Two is Better Than One

Jordan’s POV

Allie was fitting in perfectly with my family. My mom loved her, my brothers loved her, hell Parker loved her. Having her here and interacting with my family was making my decision so much easier. After I left her alone in the kitchen with my mom and sister-in-law, I knew Allie would find out that I had feelings for her.

My brothers and I were in the game room playing each other on the Xbox when we took a break for snacks and more beer. It was my turn to get them since I had lost the last game. I made my way to the kitchen, but stopped when I saw Allie and Parker curled up together on the couch sleeping. I stood there for a while just watching her sleep with my nephew. I didn’t realize I was standing there for very long until I heard Eric’s voice coming from down the hallway. I tried to make it to the kitchen, but I wasn’t quick enough, he caught up to me.

“Did you see Parker and Allie?” He asked reaching into the fridge for a beer, knowing that I did. How could I not, she looked so beautiful sleeping there curled up with Parker.

“Yeah I did, they looked cozy.” I said

Eric took a sip of his beer and looked at me with a smirk. “You love her don’t you?” He questioned..

I sighed and put the bowl on the counter before jumping up next to it. “I don’t know, Eric. We talked in the car on the way home the other day, you know how I feel about her.”

“But something changed between then and now, right?”

I nodded and picked at the napkin next to me.

“Jord, you are aloud to have feelings for her and from the way you were looking at her earlier I’d say you are defiantly feeling something towards her.”

“I do feel something for her and it’s not all sexual.”

“Which is new to you.” Eric laughed and I flipped him off.

He was right though, having feelings that weren’t totally physical feelings was new for me. “Eric, I don’t know what to do.” I admitted.

“Just talk to her and tell her how you feel. I don’t think you should drop the ‘L’ word on her yet, but tell her your feelings.” He clasped me on the back. “I’m pretty sure she has feelings for you as well.”

Eric left the kitchen and thus me alone. I jumped off the counter and refilled the bowl and went back to the game room, but not before stopping to watch the two of them sleep. Tonight I was going to tell her the truth about how I felt.

Allie’s POV

When I finally woke up from my little nap with Parker, Trina and Tanya were back in the kitchen cooking again. I went to sit up, but Parker was now laying on my chest. I smiled and tried to move him without waking him up. Just as I was about to lift him up, Jared walked down the hallway.

“Help?” I half chuckled, half whispered.

He laughed and made his way over to me and gently lifted the sleeping toddler off my chest.

“Thanks.” I smiled and stretched.

“No problem.” he laid Parker down on the couch and we stuffed pillows around him so he wouldn’t roll off. “He really likes you.”

I smiled. “He’s an a sweet little boy.” I looked over at the sleeping toddler again. “He is defiantly a Staal.”

Jared chuckled. “Yes he is. He is all Staal.”

“Thanks for helping me with him.”

“Again, no problem.” I was heading to the kitchen when Jared grabbed my arm. “Hey Allie, can you talk with me for a second?” He asked

“Yeah, sure.” I followed Jared outside to the porch. “What’s up?”

He scratched the back of his neck and looked out across the field. “So I wanted to know how you really feel about Jordan?”

I sat in the chair next to him and played with my hoodie strings. “Can what I say stay between you and me?” I asked quietly.

“Of course.” He sat down so he was now eye level with me.

I sighed. “How do I feel about Jordan? Where to begin?” I smiled to myself. “I really enjoy hanging out with him. I love the way he makes me feel when we hang out.”

“What do you mean?”

“Jordan treats me like I want to be treated by a guy. He respects me, he’s a gentleman, he doesn’t make me feel invisible. I find myself always smiling when I am around him.” I looked to Jared. “I even find myself smiling like a fool when I hear his name or his voice somewhere.” I admitted.

“Allie, I’m just going to ask this even though I already know the answer. You’re not just going after him because of who he is are you?”

I shook my head before answering. “Nope. Sure when Kris first introduced me to him I was freaking out because I was meeting Jordan Staal and would be living with him. But as I got to know him, I began falling for Jordan, the boy who grew up on a sod farm in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Not Jordan Staal the pro hockey player.”

Jared smiled. “Well I’m glad you are falling for him. You are really good for him and we have all noticed a huge change in my brother. I know you can’t see it with him, but we all have. It’s not just his habits either, it’s with everything. He’s a new person and I really hope that you stick around because I’m liking the new Jordan.”

“Well Jared, I’m really hoping I’ll be sticking around as well. I really do like your brother a lot. I may actually already be falling in love with him.” I whispered softly.

“Love, really?” He asked, slightly shocked.

“Yes, love. Jared, I’ve never felt like this about anyone. When Jordan is around I’m the happiest person alive. Like I said, I’m smiling all the time, I can’t always breathe correctly, and my heart goes nuts on me.”

Jared stood up and pulled me with him. He pulled me into his chest a gave me a hug. “You are prefect for Jordan and I’m pretty sure he feels the same way about you.” He pulled back and smiled at me.

I smiled back and really felt like I belonged in this family. “Thanks for listening Jared.”

“No problem Allie, I’ll let you go help now and if you even need to talk to someone I‘m here.”

