Lightweight

“Hey Mia” Whitney smiled, walking into my office Monday morning, she had on a shy smile as if she was expecting me to drag her into the room and make her tell me everything about her date with Patrick which I would have done if she didn’t have Alissa standing right behind her, “Alissa’s here, are you ready to take her in?”

I nodded and Whitney allowed Alissa to walk past her and into my office where I motioned for her to sit down, “Good morning, Alissa. How is everything?”

“Great!” She chirped, “thanks so much for helping me out with this, Mia. You don’t understand how frustrating it is to deal with a fiance who doesn’t even care about the details of our wedding.”

I smiled and nodded, “I can imagine, but that’s what you have me for. Okay, so let’s get started, what kind of wedding do you want?”

“I want a princess wedding, like Cinderella., you know the whole nine yards. I want my guests to feel like they walked into Will and Kate’s wedding”

I laughed and took down notes, “Well, it won’t exactly be as...royal as that, but I’m sure we could make something work. So, how do you want your reception to be?”

She handed me a scrapbook and I began looking through it, “I’ve been planning for this wedding since I was about 8 years old, I always wanted to be married. But there’s some inspiration, I want flowers all over the place, mostly roses in different colors all around the room, I want big chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, a huge dance floor in the middle of the room, little glass slippers as favors, I want it to be amazing, the most amazing wedding anyone has ever seen” I furiously wrote down everything she was saying, and handed her the book back, “Oh, hey Mia, one last request. Would you and Whitney mind going dress shopping with me? I need some opinions from the real experts”

“Alissa, I would be honored to go dress shopping with you, and I’m sure Whitney would be too. It’s our job to help, and any friend of Jon’s is a friend of mine, so I would love to”

She clapped her hands together and let out a sigh of relief, “You are truly amazing. So speaking of Jon” She threw in a wink at the end and I rolled my eyes, “Unless you want to keep this totally professional, I would completely understand. He’s just a great guy, and you’re a great girl....”

“No, it’s not like that at all,” I let a nervous laugh escape my lips, “Ever since I got here, all of Jon’s friends and almost everyone that knows the both of us have asked me about it and personally I’m just sick of people asking. It’s nothing against Jon or anything he’s an amazing guy honestly, it’s just I don’t want to date anyone for a long time which is why I usually drown myself in my work. I had a bad relationship experience”

She frowned and looked down at her phone, “Look, I need to go run some errands, but if it means anything to you, you guys have amazing chemistry and I’ve known Jon for a while now, it seems like he likes you, he’s just a really shy guy and pretty cautious when it comes to girls” She shook her head, “Plus there’s that whole Marisa situation which I don’t understand at all”

I smiled a little bit, “Yeah trust me, I don’t understand that situation either. But just let Whitney know when you want to meet up for dress shopping or when you want to meet again so we can go over more details” I stood up and gave her a hug before sitting back down at my desk and starting to type up pages of notes for all different weddings, and organizing every project I was working on.

After an hour of typing everything up, I decided it was time for a break and went to go see if Whitney was up for going out to lunch. By the time I got there, Pat was already by her desk and Whitney was gone probably gone to get her bag, “Hey there hot shot, what are you doing here?” When he heard my voice he turned around and smiled opening his arms for a hug.

“I came to take Whitney out for lunch since we had practice today, what are you up to?” He asked once I let go of him.

“Well, I was going to ask Whit if she wanted to go grab some lunch, but it seems like you already beat me to it,” I pouted and crossed my arms over my chest. Pat laughed and ruffled my hair until I smacked his hand away and smoothed it back down into place.

“You know you can come with us if you wanted to, right?” I nodded, “Yes, but I’d rather hold down my food rather than have it come back up by just watching you two interact with each other, seriously Pat you should see yourself, if I told you this a month ago you’d probably be cracking up for days and then run off to go look for the next puck bunny”

He narrowed his eyes at me, “I’ll have you know I am such a gentleman, you can even ask Whitney, I think I swept her off her feet”

As if on cue, Whitney came back with purse in hand laughing, “The only way you swept me off my feet was when in the park you were sitting on the bench with your legs spread out in front of you and I tripped over your foot” We both started laughing, and Pat turned a deep shade of red.

