I'll Be Right Beside You

“Yes! You have to come,” Rosa begged me over the phone. I was in no mood to go and have a movie night with her and James – the two of them were so damn cute together you just about wanted to barf. Add Vero and Marc to that mix and I got to be an awkward fifth wheel in a giant cute-fest. So not happening.

“Rosa, I’m going to be the only person there by myself – and you and James are kind of prone to forgetting there are other people around,” I argued, able to picture the red on her face. I’d been over once for one of these movie nights, and they had started making out because they’d basically forgotten I was there. In their defense I guess I had been sleeping on-and-off and so hadn’t been making any noise or anything, but still.

“It was ONCE! And do you blame me? Just look at the guy,” she defended herself, making me laugh.

“Sure, okay. But I’m still not going – I just want to stay home and relax,”

“Well come and relax with us – I’ll text Vero and you two can come over early. We can do all of that girly shit and have some drinks before the guys come over to watch a movie,” she suggested, and I groaned, knowing that no amount of excuses would keep her from finding a reason for me to come.

“Fine! Ugh, the things I do for you woman,” I rolled my eyes, hearing her laugh.

“You love me – don’t deny it. So… be here at like five thirty? We can order in something to eat,” she decided, and minutes later we hung up as I fished my apartment keys out of my pocket. Once inside I flopped onto my couch, feeling strange and foreign in my apartment. I’d spent so little time here by myself, it was almost eerie, and I didn’t like it. Especially not when memories of Jordan seemed to haunt every room in the damn place. Everywhere there was a memory of him; trying to teach him to cook in the kitchen, cuddling up on the couch watching a movie, the pictures on the mantel and on the wall… each one was more painful than the last.

I looked up at the clock that hung above the mantel, noting that I had a couple of hours before heading to Rosa’s, and laid upside down on the couch wondering what to do to kill some time. A nap sounded good, but somehow I was too restless to go to sleep. Something had me on edge, and I didn’t know what it was.

Finally I decided to go to my room and try to sleep, to see if that would help calm me down. I’d moved my bed and most of my stuff into Becka’s old room, turning the master bedroom into the guest room. Just because of him; because I couldn’t sleep in there without waking up in tears thinking about him.

When I opened the door I realized what had me on edge. It was as if I could sense that he’d been here or something – on my bed was the stuff I’d left at his place, as well as his spare key to my apartment, and a note. I had to take a few deep breaths before I walked over to the bed, and then picked up the small note. It was folded roughly, and his chicken-scratch writing covered the small paper.

‘I figured you would want your stuff back, and since we haven’t really talked I got it together for you and spared you the trouble. – Jordan’

It wasn’t like I’d really missed any of this stuff, but he probably didn’t want my shit cluttering up his place. I didn’t want to deal with it right now, so I shoved it off of the end of the bed and curled up on top of my thick, black comforter, wishing that even something as stupid as this didn’t nearly have me in tears. It didn’t mean anything; it was just some clothes and some shampoo and conditioner, maybe a few other little things in the bottom of the box.

I texted Claude, just wondering if he wanted to talk, and then set my phone down on my nightstand, unsure if I’d get a reply. When we’d talked last night he’d said he was ridiculously busy today, so he might not be able to call. I understood – it wasn’t a big deal or anything, which I’d informed him, and he’d assured me he’d call if he could. I hadn’t wanted him to worry over it or feel bad if he couldn’t call, because I understood what his schedule was like.

I woke up to my phone going off like crazy; Rosa and Vero had each called me a few times but I’d managed to sleep through the first ones.

“Hello?”

“GET YOUR SCRAWNY ‘OCKEY PLAYING ASS ‘ERE!” I heard Vero’s unmistakable accent on the other end, and with a lot of effort stood up.

“Okay, okay; I’m coming,”

“And wear somet’ing nice, all right? Not fancy, but nice; we are ‘aving wine so we wanted to dress up,” she told me, bringing a groan from my lips. She laughed at me before hanging up, leaving me to try and find some ‘nice’ clothes. After a few moments of rifling through my closet I pulled out a nice, dark blue, V-neck sweater, and shimmied out of my gym shorts into a nice pair of skinny jeans. I managed to find the flats that Becka had got me for my birthday and slipped them on before grabbing my wallet, keys, cell phone and jacket, and then heading out the door.