“Thanks Jared,“ I smiled and ventured into the kitchen where dinner was being prepared.

*****

Later that night I was in the guest room getting ready for bed when there was a knock on my door. I opened it and saw Jordan standing there with a pair of sweatpants in his hand.

“Put those on.” He said tossing them to me as he walked into the room. “Dad is building a bon fire as we speak and it is cold out there so you are going to want to wear those.”

I whispered my thanks and shut the door. A bon fire with the family sounded like a ton of fun. I loved going to bon fires on the beach with friends back in California. We would try to have one every Friday night if not every night. It was something I was familiar with and comfortable with, sitting around a fire, talking and having a good time.

I didn’t move to put the pants on, instead I just stood there looking at Jordan in his sweatpants and hoodie. Who knew one guy could look so good in sweats? I continued to stand there and stare at him, but he was staring right back at me. I finally moved to sit next to him on the bed and laid my head in his shoulder. He sighed and laid his head on mine and wrapped his arm around me.

I smiled to myself and wished that we would never have to leave this position. But Jordan stood up and started pacing the floor.

“Jordan, what’s up?” I asked him quietly as he continued to pace back and forth.

He stopped and stood in front of me. He didn’t say anything at first, he just stood there and locked eyes with me. My breath caught in my throat as I looked into his eyes, they seemed bluer than normal and they were beautiful. He seemed to be thinking about something because he was spacing out on me.

“What are you thinking about?” I whispered.

He cracked a smile and took a step closer to me. “How do you always know when I’m thinking about something?” He asked the same question I had earlier.

“Because you kind of space out.” I smiled.

Jordan smiled back at me and continued to just stand in front of me looking at me. I instantly began to feel self conscience because I knew my hair was a mess and I didn’t have any make up on. I lifted my hands and started messing with my hair, trying to fix it. I opened my mouth to say something but never got to say it because Jordan was kissing me. He came at me with such force that I toppled over on the bed, but Jordan didn’t care, he kept on kissing me. And it was a kiss like no other, there was something different in this kiss. It was almost like he was staking his claim, telling me that I was his. The butterflies that have taken a permanent residence in my stomach were dancing around like crazy at the way he was kissing me. When we finally broke apart for some much needed air, Jordan rested his forehead against mine. Our eyes stayed locked on each other and he was smiling like a fool.

“Jordan, what is it?” I asked him, running my hand down his cheek. Everything about this felt natural.

He didn’t say anything, he just sat up and pulled me with him. I turned so I was now sitting Indian style on the bed and waited because I knew he wanted to say something, he had that look.

“Allie, do you remember the Christmas party the other night?” He asked slowly. I just nodded and waited for him to continue. “You remember what reason I gave you for my attitude?” I nodded “Well I don’t want to have that attitude anymore.”

I was starting to lose him and I didn’t understand what he was saying. Then it hit me, he was tired of hiding his feelings for me. I tried my damnedest not to smile as I waited for him to finish.

Jordan took a deep breath and took my hand and laced our fingers together. “Allie, what I am trying to say is, I don’t want to hide behind false feelings anymore. I don’t want this to be a secret anymore because I just can’t deal with keeping it.” He took another deep breath. “I don’t know how to say this…What I am trying to say is that I like you, a lot. I don’t want us to be just friends anymore. I want you to be my girlfriend, Allie. I want to go back to Pittsburgh and introduce you to the team as that. So, will you be my girlfriend?”

I couldn’t keep the shit eating grin off my face as soon as those five words left his mouth, the mouth that was now attached to mine in a sweet kiss. All these emotions were flying through my body at once. I was so happy, scared, excited, and I even wanted to cry, but I just let them mix and showed Jordan how I felt.

“Yes Jordan, I would love to be your girlfriend.” Finally

Jordan didn’t say anything, he just wrapped me into a hug and pulled me into his chest. I wrapped my arms around his waist and rested my head on his chest smiling. We continued to sit in each others arms for a few more minutes before we made our way down to the fire hand and hand. When we got out there everyone was already seated around it. Tanya and Eric were cuddled together under a blanket on one chair. Marc was sitting next to them, Linda on the other side of the couple, Henry on her other side, and Jared on the other side of Henry. Jordan pulled a chair in between Jared and Marc while I started pulling one between Linda and Tanya, but Jordan grabbed my arm and pulled me into his lap.

“Hey everyone, I want to introduce you to my girlfriend” Jordan laughed as we got settled in the chair.

Linda and Tanya smiled at me and I saw the other Staal boys give Jordan a look. I began blushing at all the attention we were drawing, but no one paid us any more attention and good thing too because Jordan couldn’t keep his hands to himself.

As the night continued on the amount of people around the fire got smaller. Linda and Henry went upstairs to go to bed, but I really knew they were giving the us kids time to ourselves, which Marc, Eric, and Jared took advantage of. As soon as the parents were out of ear shot they began picking on us and Eric and Marc even attempted to give me the ‘you hurt my little brother and I will hurt you’ speech, but we couldn’t stop laughing while they did it because they knew I wasn’t going to hurt him. Tanya took it upon herself to give Jordan the same speech for my sake, but he knows that he’s going to get it as soon as we get back to Pittsburgh. Not just from Alaina, I’m pretty sure he will get it from Kris and Vero as well. I laughed to myself at how that was going to go down.

