You Don't Know You're Beautiful

Kris pulled up to a large building. It looked like a classy hotel building. I looked over at him with a raised eyebrow.

“You live in a hotel?”

He chuckled. “No, this is a condo building. It looks like a hotel though, eh?”

I blushed and looked down at my lap, somewhat embarrassed for thinking he lives in a hotel. He reached over and squeezed my hand. I lifted my head and looked over at him.

“It’s okay. You didn’t know. Let’s head in.”

I smiled at him and unbuckled my seatbelt. I was signaled by Kris to not open my door. I rolled my eyes and chuckled to myself. He came around and opened my door and helped me out of the car. Before we left the parking garage, I stopped Kris.

“Wait, I gotta put my jersey in your car.”

Kris just shook his head. “Don’t worry about it right now. Let’s head in the building.”

I nodded and let him lead the way. We walked through the building to the elevator, and I was amazed by just how many floors that this building had. We weren’t alone in the elevator, so after Kris pushed the button for his floor, we had to squish in the corner. It wasn’t quite at the point of claustrophobia, but it was getting there. People were giving me weird looks. I figured it was for the same reason as the bimbo in the arena, but I shrugged them off.

After everyone else had left the elevator, we still had six floors left til we got to Kris’ floor. Even though we were the only two left in the elevator, we were still in the same position we were in when it was jam packed full of people. I smiled as he pulled me in closer to him. I stayed snuggled close to him til the elevator dinged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Walking into Kris’ apartment, I didn’t know how long we were staying here. Thank God I wore moccasins, they were easy to slip on and off. I slipped them off and Kris turned to me.

“Just make yourself at home, I’m just going to change quickly.”

I gave him a smile and a small nod. He walked through his apartment while I made my way into what I could only assumed was the living room. I sat on the couch and looked around. There were a lot of pictures. Some were of Kris with teammates and the others were with friends or family. I wasn’t sure which. I noticed that more pictures were on the mantel, so I got up and walked over. I picked up one picture and smiled. I almost dropped it when I heard Kris’ voice startle me.

“That’s me and my best friend, Luc. He plays for Vancouver Canucks.”

I turned around, the picture clutched to my chest. I smiled up at him. “It looks like you two have a lot of fun together.”

He smiled as he took the picture from my hands and set it back on the mantle. “Yea, we have a blast together. We met in juniors. I don’t go more than 3 days without talking to him. He’s my rock.”

My smile grew as I nodded. I pointed over to the picture beside the one he just put back. “So, I take it you two won championships together?”

He smiled as he began to tell me stories of his days in juniors with Luc.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kris’ POV

I was so happy to tell Kaitlyn about Luc. I had hoped that she would be able to meet him someday. He was my rock. The one person through my rough patches would always be there for me. I began to tell her about one of the funniest memories I had of him.

“A lot of guys in junior know how to play guitar, right? So…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kaitlyn’s POV

I felt my heart swell over hearing Kris talk about Luc. He sounded more like a brother than a friend. It must have been be so hard for Kris to be so far away from him. I had that kind of friendship in Steph and I couldn’t imagine being that far away from her all the time. Phone calls and text messages could only say so much.

When Kris finished I couldn’t help but notice the smile on his face. It was so genuine and so pure it was infectious. He stood up and stretched his arms above his head. He looked down at me with a smile. “So, how about a grand tour?”

I smiled and nodded. “Sure.”

I got up off the couch and followed Kris around his condo. His kitchen was amazing. I couldn’t believe he had such a big kitchen in a bachelor condo. He then led me down a hallway. He showed me the guest bedroom, which was furnished in a lovely blend of grey and white. Once we reached the bathroom, I turned to him with a hint of a shy smile. I think he got the hint when he nodded.

“I’ll be in the living room.”

I smiled and walked into the bathroom. Closing the door, I pulled out my phone and called Steph. I was praying that Kris didn’t stand on the opposite side of the door, listening in to my conversation. I was pretty sure he wasn’t, he didn’t seem like that kind of guy. I heard the phone ring only twice before she picked up.

“Hello.”

I thought about what could be going on at Sid’s and mentally kicked myself in the head.

“Hey, am I interrupting something?”

“No, I’m just in the bathroom freshening up. When are you and Kris getting here? Better yet, where did you and Kris go?”

I rolled my eyes at my phone. I could see her facial expression going from confused to excited in seconds flat.

“We’re at Kris’. His place is amazing, so neat and tidy.”

I knew that those weren’t the greatest choice of words to say to her, she would try and read into them a little bit more, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it after they had come out.

“Well, I have something to tell you, and as much as I want to wait til you get here, I can’t.”

My eyes widened as I pondered on what exactly she could tell me. I needed to know.

“Spill, girl, spill.” I squealed.

I heard her clear her throat. “Well, it may or may not be official that I am Sid’s girlfriend.”

I squealed again. “Oh my god!! How…when…tell me everything!!”

I heard her chuckle lightly before answering. “I”ll go into details when you get here. I don’t want to be locked in here when guests arrive, so I’ll see you soon, okay?”

I nodded, but then remembered she couldn’t see me. “Okay, see you soon.”

I hung up the phone and left the bathroom, meeting Kris in the living room. He was sitting on the couch, watching SportsCentre. Typical hockey player. I shook my head and giggled. He must have heard me, because he turned his head to look at me. He smirked at me as he got up off the couch. He walked over to me and gave me a light kiss on the forehead. I closed my eyes as his lips touched my skin. I wasn’t sure what it was for, but I wasn’t going to complain about it. He looked down at me with a smile.

