I'll Be Right Beside You

February 14th 2009
By some freak chance, the Blackhawks were scheduled to play a home game on Valentine’s Day. The whole month of February was away games, besides the game on the fourteenth and later on the twenty-second and twenty-seventh. The team’s next game wasn’t until Tuesday the 17th in Tampa Bay, but the team was leaving Monday. Evelyn knew she had to savor the forty-eight hours she had with Ben before he would be gone for a week, again.

She would be lying if she said his time away didn’t affect their relationship. She voiced her opinion to Ben, and he agreed with her. The Hawks schedule this year had been brutal. Long periods of being at home were nice, until you took them for granted and the team was on the road for just as long.

Evelyn woke up in her boyfriend’s arms, feeling content. Ben wrapped his arms tighter around her, bringing her closer into him. Pressing a kiss to his chest, she sighed and snuggled into his side, “I feel like I never see you.” She had said it softly, not really meaning anything by it, but it was enough to wake Ben up completely. He looked down at Evelyn, her eyes still closed and sighed.

“Hey, don’t talk like that.”

She shrugged, “I just miss you.”

“I miss you, too, but baby you know I have to leave.”

“Oh, I know, and I know there’s nothing you can do about it. I’m just complaining,” She told him, smiling, and pulling him back down onto the bed. He put his hands on her face and brought his lips to meet hers. He smiled when he heard her groan into the kiss as he moved his body forward and pressed his hips into hers.

“Ben…” She sighed, pushing back on his chest.

“Hm?” He asked, his lips attached to her neck. She laughed and pushed him off of her, “I’m still tired and sore from last night; give me a break.”

“But…”

“You’re a nymphomaniac.”

Ben let out a deep laugh as Evelyn crawled out of the bed. She went to grab the sheet to wrap around her, but Ben stopped her from doing so, giving her bare ass a slap. She squeaked and rubbed a hand over her butt, glaring in Ben’s direction, “You’re an ass.”

“Nah,” He told her. “I just like yours.”

Evelyn shook her head and drew a bath, wanting to relax that morning. Ben had a morning skate, so she knew she’d have the apartment to herself for a while. She filled up the tub with hot water, as Ben got himself dressed. He stuck his head into the bathroom and pouted, seeing his still naked girlfriend leaning over the tub, pouring bubble bath into it.

“I can’t believe I have to leave.”

Evelyn laughed and closed the door to the bathroom in his face, locking it. She heard him huff and stomp to the door, no doubt less than thrilled he had to have a morning skate when he knew his girlfriend was in a hot bubble bath. She shook her head and slipped into the hot water, loving how it felt against her tired and aching body. She had been running herself ragged the past few weeks; with work, taking trips to Rockford with Phoebe, and going to Ben’s games, she felt like she was on autopilot. An hour in the bath would do her good, hey, maybe she would stay in even longer; wait for Ben to get home.

Her plans, though, were halted when her cell phone rang from the table next to the tub. Groaning, Evelyn moved to answer it, sighing when she saw it was her boss. She groaned even more after he had hung up on her, told her to get her ass to the office. There was apparently some big, urgent story that she needed to work on.

Quickly getting out of the tub, she dressed in a pair of casual jeans and one of Ben’s jerseys. If her boss was making her come in for a few hours on a Saturday, the dress code could fuck off. She threw her wet hair into a messy bun, looking herself over in the mirror. The jersey was down to her knees and the sleeves were way too long. Smiling at her appearance, she grabbed her purse and headed out to her car, not in the mood for walking.

She wasn’t surprised to find Michael at the office, too. Though Evelyn wanted to leave again when she noticed that no one else was there, and it would just be the two of them. Think about the sexy fucker’s name on the back of the jersey, she told herself. No reason to get flustered because Michael is a babe and thinks you’re hot.

Michael smiled at her when he noticed her walk up, but his smile turned into an amused expression at her appearance. “You look… nice,” He told her as she flopped herself into the chair next to his. “Is that your boyfriend’s jersey?” Evelyn grinned and nodded, wrapping her arms around herself on instinct. Michael nodded and filled her in on what the story was and how much research he had done so far.

It wasn’t long before they lost themselves in phone calls, paper work, checking the validity of “facts” they had been given. Evelyn’s stomach growled so loud that Michael whipped his head to look at her, a look of disbelief on his face. “When was the last time you ate? Like, a week ago?”