After about an hour of us having unsupervised fun, Marc claimed that the boys needed to go have a shootout or two before heading to bed, so that left Tanya and I to have some girl time. About an hour or so later we heard Parker calling for Tanya on the baby monitor so she had to go inside, which left me alone to think.

I was so happy that Jordan and I were finally official. I wasn’t scared anymore about losing him to another girl or wondering if I was just wasting my time chasing him. I pulled my phone out of my hoodie pocket and sent Alaina a text not caring about the charges I was racking up.

NEW MESSEGE: Best Friend Forever <3
Jordan asked me to be his gf!!

I smiled as I pressed send and waited for her reply

NEW MESSAGE: Best Friend Forever <3
OMG finally! So are you happy now?

REPLY: Best Friend Forever <3
YES! XD I haven’t stopped smiling

“Why haven’t you stopped smiling?” Someone asked from behind me.

I jumped and turned my head so I could see the person even though I didn’t need to see them to know who it was because my heart skipped as soon as I heard his voice.

“Because this guy that I really like finally got his head out of his ass and asked me to be his girlfriend.” I squealed when Jordan tipped my chair backwards.

“And who is this guy? Do I need to beat the shit out of him?” He asked, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

“Oh no one, just this really hot, sweet, professional hockey player.” I smirked.

“What’s his name?”

“Eric Staal.” I said without missing a beat. I couldn’t hold in the laughter that was building. Jordan let go of my chair with a slight chuckle, and I went flying forward. Luckily I didn’t fall out of it because if I did I would have landed in the fire and that would have been a horrible end to a great night.

Jordan was pulling me out of chair and he gave me a hard tug, causing me to crash into his chest. He wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me even closer into him. His mouth was by my ear and the feel of his warm breath on my neck was causing me to shiver with pleasure.

“That was not funny.” He growled. “You. Are. Mine.”

Normally if a guy would have said that to me I would have been pissed, but hearing Jordan tell me I was his and no one else’s turned me on. I stood up on my tip toes so that my mouth was level with Jordan’s ear.

“I like hearing you say that.” I whispered and he growled.

I snickered and turned to walk inside, because if I were to stay there with him, I would say something and one thing will lead to another, and I didn’t want to do that right now. I made it all the way to my room before I could say anything. I crawled into the bed and pulled out my phone to call Alaina since I haven‘t really talked to her since I left for California.

Midway through our conversation, Jordan came into my room.

“Layn, I’ll see you in two days. Say hi to Kris, Sid and the rest of the boys, oh and V for me.” I said not waiting for her reply. I placed my phone on the night stand and laid there staring at my boyfriend. “May I help you?”

“I just wanted to kiss my girlfriend goodnight and wish her a Merry Christmas.” He said leaning over me.

I smiled up at him before he placed his lips on mine. “Mmm, goodnight Jordan and Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas, baby. Sleep well.” He kissed my forehead and headed out of the room.

I laid there, still in Jordan’s sweats and my hoodie, thinking about how everything was changing. I moved away from home with my best friend, my parents were getting a divorce, both of them are seeing new people, my mom is pregnant, and Alaina and I were finally dating our dream guys. Some of the changes were bad but others were good and getting better. Jordan’s family welcomed me with open arms and I even got invited to the family cook out tomorrow for Boxing Day. I couldn’t be happier to be involved in the family activities since my family didn’t do things like this.

I turned to my side and looked out the window and across the moonlit field as snow began to fall from the sky. What a wonderful end to a wonderful day, I thought to myself as I drifted off to sleep.

I was up early the next day getting everything ready for the party. Linda, Tanya, and I were permanent fixture in the kitchen getting all the cooking done, while the boys where setting everything up and making space. I was standing at the sink doing some dishes, when I looked out the window and saw Eric and Jared shoveling a path from the house to the barn. I'm pretty sure they weren't having fun outside, due to the fact there were about 7-10 inches of snow on the ground.

The snow amazed me, Jordan had dragged my ass outside as soon as I woke up for a snowball fight. It was a rather rude awakening, because I am not use to cold weather, but once I got use to it, it was tons of fun. Everyone joined in, even Henry and Linda, but after about an hour we had to stop because we needed to finish getting ready and running out of time.

Soon Jordan’s family and friends began showing up, quickly filling the house. As more people showed up my nerves began to get the best of me and hiding in the bedroom was sounding better and better, but Jordan picked up on my feelings and stuck by my side or made sure one of his brothers were with me, which I was thankful for. When the last person left, I couldn't have been happier. To me, meeting new people was overwhelming, all because you have to make a good impression, especially if you are being introduced as ‘Jordan‘s girlfriend‘. Once everything was cleaned up, I dragged myself upstairs so I could start packing my things since Jordan and I were heading back to Pittsburgh in the morning. Once I had everything packed, I climbed into bed and fell right to sleep.