Young & Wild & Free

Taylor’s knee bobbed impatiently as he sat on the couch. Jordan was out with some of the guys that afternoon paintballing and his other good friend, Oly was busy as well. He and Blake sort of had plans for that day, he was going to take her out to get something to eat then they were going to see about hitting a movie, but he hadn’t heard from her all morning.

To: Bee
you alive?

He finally caved and sent a third text in the last two hours. He wondered what she was up to. Was she hanging around the house with the twins? Was she out in the backyard playing with sidewalk chalk? That was something jack and Tommy loved to beg her to do. Maybe she was just napping. Or maybe she was showering. Taylor let his mind entertain the thought of her naked, sudsed up and rinsing off. Before he let his imagination run too wild, she finally had text him back.

From: Bee
sup?

That was it? That’s all she had to say? He had been sitting around all morning, got ready in his expensive jeans and nice cologne to impress her and all she had to say was ‘sup’? It was time to take initiative.

To: Bee
pick you up in thirty?

He waited rather impatiently for her reply and jumped excitedly when the phone began to vibrate on his lap.

“Hey.” He sounded actually just a bit out of breath.

“Hey, why are you picking me up in thirty?” Blake asked, making him swallow hard.

“I thought we were going to get something to eat and check out a movie or something. Don’t you remember?” He asked. He couldn’t remember the last time he had to remind a girl that they had plans. Girls were usually falling all over themselves to spend time with him.

“I didn’t think we had set plans.” Blake began, “I’m sorry but I’m at a team party.” She commented, it was then that he could hear the several voices in the background and the low hum of music. The first thing he could think of came spilling out of his mouth.

“Are you drinking?” He asked right away, he could hear her soft giggle and it made the small hairs o the back of his neck stand on end.

“Um, I have a Mike’s hard.” She replied.

“Blake! Get off the phone with your boyfriend. Shots!” Taylor could hear a male voice egging her on in the background.

“Hey I gotta run but maybe we can hang later this week?” She asked. Taylor’s mouth dropped open in surprise and he shook his head softly.

“Uh yeah, later this week.” He nodded, “you owe me.” His eyes squeezed shut at how needy that sounded.

“For sure. See ya!” She disconnected the call and he slumped back into the seat behind him. Hadn’t they made solid plans to hang out? Maybe him mentioning a few ideas weren’t enough for her.

Across the city, Blake was staring down her phone. Since when did they make plans to hang out that day? She remembered him briefly mentioning they should hook up that weekend but he never said to be a certain place or be ready by a certain time. It wasn’t her responsibility to make plans when it was convenient for him.

Blake tossed her phone on the kitchen counter after having put a big case on it. She knew Shawn had paid a lot of money for the iPhone, so she bought one of the cases that made it practically indestructible. She loved hanging out with her team. She never felt like the odd person out, they always made her feel like just one of the guys and tonight was no exception. The captain, Hank, had thrown a little party for the team. He was one of the older team members, bordering on twenty-seven and had just signed an entry-level contract with the Albany Devils for next season.

Her favorite teammates were her friends Alex and Matt, both young like her and just looking to play hockey and have a good time. The three of them were line mates and had clicked instantly after the first practice so many months ago.

“Jesus, Blake, put your tits away.” Matt shielded his eyes. Blake rolled her eyes and pulled the tank up under her v-neck.

“Wait, why are you telling her to put her tits away?” Blake rolled her eyes. She loved her teammates. Most of them, at least.

•••

“Hey, Ry.” Blake smiled as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins walked through the Horcoff’s front door.

“Hey, Blake.” He smiled, holding up a box of store-made cupcakes.

“What is that?” She laughed, taking the box and walking to the kitchen where Phoebe was helping Shawn throw some dinner together. Shawn was grilling steaks while Phoebe roasted veggies, sautéed risotto and tossed salad. She also heated up some chicken nuggets for the twins who didn’t care for steak. Lately, dinner was being dictated by Phoebe’s cravings and she was going through a serious red meat phase.

“I don’t know, my mom always said to never show up to dinner emptyhanded.” He laughed, tossing himself down on the couch in the family room and pulling Tommy into his lap. The toddler wiggled around in Ryan’s lap, giggling and tossing his blonde hair around, making Ryan and Blake both laugh. “What are we having, by the way?” He asked, peeking his head towards the kitchen over the high a back of the couch.

“Meat and veggies, don’t worry about it.” She laughed. Looking outside, the backyard was covered in fallen leaves. “Tom Tom, do you want to show Ryan your new favorite thing to do outside?” She asked, making the little blonde nod excitedly and hop off the couch, taking Ryan’s hand and dragging him outside through the patio door. Blake followed them and didn’t notice the two pairs of eyes following the teens outside.

“He’s such a nice boy.” Phoebe smiled as she slowly stirred the content of the pan in front of her.

“Pheeb.” Shawn warned, looking at her sternly.

“I’m just saying! She could do worse!” She insisted.

