Stupid Boy

Thursday, May 13. 2010

“Are you sure that this is what you want to do?” Callie asked concerned as she looked over at her friend whose foot, whilst she was sitting with her legs crossed, kept bounding up and down in what could only be described as a very nervous patterned.

“No,” Jennie shook her head slowly. “But it is what I have to do,” she added. “It’s like you said, I had two choices, and now I've chosen.”

“As long as it’s what will make you happy,” Callie smiled softly at her.

“I am,” Jennie nodded slowly, subconsciously tightening her grip on the armrests as a voice came through the speakers, and in German explaining that they were quickly approaching the airport and would be touching down in the matter of minutes.

She had flown many, many times during her lifetime and yet the takeoff and landing never got any better.

Squeezing her eyes shut as the plane started descending more rapidly by the second and her stomach moved higher at a similar rate of speed, she could feel her friend chuckling softly from beside her. She might have been the globetrotter of the two of them, she might find her way around pretty much any airport or train station in the whole of Europe and most of the world, but it was still Callie – who barely left their home country – who was cool as a cucumber whenever they flew together. It annoyed Jennie to brink of madness…

‘He bloody well better be worth this…’





Friday, May 14. 2010

Most of the team in the midst of returning up to their floors after a joint lunch in the downstairs restaurant, TJ stopped and leaned back against the opposite side of the hallway as Taylor got his keycard out and opened the door to their room. Pushing himself away from the wall and crossing the hallway, he followed his friend into the room only to almost run straight into his back.

Opening the door like usual, Taylor had stopped midstride as he stepped inside of the hotel room and slowly turning around, he came face-to-face with a very annoyed TJ.

“What the hell is your problem?” TJ frowned irritably. “Just go in already.”

“There’s a woman in our room,” Taylor replied evenly, successfully stunning his old college teammate. It wasn't so much the ‘woman in our room’ part that rendered TJ speechless – it had after all happened many times before – it was more the fact that when they left the room a while earlier, the room had been completely empty…

“What?” TJ questioned frowning before pushing passed the tall defenseman only to freeze midstride himself as he saw that there was indeed a woman in their hotel room. A woman whom he recognized very well… “Get out,” he ordered his friend without even looking over at him.

“But my napt…” Taylor began protesting only to shut up after the pointed and somewhat angry look he got.

“Get out!” TJ repeated along with literally pushing his friend towards the door before returning his surprised gaze towards the woman who was currently holding most of his heart in her hands.

Glancing between the woman and his friend, Taylor could only guess who she was and from experience he knew that it was better to just leave now and try to find somewhere else to take his pre-game nap.

The door closing with a soft thud behind his roommate, TJ took a few more steps into the room, his eyes never wavering from the woman who was occupying most of this thoughts day as well as night.

She was sitting on the edge of one of the beds – his bed, his mind screamed at him – with her legs crossed and looking strangely in place as she was wearing skinny jeans that all but looked painted onto her lean legs in a horrendous, overly washed-out denim color and for the tenth of a second, he noted that whilst usually ugly, the color looked amazing on her. Especially as she’d paired them with a black tank top that in his opinion showed way too much cleavage to be worn in public.

“What are you…?” he trailed off bewildered as he let his eyes trail over her, silently wondering if she was an image conjured up by his own, slightly deranged mind in an attempt to finally push him off that proverbial cliff. But she was looking straight at him, her face mostly void of any emotions and her eyes were guarded as her foot bounced up and down slightly.

“I don’t break my promises,” she replied evenly, clearly spotting the hurt that flashed across his blue eyes and her heart ached slightly as all she wanted to do was to reach out and touch him, wrap her arms around him. But she knew better. “I promised you that I was going to be here, so I am,” she stated simply.

“Right,” he nodded slowly and she had to bite down on her bottom lip as she saw the tiny spark of hope that had formed in his eyes as he first saw her extinguish faster than she could say water.

Observing him as he seemingly decided to find the right words to keep a conversation going, she couldn’t help but notice just how…worn out almost, he looked. His usual so carefree attitude and appearance was rigid and his face looked tired, like he hadn't quite slept in days. Even his ridiculous choice in hairstyle – that very surprisingly wasn't covered in a ball cap – looked worse than usual.

“You look like death warmed over,” she noted quietly, causing his gaze to immediately snap up and meet hers again.

