I'll Be

Waking up to someone was always nice, Rylo really enjoyed it. Especially the warmth of someone else’s skin against her own, and the chills she would get when someone would breathe against her neck. When Rylo woke up to feel the warmth of Patrick Kane’s skin against hers and chills from Patrick Kane breathing steadily against her neck, she froze. It took a moment for her to relax and just take it for what it was. She was laying with Patrick for a reason, and that reason was simply so he didn’t have to be alone. The feeling of wanting to hop out of the bed and run home before he could stop her was there, but she knew that doing so would be ridiculously stupid of her.

Taking a glimpse at the alarm clock on the other side of the still sleeping Patrick, she noticed that the alarm wasn’t supposed to go off for another half hour. So she slowly slipped out of the bed and tip-toed to the living room to grab her purse. When she picked it up, she made her way to his bathroom. Her finger flipped the switch to turn on the light and was taken aback by how nice it looked. Yeah, she would notice a bathroom looked nice. But then again, her bathroom was ridiculously small and definitely not as nice as this one. She closed the door behind her and poked around to find herself a towel. Not so much to her surprise, quite the large box of condoms was right in front of her face. With a cringe, she grabbed a towel off of the shelf below it. Closing that door was the quickest thing she had ever done, the look of disgust still shown on her face.

After removing her clothing, she grabbed the towel and left it on a hook right outside of the shower. She turned the water on and continued to adjust it to a comfortable temperature before stepping inside. The warm water drenched her hair and trickled along her skin, put her completely at ease. But after some time, the door cracked open, causing Rylo to jump and cover herself with her arms and hands. Patrick caught a glimpse at her and scurried out of the bathroom with a quick apology. This caused Rylo to burst out into laughter and leaned against the cool tiles, sending several chills across her body. After she calmed down, she grabbed the shampoo and squeezed some into her hands.

By the time she finished in the bathroom, she walked out to see Patrick eating a bowl of cereal. A small smile spread across Rylo’s lips as she sat down next to him. “Cinnamon toast crunch? That’s the best cereal on the planet.”

Patrick smiled as he chewed and looked at her, a blush slowly creeping across his cheeks and down his neck. It didn’t escape Rylo’s sight and she began to laugh again, nudging against him. “Are you blushing because you saw me in the shower?”

“Yes, yes I am,” he said with a nod, laughing quietly to himself. “It was a lovely sight to see, don’t get me wrong-”

Rylo faked a look of disgust and got up to grab a bowl of cereal. When she looked back to him to ask where the bowls were, he pointed to a cabinet behind her. She turned and grabbed one, retreating back to where she was sitting. Reaching out in front of him, she pulled the box and carton of milk towards her. Filling the bowl with both and was handed a clean spoon from him. While she ate, he got up and stood in front of her, leaning against the bar. With her mouth full of chewed up cereal, she mumbled out, “What’re you staring at?”

“You, obviously,” he started. “So…do you absolutely have to go to work today?”

She swallowed her last bite and tilted her head. “Um not necessarily…why do you ask?”

“You need some club outfits.” He stated with a shrug.

“How do you know that I don’t already have some?”

“No offense, but it doesn’t seem like you attend clubs much.” Patrick smiled, showing his dimples.

“Ugh, stop with the dimples, I’ll call off of work today. But just this once,” she said in defeat. When she finished her cereal, she placed the dish in her sink. “But um…can we stop at my apartment first? I don’t want to wear these two days in a row,” she said, looking down at her clothing.

“Sure thing, Ry,” he nodded, flashing his dimples again.

When they got to her apartment, Patrick sat down on the couch while Rylo quickly made her way to her bedroom. He sigh contently and patiently waited for her. A short fifteen minutes later, she emerged. Her hair looked nicer than it usually did and the little bit of makeup she had put on brightened her features. It took him a moment to realize that he had been staring at her. Patrick chuckled and they made their way to his Tahoe. She slid onto her seat and buckled up, watching as he did the same. The fact the she was skipping out on work to buy things to wear to a club with him made her want to laugh. But it made Rylo feel much better than she usually did; sometimes she needed a little break but never let herself have it.

The drive wasn’t exactly a long one and it wasn’t exactly a short one either. At some point, he had put a CD in and a few various songs played. Her laughter couldn’t be contained when ‘Chelsea Dagger’ blared through the speakers. “Oh, you would!” she joked, and he offered a toothy grin. Rylo sang along word for word, smiling as Patrick joined her. They looked at each other when he stopped at a red light before his gaze went back to the lights. His smile stayed there, even as he pulled into a parking spot.

