Fire in Our Hearts and Ice in Our Veins

“HARLEY!” Catherine shrieked and jumped into Harley’s open arms.

“I miss you,” Catherine said in her broken English.

“I missed you too, baby girl.”

Jonathan and Catherine had gone to pick Harley up at the airport, and Jon smiled to himself remembering how on the way over Catherine had asked how to say “I missed you” in English.

“Hey, Har how was the flight?” Jonathan asked pulling Harley into a bear hug. Jonathan had missed Harley as well. Not only did he think of her as a sister, she was also unequaled in her abilities to make his best friend exceptionally happy.

“I was so excited to see you guys that I couldn’t sit still the whole time!” she laughed, and the three of them went to go get her bags.

While Catherine was preoccupied trying to uncover the fascinating mystery of where the luggage kept coming from on the magical baggage claim conveyor belt, Harley decided that it was the right time to ask about the thing that had really been on her mind for the past two weeks.

“So Johnny, where’s Patrick?”

A sly smile crept onto Jonathan’s face. It was undeniable that Harley liked Patrick, Jonathan just wasn’t sure how much. “I’m not really sure. He just said he wouldn’t be able to make it to pick you up. Don’t worry though, I’m sure your little boyfriend will be back at the apartment waiting for you.”

“Oh shut up, Jon!” she said, smacking him in the arm as he cracked up. But on the inside Harley was seriously worried. Ever since she had gotten off of video chat two weeks ago, Patrick had been on her mind constantly. By the time she had landed in Chicago, she knew she couldn’t keep on pretending she liked Patrick as just a friend. But during the video chat a few weeks ago, she had rejected Patrick for what seemed to be the millionth time. This wasn’t what concerned her, Patrick had always been able to recover from her rejections, normally not listening to the answers Harley gave him if they weren’t the ones he wanted to hear. The problem was what Patrick had heard after that, something he shouldn’t have listened to.

The car ride to the apartment was short, but to Harley it had felt like hours. She practically burst through the door, expecting Patrick to be standing there, bright blue eyes shining, smile bright and arms wide open for her to run into. But the only thing that answered her calls was an empty apartment. She tried not to look disappointed.

Patrick still had not returned after Catherine’s dance class, which Harley went to go watch with Corey, and by dinner time even Jonathan began to get worried. Patrick Sharp, Duncan, Brent, Corey and a few other Blackhawks Harley had never met before were gathered around a large dinner table for the dinner Catherine had made, which really meant Jonathan had made it and probably let Catherine do some stirring, but let her take the credit for it. Jonathan attempted to call Patrick, but his phone was dead, not knowing what to do, he bid everyone to dig in.

Harley could feel the stares of the players during the meal. She knew what they were thinking; she knew they thought it was her fault Patrick wasn’t here.

***

At midnight, Harley decided to give up waiting for Patrick and she unhappily went to change for bed.

“Shit,” she hissed, rummaging through her suitcase. Somehow she had forgotten to pack anything to wear to bed. Not wanting to wake Johnny, she went into Patrick’s room to grab an oversized shirt to wear.

Patrick’s closet was bigger than her room back in Paris, but it was mainly filled with suits and jerseys. In fact, after a minute or so of searching, Harley wasn’t really sure if he even owned anything else.

“Looking for something?” she heard a familiar voice say. Harley dashed out of the closet to see Patrick standing in his doorway.

Harley hadn’t been wrong, Patrick spent the entire day trying to avoid Harley. It was clear she had a plan and it didn’t include him. It had taken him two weeks before her arrival to even begin to accept that fact. But when he saw her standing in his closet, cheeks turning pink with embarrassment, any progress he had made over those two weeks was washed away.

Patrick couldn’t help himself, without saying anything he walked over to her, pulled her into his arms and pressed his lips to hers, she didn’t pull away. It was like fireworks going off, and she felt it too.

“Wow,” was all she could manage to say when he finally pulled away.

“I missed you,” he said, pressing his lips to her forehead and wrapping her tightly in his embrace.

“I missed you too, Patrick.”

He picked her up and carried her to his bed. He put her down and then slid under the covers with her, wrapping his arms around her and letting her curl up into his chest. Her he could feel her breath on his neck and he rubbed her back, letting her drift off. He stayed up for as long as he could, hoping this moment would last forever.

“I love you,” he whispered into her ear, wishing he had the courage to tell her when she was awake.

***

Patrick was convinced it had been a dream, but sure enough, when he opened his eyes, she was still securely in his arms.

She must have felt him shift and her eyes fluttered open. “Good morning,” she whispered.

“Shh, Harley go back to bed.”

She had only closed her eyes and rested her head against his chest for a minute before her phone began to go off obnoxiously.

“Ignore it,” he told her, pulling her in for a kiss, his arms growing tighter around her waist, keeping her from whoever was disturbing their peace.

But Harley didn’t need to check her phone to know who it was. There was really only one person it could have been. In that moment guilt crashed over her like a tidal wave. She took one last look at the man she loved before freeing herself from his grasp.

“Patrick,” she started hesitantly, “This is wrong, we can’t do this.”

“What are you talking about, sure we can.”

“No Patrick. I can’t do this.” She watched as the realization hit him. He suddenly knew who that phone call had been from.

She grabbed her phone and checked the time, 7:00 AM. Catherine and Jonathan weren’t up yet, which she was thankful for. She darted into the guest room and began to pack her things.

Patrick stood silently in her doorframe. His whole world was not ten feet in front of him, and all he could bring himself to do was watch her pack. He had been on top of the world hours ago, it was a long way to fall in such a short time.

Once she was done she brought her suitcase to the door, and turned back to look at Patrick. His eyes silently pleaded with her to stay, to forget whoever it was that was waiting for her call back in Paris.

“I’m sorry,” she said quickly, and with that she was gone.

Patrick pressed his forehead against the door, overcome with grief. He couldn’t believe he had let her leave without telling her how he felt. But that was the problem, she didn’t know. And she won’t know, he thought, unless I tell her.

Suddenly he flung the front door open and raced down the stairs into the street. He burst out of the apartment building and into the street yelling, “HARLEY WAIT!”

“I love you,” he said to the taxi, already driving away.