Sequel: Breathless

There Are Still Rules To Break

Spontaneous

Amanda had been in Quebec City with Patrice for a month, and while she loved every minute of being there with him, she missed Boston something terrible. She was used to spending her summer days and nights reading, writing, and watching her beloved Red Sox play. It was just something so different for her to be in Canada and so disconnected from her hometown. She knew, though, that it would only be a matter of time before she would be back there, with Patrice. The with Patrice part was really the only thing that mattered anyway.

She was sitting on the extremely comfortable couch in Patrice’s den when she heard him walk in behind her. Smiling to herself, she kept working on her article and typing away on her Macbook, ignoring her boyfriend’s presence. He came to a stop in front of her, his hands on his hips, but still, Amanda didn’t acknowledge him. He sighed and crouched down until he was eye level with her, and then Amanda finally looked up from the computer screen to see him frowning at her. Pushing her thick-rimmed glasses to the top of her light brunette head, she asked him what he wanted.

Patrice raised an eyebrow at his girlfriend’s smirking face before he pushed her Macbook closed and took it from her lap. He set it down on the coffee table in front of them before turning back to the twenty year old and grabbing her hands. He pulled her up and off the couch, straight into his arms. Amanda groaned as she slammed into his chest, and before she could catch her breath, his lips were on hers. Grinning into the kiss, she let her rigid body relax into his touch. Patrice pulled away only a few seconds later, ending the kiss way too soon for Amanda’s liking.

“Let’s go out.”

In her month in Quebec, Amanda had learned that her quiet, reserved boyfriend was also very spontaneous. He told her that being spontaneous in Boston was hard because he still wasn’t aware of everything the city had to offer, but in Quebec, his home province, he knew of a lot they could do. He had taken Amanda sight-seeing, he had taken to her parks, he had taken to her historical landmarks, and he had taken her to some of the best restaurants she had ever been to, to eat the most delicious food she’d ever had.

“Where are we going?”

Patrice shrugged, and Amanda sighed knowing she wasn’t going to get a complete answer. As she headed to use the restroom before they left, she heard him call it was going to be a little bit of a drive. Smiling and shaking her head, she got herself ready to go, grabbed her purse, and headed out the front door of the large house and into the driveway where Patrice was already in his started car, waiting on her.

“Easy, tiger,” she laughed, sliding into the passenger seat. “You should be lucky I’m not like most girls in terms of how long it takes me to get ready.”

“I know,” Patrice laughed. “But we need to get a move on if we want to avoid traffic. It’s already nine!”

“Maybe you should have told me yesterday we were going somewhere and we could have been up and out of the house hours ago, if you wanted to leave so freaking early,” she laughed back, as he pulled out of the driveway and started speeding down the street.

“I didn’t really plan this little trip. Just thought of it, like, twenty minutes ago, honestly.”

Amanda shook her head, plugging her iPod into Patrice’s car speakers. She turned to look at Patrice with curiosity as he sped onto the expressway, but he kept his face straight ahead and did not acknowledge her look, that she knew he had seen because he smirked.

“Ass,” she coughed out as she made herself comfortable, having no idea where they were headed, but she knew it wasn’t in Quebec City that was for sure. She lightly hummed along to the music as they drove, trying to keep herself awake, but the fact that it was just after nine in the morning, and she’d been up since eight with barely any sleep the night before, she found her eyes closing on their own.

She heard Patrice laugh before his large hand fell onto her thigh, lightly rubbing the bare skin that her denim shorts had left exposed. “Get some rest, Manda. It'll be a few hours before we get where we're going. I’ll wake you when we get there.”

Smiling tiredly up at her boyfriend, she reclined her seat just slightly before leaning back against it and kicking off her flip flops. “I love you,” she told him, putting her tiny (in comparison) hand on top of his before his steady touch finally lulled her to sleep.

- - -

She was surprised that she had slept the entire drive; Amanda wasn’t usually one for being able to stay asleep on long car rides. She was constantly waking up due to something. A stop in movement, a car horn, a bump in the road; anything. But, Amanda figured that when she did finally wake up after the car had been stopped for a long while, and she saw Patrice’s hand still on her thigh, it was the reason she had stayed asleep, knowing he probably hadn’t ever removed it. Patrice’s touch was so soothing to her at times. At times, because Patrice’s touch could also be the most stimulating thing she ever felt.

Blushing at her own thought, she stared sleepily up at her boyfriend who was reading a French magazine that was laid flat across the steering wheel. “Hey,” she said, getting his attention to know she was awake.

“Hey, beautiful, I was going to let you sleep for a few more minutes. You’ve been out three hours.”

She nodded, unbuckling her seatbelt after she had recognized they were in a parking lot. Stretching her tired limbs, she smiled when she heard her back crack loudly, and she sighed happily, feeling better now that her body was sufficiently stretched out. She pulled the mirror down to inspect her makeup and grinned when she saw no touchups needed. Pulling her Chapstick from her purse, she gave her lips a quick swipe before running a hand through her hair that she had straightened the night before.