“Oh wow, aren’t you a real smooth Casanova” I said in between laughs, “You didn’t tell me that happened”

He rubbed the back of his neck, “I didn’t plan on telling you either, or Whitney saying anything” He lightly grabbed her arm and whispered, “I thought you weren’t going to tell anyone, you promised”

She patted his cheek and then kissed it, “I’m sorry, it was just way too funny, you kind of set yourself up for it. Come on, I’m hungry and want to go eat”

I rolled my eyes and waved my hand, “Yeah okay guys, just go eat lunch and I’ll be here starving and working” Patrick shrugged and grabbed Whitney’s hand walking out of the place my jaw falling to the floor and letting out a sigh. I walked back to my office and grabbed my phone scrolling through the list of numbers. I paused before pressing the send button and did it before I changed my mind. It rang a couple of times before a familiar voice answered the phone, “Hello?”

“Hey, Viktor, it’s Mia. Are you busy right now?” I asked, picking at my nail polish waiting for a response.

There was some shuffling before he finally answered, “Uh, nope. Not at the moment. I was just about to take a nap, but it’s okay. Why, is everything okay?”

“Oh shit, I’m really sorry to bother you, but I was just wondering if you wanted to go for lunch since I’m on my break and Whitney already went out with Patrick”

I heard him chuckle, “I’d love to go out to lunch with you, Mia. I’m pretty hungry now that you mention it. I’ll pick you up from work? Just text me the address, I’ll see you in a bit”

I smiled and hung up the phone grateful that I had one good friend I could always call in Chicago. I always could have called Jon but I quickly shook that idea out of my head considering we spent an entire night together, and everyone in our circle of friends already thought there was something going on. I didn’t need to add more fuel to that fire.

While I was waiting for Viktor to come pick me up after I texted him the address I walked into Anna’s office with printed copies of my notes just to make sure I was doing a good job with everything, “Hey, Ann.a I have some notes here on the weddings if you want to look over them, just to make sure they’re okay”

She was sitting at her computer typing up what seemed like schedules. Her hair was up in an elegant bun, and her makeup looked stunning as ever. She definitely gave a lot of women a run for their money, hell, I’m younger than her and she looks 10 times better than I could ever imagine to look like. She motioned for me to come in and finished typing up her work before turning to me with a warm smile and reaching out for the notes. She looked over them for a couple of minutes before nodding her head, “It’s great Mia, you have everything organized and all the information you need to know. How is everything? Are you settling here in Chicago well?”

I nodded, “Yeah, it’s definitely a change of scenery but I love it. I met some pretty amazing people here”

She smiled and took off her glasses studying me, and I immediately became self conscious, “I see. Any boys that have been catching your eye? You’re so good at this Mia, I can’t wait to see what your wedding is going to turn out like.”

I blushed, “No, not really. I’ve been working so much-”

She cut me off, “Mia, listen. I know you love what you do, and that really means a lot, it shows your dedication and that you’ll never let me down. However, don’t let this job control your life, or take over the wonderful things that you could be enjoying. You’re in Chicago, it’s a fresh new start, you can do whatever you want, be whoever you want”

I smiled, “Thanks, Anna. I think that’s what I needed to hear, sometimes I forget to tell myself these things” I stood up to leave and she resumed back to her computer, “That’s what I’m here for, you’re doing an amazing job Mia, don’t forget that” She paused and spoke again, “Mia, don’t forget to fall in love, it’s one of the most amazing feelings in the world” And also one of the worst

I walked out of Anna’s office and my phone began to buzz signaling that Viktor was here. I grabbed my bag and walked outside and headed to Viktor’s car. He reached over and unlocked and opened the door for me allowing me to slide in and smiled, “Hey there”

“Hey Vik, how is everything?” He shrugged and turned the radio down so we can have a conversation without having to scream at each other. I took the opportunity to take in his features since the last time I saw him; his hair looked like he just rolled out of bed which was true since I called him before he took a nap, his face had the smallest hint of stubble, and his black under armour shirt clung to his body perfectly, highlighting his shoulders, chest, and arms. ‘Just friends Mia’ my brain screamed at me. I shook my head snapping me out of my thoughts and Viktor laughed at the expression on my face, “What?”