“Thanks,” he replied dryly, regretfully noticing that she looked anything but heartbroken. From what he knew, girls wallowed and used food as comfort when they got hurt or got their heart broken, but…maybe he just hadn't meant that much to her…

“Just stating a fact,” she shrugged slightly, glancing down at her foot as a slight blush passed over her cheeks. This was not why she was there… Sighing softly, she leaned forwards slightly on her knee and closed her eyes for a moment, knowing that the awkwardness and tension between them would never lessen if she didn’t get out why she was there. “Who was…is she?” she asked, leaving no room for misgivings about whom she meant.

“No one,” he replied quickly, shaking his head as he did.

“Obviously,” she snorted sarcastically. “Since she had your number and all,” she retorted with a dark look in her eyes. She’d been lied to many times and she didn’t like it.

“She really is no one,” he sighed, running his fingers through his hair as he looked at her, desperately wanting her to understand. “She’s someone I met in New York a couple of years ago, and I ran into her when we were back there,” he admitted, realizing why she was there. “It really didn’t mean anything,” he insisted.

“Yeah, cause infidelity just happens,” she said under her breath, the look in her eyes keeping him from moving closer to her or sitting down somewhere in the room. “Why?” she asked softly. “I mean…” she trailed off, not exactly sure what she wanted to know. “If something was wrong between us why didn’t you just tell me?” she inquired. “We could have worked it out or I could have…I mean, I could have left and gone home if being together with me wasn't what you wanted,” she finished softly, unable to look at him as she did.

“There…” he said quickly. “There wasn't anything wrong between us and I definitely didn’t want you to go back home,” he said honestly. “I love you.”

“Then why did you cheat on me?” she asked softly, feeling like her heart was suddenly out in the open, on display for everyone to see. “Cause knowing that you could sleep with someone else when you're with me, it hurts more than knowing that you didn’t want to be with me ever could,” she said honestly.

“I don’t know,” he said honestly. “Cause I was stupid and immature and I didn’t realize what I stood to lose if I did it,” he sighed reluctantly. He hated seeing her hurt and he knew her, she wouldn’t stop halfway, she would want to know everything. “I'm…” he trailed off as he averted his gaze from her for only a second before locking eyes with her again, honesty shining in his blue eyes. “Everything was just moving forwards so quickly that I got scared,” he admitted. “I’d never been in a relationship that…I've never lived with anyone I've dated before you,” he pointed out in a struggle to find the right words to use.

“Neither have I,” she pointed out softly as she looked up at him.

“I love you,” he stated, ignoring the look on her face as he walked across the room and crouched down in front of her, placing his hands on her thighs. “I never wanted to hurt you, it was just that everything was happening so quickly that I…that I got scared, and…”

“You don’t think that I was scared?” she questioned, successfully interrupting him as she did. “I moved across the world for you, and yes that was by my own choosing, but I left everything, literally everything, behind when I did,” she pointed out softly. “I didn’t have anything in St Louis, my whole safety net was neatly tucked away in a box somewhere back at my parents place and…you said you did it cause you missed me!” she snapped at him, trying to push his hands away from her thighs at the same time as she tried to keep her suddenly building tears at bay.

“I…”

“You don’t think I missed you?” she questioned seriously, taking no notice of his try to say something. “I didn’t have a job, I know five people, at the most, in that city and I barely know my way around and I was alone,” she pointed out. “I missed you more than I can ever explain; I was starting to doubt myself and second guess my decision and I still didn’t locate the closest bar in an attempt to hook up with someone to take the edge off.”

Unable to keep her gaze as her blue eyes filled with hurt and betrayal, he looked down at her knees where his hands was resting, silently realizing just how much she’d been hurt by his actions. He had cheated on girlfriends of his before and it wasn't something that he was proud of, but it was a part of his life way back when, at a time when no one raised an eyebrow at it as it was almost expected of him.

“I'm sorry,” he said honestly, looking back up at her once again, unable to keep from reaching up and brushing away the stray tears that had trickled down her cheeks with the rough pads of his thumbs. “I'm so sorry that I hurt you.”

“I cannot begin to describe just how much you hurt me,” she replied, equally as honest. “And if you ever…if you even think about doing something like that again, something even remotely similar to it, you won’t even know what hit you and I promise you that you will never see me again.”

Watching her for a moment, his hands still resting on her cheeks, the realization of what she’d just said didn’t dawn on him immediately, but when it did he couldn’t keep from reaching up and pressing his lips against hers. “I love you,” he mumbled against her lips, not before realizing just how much he’d missed kissing her in the past couple of weeks.