“Are you ready to go in?” Patrice asked, closing his magazine and throwing it into the backseat. Amanda nodded, still unsure of where they were, but getting out of the car, anyway. Patrice ran around from his side of the car to hers, where she had still barely gotten out because of her aching legs. He grabbed her purse, and pulled her cell phone and Chapstick out from it before tucking the bag underneath the passenger seat. “You don’t need it.”

“Okay… Where are we?” She asked, as her extremely excited boyfriend took her hand in his.

“Amanda, I give to you Le Centre Bell, Maison de Montréal Canadiens.”

“Oh, no, no, Patrice, no.”

He laughed, “Yes.”

Amanda ripped her hand from Patrice’s, staring up at him with a look of shock. The Canadiens were the enemy. She was a Bostonian, a proud Bruins fan through-and-through, and Patrice, a Boston Bruin himself had the nerve to bring her to the enemy’s home? Biting her lip, she gripped her hand tightly and connected to Patrice’s arm.

“Patrice fucking Bergeron, you tell me what we’re doing here right now.”

He laughed, despite the stinging feeling in his arm, “I know what you’re thinking, Amanda, so don’t even start with me. Me and you, we are the Boston Bruins, I know, but I thought it would be interesting to come here. You can’t deny the history of the team, babe.”

“Did you just call me ‘babe’?”

“Let’s just go in,” he said, smiling widely as he grabbed her hand again and pulled her toward the door. Amanda groaned and tried to walk as slowly as possible, but Patrice was too strong for her and by the time they reached the entrance, he was dragging her behind him. And as the two of them practically fell into the entrance, they got looks from the other people in the lobby, making Amanda burst out laughing, knowing Patrice was definitely embarrassed, especially since people recognized him and started asking, aloud, what Patrice Bergeron was going in the Bell Centre.

“Uh,” he cleared his throat. “We’re here for the tour.”

The man Amanda assumed was the tour guide raised his eyebrows and handed Patrice and Amanda each a pamphlet. Glancing through it, she saw it was about the history of the arena, the Montreal Canadiens, and that it was all written in Quebecois. Frowning, she glanced up at Patrice and he laughed, grabbing an English one off of the table as they walked past it and the tour began.

Luckily, the tour was in English and despite feeling dirty and wrong, Amanda was highly enjoying herself. She couldn’t deny the amazing history of the team, as Patrice had pointed out in the parking lot. Though, like always, she was a trouble maker. After the tour guide had blatantly boasted how he believed the Canadiens were the best team in the league, even though he knew there was a Boston Bruin on the tour, Amanda could not keep the smartass comments that fell out of her mouth.

“That’s why their centennial season was a joke then, right?” She asked, scoffing at the tour guide, who glared back at her. Patrice, torn between laughing and slapping a palm to his forehead in embarrassment, settled for snorting and covering his mouth with his hand before “coughing” and shooting an apologetic look at the tour guide and the rest of the people taking the tour.

After another hour of walking around the Bell Centre and a few more smartass comments from Amanda, the tour was concluded. Paying their dues and thanking the tour guide, Patrice grabbed Amanda’s hand and pulled her out of the arena. “Did you have fun?” he asked, shaking his head. Amanda grinned and nodded before kissing his cheek as they got to his car.

“Making fun of the Habs to their fans really made me feel better.”

”Feel better?”

“Yeah, about the B’s getting knocked out in the second round… Oh… shit.”

But, Patrice being the nearly perfect individual he was only waved the comment off and gave Amanda’s hand a tight squeeze, silently telling her it was fine. She still felt bad, though, pulling him closer to her as she leaned her back against the side of his car, grabbing him at the back of his neck and bringing his lips to hers.

“I love you,” she told him against his mouth. She felt Patrice grin, and then she felt his hands grip her at her hips. He was the one to end the kiss, like always (since he seemed to have more self-restraint than Amanda did), and he smiled down at her and whispered a soft “I love you, too” before jogging to his side of the car.

As soon as he got in the car, his cell phone rang. Sighing, he pulled the device from his pocket before connecting the call. He was only on the phone for a few minutes but Amanda heard him ask, “When do I have to be there?” Waiting patiently until he was off, she played with the hem of her tee shirt.

“Amanda,” he said, his eyebrows raised high. “…Looks like we’re heading back to Boston next week.”

“What? So soon?” She asked, genuinely curious as to why they’d be going back in only the second week of July. Sure, she was pretty excited to be back in her hometown, but she still wanted to know why she would be so soon.

“I have to be there when the NHL officially announces the Winter Classic will be at Fenway.”

Amanda let out the most girlish squeal she probably ever would at the news. Patrice laughed as he watched his girlfriend squirm around the passenger seat, more excited than he had ever seen her.

“You know, I don’t really feel like driving the three hours back home,” he said, grinning as he put the key in the ignition before buckling his seatbelt as Amanda did the same after she had calmed down a bit.

“Oh?”

“What do you say we find a nice hotel, order some room service, and spend the evening in bed, celebrate the good news?”

“I don’t think it’s possible for you to be more perfect, honestly.”

Patrice only grinned and winked before pulling out of the parking lot of the Bell Centre in search of the most romantic hotel Montreal had to offer.
♠ ♠ ♠
For, Amanda, of course.
And all the other girls who read and comment so consistently!
<3