The drive over to Rosa’s was fairly quick, only taking about twenty minutes. I didn’t bother to knock, and instead just walked in. It was easy to tell that Rosa and Vero were in the kitchen, because I could hear their laughter. I followed the sound and Vero gave me an overstated wink as she eyed me ‘dressed up’.

“You clean up good, no?” she asked, making me laugh as I gave her a hug. I met Rosa with a hug also, and then she handed me a glass of wine. Wine wasn’t my favorite, but I’d drink it for the girls.

“Thanks Vero – you two aren’t so bad yourself,” I teased back, and we were all laughing before beginning to visit. It didn’t take long before we heard Marc and James headed toward the kitchen, and when I heard a third voice I figured that maybe Matt had tagged along, who would be some good company for me.

“CLAUDE?” I gasped, seeing his familiar grin and red hair come around the corner behind my two teammates. His grin grew even wider, and he opened his arms as I set down my wine glass and ran toward him.

“Surprise,” he chuckled, and when I pulled apart he pressed his lips to mine quickly. I blushed a little, because I’d never been huge on PDA with Jordan in front of any of the guys, so it was even more awkward that Claude didn’t think anything of it.

“I thought you were super-busy today?” I teased, and he just shrugged.

“Well I was – trying to figure out ‘ow to get down ‘ere and make t’is work and make sure it was okay wit t’e coach and all, so I was pretty busy. I fit a workout into t’e middle of t’at too,” he explained, and I buried my face against his chest, unable to conceal how happy I was. Claude put every ounce of effort into making time to see me, which made me feel on Cloud 9.

“Thanks Claude,” I whispered, and felt his embrace tighten around me, and his chin rest on top of my head for a moment.

“So, we ready for some food?” Rosa asked, and I turned to look at her, seeing James’ arms wrapped around her from behind. They looked so happy, I couldn’t believe how easily they’d fit into each other’s lives.

“Yes,” the guys and I answered, which made Vero roll her eyes. The girls both knew I was usually up for food. They informed me that I had had to ‘dress up’ because we were actually going out for dinner somewhere. I pulled on my coat and slipped my shoes back on before standing with Claude waiting for Rosa and Vero to get into their fancy heels. Claude reached for my hand and laced his fingers with mine, bringing a smile to my face as we stood and waited for our friends to be ready to go.

“Cam, Claude; want to jump in with us?” Vero asked, and after sharing a look we nodded. It was better than taking two vehicles and using twice the gas to get to the same place. We slid into the backseat of Marc’s Audi – what Vero called his ‘normal’ car, because usually he liked to show off his Lamborghini.

We drove downtown to a cute Italian restaurant, Claude seemed to make me blush left, right, and center – helping me out of the car, holding my hand walking over, opening the door for me, and even pulling out my chair for me. Rosa and Vero both noticed, giving me shy smiles and Rosa kicking me lightly under the table.

“The portions here are huge,” Rosa warned us as we opened our menus. I took that into consideration, before realizing that they didn’t do half-orders. I hated taking take-out home with me because I usually forgot about it and it went bad, making me throw it out.

“I’ll half you on something,” Claude offered a few moments later, and after a quick debate we decided on a penne dish.

About halfway through our meal Claude got quiet, and soon after so did James and Marc. When I asked him about it he just shook his head and forced a smile for me before slipping back into his quieted behavior. He seemed to notice my growing frustration, and so took my hand in his, giving it a reassuring squeeze. I kept looking around the restaurant, looking for a hint as to the change in the guys’ behaviors, and only minutes later found it. Jordan had walked in with TK, Sid and Geno, and the latter two looking apprehensive and conflicted, while Jordan looked angry. I swallowed hard and shrunk into Claude’s side, immediately feeling hurt and unsure of myself. Claude noticed, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and doing his best to keep my attention. And while I appreciated it, all I could think about was the blonde sitting on the other side of the restaurant.