The Fear Is Paralyzing

Quinn was nervous. Not as nervous as she had been when she had first met the team, but nervous nonetheless. She hadn’t been on a date in a while, and not one that she had really looked forward to in so long. But, tonight was officially her first date with Kris, and she was anxious for it to begin. When she had last talked to him, he had told her that he had the idea of her coming over to his place for dinner. He had made sure to make it clear to her that it wasn’t that he didn’t want to go out with her somewhere, but because they were trying to keep their dating under wraps, he thought it would be better to just stay in.
 
She had told him that she was more than happy with that idea. It meant less stress on her. But, she hadn’t counted on being so anxious right now. She had told him that she could just meet him over at his place whenever he wanted, but he had told her that he was going to pick her up, that he wanted this to be a real date. She couldn’t deny him that, and she had quickly agreed to it.
 
So, now she waited on him to come pick her up. She looked at herself in the mirror for the hundredth time that evening. She was wearing a light, flowing dress that hit her just above her knee. When she twirled around, it swung out so perfectly. It was one of her favorite dresses, though she didn’t wear it that often, as she didn’t have too many places to wear it to. But, she figured tonight would be the perfect occasion for it.
 
She heard a knock on her door, and she stopped twirling and made her way over to the door, opening it up with a smile on her face. “Tu es très belle,” he spoke, barely above a whisper.
 
Quinn bit her lip. She didn’t know what that meant, but she didn’t care. She loved hearing him speak in French. “I hope that was a compliment,” she said when Kris didn’t say anything else.
 
Her words seemed to snap Kris out of daze. “You look very beautiful,” he repeated, this time in English for her.
 
Quinn’s smile spread clear across her face. She wasn’t used to compliments like that, at least not as sincere as Kris’s words were. “Thank you,” she told him. “You look pretty handsome yourself,” she said, reaching out and fixing his tie that was crooked. "So, are you going to tell me what we're having for dinner? Did you make it or did you pick it up?" she asked him as he walked her out to his SUV.

"Would it impress you more if I said that I made it?" he asked her, casually glancing over at her as he got into the car.

She shut her door, crossing her legs as she pulled her seatbelt on. "I'd be impressed if you made it," she nodded her head.

"Sorry to disappoint, but I didn't make it," he said, and she started to laugh at him, wondering why he had even suggested he had made it in the first place then. But, it didn't matter to her, she would be happy with whatever he had to eat. "I wasn't sure what kind of food you liked," he continued.

"Oh, I like pretty much anything," she told him. "I'm not too picky of an eater," she said, looking out the window. She had driven to his house before, but she'd never really taken in the scenery before. Kris lived a little bit out of the way of the city, and the whole neighborhood was covered in trees, which were currently doused in snow from the night before. It looked picturesque, something that seemed to be made for a movie set.

"Good," he told her. "I got some takeout from this little place down the street from me. It's Italian, so a lot of pasta and stuff. Again, I didn't know what you'd like, so I kinda got some of everything," he said.

"I like Italian," she smiled at him. He pulled into his parking lot, parking his car and getting out to meet Quinn on the other side. He put his hand out, and she got the hint, placing hers in his. He linked their fingers together as he walked her inside, trying to avoid some ice spots that were on the ground, but unfortunately failing at it. He walked over a patch of ice, keeping his balance, but Quinn wasn't so lucky, sliding a bit on the ice. He gripped her hand a little harder, but she remained unbalanced, so he slipped his hand out of hers, putting his arm around her, helping her out. She looked up at him, the look on her face a mixture of embarrassment and thankfulness. "Thanks," she said, giving him a small smile.

As they walked inside, he looked down at her. "You haven't ever ice skated, have you?" he asked out of the blue.

"Huh?" Quinn asked as they got in the elevator. He pushed the button to his floor, leaning back against the elevator wall. His arm was still around Quinn's waist, something she noticed. "Where'd that question come from?" she wondered aloud.

"Out there, you weren't so graceful on the ice," he said with a small laugh, causing Quinn to frown at him. "Don't worry about it," he added, knowing she thought he was making fun of her once again. "It’s just something else I'll have to teach you," he said as the doors opened, and he walked to his door, unlocking it, letting Quinn go in first.

She took off her coat, placing it on the back of the couch as she turned around to face him. "You want to teach me to ice skate?" she asked skeptically. Kris nodded his head at her, taking his own coat off and throwing it on top of hers. "Are you sure about that?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" he asked her, a little confused at her hesitation. "Am I not a good teacher?" he asked, cocking his head to the side and looking at her.

"No, no!" she refuted immediately, shaking her head profusely for emphasis. "You're a very good teacher! How else would I know anything about hockey? You've taught me literally everything I know about the sport, and I'm eternally grateful for that!"

"So why wouldn't you want me to teach you to skate?" he asked, walking over to her so he was standing directly in front of her.

Quinn stayed quiet for a moment, instead focusing on his chest that was rising and falling with each breath, which she could see clearly through his button-up dress shirt. She soon snapped herself out of it, though, realizing he had asked her a question. "It's not that I don't want you to teach me. I just don't know if you'd want to. I mean, ice skating is what you do for a living, you're a pro at it. I'm not going to be a pro," she said with a laugh. "I know it'd be frustrating."

He put his hands on her shoulders, looking down into her eyes, and Quinn's breath caught in her throat. "I want to teach you," he said, his Canadian accent very prominent in the sentence for some reason, which only made Quinn swoon more. "If you want to learn," he added.

Quinn nodded her head. "I'd love to," she smiled at him. "But, do you think we can finish this date first?" she asked.

