A Rollercoaster Kind of Rush

Nervously, my fingers played with my belt loops. The warmth of his body could be felt on mine, seeing as he was only a few inches away. My teeth bit down on the delicate flesh of my bottom lip as I looked up into his curiosity shining brown eyes, with a hint of concern added into the color. Looking over my shoulder, I sighed, trying my best to block out all of the noise as I turned back to Evan.

“Well my mom called,” I started. He nodded a bit, as to acknowledge me to go on. “She wants me to go over for dinner tonight, and well, since you don’t have practice or anything, I was wondering if you wanted to come with me,” I finally managed out, only to once again chomp down on my lip out of nervous habit.

A smile spread across Evan’s face as he closed his eyes for a second, circling his arms around my lower waist.

“Of course,” he breathed out before he placed a tiny kiss on the tip of my nose. I closed my eyes now, sighing in relief.

“You’re the best,” I whispered, standing on my tippy toes to press my lips against his. He grinned into the kiss, pulling me as close as possible.

“Yeah, I know,” he replied cockily as we pulled away for air. I rolled my eyes, but laughed anyway, before I rested my head on his chest as we stood in the middle of the locker room

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“I don’t know, Pheebs, it’s just like, I never wanted to introduce him to my parents before now,” I explained, ripping off a piece of my soft pretzel.

“He has changed a lot in the past few weeks,” Mika commented from my left. Phoebe nodded, agreeing with Mika, as she sipped at her soft drink.

“I still think the real Truppy was abducted by aliens,” Phoebe chimed in casually. Both Mika and I rolled our eyes at her pure ridiculousness, causing her to throw her arms up in mock frustration, obviously being way too over dramatic and almost resulting in spilling her drink. “Think about it,” she started drastically, “it’s really the only explanation for this sudden change in behavior!”

“Or maybe he just didn’t realize what he had until he lost it,” Mika said, a hint of finality to her voice. Phoebe rolled her eyes a bit, before shoving a piece of her own pretzel in her mouth. “But I don’t get why you’re so worried, Av, I’m sure he’ll be a complete sweetheart all night.”

“I wouldn’t put it past him,” I admitted, sitting down on the bench between the two girls. “I guess I’m just scared that he won’t get along with my parents, you know?” Phoebe nodded, shaking the ice around in her drink.

“Well, being nervous about that is common. I’m sure everything will go well. Evan’s practically perfect.” A smile tugged at the corner of my lips as I chewed my pretzel.

“Yeah, pretty much,” I confirmed, biting my lip as my smile melted, my mood changing drastically. “But it’s just,” I paused, trying to find the word to describe how I felt about this entire Evan situation, but failed. “I don’t know,” I sighed out, shaking my head a bit.

Mika raised her eyebrows, looking up from her phone. “Are you like, not comfortable anymore or something? Because that’s a really bad sign.” I immediately shook my head.

“No, I’m definitely comfortable. And I do love him a lot. But I think I miss the old Evan,” I confessed for the first time out loud, the only thing that my mind has been denying for weeks. Running my fingers through my hair, I sighed again.

“Why would you ever miss that?!” Phoebe asked incredulously, watching me with curious eyes.

“I’m kind of scared it’s going to get boring, you know? Being a perfect couple and all. When we used to fight, it was such a rush, and when he would do anything to make it up to me, it was the best feeling in the world, you know? And I’m not saying that the new loving, sweet, caring Evan isn’t awesome too, but I want the Evan that I fell in love with back,” I finished, taking a deep breath to refill my lungs. Both girls nodded, silence falling over us for only a few seconds as we sat on a random park bench in Grand Forks.

“Getting bored is never a good sign either,” Mika finally stated. “And it’s not like you can talk to him about it. Have you talked to Calli about it?” I rolled my eyes.

“Yeah, Calli hasn’t been home for days, and when she is home, she hardly speaks to me,” I said bitterly, not exactly happy with my roommate.

“Are you two fighting or something?” Phoebe wondered. I rolled my eyes, just thinking off how much tension was packed tight in my apartment as of lately.

“Not that I know of,” I said honestly, “she just seems like she doesn’t want anything to do with me. And it’s really not helping my stress level.” I laid my head on Mika’s shoulder, completely forgetting about my less than half eaten pretzel.

“Its okay, things should get better soon.”

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Evan’s fingers that were laced with mine tightened significantly as we stepped out of the bitter North Dakota air and into the warm house.

“Mom? Dad? We’re here!” I yelled, letting go of Evan’s hand so I could slip my peacoat off of my shoulders. I put it on the hanger behind the door, also hanging Evan’s up before we both took our shoes off as my mother scurried into the entry hall. She pulled me into a hug and kissed my cheek. She didn’t give me a second look before she also forced Evan into a hug. He seemed surprised at first, but squeezed back for a second before she pulled away and began to gush about him, just as I expected her to.

