Things Aren't Always What They Seem

Charlotte swallowed as she took a step back from Jon, their eyes still locked on one another. Jon's heart began to pound harder than it already was when he realized she hadn't said anything in well over a minute. Then, when she finally did speak, he wished she hadn't.

"I think you should go home, Jon," she said quietly, her voice shaking.

"What?" he asked in disbelief. He could feel his eyes pop open and the pit that was in his throat fall down into his stomach.

"I think you should go to your place tonight," Charlotte repeated as she completely removed her hands from his body, which made Jon feel suddenly cold.

"Why?" he pleaded for an answer unsure of what he did to make her so upset she was basically kicking him out. She barely ever did that even before they started up as a couple. "Charlotte what'd I do?"

She looked at him and he could tell she was about to start crying. It made him feel worse when he saw the tears well in her eyes. "You didn't do anything," she said unconvincingly. "I just think you should spend time at your place tonight-- we could use a night apart."

"That's ridiculous," he objected. "Why are you mad? You're that mad I want to marry you? Really?"

Charlotte looked down at the ground and inhaled deeply before gaining the strength to look back at Jon. "No." She shook her head and looked at him genuinely upset, not angry or bitter. "It just goes to show that after eight years you don't know one thing about me."

Jon's head fell and he let out a frustrated breath. "Are you kidding me? You're kidding me. You know that's bullshit."

"Okay," Charlotte gave in a little too easily. "I'm sorry. She took him by the hand and led him to the front door. I'm just tired and we'll talk about this tomorrow." She reached up and gave him a kiss. "I love you. Night."

She turned her back to walk to her bedroom but Jon took the two strides to catch up to her and grabbed her wrist, spinning her around and into him. "No," he adamantly denied her request. "I'm not going, I won't leave you until you tell me what's wrong."

"Jon," Charlotte said his name a little more frustrated as she sighed out. "If you love me as much as you say you do, I'm asking you to go home."

Jon held her gaze for a few seconds and searched her eyes. He searched for something--anything-- that told him she was lying, that this was some type of game-- test-- he needed to pass, but there was nothing. She was dead serious and he looked away in annoyance as he begrudgingly nodded his head. "Fine." He turned around angrily and slammed the door behind him as he left.

***

"Hey man," Duncan greeted Jon as he walked in the arena for practice. After their day off they were back on the ice but had a few days until their next game. Jon was in obvious distress and that was due to the fact that he hadn't spoken to Charlotte since she kicked him out of her place.

"Hi," Jon nodded his head and gave a quiet response.

"Uh oh," Duncan grinned as he walked over to Jon and gave him a pat on the shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Jon shook his head but his weak attempt at dropping the subject was already lost on his buddy.

"No really," Duncan repeated. "What's up? What happened. You only get like this when shit goes down with your girl."

Jon sighed out in frustration and turned to look at him. "She hasn't spoken to me in two days."

"Why? Because of the show Kaner and that hoe put on the other night?"

"No," Jon shook his head. "No, nothing to do with that."

"Well what then? What'd you do?"

"That's the thing," Jon sat down by his locker and ran his hand through his hair. "I don't know! I don't know this time..."

"Tell me what happened."

"We were at her place the other night and everything was going so well, so perfect. We were just together and she did something so small, you know? It wasn't even a big deal, but it was the gesture and the way that I realized I always feel with her and ... I kind of ... proposed to her."

"WHAT!" Duncan yelled a little louder than he would have liked.

"Shhh," Jon instantly hushed him and continued his story. "We were in her kitchen holding each other and kissing and I... I suggested we hop a plane to Vegas and get married right then-- that night."

Duncan's head fell and he literally gave Jon a facepalm as he groaned out. "Nooo. You didn't do that."

"I did," Jon confirmed. "I thought she'd be happy but instead she turned me down and asked me to leave and she hasn't talked to me since. So, obviously the girl I've been in love with for eight years, the girl I watched say yes to Kaner, said no to me-- she doesn't wanna marry me."

"No you idiot," Duncan blurted out as if it should have been obvious. "That's not why she said no." Jon cocked his head and looked at him as he continued to speak. "Would you say yes to you like that? Did you even get down on one knee?"

"Well," Jon felt his cheeks flush and he rubbed the back of his neck revealing his insecurity. "No..."

"Did you give her a ring?"

"No," Jon said again, feeling more stupid with each passing second. "But, that stuff doesn't matter to Charlotte. She's not just in this for a huge rock-- that's not her."

"No," Duncan agreed. "But I'm sure she wants to know you tried at least. Not like, 'hey we're in your kitchen I love you, let's go to Vegas, marry me.' No. That's not gonna be received well. C'mon dude. She's your girl-- you've known her for eight years and I'm gonna be the one who tells you what's up?"