Kris couldn't help but laugh at her. "That sounds like a good plan," he told her. "Come on," he said, grabbing her hand for the second time that night, guiding her into the kitchen, where he already had the food set up. "Sorry if it's a little cold, I didn't really think about that," he said with a small shrug.

Quinn took her seat at the table. "Trust me, it's fine. I'm like the queen of eating cold leftovers," she told him. "If I order a pizza, I'll eat maybe one piece when I first get it, and then I'll save the left for later. I love cold pizza," she told him as he began bringing over the food. She looked into the first box, which held spaghetti, and when she looked back over, he had brought over five more containers, and he was going back for more. She looked over at him, her eyes going wide. "Kris, you weren't kidding when you said you ordered some of everything, were you?" she asked him.

Kris got an embarrassed look on his face, one she had never seen before. Sure, Quinn got embarrassed a lot around Kris, especially when he was trying to teach her hockey and she would use the wrong terms. But, she had never really seen him get embarrassed himself. "Je suis désolé," he said, and Quinn didn't need a translator to figure out what that meant.

"No, don’t apologize!" she told him. "I just can't believe you went through all this trouble just for me."

"I wanted it to be a good first date," he explained.

"It is already," she told him sincerely, a smile on her face. He smiled back at her before motioning towards the food, silently telling her to dig in. She took a little bit of everything, deciding to try it all since it all looked so good, she couldn't choose just one thing. She took a bite of the fettuccini, trying to think what to say next. Fortunately, Kris spoke up first.

"So, how's everything going with running the team?" he asked, feeling awkward for even asking it. It was a weird question to ask someone.

Quinn nodded her head. "It's going," she said, putting a smile on her face. She looked at Kris, noticing he had a look on his face that was wanting more information. "It's hard," she finally admitted. "Going into meetings with Mario and not having a clue what's going on and everybody basically ignoring you because Mario's so good at what he does, not exactly the most fun thing in the world," she continued, putting her fork down for a moment while she talked. "And, please don't take that the wrong way! That I don't like Mario or something. He's the greatest, and honestly, if he wasn't owner, this team would be in the ground."

"That's not true," Kris interrupted her, and Quinn looked over at him, knowing he was only saying that to be nice.

"Yes, it is," she said adamantly. "I don’t know what I’m doing, and I still wonder if giving up the team is the best option for everybody involved," she said softly, looking down at her food. She had mentioned giving up the team to Kris before, and she knew he would try to talk her out of it, though she wasn't really sure why he wanted her to stay.

"Who are you going to give the team up to?" he asked, and Quinn was surprised by the question. She had assumed he would just argue with her, but he wasn't being defensive at all with the question. He asked it in a way that showed he genuinely wanted to know what she was thinking and who she had thought about giving the team to.

Quinn shrugged her shoulders. "I don’t know," she admitted. "Everyone keeps saying Dean."

"The brother you don't like?"

Quinn laughed a little, knowing how ridiculous that idea was. "Yeah, that's what everyone keeps saying. He's got the sport management background."

"And, aren't you the one with the business background, Ms. MBA?" he asked with a smile on his face.

Quinn tilted her head to the side, looking at him. "Have you been talking to Mario?" she questioned. Kris's look of confusion answered the question. "He just said the same thing to me."

"Besides, I know you're working hard for this team. You're the one doing all your research and making note cards," he said with a laugh, and Quinn glared at him. "No, I'm not making fun of you," he said before she had a chance to say it. "I'm just saying you're putting so much effort into the team, why give it up?"

Quinn looked into his eyes, seeing he was sincere. "I'm not giving it up. At least not yet. We'll see in the future," she said, picking her fork back up to continue to eat. "This is really good," she said, pointing down at the food with her fork, changing subjects. "You said it was this small place nearby?"

"Yeah," Kris nodded his head. "It's kinda a favorite of mine. And, I know the owner. She's this older lady, really nice. She helped me out for this date. I told her I was going out for the first time with this really pretty girl I wanted to impress, and she told me she'd personally make us some of her best food. I have to say, I don't think she disappointed," he smiled at her. Quinn couldn’t hold her smile back after hearing him call her a "pretty girl."

"No, she definitely didn't," she told him, shaking her head. "So I have to ask, do you always go to her to get some kudos points from the pretty girls you're dating?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him. She said it in a light, joking way, so that she didn't sound like a bitch to him.

Kris couldn't help but laugh at her. "No, I don't," he replied. "I thought I needed to do something special for you," he added.

Quinn looked over at him. "And why is that?" she wondered aloud.

"I don't know," Kris shrugged his shoulders. "You're just….different," he said, settling on a word. When he saw the look of doubt on her face, he knew he needed to clarify. "Not in a bad way, in a good way!" he told her quickly. "You're just different than all the other girls."

Quinn shifted in her seat. She knew Kris didn't mean anything bad by it, but she didn't know if she wanted to be different. "Why, because I'm technically your boss?" she questioned.

"Well that's one thing," he admitted. "But, it's not just that. You're just different."

"I don't really like that word," she told him with a soft laugh.

"Sorry," he told her. "You're not some girl that just wants to hook up, you want more," he said, looking her in the eyes. "Is that better?" he asked hopefully. He didn't want to keep messing up his words and have her running in the other direction.

Quinn smiled at him. "Yes, I get it," she told him. "I don’t want just a hook up. I don't know where this all is going to lead, but I'd like to see," she said.

Kris reached over the table, taking her hand in his, lacing their fingers together. "Moi aussi," he said. When he saw the slight look of confusion on her face, he translated for her. "Me too."