Accidentally In Love

The next morning Jordan, Sidney, Taylor and I took Stephanie to Kings Dominion. I was excited to go since I haven’t been there in a long time, but I was also a little uneasy about it because I was sure Jordan and Sidney would be recognized and that wouldn’t end well for them. Once we were in the park we stuck together for a little bit, but soon Jordan and I got bored of the kiddy area, so we went off on our own to do the other rides. As we walked through the park, Jordan and I acted like any other teenage couple. Pushing each other and being obnoxious, but I didn’t care what other people thought. Jordan and I went on as many rides as we could, people started to recognize him, but they didn’t bother us much.

“Can we ride the Stunt Coaster?” I asked, as we left the underground one.

He smiled. “Sure.”

Hand and hand we made our way across the blacktop to the coaster, where we stood in line for a long time. But Jordan and I filled our time with silly little games and goofing off. Finally it was our turn to get into a car, but Jordan was having difficulties.

“Sir,” the kids said, slightly nervous. “I’m afraid you’re too tall for this ride. I’m going to have to ask you to exit.”

Jordan blushed slightly and made his way to the exit and I undid my belt and followed him, laughing to myself. I wrapped my arms around his waist and chuckled.

“I’m sorry you couldn’t ride it.” I chuckled again.

Jordan looked down at me with a smirk on his lips. “You find this funny?”

I smiled “Uh-huh’ I laughed again. “Why don’t we get some lunch.?” I suggested as we passed the one place I like to eat.

“I was thinking the same thing.”

I just rolled my eyes and lead the way to the restaurant. I told Jordan what to get me and went to find us a table, making sure to get one big enough for Sidney and Taylor to join us as well. Just as I sat down my phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out and saw that I had a text from Sidney.

Where are you guys?”

The Tomb Raider diner place. Tay knows where it is.

I looked up from my phone and noticed that Jordan hadn’t even made it to the line; he was surrounded by fans of all ages. I smiled to myself as Jordan crouched down in front of a little boy. He was so good with his fans, especially the younger ones. I just love watching him interact with them. Jordan must’ve felt my eyes on him because he looked over at me and I could tell he was a little embarrassed about getting swarmed by fans. I smiled at him and waved it off, I was okay with him interacting with his fans. It warmed my heart.

I went back to messing with my phone, when suddenly a shadow fell across the table and me. Thinking it was Taylor, I spun around to give her some snarky comment, but my words were lost in my throat when I noticed it wasn’t Taylor standing behind me. It was the last person on this earth that I wanted to see. It was Matt.

Instantly, that dreadful day came rushing back to me, flooding my memory. The betrayal, the lies, the broken promises, and the hurtful parting words. I thought we were meant to be, but now I realize that I was young and naïve. One year though everything started to change. There was a new girl at school, a tall busty, brunette named Ashley and Matt started talking to her. I’m not normally the type of girl to get jealous over the fact that he was talking to a girl. He promised me that they were just friends and I believed him, but that all changed a month after my birthday. He showed up at my door with her on his arm. That once kind look in his eyes turned icy and cold. He had thrown all the Christmas presents I had gotten him on the floor and I just stood there shaking my head. Ashley just laughed at me and went to the car when Matt told her to, but not before giving him a kiss. I just stared at her in amazement.

“Mandy, it’s over” he said, without a warning. Just straight out, it’s over. “You were just a pity date to me, there were never any feelings for you”

Without another word he had walked away and just left.

I looked at my ex and just stared at him. “Matt.” I finally choked out.

His smirk made my blood boil and not like Jordan’s did. “Well if it isn’t the little slut herself. I see you’ve moved on up to professional athletes” he said, nodding in Jordan’s direction. “How many of them have you slept with?” He snickered.

I tried not to let his words get to me, but just like every other time they hit me hard. “You know I’m not like that. Jordan and I have been friends for years, you’ve known this. Plus, he likes me for me, not for what I can give him, unlike someone I know.” I glared at him.