“I love you too,” she smiled softly, the remaining tears rolling down her cheeks despite her efforts to keep them at bay. “And I'm sad to say, but you really are playing like crap,” she said honestly.

“I scored the other day,” he pointed out, smiling slightly as he brushed way the final traces of tears from her cheeks and quickly kissed her once again.

“You need your pre-game nap,” she replied, realizing that despite the lingering hurt from knowing that he was capable of cheating on her, it felt amazing to be back in his arms again.

“Will you be there tonight?” he wondered, almost scared of finding out her answer because despite her acceptance of his apology and in every sense taking him back, he wasn't sure how much he work he would have before him to earn her trust again.

“I guess that means that I’m going to have to wear this,” she said indifferently, arching her eyebrow slightly as well as reaching for something lying just behind of her, something he hadn’t noticed before.

“You're definitely wearing that,” he stated frankly, nodding once, as he saw her hold up the dark bundle of fabric bearing the Team USA insignia as well as a familiar name and number on the back of it. Practically tackling her down onto the bed, the sweater crumpling between them, and lifting her higher up on the bed, his lips quickly found the weak spot on the side of her neck.

Simply knowing that she was willing to fly all the way down to Germany to see him, willing to wear his name and number on her back even after what he’d done to her made him feel on top of the world.

“Okay, yeah, that’s a great idea and all,” she barely had the strength to stop him as his hand slipped under the hem of her top, “but you really need that pre-game nap if you're going to be able to perform better at tonight’s game,” she pointed out, smiling slightly.

“But…” he protested, he’d missed her and he really wanted to show her just how much …

“No,” she mouthed, shaking her head slightly as she forced him to roll off her and onto his back next to her. “But I’ll stay right here if you want me to,” she offered, smiling slightly as his arms automatically wrapped themselves around her waist and pulling her closer to him. She’d never really been a cuddly person and she’d always hated sleeping right next to someone, but it was amazing how much had changed as of late…

“I scored that goal for you,” he whispered against the bare skin of her shoulder as he pulled her as close to his chest as possible, not wanting to let even inches separate them.

“Really?” she asked softly, a small smile playing across her lips.

“Yeah,” he nodded against her. She’d texted him right before the game, it was the first sign of life he’d gotten from her since she walked out of their apartment that night. He’d ended up re-reading it more times than he could count, and there were only a few words in text so that was saying something. Mostly they let him know that she was watching the games and she really wasn't impressed by what she was seeing. During the entire 60 minutes of the game, during every shift he’d been out on that ice he’d been everywhere; hoping to do better than he’d done before even if it had ended up been in vain as they’d lost 3-2 to Finland.

“Then you should score me one tonight as well,” she whispered in the quiet room, smiling widely as she felt him chuckled into her loose hair.

“You’re never satisfied,” he commented softly.

“That’s the way you like me,” she retorted teasingly.

Not replying, he simply placed a kiss on her neck right below her earlobe, knowing that she was right.

“How did you even get in here, by the way?” he asked after a moment, realizing that no one was supposed to even have access to their floors during the tournament. Looking down at her, the frown across his forehead deepened as a blush started spreading across her checks.

“Callie,” she smiled embarrassed.

“Your best friend, Callie?” that didn’t make any kind of sense to him…

“Yeah,” she nodded reluctantly. “You probably didn’t notice her, but she was eavesdropping by the reception as you and your roommate, Taylor was it? when you were dropping off your keys earlier,” she admitted sheepishly. “Then, as they had a change of staff, I might or might not have claimed to be your wife who had forgotten her room key.”

“You’re sneaky,” he smirked against the side of her neck, pressing his lips against the smooth skin as he did. “I like it,” he added honestly.

“I knew you would,” she laughed slightly. “I'm serious about me leaving if you ever do anything like that to me ever again,” she said honestly, her tone of voice barely above a whisper.

Tightening his grip around her, he knew that she was dead serious.

She’d never lied to him and there wasn't a single bone in his body that even entertained the thought that she wouldn’t leave him if he broke her trust once again. Her tone of voice was enough to make him never want to test her about it. Brushing his lips against the smooth skin of her neck once again, he silently vowed to never ever do something to jeopardize what he had with her. “I know,” he said softly.

Women like her were few and very far between…