anything, and she loved all of the people she worked with but she had been going home stressed out and anxious for the first time in her life. She had always been a fairly carefree person (which seemed nearly impossible considering her past) and even though she wasn't overwhelmed any stress to her felt like a lot of stress.

"Hey," Jonathan greeted his friend as he walked into her office on a Friday afternoon. The Blackhawks were set to play the Detroit Redwings later that night and Ava was stressing out. "What's up?" He asked, taking a seat in the chair on the other side of her desk. Ava busily marked up a piece of paper and briefly looked up at the Blackhawks' captain through her long bangs before ducking her head back down.

"Hey," she mumbled.

"I got you some tea," he told her, placing the Dunkin Donuts styrofoam cup in the middle of the desk. Ava looked up once again, this time pushing her small black rimmed glasses onto her head and grabbing the cup between her small cold hands.

"Thank you so much Jon," she told him, sipping the hot liquid slowly as to not burn her mouth.

"It's no problem," he shrugged. "I thought you could use some form of caffeine or something, you've been working for like, two days straight."

Ava sighed and leaned back into her chair. Shrugging, she took another sip of her tea. "It's just something I have to do. They've been really back up around here and they have me doing paper work that's not even related to athletic training," she told him, rubbing her pale face lightly. "I'm kinda stressed," she admitted, laughing lightly.

"I'm sorry Av," Jonathan told her honestly. It was tough for him to see Ava in such a frazzled state when he was so used to her carefree attitude. He wished he could do something to lighten her work load, or at least something to help her get more sleep at night. The bags under her eyes were evidence enough of her hard work.

"It's not your fault Johnny," she told him softly. "Hopefully these next few days off will come in handy. I plan on spending them in bed."

Jon laughed at this. "You have to come and hang out with me too you know, I don't have many friends," he joked.

"Oh big superstar has a lack of friends? That's a new one," she teased him playfully.

"Hey maybe I prefer my old college friends to my new lame ones on this team," he joked again. Ava never really caught onto the whole "Captain Serious" thing. She knew Jonathan much differently than his teammates. Spending time with someone in college certainly brings out a different side of them than being the captain of the Chicago Blackhawks. "Speaking of which, I talked to Teej the other day."

Ava smiled widely at this and leaned forward to hear the rest of his story. "Oh yeah?" She asked.

"Yeah, he's finally adjusting to the NHL," he explained. "He said he missed us. But I'm sure he was mostly talking about you."

"Oh shush, he likes you just the same Johnny," Ava told him. "And I'm glad he's adjusting well. The Blues are doing really well this year, maybe you'll play each other when you both get to the playoffs."

"Don't jinx it," Jon warned her with a smile.

"Sorry," she apologized quickly.

Jonathan smiled and pushed himself up and out of the chair he had been previously occupying. "I gotta get to practice," he told her. "You probably should too."

"Awh, crap," she groaned standing up as well, her cup of tea still clutched in her hands. "I totally lost track of time," she said, glancing down at her phone.

"It's alright Ava," Jon told her, throwing his arm over her shoulder and pulling her small frame into his side. "Everyone can have an off day."

"I know," she nodded. "I just hate having them."

There were times in Ava Lawler's life when she missed college. This was one of those times.