“Were you paying attention to anything I said?” I blushed and he laughed shaking his head, “You seem out of it today, is everything okay?”

“One of Jon’s friends is now one of our clients, and she basically fed me the same things all of you guys try to; saying how we have such a connection and that he likes me. Blah, blah, blah” I sighed, “It’s just getting to be really annoying now. We’re friends, we’re not even friends, we’re acquaintances if even that”

Viktor nodded his head in agreement “I heard about your little sleepover which sounds a lot like more than friends to me” I heard the playfulness in his voice and I just wanted to crawl into a hole at that point.

“Oh Viktor, not you too” I groaned, “I thought you were on my side here!”

He laughed and reached over to pat my leg, “I am on your side, Mia” I let out a sigh of relief, “but I’m also on theirs. I think you and Jon are good together, you’d be good for him and he’d be good for you. How do you feel about him? Honestly. This is me you’re talking to”

I smiled, “You’re a great friend. I don’t know, he’s a great guy, but I’m not looking for anything right now. I don’t need anything right now or want anything. After my last relationship I’m still a little fragile and people don’t realize that. It’s not easy to jump right back into something”

“He likes you” My head whipped around to face Viktor who wasn’t looking at me, but the road in front of him in fear he said something completely wrong, “No, he doesn’t Vik. He probably still likes Marisa” I crossed my arms and rolled my eyes, “What’s so great about her anyway?”

Viktor laughed and pulled up in front of a small sandwich shop. He put the car in park before turning to me with a smile on his face, “I’m not pushing you to do anything, it’s ultimately your decision in the end and whatever you do choose, I’m fine with it. Whatever makes you happy. Just don’t let Marisa be the reason you don’t go for it, or your jackass of an ex”

_________________

When I returned back to work, Whitney was sitting at her desk with a dreamy look on her face and I laughed waving a hand in front of her face. She snapped out of it and smiled when she saw me, “Hey Mi, have a nice lunch break?”

I laughed and nodded, “Yeah, I had lunch with Viktor. Probably not as great as the one you had. Damn, Whitney, what has gotten into you? What did you have for dessert?”

She blushed and shoved me lightly, “Aw, you’re blushing, it’s so cute. Did any messages come for me?”

She shook her head but handed me an envelope with my name written on it, “This came for you though”

“What the hell is this?” I saw a hint of a smile on her face and I immediately knew she was up to something. She motioned for me to opened the letter and when I did I pulled out two hockey tickets and a piece of paper fell to the ground at my feet, “Did Pat send these?”

“Now, don’t you think if Pat sent them, he would send them to me?” She rolled her eyes as I bent down to pick up the piece of paper. I immediately knew who they were from:

Mia,
I know you probably weren’t expecting this especially in the form of a letter but this was the only way for me to tell you since you refuse to answer any of my texts or calls. I’m always thinking on my feet as you can see. The cocky look wasn’t a good look for him, but I appreciated the effort, I know I easily could have given them to Pat or to Whitney but I wanted them to go right to you. I had a good time the other night, it was nice to hang out with someone new rather than always being around my teammates which can sometimes be a lot to handle. Anyways, here are 2 tickets for our first game of the season, and I want you and Whitney to be there (hence the 2 tickets), it would be pretty cool for you to watch me be a captain since you think I do such a good job. I hope to see you there,
Jon

“He’s been texting and calling you and you haven’t been answering him?!” Whitney shouted obviously reading over my shoulder.

“Ow” I muttered rubbing my ear pretty sure I temporarily lost my hearing, “Was it necessary to yell in my ear?”

“Sorry,” She apologized, “But why haven’t you been answering him?”

“He came over the other night, the same night you and Pat when on your date, and we pretty much hung out at the house, went out to eat, and then fell asleep just talking. I just don’t want to get either of us attached to the other”

“I don’t know, Mia. I would say he’s pretty attached if he’s sending you a ticket to go see him play hockey. That’s pretty serious if you ask me”

“I know” I chewed on my bottom lip thinking about what I was going to do, “Will you come with me?”

“If I must” She sighed dramatically, “At least I’ll get to see Pat, and you two awkward people who can’t make a move. You’re actually going to go?”

I took a deep breath, hoping I wouldn’t regret my decision, “Of course”