He chuckled darkly. “Please, like you really have a relationship based on emotions and trust. Don’t kid yourself, Mandy. We all know you are just using him for his money and make your way up the team ladder. Who’s next, Crosby? I bet your sister wouldn’t appreciate that very much.”

As Matt continued to insult me I looked around the dining area for a way out or for someone to come to my rescue, but just my luck Sidney and Taylor weren’t here yet and Jordan was still caught up with his fans and not paying attention to me.

I took a deep breath and looked at Matt. “Why do you feel the need to make my life a living hell? Didn’t you do that enough in high school? Just go away and leave me alone. Go find your bitch of a girlfriend and leave me alone.”

As soon as those words were out of my mouth, I regretted them. Matt reached for me and pulled me out of my chair and slammed me against the closest wall. He placed his forearm on my throat, making sure I wasn’t able to scream for help. He had me trapped.

“Listen here you little bitch, I don’t care if you are dating some big shot hockey player. To me you will always be that little pathetic high school girl that I managed to lead on.”

Tears were now streaming down my face as I struggled for each breath. I frantically glanced around again, praying someone who see what Matt was doing and come help me, but once again I was alone. Matt tightened his hold on my throat and I let out a choking noise, causing a sick smirk to appear on his face. I’ve never seen Matt like this before, he wasn’t normally an aggressive person, but dating Ashley has changed him. He wasn’t the same guy I was friends with for years. He was just some bitch’s bitch now.

I was starting to blackout from the lack of air, when all of a sudden the pressure was gone. I fell to the ground gasping for air and rubbing my now sore neck. I looked up and saw that Jordan had Matt by the collar of his shirt and I knew Matt had to be scared shitless because the look on Jordan’s face was an extremely scary one. As I continued to watch from my spot on the floor, Jordan pulled his balled up hand back and punched Matt right in the face and then dropped him on the ground before making his way over to me.

He crouched in front of my not only protecting me from Matt, but also from the curious people who started to gather around once Jordan pulled Matt off of me. “Are you okay?” he asked, rubbing his thumb over my cheek.

I shook my head and I let out a tiny sob. Jordan picked me up off the ground and began making his way out of the park. We passed Sidney, Taylor, and Stephanie as we made our way to the front of the park.

“Jordan, what happened to her?!” Taylor demanded.

I didn’t hear Jordan’s response or Taylor’s reaction. I kept my face buried in Jordan’s chest. How could Matt be so cruel? I never did anything to him. He’s the one who cheated on me. He’s the one who broke up with me. I on the other hand tried to stay friends with him, but Ashley was a controlling bitch and wouldn’t let him have any friends. All throughout high school I tried to rekindle our friendship, like the one we had in middle school. At first we were okay, but then Ashley started coming into the picture more often and every time he started drifting further away from me and the rest of his friends.

I didn’t realize I was sobbing uncontrollably until Jordan pulled away from me and gave me a pained look. I knew he was going back to all those phone calls where I would be bawling my eyes out. Those times though he wasn’t here with me and couldn’t comfort me. I looked up at him and noticed that his beautiful blue eyes were filling with tears as well.

He leaned down and brushed his lips softly against mine. “Everything will be okay, Mandy. I promise.” He whispered, hugging me.

The drive home was extremely quiet. I kept my head on Jordan’s chest and managed to calm down. I knew I was going to have to talk to him about what happened, but I wasn’t rushing it.

“Mandy,” Taylor said quietly, breaking the silence. She knew that when I was this upset that I really never wanted to talk to anyone. But she knew that I would probably answer her.

“Yeah Tay?” I croaked before clearing my throat.

“We are taking mom and dad out to dinner tonight and you and Jordan were coming with us. Do you still want to go?”

I shook my head before even opening my mouth. “Before I would have said yes, but now? No, thank you. You guys go. I’m sorry.”

Sidney shook his head and glanced at me in the rear view mirror. ‘Don’t apologize, Mandy. We understand and I’m sure your parents will too.”

Stephanie looked at me with a frown on her face. “Aunt Mandy sad?” She questioned.

I couldn’t help but smile. “I am, but I’ll be okay.” I placed a kiss on her cheek, causing her to giggle.

