Flightless

The next week was a bit of a role reversal for Jordan and I. He was now the one sitting at home all day with nothing to do while I was dealing with the exhaustion and stress of my new job. Well, that wasn't exactly true - Jordan still had gym sessions and the odd practice to keep the team in the right headspace while they waited for the other series to be decided and the second round schedule to be released.

Even though I was doing the exact same job I'd had for the last three years it felt as if I was doing my very first day all over again. The systems used were nowhere near the ones I was used to, I was back to having no authority over my decisions and to top it all off, instead of my nice office shared with only one other person I was now crammed into one of about twenty cubicles. The only thing that seemed similar was the minimal contact with other people, a favourite aspect of any job I had.

I was a Finance Approval Officer, which basically meant that if your credit report came back a bit iffy, it was up to me to decide if you were worth taking the risk on. A main staple of my job was performing a variety of background checks, with the occasional phone call to check details of bad payments. Thankfully I never had to deal with customers themselves - a year of drawing up hire purchase agreements in my prior position was more than enough grief over denying approval. Now I just got to set increased deposits or effect a complete refusal.

It was almost a blessing that Jordan had the week off. He'd dropped me off bright and early Monday morning with a kiss for luck, and welcomed me back into his car at the end of the day with a steaming hot chocolate, complete with melting marshmallows.

As if that wasn't enough he cooked us something other than his usual pasta and even offered to give me one of his 'world famous' back massages. Of course I took him up on that, grudgingly stripping down to my bra and getting comfortably snuggled into the blankets on his bed. I wasn't the most comfortable with showing skin, especially my shoulders and upper back, thanks to a particularly bad sunburn when I was sixteen. My sister and I had gone to visit our grandad in the Christmas/summer holidays and got a bit carried away out at the beach, so much so that I had blisters and peeling for a month afterwards, leaving white scarring in patches over my usual half caste pale brown flesh.

Of course I had nothing to worry about, Jordan didn't even mention the abnormalities as he put his large hands to work. If it wasn't for him taking a moment to press his lips to each raised mark I'd wonder if he even realised they were there. Not that they were hard to miss. The slight calluses on his hands added to the relaxation as the tension I'd been carrying was gradually released.

Opening my eyes to find the sun rising was a shock, and I felt bad Jordan's efforts had gone without thanks. I'd had every intention of showing him just how grateful I'd been, but I'd just have to make it up to him another time.

The rest of the week wasn't quite as eventful, with slowly settling into a new routine. There was excitement following the playoffs, with each of Jordan's brother's teams taking their series to seven games. Marc and the Rangers bowing out to the Capitals the same night Eric scored the Hurricanes winning goal to defeat the Devils.

That left the Penguins facing the Capitals in the next round with the Bruins going up against the 'Canes. After learning that my beloved Avalanche hadn't made the playoffs this year I didn't really pay too much attention to the other side of the draw.

I sent Jordan out on Wednesday night to have fun with his friends instead of just hanging out with me every night. Max and Geno, who'd also been over at my apartment at the time jumped at the idea and soon most of the team was in for a boy's night. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy my time with Jordan, because I did. It was rare that I ever felt the need to break a silence or had to wrack my brain for conversation topics, something I hadn't found with many other people. To be honest, I sort of missed just spending some time by myself. It had been my main existence for so long, that the constant company I'd had since I moved to Pittsburgh was starting to become a little overwhelming.