“Ya know,” he began. “You should sing ‘Chelsea Dagger’ when the team scores a goal instead. I like the way you sing.”

“Oh please.” A blush made itself known after he complimented her. “I’m not that good.”

“Yeah you are, don’t underestimate yourself. I’ll tell you all the time if I have to.”

Patrick held the door for her and she walked into the store, looking around intently. Quickly she spotted the shoes and walked over to them. Usually, she wasn’t that much of a shoe person; but when she saw a cute pair of red high heels, that was it. Rylo held the pair up for him to see. “What do you think of these?”

“They’re hot,” Patrick said as he nodded in approval.

When Rylo found her size, she handed the box over for him to hold onto. Doing so made it easier for her to look around. Dresses were a definite to her and looked each of them over. After picking out five, she went to try them on and motioned for Patrick to follow her. There was a chair in the corner of the dressing room where he sat down and waited for her to come out in the first one. Nothing could have prepared him for when she stepped out in the first one. It took him by surprise how amazingly the dress fit Rylo. The dress was black and had a layer of lace, stopping a few inches shy of her knees. Her smile was huge and in return, he smiled as well.

“This dress is bangin’,” she joked. “No, but really, I really do love it. This is a keeper.”

“I can definitely agree with that, Ry. You look amazing,” he said as he continued to look her over. “Next one!”

After disappearing back into the dressing room, she began looking over her options. The next one she picked out was black and strapless with a mesh leopard side detail. She slipped it on and looked herself over, deciding this was definitely a keeper. It fit her perfectly and was just sexy enough to get a little bit of attention. When she once against stepped out, it didn’t surprise her much that his jaw hung open. Rylo put a hand on her hip and used the other to push his jaw up. As she removed her hand, she turned and walked back in. The next few dresses were also a thumbs up.

When Rylo walked out of the dressing room with the ones she was going to purchase slung over her arm, Patrick took them from her. “What’re you doing?”

“Buying them for you,” he said sternly, even though a smile had appeared once again.

“The fuck you are, give them back.”

Patrick’s free hand came to rest on her shoulder. “Oh shut it, Ry. You’re doing me a favor, so I’m doing you one.”

With a roll of her eyes, she followed him towards the checkout counter, completely defeated. It honestly kind of bothered her that he was buying her outfits. Rylo didn’t usually like other people buying things for her, but she knew attempting to talk the Patrick Kane out of it would be out of the question. She watched as he paid the cashier and flashed his charming smile. They walked out together, her arms were crossed and he looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

“Oh come on, Rylo,” he groaned. “How about you buy us lunch and tickets to a movie, will that make you feel better?”

“Actually, I think that might,” she said cheerfully. “What are you in the mood for?”

As they got into his Tahoe, he continued to ponder. “Perhaps Italian?”

Rylo nodded in agreement and looked over at him. “Sounds fantastic.”

When they arrived at the restaurant, a host walked them to a table in the back. Patrick pulled back the seat for her before he sat down in his own. The host handed them their menus and walked away. She opened her menu and began looking over the options. For a moment, she looked up from her menu and saw how he had his tongue was poking out from the corner of his mouth, looking completely concentrated like picking out what to eat was a life decision. It made her smile for a moment before looking back down.

The waiter sauntered up to them and asked for their orders. They both wound up ordering the same chicken and pasta dish, making them chuckle at each other when said waiter had disappeared towards to kitchen. Conversations between the two of them came easy. It differed from hockey to what Rylo went to college for. For a while, they even went over how their method would work at the club. They felt confident about it, and Rylo couldn’t lie to herself about the way she felt when Patrick winked at her. Her heart jumps and her nerves fluttered, and she tried her best to play it off by taking a sip of her water.

She silently thanked the waiter in her mind when he returned with their dishes. Her mouth instantly began to water when she got a look at what she was about to eat. It looked extremely amazing and when she picked up her for and put some of the macaroni into her mouth, it was like a piece of heaven was given to her. Patrick looked at her completely amused as he ate it like it was peanut butter and jelly.

“What?” she mumbled. “Do I have sauce on my face?”

Now he was full on laughing, causing her to blush a deep crimson. “No, it’s not that,” he started after calming down a bit. “You look like you’ve never eaten anything this good before.”

“I haven’t,” she replied. “It’s like God has given birth in my mouth.”

A few hours later, they had finished lunch and went to see the movie ‘Bridesmaids’ together. Much to Rylo’s surprise, Patrick enjoyed the movie as much as she did. He drove them back to his apartment in a comforting silence with nothing but the radio on. During the drive, she texted Niki and told her about the day her and Patrick spent together. But of course, Niki pulled the whole “Rylo and Paddy sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g,” even nothing had happened. Rylo definitely didn’t have feelings for him, and there was nothing to convince her otherwise, or was there? She shook the thoughts from her head quickly when he stopped the car. They both got out and Rylo grabbed her new outfits.