Evelyn laughed, “Last night. Shut up.”

Michael stood up and grabbed Evelyn’s arm, pulling her from the office. “Where are we going?” She asked. Michael shook his head, “Out to lunch; you’re clearly hungry.” Evelyn grinned and let herself be led from their office to the small bistro down the street.

. . .

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” Michael told Evelyn as they walked back to the office. Evelyn rolled her eyes, “You, too.” Michael was silent as they walked into the parking garage where their cars were. “Thanks for coming out to lunch with me.”

Evelyn furrowed her eyebrows, “You say it like it was a date or something.”

Michael shrugged, “What if I wish it was?”

She sighed, slumping her shoulders, “Michael, it wasn’t - ”

“It wasn’t a date, I know. Ben is a lucky guy…”

Evelyn’s eyes went wide, “Fuck.”

Michael turned to her as they reached her car, “What?” Evelyn’s eyes were wide as she realized she forgot to leave Ben a note, telling him where she had disappeared to. She pulled her cell phone from her pocket, seeing she had a few missed calls from Ben, as well as some texts, each sounded and read more worried than the one before it.

Michael was almost smirking at her when she told him she had to go and quickly hopped into her car. She practically sped the entire way to her and Ben’s place, running into the building. She was out of breath by the time she reached their apartment, throwing herself through the door. “Ben?” She yelled as soon as she walked in. He practically ran from the kitchen, a worried look on his face. Evelyn smiled lightly, and he did too, running over to her, wrapping his arms around her.

“I was so worried, baby. Where did you go?”

“I am so stupid,” She said, mumbling against his chest. “I forgot to leave you a note!”

Ben laughed, rubbing his large hands up and down her back, “Nice outfit. I love when you wear my jerseys. Though, I think it would look much better without the pants.” Evelyn grinned, “I was in a hurry and wanted to spite my boss since he called me in for a little while.” Ben frowned, “You work too much.”

She sighed, “I know; it was bullshit, really. My boss calls me in and he’s not even there?”

Ben laughed, “It was just you?”

She shook her head, “Nah, Michael was there, too. We were charging through the work, which is why I totally lost track of time.”

Ben shook his head, though she could tell he was a little apprehensive about Michael, almost like he knew he should be on guard around the man. He grabbed Evelyn’s hand and pulled her into the kitchen, “I made lunch.” Evelyn looked at him with wide eyes, “You did?” He nodded and told her she needed to distract himself from not being able to reach her. She instantly felt guilty, and smiled up at him, “I already ate.”

“Oh.”

She walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his middle, looking down at the table which had two plates of pasta and chicken, “I’ll eat some.” Ben shook his head, “You don’t have to just to please me, Lyn. It’s fine.” She shook her head, insisting that she had had a small lunch, even though that was probably the most untrue thing she had ever said to him.

He smiled and they sat down to eat, and Evelyn made a mental note to herself to make Ben cook more often. He was really good at it, which was something she never knew since she did the cooking all the time. Though, she did know that Ben knew his way around a grill; in the summer when it was warm, they would grill on their large patio.

“Hey, how would you feel about going out with the guys tonight?”

“You want to go out with the guys tonight; Valentine’s Day..?”

Ben shrugged, “Some of the guys are bringing their girlfriends, doing a big dinner. I think a few of the single guys are tagging along; big team thing.”

Evelyn grinned, “That sounds fun. I’m in.”

Ben grinned, too, kissing her cheek. She bit her lip, wanting to ask him so bad what had gotten into him. He was being extra affectionate and he wanted to go out and socialize with the team. (Not like he didn’t like his teammates, but Ben was a stay-at-home, let’s relax kind of guy.) But Evelyn did not question it, afraid that he would take it the wrong way, and she did not want to see his demeanor change. It was just strange, especially since his girlfriend had just told him she’d spent the afternoon with her male coworker.

After they had finished lunch, Ben of course wanted to take his nap. He pulled Evelyn into their bedroom, moving his hands to her stomach, lifting the jersey up and undoing the button on her jeans, sliding them down her legs. He dug his teeth into his bottom lip as he looked at her. Evelyn blushed, which only made Ben laugh. A year together, and still she was blushing when he gave her a look like the one he was giving her then.

“I’m so sleepy,” She told him as she watched him pull his jeans off, along with the sweatshirt he was wearing. Pulling her into bed, he pulled the covers over them and snuggled into her.