Deep End

They beat Bridget and Adam to the room.

Standing just inside the doorway they regard the two beds warily. It feels something akin to walking into a war zone. Watch your step, lest you step on a landmine and destroy yourself. According to the man at the desk, the beds are both doubles, but Kris thinks with a gulp that they look far smaller than that.

He doesn’t like to brag, but Kris knows he’s a pretty solid guy. He’s got some height, and while he doesn’t have as much width across the chest as some guys, years of hockey have filled him out with hardened muscle. He will have to suck in and lie right against the edge of the bed to give her any room at all.

Skylar doesn’t seem to feel any awkwardness as she walks closer and stands between the two beds, turning from one to the other. After regarding them both for a long moment, attempting to judge any potential pitfalls in the decision, she flops down heavily on the bed closest to the bathroom, then rolls all the way across it to the other side. She sits up, grins at him and pats the bed beside her.

Inside though, her heart pounds so hard it’s a wonder he can’t hear it from his stance across the room. She almost puts a hand to her chest, certain she would be able to feel her heart threatening to break right through her clavicle. Sleeping in the same bed with a man is something she doesn’t have much experience with and she most certainly doesn’t have any experience with a guy like Kris Letang.

“Meet your standards?” he finally manages to say something into the empty space and he moves across the room just as Bridget and Adam tumble through the door with a laugh.

“I’m going to get changed.” Skylar announces and drags her bag behind her into the bathroom. For the second time, Kris is left alone with Bridget and Adam. An awkward silence descends on the room, broken only by the sounds of Skylar trying to maneuver into her pyjamas in the bathroom.

“That’s a nice bag.” Bridget says, pointing at the bathroom door. Kris bristles. He used to think Bridget’s sarcastic judgments were funny, but for the first time he is beginning to sense her caustic undertones.

“It never gets lost in the airport. And orange is her favourite colour.” He doesn’t leave the comment open for discussion, throwing his bag down on the bed and searching for something to wear to bed.

“I’m wiped babe, let’s get into bed.” Adam says behind him and Kris is grateful when Bridget sighs in resignation and throws her own bag next to Adam’s on the bed.

Skylar emerges from the bathroom wearing sweatpants and a Pittsburgh Penguins t-shirt. She grins at Kris as he passes her on his way to the bathroom.

“Thought you’d enjoy this.” She tells him quietly, just for him, taking a pinch of her shirt in her fingers and shaking it at him. He grins back, noticing again how she somehow manages to displace all his tension. He comes back out of the bathroom wearing an outfit remarkably similar to Skylar’s – sweatpants and a Pittsburgh Penguins t-shirt of his own.

“Matching.” She whispers to him across the bed when he sits down beside her, this time taking a pinch of his shirt between her fingers.

“We know how to look good.” Or at least, he thinks they do, until Bridget and Adam emerge from the bathroom. Bridget wears a spaghetti strap tank top and silk short shorts; Adam wears sweatpants and is bare-chested. Kris rolls over to face away from them as they slip into bed and he meets Skylar’s wide eyes and raised brow. He shrugs and reaches behind him blindly to flick off the lights, leaving them in near darkness.

When he is sure it is safe, he rolls over onto his back and lies there as still as he can, trying to gauge without looking if he is leaving enough room between himself and Skylar. The side of his arm is balancing precariously on the edge of the bed, so however much room he has left between them will have to suffice, if he moves over any further he will fall off the bed.

Skylar, determined not to let awkwardness settle in and keep her restless all night, rolls over to sleep on her stomach and spread eagles out over her half of the bed. When she wakes later in the night to a strange sound, Kris’ left ankle is hooked over her right, the only spot where their bodies touch. She lies still and strains her ears to decipher the sound that woke her.

A few moments later, her eyes fly open and meet Kris’ gaze as she realizes what the sound is. Judging from the look on Kris’ face, he has come to the same conclusion.

“Are they...?” she mouths through the dark and lifts one finger to gesture toward the bed across the room.

He confirms with a nod, looking bewildered and unsettled. Adam and Bridget’s bed emits an especially loud squeak and Skylar’s shoulders convulse in a laugh. Kris slides closer across the bed and slaps a hand over her mouth, putting his own finger to his lips. He can feel Skylar pressing her lips together beneath his palm, trying to contain herself, but her shoulders only shake harder. He finds himself biting his own tongue and a moment later, she slaps her hand over his mouth to stop him from laughing. They lie pressed almost together in the center of the bed, hands over each other’s mouths.

When the soft moans and rocking bed continue, Skylar scrunches her face up in awkward displeasure and pulls the blanket over her and Kris’ heads. She slides far enough down the bed that she is lying flat without a pillow and motions for Kris to follow suit. She uses the four pillows they leave behind to hold up the blanket, effectively creating a fort for them. She reaches down to the floor behind her and he can hear her rummaging in her bag before her hand reappears clutching an iPod.

She sticks one earpiece in her ear and proffers the other one to him. He takes it gladly and waits while she scrolls through her music library. She settles on a song and the opening notes drown out everything but her eyes and their trapped body heat.

When he wakes in the morning, their sleepy shifting has pulled the blanket down around them, leaving only a small pocket of air between their faces, their legs tangled together.

He opens one eye a crack and finds Skylar staring back at him, mouthing something. He starts to recognize the song playing into his ear as he rubs the sleep from his eyes.

‘Wake me up before you go-go, I’m not planning on going solo’

He shakes his head into the pillow and laughs when she wiggles around on the bed in a little dance.

“Excellent wake up song.” She says, doing an exaggerated fist pump.

He chuckles again, humouring her with a little hip shimmy of his own as he pulls down the blanket to peek out into the room. Light streams through the slotted blinds of the far window. In the bed beside them, Bridget and Adam are lying in a heap, dead to the world.

The bed dips and he turns his head to see Skylar extricating herself from their blanketed shelter and moving to stand beside the bed, stretching both arms above her head and arching backwards. He forces his eyes away from her hip bones as he stands up on his side of the bed and locks his fingers together, stretching his arms out in front of him. When he looks back she is pulling on a hoodie and zipping it all the way up the front while simultaneously shoving her feet into her shoes.

“What are the odds this place has a continental breakfast?” she whispers in a breathy laugh.

“Even if they did, I do not think it would be safe to eat.” He returns, reaching for a sweater of his own and pulling it over his head. He meets her at the end of the bed and dangles his keys in front of her. “Off on a mission.”

“Do you think they have an IHOP? I’ve never been to an IHOP.” She hops from one foot to the other out the door. He shakes his head, can’t wipe the smile off his face at her antics.

“You are a morning person?” She waits until they are outside to answer.

“You know this moment, right here?” she motions to the empty expanse of parking lot before them, “That early morning moment when there’s still dew on the ground and the world isn’t even awake yet? I like that moment.” When they reach the car, she scrawls her name in the dew on the passenger side window before clambering inside and declaring “To IHOP, Jeeves.”

Before he joins her in the car, he scrawls a ‘K’ in the dew at the corner of the driver’s side window and grins crookedly.