“Well, I think we’ve given the lovebirds enough alone time, don’t you?”

I looked at the clock and nodded. “Yea, I guess we have. We leaving now?”

Kris nodded. “Yepp. You all set?”

I thought for a moment as I looked around the room. I couldn’t think of anything off hand at first. I was about to nod when Kris pointed at my jersey. My eyes widened for a minute before I took it off. After I had done that, I looked over at him.

“Where should I put this?”

He shrugged his shoulders as he turned off the TV. “It doesn’t matter. Just over the back of the couch is fine. No one’s gonna come here while we’re gone anyways. I’ll just have to remember to grab it before I come get you tomorrow morning.”

I gave him a small smile. “I’d tell you that I’ll remind you, but I don’t have your number.”

He opened the door to his condo and as we left, he mumbled to himself. “Yea, gonna have to fix that.”

I acted as though I didn’t hear and continued to walk to the elevator.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kris’ POV

At Sid’s house

Kaitlyn and I walked into Sid’s house and noticed that we were practically the last ones to arrive. The first person I saw when we walked in was Jordan. I had a hold of Kaitlyn’s hand so I began to bring her over to someone she knew. She stopped in her tracks just before we reached Jordan. I turned my head to look at her. She had a weird look on her face, so I leaned in and whispered in her ear.

“You okay?”

She nodded and slowly turned her head towards me. “Uh….yeaa…I’m fine. I’ve just gotta talk to Steph for a second. Is that okay?”

I chuckled lightly at her question. “Of course it is. Go have fun, it’s what we’re here for.”

She leaned in and gave me a quick peck on the lips before walking away to go talk to Steph.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kaitlyn’s POV

I walked over to Steph, and pulled her into the kitchen. She turned and raised her eyebrow at me. I gave her an eager smile.

“Okay, so now you see me. Spill.”

She rolled her eyes at me. “We stopped at the exit of the parking lot of the arena. While he was signing autographs, fans asked what my name was and if I was his girlfriend. He answered their questions, simple as that.”

My jaw dropped. “Simple as that?!?! Are you crazy?! This is great!”

She glared up at me. “Will you keep your voice down? Believe me, I think it’s great too, but it doesn’t really change anything. We feel the same way about each other as we did yesterday, today we just put the official label on it.”

My smile spread from ear to ear as I nodded. “Sorry, I’m just so happy for you.” I pulled her in for a tight hug. Suddenly she pulled away and smiled at me. “Thanks. Hey, wait! What happened between you and Kris at his place?”

The smile on my face grew bigger, if it was even possible. “Well, I thought we were following you and Sid here, but then we turned a corner. I asked him where we going and he said he wanted to change into more comfy clothes. I can’t say I blamed him. I wouldn’t want to come to my friends house wearing a suit when everyone else is dressed more casual.” I noticed Steph nod as I continued, “so when we pulled into his parking lot, he came around and opened my door. True gentleman-like. Oh! I just remembered, I left my jersey at his place?”

Steph smirked a little bit. “You left your jersey there? Did you take it off, or did a certain Frenchman’s hands help you?”

I shook my head and rolled my eyes.”Oh gosh, Steph. I took it off myself. I see that you’re still wearing yours.”

She shrugged her shoulders. “Yeah, I should probably take it off, huh?”

It was my turn to shrug my shoulders, “well , it’s up to you.”

I could see in her face, that Steph was thinking about it. Then she pulled her jersey off. She folded the jersey over her arm then looked at me with a slight smirk. I raised an eyebrow at her.

“What’s that look for?”

The smirk didn’t leave her face. “I believe I saw that smile before.”

I could feel my cheeks begin to flush. “What smile?”

Steph pointed at my face, “that one. You had the same look on your face when you sa the text message that Sid sent to me about Kris wanting to spend more time with you this weekend.”

My cheeks flushed even more as I thought back to that text message. Steph walked up to my and looped her arm through mine. We walked back into the living room. I could see Steph looking around for Sid when Kris walked up to us. He smiled at me.

“Hey, where did you ladies run off to?”

Steph smiled at him. “Oh, just to the kitchen. You know, girl talk.”

He nodded. “Got it. Hey Steph, you want me to put that in my car for you? Unless you want to carry it around all night.”

She shrugged her shoulders. She opened her mouth to give Kris an answer, but Sid walked up and pulled the jersey out of her grasp. Steph turned to face him and smirked.

“Why, hello there. Just what can I do for you?”

Sid smirked back at her as I felt Kris wrap his arm about my waist. “Well, I was just going to put this in my room. That way, Tanger doesn’t have to go back out in the cold, and you don’t have to carry it around all night.”

Steph smiled at her newly-dubbed boyfriend and let go of her grip on the jersey. “Thanks.”

When Sid walked away, Kris and I shared a smirk, which we both shot Steph’s way. She rolled her eyes at us.

“Oh come on, you two are just as adorable as we are. You just hide it better, that’s all.”

We both looked at the floor, and I felt my cheeks flush for what felt like the hundredth time that day. Steph walked away from us with a proud smirk on her face. Kris pulled me into him and whispered in my hair.

“So, did you have to hear about all the juicy details?”

I looked up at him, lightly slapped his chest and smirked. “You’re such a girl sometimes, you know that.”