There Are Still Rules To Break

The next couple of months went by in a flash, it seemed. Patrice had fallen back into his routine of practice, games, and traveling. Amanda found it easy to go along with his schedule, too. For a hockey player, Patrice was pretty relaxed and laidback. Though, she couldn’t help but see the frustration on his face; the Bruins weren’t necessarily meeting the fans, the media, or their own expectations. In fact, a lot of the games were downright painful for Amanda to watch on TV or witness live. It was even worse than before, she decided. Not only was she a fan, but she was in love with easily the Bruins’ best player.

Even with their less than stellar season so far, everyone was growing excited for the now annual spectacle known as the Winter Classic, especially now that the weather had grown cold and the month of November was almost to a close. With a little more than a month left until the event, Amanda was also growing more and more excited. She knew she would be there, and while she was excited to cheer her boyfriend on, she had to admit she was just plain excited to see her beloved Bruins play at her beloved Fenway Park.

There could really be nothing better.

She was at her own apartment for the first time in weeks. Whenever Patrice was in town, she stayed at his place. He told her that he loved when she stayed over because he loved waking up with her next to him. Amanda couldn’t ever say no to staying over when he said things like that. She was doomed, she decided. Even though she knew she could get her way if they ever fought or disagreed on something, Amanda also knew that with his delicious accent, his warm brown eyes, and his way with words, he could just as easily get his way.

When she was halfway through cleaning her place, she heard the door swing open and Patrice’s deep voice call out to her. Rolling her eyes, but smiling to herself, she made her way out to the kitchen from her bathroom, the room she had been cleaning. She assumed he had come straight from practice, his hair was still slightly damp and she bit her tongue from saying something about how he’d catch a cold. There was no game that night, and she knew they were going to dinner together later, but she hadn’t expected him now. Though, she was never not happy to see him.

“Hey,” he said, leaning over the door of the refrigerator to give her a kiss. “So, I was thinking,” he started, pulling out a bottle of water and sitting down at Amanda’s small table. She raised an eyebrow, sitting down across from him and waiting for him to finish. “I think you should move in with me.”

She was sure her face was one of shock. Sure, she spent more time at his place than at her own, but moving in… that was really serious and official. She would do it in a heartbeat, of course; she was in love with him. But she just didn’t expect him to ask. She was simply caught off guard. When she whispered out a small “what” she knew she had sent the wrong message. She saw her boyfriend’s eyes drop to the table and he cleared his throat.

“I just thought that maybe you’d want to, but if you don’t - ”

“No!” She let out, quick to cut him off. “I’m just surprised you’re asking.” She really was, too. While she knew what they had was real and serious, she figured Patrice would wait a while longer to make things that serious. Maybe she was over thinking it, but she figured that in his mind, if something were to happen, if they were to break up, it would be an easy split. She had her place and he had his. Moving in together meant you were ready for your relationship to be for forever.

“So, you do want to move in?” He asked nervously.

Amanda stood from her seat, pulled Patrice from his, and kissed him hard on the mouth. “Of course I want to move in with you,” she told him. “I was ready to move in with you months ago, as crazy as it sounds. I just didn’t think you would want to move that fast…”

Patrice laughed, “We have moved pretty fast, haven’t we?” He put his hands on her butt, hoisting her up so her legs were wrapped around his waist and their eyes were level with each other. “How do you feel about that?” He asked, honestly wondering where her head was at when it came to their relationship.

“I don’t like to question how fast we moved,” she told him seriously. “It just feels right… right?”

Patrice nodded, giving her a lopsided grin before connecting their lips again. Amanda had it right, he knew. Why question something that only felt right? He was in love with her, she was in love with him; it was perfect. When he pulled away from the kiss, he didn’t expect to see his girlfriend frowning. He set her down as he asked what was wrong.

“My lease isn’t up for another six months…” Patrice scratched the side of his face, giving Amanda a sheepish smile, telling her that her building manager would have no problem letting her out of the lease early. “What did you do?” She asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

“He’ll be sitting on the glass at the game tomorrow, pending you actually wanting out of the lease,” he told her, laughing lightly.

“Well, then I guess he’ll be sitting on the glass tomorrow then, won’t he?”

“I guess he will,” Patrice agreed. “Do you want to get packed now..?”

Amanda shook her head, pressing her lips to Patrice’s. He immediately responded, hoping she actually had in mind what he thought she did. “Packing can wait,” she told him, lacing her fingers with his and connecting their lips again. Patrice grinned into the kiss and put his hands on Amanda’s waist, backing her up until the back of her knees hit the arm of her couch. Falling backward onto her back, she pulled the French-Canadian down on top of her. Giggling into his scruffy neck, she pressed her lips to his jaw, running her finger nails down his back.

He felt him shiver as he lay on top of her, his hands moving up and down her body before settling on the bare skin of her torso underneath the long-sleeved tee shirt she had been wearing while cleaning. She pulled her hair out of the ponytail holder and laughed when one of Patrice’s hands immediately tangled in it. He leaned back, pulling Amanda up into a sitting position with him, trying to tug her shirt off of her. She laughed and quickly pulled it off, throwing it to the floor. She went to lay back down, but Patrice kept her up and quickly unhooked her bra, discarding it on top of her shirt.

She gasped as he shoved her back onto the couch, his lips slamming down on top of hers. She moaned into the kiss as his hips pressed into hers and she felt his excitement against her. His hands ran up and down her sides as his lips moved from her mouth, down to her neck, and then her chest. She smiled, in a daze as she let his hands and lips roam over her body. He moved down the couch, pulling her shorts and panties off, before stripping his own clothes off. His hand was on the back of her neck as he connected their lips again. She felt his other hand on her thigh, lifting her body up before letting her fall onto him with a loud gasp.

Her head fell onto his shoulder, and his arms wrapped around her, his fingers digging into her back. With every movement, quiet but audible noises came from Amanda’s mouth, and something primal within Patrice grew. Whenever he found himself in that very position with Amanda (which was a lot, he had to admit) he couldn’t get over the fact that she was his. He couldn’t believe that she could ever have insecure thoughts about herself. Why couldn’t she realize that Patrice had never seen a more perfect woman, inside and out?

Amanda connected their lips again, her hands gripping tightly onto her boyfriend’s muscular shoulders as they continued to move with one another. He grinned into the kiss, pulling away slightly. “I love you,” he said, something he never went a day without telling her. She grinned, repeating the words back to him, wondering how she had ever gotten so lucky and thinking that her apartment was getting the best send off she could imagine, that was for sure.