“Oh! Avery, sweetheart, he is so cute! Why didn’t you tell me he was this handsome?” She asked hurriedly, all in one breath, causing Evan’s pale cheeks to light up with a bright red like the forth of July. I teasingly smiled, throwing a wink at my boyfriend.

“Evan, this is my mother, Judy, ma, this is my boyfriend, Evan,” I introduced as the short pulled him into another motherly hug. I laughed, shaking my head. “Where’s Dad?” I asked, looking around for any sighting of the man I called my father.

“Oh you know your father,” Mom said, rolling her eyes and waving the oven mitt that was in her hands around. “Sitting on his butt in front of the television of course!”

I laughed, nodding, knowing that that was exactly what he was doing before I even walked in the door. Typical.

“Anywho, come help in the kitchen, Avery!” My mother exclaimed, turning on her heel and walking down the hall and into the kitchen. Once she had disappeared, Evan relaced his fingers with mine, pulling me by my hand into his body.

“Go see your dad,” he whispered, kissing the spot below my ear lightly, just enough contact to make me shiver. “I’ll go in the kitchen and help your mom,” he finished, his hot breath sweeping across the skin of my neck. I nodded, hardly able to speak. Evan grinned, pressing his lips to the corner of my mouth before his fingers fell limp around mine, slipping out of mine. I watched his retreating form, following in the steps that my mother had just skipped.

I shook my head, letting out a low breath as I regained my composure and made my way to the living room, where the glow of the flat screen TV reflected off my father’s face. I grinned, jumping over the back of the couch and onto his back.

“Avery!” He exclaimed, pulling me off of his back just like he used to when I was a little girl and pulled me into a tight hug. “How’s my little girl?” He asked, grinning down at me as he turned the volume of the hockey game down.

“I’m great,” I nodded, my eyes trailing around the dimly lit living room. Every inch of the room held a memory from my life before college. The chair where I would sit on my father’s lap as a little girl and watch the Red Wings games, to the corner where the tree would always stand proudly during Christmas time, and finally to the couch that I had my very first kiss as a fifteen year old.

“How’s everything going around here?” I asked, my eyes finally meeting my father’s. He nodded, turning his head back to the television just in time to see a Zetterberg goal.

“Things are as usual. Mike’s never around, your mother’s having a fit about it, and I just don’t care,” Dad laughed out, his thunderous, deep chuckle, causing me to laugh also. I nodded.

“That’s definitely good. How’s Mikey doing in school?” I asked, my eyes fixed on a school picture of my younger brother Mike, who was now a senior in high school.

“Average. He’s keeping his grades up, he can’t get into North Dakota with a bad gpa,” My father said, throwing me a grin. I giggled, nodding a bit as my eyes found the television, following the puck as one of the Blackhawks stole the puck from Datsuyk.

“Hey,” my father started after a few minutes of watching the game, just as a commercial flashed on the screen. “Didn’t your mother say something about a boyfriend?” I grinned, nodding my head.

“He’s in the kitchen helping with dinner,” I replied, fiddling with my fingers. With my mother’s automatic liking towards Evan, I had gained some confidence. But my father was a whole different story. If he didn’t like Evan, I was fucked.

“Well go get him!” I laughed, nodding as I nervously stood from the couch and made my way out of the room, down the hall and into the kitchen.

A grin crept to my features as I stood in the doorway of the large kitchen. Evan cut up vegetables for the salad as my mother took things out of the oven and added spices. Biting my lip, I circled my arms around Evan’s middle from behind, looking around his biceps to watch him chop away with the large knife. He grinned, stopping his motions for only a second to turn his head and kiss my cheek softly before he returned to his work.

“You know, for someone who is on a strict TV dinner diet, you sure do have the skill to make us a home cooked meal every night,” I commented, peaking over his arm. He rolled his eyes, pushing me off of him playfully. I giggled a bit, hoisting myself up on the counter beside the cutting board. Swinging my feet that dangled off of the counter, I grinned. “Dad has the Wings game on in the living room,” I told him. He instantly dropped the knife, and wiped off his hands on the tea towel that was by the sink.

“I’ll be back,” he told me, pecking my lips only once before he practically sprinted out of the kitchen.

“Oh that’s okay! I’ll just take over from here!” I called after him with an eye roll.

“Thanks babe!” He replied, before turning into the living room. With a sigh, I let out a tiny laugh as my mother made some comment about how all men are the same.