“She’s seventeen, she’s not doing anything.” He added. “She’s too smart for Nugie. Not saying that Nugie is dumb, but… she’s just lightyears ahead of him.” Shawn insisted.

“So then who would you pair her up with?” Phoebe asked, stepping back from the counter and grabbing the milk from the fridge, one hand resting on her rather protruding belly.

“No one.” Shawn said firmly. “By the way, her parents lawyer sent over her insurance cards.” He said, giving Phoebe a knowing look to which she rolled her eyes.

“I’m sorry but I just do not care for them one bit.” She shook her head.

“They don’t give two shits about that girl.” Shawn replied heatedly. “And from what I gather, we’ve been better family to her in the past few months than they have in the past seventeen years.” He added. IT wasn’t often that Shawn spoke up about matters like this, but the more and more he had ties with Blake’s parents, the less and less they liked him. They had all but signed over their rights to Blake, never called her, and didn’t seem to really care what she was doing or how her hockey was going.

“Uh oh, look at that.” Phoebe smiled to herself as they both looked out to the backyard where Blake and Ryan were laying in a pile of leaves, Tommy running around them and tossing leaves onto the two.

“I am really not a fan of those shirts.” Shawn mumbled, focusing again on the task at hand as he spoke of Blake’s Speedwick Nike tops that wore as a second skin. “You should let the washing machine eat them the next time they make their way through the laundry room.”

“Not happening.’ Phoebe shook her head. “You wear those same shirts and it’s not fair to dislike them just because she has boobs.” She commented.

“Aww, Pheeb.” Shawn screwed up his face in distaste at her words. “Don’t say that word around me when you’re referring to her.” She insisted, causing his wife to roll her eyes.

“You big baby, grow up. What are you going to do when this one grows up, huh?” She asked, pointing down to her very pregnant belly.

“We are not talking about this right now. I’m going to go and throw this red meat on some fire and not talk about boobs on young girls.” He closed his eyes in ignorance and walked towards the patio door, making Phoebe giggle. She looked out to the back yard where Tommy had just pounced Blake in the pile of leaves. She didn’t know what was so wrong about wanting to see what would happen between her billet daughter and Ryan. He was a nice boy with a good head on his shoulders and was always polite to women. Much better than a few of her other options around Edmonton.

About half an hour later, the entire table was just starting dinner when Blake’s phone began to ring from her bedroom – the ringer still on loud from when she had an alarm set earlier to take her birth control.

“Go ahead.” Phoebe laughed, nodding towards the basement steps.

“No it’s fine, whatever it is can wait.” Blake insisted, cutting up her steak and spooning more risotto onto her plate. Shawn and Phoebe were impressed. Sure, they knew that Blake wasn’t the type of kid to get addicted to her phone, but it was weird to see a teen not dashing to pick up their ringing cell phone.

The table fell into a comfortable conversation; barely touching on hockey until Phoebe confirmed that Blake’s next home game was in three days.

“You should come, Ryan.” She insisted, earning a look from Shawn over the salad bowl. “The games are so fun and they draw big crowds. We usually go get something to eat after.”

“Yeah sure.” Ryan shrugged, looking over at Blake, “as long as you don’t mind.” He added.

“I couldn’t care less.” Blake replied, gathering her hair over one shoulder before continuing to eat her steak. Phoebe grinned at Shawn, resisting the urge to stick her tongue out at her husband as the two teens spoke back and forth, Blake casually helping Jack as he took a drink out of a big boy cup rather than his sippy cup. Ryan and Blake cleared the table after dinner, boxing up leftovers and putting dishes in the dish washer as Shawn fired up the DVD player with a copy of The Lorax for the family to watch. Leaving the loveseat open, Phoebe and Shawn along with the twins took over the couch.

Blake had run down to her bedroom to grab her cell and a throw blanket, piling on the leather sofa next to Ryan before checking the screen of her iPhone.

From: T. Hall
what are you up to tonight?

Blake felt bad blowing him off, but he was always planning last minute things. She wasn’t going to just drop family time because Taylor wanted to hang out.

To: T. Hall
family night at home with Nugie. sorry.

It was a few minutes before he replied, the phone lighting up in the dark family room where the lights had been dimmed in order to properly enjoy the movie.

From: T. Hall
family night with Nugie? i see how it is.

Blake laughed because she knew he was joking, but it was kind of flattering to see how he could maybe be jealous.

To: T. Hall
phoebe invited him and he brought cupcakes. sorry i’m not sorry.

The family was enjoying the movie and Blake was getting pretty tired under the warm blanket with a full stomach, but she knew it would be rude to fall asleep with company over, so she tried her best to keep her eyes over.

From: T. Hall
well get your ass over here sometime before we take off next week.

Rolling her eyes, she tossed the phone to the recliner before setting her feet in Ryan’s lap and stretching out, resting her head on the arm of the sofa.

She’s fit Taylor in when she had time in her schedule.