Rylo followed him into his apartment and set her things back down to where they were that morning. While she flopped down his couch, he went through his fridge to grab a bottle of water and a beer. He made his way to the couch and handed her the bottle of water before sitting down next to her. The TV was turned on to some strange health show that had to do with doctors talking about interesting patient experiences. Patrick took a sip of his beer and turned to look at her, Rylo looked back when she noticed him looking out the corner of her eye. She raised an eyebrow curiously and all she got was a shrug.

“A shrug doesn’t tell me anything, ya know.”

“It’s just interesting watching how your facial expression changes,” he said against the mouth of the bottle before taking another long sip.

Tying to come up with a reply to that was a ridiculous idea, especially since there is no way of explaining it. In fact, she had no idea that her facial expressions varied like that. It almost made her wonder if that made her easy to read.

By the time Patrick stood up from the couch, she knew that she had fallen asleep for a couple of hours. She slowly sat up and followed him to the kitchen. When Rylo got to his side, she leaned into him gently and felt his arm circle around her back. A gentle kiss was placed against her forehead before he let go to get something from the freezer. With a yawn, she made her way over to the seat was in earlier in the day and sat down. When she looked up, he was holding a box of frozen pizza.

“It’s not delivery.” Patrick’s eyebrows wiggled, causing Rylo to giggle. “You want to go to the club after this?”

“Sure,” Rylo said, still clearly amused.

“Cool.” He smiled at her before placing the pizza into the now heated oven.

They stared at the oven together, as if it would get the pizza to heat up faster. If anything, it seemed to take longer. In attempt to pass the time, Patrick pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil and began to create a tic tac toe board. He handed her the pencil and when she took it, the look she gave him was pure competition. In return he smirked while she drew a circle in the top center box. When the pencil was handed back, he drew an x in the space below. Rylo won the three rounds they played. Her nose was pointed a little higher and a smirk was spreading across her lips and Patrick just wasn’t sure if he should stare or not. So instead, he turned around and pulled the pizza from the oven.

“I let you win, ya know,” Patrick said after swallowing a bite of his pizza.

Her head was tilted back as she took a sip from her soda and Patrick could still see her eyes roll in protest. “Bullshit, Kane. I beat you fair and square.”

“Sure you did,” he grumbled.

Patrick hopped out of his chair and started to clean up the kitchen while walked away to change her outfit. When he was sure she was gone, he looked down at the games of tic tac toe they played together only moments before. It got him wondering why he had never come across her before. She absolutely amazed him; not like other girls have. Other girls wanted to sleep with him; other girls ran up to him and screamed I love you. Yeah, it is really fucking amazing. Getting to go home with whatever girl he wanted and they’d be gone the next day.

There was a major difference in what was amazing about those girls, and what is amazing about Rylo. Rylo wants to go see him to make sure he’s okay and offers a comforting embrace. Rylo doesn’t scream I love you and run off. Rylo instead, is his wing-woman, his friend, the one he goes to because right now, going to Jonathan or the rest of his teammates, or his other friends, or his sisters, or his parents, was definitely out of the question. Sure, she seemed convenient, but Patrick was actually beginning to really like her, and could tell that they were going to be friends for a really long time. With that, he picked up that sheet of tic tac toe and placed it in a drawer with various new paper clippings.

And just as he pushed the drawer shut, she walked out of his room. It was as sight to see and he couldn’t help but stare for a moment too long. That black laced dress looked so much better than it did when she tried it on and the way her legs looked so much longer and so much more graceful with those red high heels. Rylo must have noticed because she did a little turn for him and shrugged as if to say ‘does this look okay?’ and Patrick offered a small smile and a nod. He pushed off from the counter and walked up to her, looking her over again.

“You look fantastic, Ry,” he said softly. “Trying to out shine me?”

“But of course, now don’t be a girl and hurry up,” Rylo said as she watched him walk into his bedroom.

Just as he closed the door, she plopped down on his couch and pulled out her phone. She opened a new message and began typing out a quick message to Niki. “Going to the club tonight as Pat’s wing-woman.”

A few short moments after hitting send, there was one in return. “Oh shit Ry. You don’t have anything to wear!”

“Actually…Pat bought my outfits. I bought him an expensive lunch and tickets to a movie in return.” she replied.

“Wait, did he offer to buy those things for you?”

“He actually took them from me and wouldn’t let me object.”