When we got home, I went straight to my room and laid down. My mind rushed through everything that happened today and I felt like I was back in high school. The drama, the tears, the hurtful words were all back. I was in my room for no more than five minutes when there was a knock at the door and Jordan came into the room. He didn’t say a word as he climbed into bed and wrapped his arms around me. More tears fell down my face as Jordan held me. This is what I missed all those years ago when I went through this the first time. My best friend here holding me, telling me it was going to be okay.

I felt Jordan’s warm breath on the back of my neck as we laid in silence. Then I felt his lips place a soft kiss on the back of my neck.

“I love you.” He whispered.

My heart skipped a beat as I turned over to face him. The look on his face would say otherwise, his normally bright blue eyes were darker, he wasn’t smiling, but I knew he was telling me the truth. His eyes held the emotion he was speaking of. He took my hand and laced our fingers together and placed a kiss on it.

“I love you, Mandy. I have for a couple of years and I hate seeing you like this.” He said, brushing tears away with his thumb. “It was hard the first time because I wasn’t here with you, but now that I am here it seems like this is just as hard, if not harder. Don’t let what that asshole said to you get to you. You know who you and I know who you are, that’s all that matters.” He looked me in the eyes and that signature Staal smirk was back. “Plus, it felt really good to finally get to punch his little punk ass in the face.”

I managed to laugh through the tears, but then my laugh turned into sobs. Jordan just hugged me tighter and let me cry. “I felt like I was back in high school all over again.” I cried. “He has gotten so mean over the years, he was never like that.” I pulled away from Jordan and looked up at him. “He has never been aggressive with me, this was a first and I was scared, Jordan. Right before you came over; I was close to blacking out. That’s a scary feeling, not being able to breath and then your world goes black.”

Jordan’s jaw muscles jumped. “He should have never placed a hand on you. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to get to you sooner. When I got back to the table you weren’t there and then I heard yelling. I’m so sorry, baby.” He had tears brimming in his eyes.

I placed my hand on his cheek, trying to soothe him. “Jord, don’t apologize. You did come to my rescue and that’s all that matters. I just don’t want to talk about it anymore. I want to forget this ever happened. To forget Matt.”

Jordan kissed me. “We can do that.” He rolled on top of me and continued to kiss me.

My stomach filled with butterflies, this was a new side of Jordan. One that I knew existed, but never witnessed firsthand. My pulse quickened as Jordan laced his fingers in my hair and pulled me closer to him, deepening the kiss. His tongue traced my bottom lip, begging for access, which I granted. I sighed and wrapped my arms around Jordan’s neck and ran my hand through his hair, causing him to groan. I tugged lightly on it pulling him away from me.

“Hey,” I whispered. “I love you.”

Jordan didn’t say a word. He just gave me the sweetest kiss I have ever received. The sweetness didn’t last long though, soon it turned heated and I was breathing heavily again, Jordan too. We’ve made out before, but nothing like this. This was passionate and getting very heated quickly. My pulse was coursing through my body rapidly and my heart was practically pounding out of my chest. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears as Jordan continued to kiss me. He moved from my lips to my neck and began his assault there. I couldn’t keep the giggle from passing my lips because I was extremely ticklish on my neck. I felt Jordan smirk and place a light kiss right below my ear.

“Does that tickle?” He whispered, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“Yes, you know I’m ticklish there.” I pouted.

Jordan placed his forehead on mine and kissed my nose. “I’m sorry.”

I loved this side of Jordan, the cuddly and loving side. Not all his teammates got to see this side of him. If they did, I knew he would get made fun of a great deal and even though I love when he gets picked on in the locker room this was something I would never reveal.

I leaned forward and placed a kiss on his prefect lips. “It’s fine, I actually liked it.” I admitted.

Jordan just smiled and started kissing my neck again, this time though he added little love bites here and there causing little gasps to pass my lips. I ran my fingers through his hair loving the length of it and I knew he enjoyed it too because his breath would speed up every so often. I pulled him away from my neck and attached my lips to his in a heated kiss. I ran my hands down his back, loving the feeling of his muscles through his t-shirt. Slowly his hands began making their way up my shirt and that’s when I froze. Did I want this? Did I want to take this to a new level? Was I even ready for this? All these things were running through my head and Jordan could sense my hesitation.