Only a short twenty minutes later, dinner was ready, and all we were waiting for was my brother to get home from where ever the hell that kid spends his free time. Of course, the boys were happy considering they wanted to see the last five minutes of the game between the two hockey clubs. So when the Wings finally won, we were just about to make our way back into the kitchen when my brother entered.

“Mikey!” I screeched, throwing myself onto the boy who was a good five inches taller than me. He rolled his eyes.

“Yeah yeah, get off,” he groaned, pushing me off. I grinned, kissing his cheek before he turned before I could do it again, sitting at the dinner table beside my mother.

I smirked at my kid brother, taking my seat across from him and next to Evan. My father, who sat at the head of the table announced that we could finally eat before my mother jumped out of her seat to serve us all pasta.

When everyone was distracted, just as he finished his conversation with my brother, Evan smiled over at me as I twirled a piece of pasta on my fork, and grabbed a hold of my chair, pulling it closer to his. I giggled silently, feeling his hand creeping up from my knee, resting in the middle of my thigh. He took a bite of his bread, watching me out of the corner of his eye as his thumb rubbed circles on my inner thigh.

“So, Evan, Avery tells me that you play hockey for UND?” My father started casually, his eyes flicking down to Evan’s grey WCHA hoodie. Evan swallowed the food he was chewing while he nodded.

“Yeah, forward,” he told my father proudly. I automatically tuned them out as they got into the deep hockey talk that I heard the boys get into constantly back home on campus. But I couldn’t help but to smile as I saw the two completely connect, and as my father grinned heartedly, I knew my family loved him.

Dinner dragged on, with my father and brother conversing with Evan about sports, and my mother wondering what it was like growing up in Alaska. Just as we were finishing our desert, which was a chocolate cake made by my mother, she spoke up, looking at Evan over her thick eyelashes that I inherited.

“So, Evan, you must be pretty special, eh? You’re the only guy that our Avery here has ever brought home.” My eyes widened and my cheeks immediately flushed from my ears down to my neck. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Evan grinning as he squeezed my thigh.

“I guess I must be!” He agreed, leaning over to kiss my cheek, which caused my mother to let out a long ‘awe’ and my father to smile proudly. I whimpered a bit as my brother laughed, teasing my burning cheeks.

After a painful few minutes to finish up the food, my mother ushered us into the living room where we were supposed to be watching the Wild game that had just started only a few minutes ago.

My father sat on the recliner, my brother laid down on the couch, leaving Evan and I to sit on the loveseat. He instantly pulled my legs into his lap so I could lean into him easier. I grinned up at him, as he leaned down and pressed a small kiss to my forehead. Turning towards the TV, and leaning back into Evan’s body.

I shook my head as I saw Tj Oshie in a blue uniform skating around on the sheet of ice. That was the last thing I saw before I closed my eyes and easily fell asleep.

What only seemed to be another few minutes later, I was shaken awake from my warm slumber.

“Baby,” Evan whispered into my hair. I yawned, stretching, still laying on him. His grip on my waist loosened as I stood from the couch, almost falling from standing too fast. Evan laughed a bit, standing quickly and grabbing onto my waist once again to keep me from falling.

Glancing around, I realized that the room was completely empty and pitch dark.

“Everyone went to bed a few hours ago, I just couldn’t wake you. You looked adorable with your cheek pressed against my shoulder,” Evan’s voice whispered into my ear. I bit back my smile, as my eyes fluttered closed.

Evan’s hand tugged on mine as he tried to navigate his way through the living room, but ran into the table twice. I giggled, stepping in front of him and pulling him through the room by memory, dodging anything that could get in our way.

“You know, I think they want you to sleep in the guest room,” I giggled, nodding my head towards my parents room as my mother peaked out the door. Evan scrunched his face up, but nodded. Hoisting his duffle bag of clothes on his shoulder.

“Fine,” he pouted. I giggled softly, not wanting to wake anyone, though they weren’t sleeping anyway. “I love you,” he whispered, leaning into my lips, kissing me softly.

“I love you too. Night Ev,” I whispered back, pushing my lips for the second kiss.

“Night baby,” he said before I turned on my heel, hearing the door of the guest room across the hall close. I grinned to myself, closing my own door softly before slipping out of my jeans and shirt, leaving me in only my bra and underwear. I crawled into my bed and fell asleep instantly.

Once again I was woken up as my door was opened, and closed very quietly. Evan crawled into my bed behind me, wrapping his arms around my middle and pulled me into his bare body.

“Do you know how hard it is to sleep without you?” He whispered into my hair, most likely thinking I was asleep.

“I think I’ve got an idea,” I mumbled sleepily. I felt Evan grin into my neck as he pulled me impossibly closer. With his steady breath washing over my skin, I fell asleep with a smile on my face.