“Hahahaha. That is fantastic. Did you guys….ya know? (;”

“No! We didn’t snog. Now give me some credit here.”

“Fine, you’re doing excellent, being just friends.”

Rylo looked up at the sound of a door opening, and out walked Patrick. With a smile she gave him a once over and went back to sending Niki a message back. “Patrick is ready to go. He looks really good…” Her phone went off one final time and all she got in return
was another wink. Great.

“Who were you texting?” Patrick asked, even though he was pretty sure it was Niki.

“Niki. And you take quite some time to get ready, Patrick,” she said with a hint of sarcasm.

“Yeah, yeah. I gotta look good for the girls.”

“I think you succeeded,” she laughed before smacking him his ass playfully.

By the time they were standing outside of the club, her nerves began to come to life. The nerves she was feeling weren’t bad, and in fact, were very good. Going to clubs were never her thing and for once, she took this moment to let herself go. They walked in together and Rylo took the moment to take in her surroundings. There were people rubbing up on each other, people sitting at the bar drinking… Of course Patrick acted like it was nothing new because well, it just wasn’t. He could see her looking around and took her by the hand to lead her over to the bar.

They sat side by side and she watched as he was drinking his beer at a faster rate, while she was still nursing the one she had. Such a lush, Rylo thought to herself. It wasn’t long before he spotted a girl at the end of the bar. Long blond hair, a ton of cleavage and looking for a guy to go home with; the martini she was sipping rather seductively seemed to be just what Patrick needed. He looked back to Rylo with an eyebrow raised, and it made her want to vomit. She just smiled and winked in return before getting up to dance. As she made her way over, she turned back to see Patrick take the blond’s hand and walk to the dance floor.

Rylo got curious to see how he did things and enough so that she instead made her way to one of the lounge chairs in the corner. It wasn’t hard to pick them out again. The way he touched her hip and the way he let her press into him. Yeah, that was the one she was going to be driving around tonight. Her attention was brought back to her when someone tapped her shoulder. She looked up to see that it was Niki and quickly she jumped up and puller her into a hug.

“How did you know which one I would be at?” Rylo asked as she pulled away.

“I went to a few clubs and asked the bouncers if they had seen anyone matching your description, then bam, here you are!” Niki said with pride.

“A little creepy, Niki.” As serious as Rylo tried to sound, it failed because she began to laugh.

“Hey, I knew you’d be a little uncomfortable watching him pick up chicks.”

“It’s kind of boring too,” Rylo started. “I would love to wiggle against people.”

Niki began to laugh and grabbed Rylo by the wrist to get out on the dance floor. It didn’t surprise Rylo much at all that she was brought a few feet away from Patrick and the blond. Instead of dwelling too much on it, she began to dance with her best friend and let her thoughts get lost in the music. But that only lasted so long because she then felt Niki tap her arm and motioned her to look to her left. What she was watching didn’t surprise her much, and it was almost a pathetic sight. The blond was now facing him and attacking his neck with her tongue, Patrick seemed to like it because his eyes were closed and his mouth was open just a bit. Her and Niki continued to watch as they kept dancing.

Patrick looked over, looking like he was in pure bliss, and it had Rylo and Niki about to burst into laughter. They contained themselves and gave him a thumbs up, acting as if that was such an excellent choice. Then she noticed the look in his eyes, completely full of lust and need. She nodded in his direction and then looked back at Niki. Niki was currently giggling at how they were communicating with each other.

At that moment, Patrick approached with the blond. “Tiffany, this is my driver Rylo and her friend Niki. They’ll be driving us back to my apartment. I’m a little too drunk.”

“Nice to meet you,” Rylo and Niki said in unison. The look they got in return was so territorial that when Patrick and Tiffany were out of ear shot, they began to laugh.

“That’s just sad,” Niki said, looking over to her best friend who had a look of disgust forming on her face.

“You’re coming with me though, right?” she glanced over. “Please say you are, I can’t face this night alone."

As they started walking out together, Niki smiled. “Of course I am, we can just pick me car up later.”

Patrick had his tongue deep inside the blond’s mouth when the two of the approached the Tahoe. It was almost amusing to Rylo how he didn’t break the kiss while searching his pocket for the keys. He tossed them in her direction and they were easily caught. When she unlocked it, the two were scrambling into the back seat. Just the door shut, Niki burst into laughter and looked over towards Rylo with as much sympathy as she could muster through her look of amusement.