“Man, are you okay?” He asked softly.

I shook my head trying to clear my thoughts, but it didn’t work. “I don’t think this is the right time for something like this.” I said. “I mean my sister and her husband are just down the hall, Steph could walk in at any moment, and my mom is god knows where and she has a tendency to pop up unexpectedly.” I began to ramble.

Jordan shut me up with a kiss. “Chill, we don’t have to do anything. I don’t want you to do something you aren’t comfortable with. It’s no big deal.” He said.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,

I looked away from and started at the wall. Why did I suddenly feel guilty about this? I loved Jordan and he loved me and I knew he would never hurt me. But this was all new to me, I never made it past second base with my previous boyfriends. The silence was slowly killing me and I knew it was killing Jordan as well. He moved my hair out of my face and turned my head so that I was looking at him. He was serious, there were only a few times that I’ve seen the serious side of Jordan and those times never really ended well.

“You don’t need to be upset about this or anything, okay? I’m in no rush, would I like to take this to the next level? You bet, but I’m not going to push you. I want you to be comfortable with me.” He continued to just stare at me. “I can tell you are feeling something about his, talk to me Mandy. What’s bothering you?”

I cracked a smile. He just keeps proving why we’ve been such great friends for years and over that time he’s been able to read me like a book. I took a deep breath and looked into his beautiful blue eyes before looking away again. “I don’t really know what I’m feeling at the moment. I have a ton of mixed emotions running through me. Guilt, want, anger, and apprehension. Take your pick.” I shrugged.

Jordan just looked at me. “Why do you feel guilty? You shouldn’t.”

I took a deep breath. “For stopping?” I shrugged. “I don’t really know. I’m a huge mix of emotions right now. I don’t really know what I’m feeling right now.” I sighed.

“All the more reason to stop, don’t ever feel guilty.” He said, placing a kiss on my forehead. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m in no rush. I waited four years and I can afford to wait longer.”

I gave him a look. “Four years?” I asked.

Jordan blushed before speaking. “Yes, I’ve wanted you now for four years.” He admitted. “It started that one summer when you came to visit me and we took Parker to the lake for the day.”

I smiled at the memory, I knew what day he was speaking of. Tanya had just had Kelsey, so Jordan and I took Parker out of the house and spent the day with him. He was so excited to get to spend the day out on the boat with Jordan. I loved watching Jordan interact with Parker, Kelsey, and Steph now too. He was so good with kids. Now that he mentioned it, looking back on that day, I realized that Jordan was looking at me differently. I would catch him glancing at me and occasionally the looks he would give me caused me to blush.

I looked at Jordan and smiled. “I remember that day. I knew there was something different with you.” I smirked, placing a kiss on his lips.

“Your sister almost killed me when I let it slip that I had feels besides friendship towards you. She and Sidney did everything in their power to get me to forget about those feelings. Harder than when they first found out I had feelings for you.”

I smiled sadly. “I remember that, but the second time it wasn’t as hard on me because we were friends by that point. That first time though, I had such a hard time with the fact that they were trying to push other girls on you.” I felt tears building up again. “Then the day you all were heading back to Pittsburgh after Taylor’s graduation and you didn’t come by to say goodbye because you were hung over, that was the worst I had felt in a long time.” I admitted.

“It wasn’t easy for me either. I wanted to see you so bad, but Sidney insisted that I not go, and I had been drinking the night before.” He sighed and placed a hand on my cheek. “Never again, I will never again not see you before leaving or drink to the point where I feel no pain. I love you Mandy and I never want to hurt you again.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck. “I love you too Jordan and I’m holding you to the promise.” I told him before kissing him. After the whole fiasco with Matt, I never thought that I would ever be in a relationship again, let alone with a star hockey player. I also never thought I would fall in love, but yet here I am, in the arms of the man who loves me back.