They both got into the front and Rylo started the short drive to Patrick’s apartment complex. The moans and laughter coming from Patrick and the obnoxious blond were enough for her to put on the radio. She looked over at Niki long enough to see her mouth the words ‘thank you’. At least she thought the drive would be shorter, but it felt like it took an hour to pull into his parking space. Patrick walked ahead of herself and Niki with his arm draped over Tiffany’s shoulders. She rolled her eyes as she followed them to his apartment. Seeing how Patrick worked was really quite interesting. He may even been trying too hard, but the club floozies are obviously a little too far gone to care.

Rylo picked up the remote from the end table and sat down next to Niki. At this point, Patrick was in his room with his new toy. As she flipped through the channels, a load moan came from the girl he was no doubt fucking at this point. They looked at each other in disgust and decided that turning the volume of the television up a decent amount would do them some good. It in fact did do them so good…for five minutes. By that point, they decided they would just step outside for a while.

“Holy shit, Rylo, he must be a beast in bed,” Niki said in amusement. “You’re going to have to deal with that for quite some time.”

“I hate being such a good person sometimes,” she groaned in return. “He’s really…vocal.”

“Oh he definitely is. He says ‘oh fuck, yeah right there’ a lot.” She looked over to see Rylo trying to contain her laughter. “Hey, I feel really bad for you, believe me. But I’m not sticking around next time.”

“I wouldn’t ask you to. I think you’ve witnessed enough.” With that, Rylo’s phone began to vibrate. It was a text from Patrick that said ‘I’m done, please get her out of here’ which had her laughing all over again.

Niki put her hand on her hip and looked down at the text message before laughing herself. “Okay, I’m going with you because I need to pick up my car.”

They both walked back inside and saw Tiffany stand there waiting to leave. Patrick tossed Rylo the keys and the three of them walked out to the Tahoe. The walk was silent, and awkwardly so. Even the ride to blondie’s house was awkward; asking directions was like asking a soccer fan a question about hockey. By the time they reached her house, Niki seemed to be rather annoyed by their now departing passenger.

Niki glared over at Rylo and took a deep breath. “That was awful. I have never met someone so…unintelligent to put it nicely.”

“I know and I wonder how many times I’m going to do this before I jump the border and change my name,” she grumbled as she began to drive towards the club. “Going back to his place is going to be interesting.”

“I’m sure it is,” Niki chuckled. “I dare you to kiss him after his mouth was all up on Tiffany.”

“Fuck you,” Rylo said in disgust. “I wouldn’t kiss him even if he hadn’t.”

“Yeah, yeah…I’m sure I’ll be saying ‘I told you so’ at some point,” she replied knowingly.

Rylo laughed as she pulled up next to Niki’s car in a parking lot across the street from the club. When Niki left, she took the time to sit in silence and think about what she was doing. It seemed so ridiculous, and it probably was. But for some reason, she just felt like this all had some sort of purpose. And as she drove back, the thoughts kept swirling around in her head and an unlikely conclusion came to mind.

By the time she walked back up to his apartment, it was easy to see that the lights were off. Regardless, she knocked on the door and waited for him to open the door. Rylo leaned against the door and a few moments later, a very wet Patrick opened the door, causing her to nearly fall over. He laughed as he caught her against him. She wasn’t exactly laughing, especially since the wetness of his skin was seeping into the fabric of her dress. Quickly she pulled away and looked at him as she rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly.

Patrick continued to look at her and couldn’t help but notice how adorable she looked when she was unsure. He began to smile and got a confused look in return, causing him to start laughing. A smack came across his arm, causing him to look down at the red mark forming against his skin. When he looked up, he was face to face with Rylo. There was a smile on her lips, making his heart jump. She took a step back and handed him his keys.

“It’s really late,” Patrick said, looking down at his feet. “You can stay here if you want. I’ll wake you up at eight.”

Rylo just shrugged, her smile never fading. “Can I borrow a shirt to sleep in?”

“Of course.” His arm wrapped around her waist as they walked into his room. Patrick looked around a bit before grabbing one of his jerseys. “Here you go,” he said softly. When he handed it over to her, it kind of surprised him to see her eyes get as wide as they did.

“Wow, your team USA jersey,” her voice full of admiration. “You did really well.”

As Patrick sat down on his bed, Rylo could tell she struck a soft spot. Way to go, Rylo Callaghan! It made her almost regret saying anything out loud. Actually, she was completely regretting it. She got down on her knees in front of him and rested her hands against each side of his face. “Oh come on, Patrick. If it weren’t for you, the team wouldn’t have made it into overtime. I was so proud to see you on that team, and even more proud seeing you make that goal. Please don’t beat yourself up.”

He rested his forehead against hers and pulled her into his arms. When she hugged him back with everything she had, Patrick knew that Rylo was going to be his saving grace.