"Well. Fuck. I thought it was romantic as hell." Jon crossed his arms across his chest and let out a puff of air.

Duncan couldn't help laughing at his friend and gave his shoulder a squeeze. "Yeah well if you had put some thought into it, got down on your knee and asked her I bet she would have had a different response. I can promise you that she took it as a spur of the moment type thing and that she felt if she had said yes she would have looked like an idiot-- that you wouldn't have really meant it."

"Of course I mean it."

"Oh believe me, I know that. I bet she does too, but you didn't present it in the best light."

"Why does that seem to be the norm with me lately?" Jon put his fingertips to his forehead and shook his head annoyed at himself. "Seriously. Dude, I used to have it so together. I never fucked up so much with girls. Now it's like every time I want to do something for her, I fuck it up. And the best part is I should know better-- which pisses me off. I know her better than anyone."

"Well you had so much luck before because you didn't care. You're batshit crazy in love with this girl and you always have been, so my guess is you're trying to damn hard to make it perfect it's coming across the wrong way. Just talk to her, and when you actually propose-- do it right."

Jon nodded his agreement and had to laugh at himself. "Yeah you're right."

"Hey man," Duncan swallowed and looked at Jon a little more seriously.

"Yeah?"

"Did you actually mean it-- what you asked Charlotte."

Jon paused for a moment and swallowed before he answered. "If she would have said yes I'd be somewhere, I don't even know where, but I'd be in bed with my new wife right now."

Duncan held his gaze and didn't say a word as he slowly nodded his head. "Wow," he breathed out. "Wow," He said again. "I thought so."

***

After practice Jon showered and got dressed, immediately heading to Charlotte's office where he knew she'd pent herself up since she was upset with him. When he got through security he hopped on the elevator and took a deep breath to calm his nerves. She always had that affect on him, whether she tried or not-- whether she was present or not. When he got off at her floor he immediately asked the receptionist where she was and she smiled as she directed him to her office. He nodded with a smile and thanked the girl-- he was just glad Charlotte wasn't anywhere crazy or in a meeting.

Jon headed to her office and knocked lightly on her door. When she opened it her eyes widened at the sight of him and she let out a little gasp. She looked in his eyes, down to his hands then looked back up at him with a sexy little grin. "What are you doing here?" she pushed the doorjamb open and invited him into her office and closed the door behind them when he entered.

"You didn't talk to me yesterday and I hadn't heard from you yet today. So I was hoping you'd accept an invitation to lunch." Jon turned to her, outstretched his arms and handed her the roses that he held in them. "These are you for."

"Are they?" she asked flirtatiously. "Why's that?"

"Oh, you can consider these the 'I'm sorry for being an insensitive dick' flowers, or simply 'I love you' flowers-- however you want to interpret them."

"Do you even know why I was upset?" she asked as she perched herself up on her desk and crossed her legs. The simple move wasn't meant to drive Jon mad, but it did and he instantly felt his dick stir in his pants.

"I think I do," Jon nodded as he walked closer to her. He didn't reach out and touch her-- grab her to him-- but he wanted to and it was killing him to use so much discipline. "You wanna go out for lunch and talk about it?"

Charlotte nodded her acceptance, "Yeah. I would love that."

"Do you still love me?" Jon asked innocently yet slightly nervous at what her answer would be.

"Of course I do," she immediately responded. "Don't ever question that." It was clear by the look on her face and the tone of her voice that she was surprised he even asked her that. Charlotte grabbed his hand and pulled him into her where he automatically wrapped his arms around her and stood between her legs against the desk.

"Let's go. We'll talk about it, but not in your office. I think it's a little weird to get into it here." Jon kissed her forehead and felt her in his grasp, feeling more relaxed by her touch.

Charlotte pulled away but held his hand as she hopped off the desk and led him out of the room. She nodded a polite hello at the receptionist as they walked out and as soon as the fresh air hit their faces Jon spun her around into his arms where he leaned down and kissed her good and proper. She kissed him back with as much desire as he gave her and ran her hands through his dark hair. When Jon pulled back he took a second to compose himself before tucking her blonde hair behind her ear. "Too soon?"

Charlotte let out a giggle and shook her head. "No." She leaned up and kissed him quick on the lips and walked with him until they got where he wanted to take her for lunch.

"Okay," Jon said as they took their seats in the very private restaurant, at the very private table they were at. "I hate the feeling I get when we argue and I wanna talk about this. Get it all in the open"

Charlotte nodded. "Okay. Talk."

"I know you're mad because of the suggestion I made the other night-- and I think I know why."

"Alright," Charlotte said in an agreeing tone. "Then tell me."

"You think I was being presumptuous and spur of the moment and that I didn't really mean it in some capacity."

"Mmmhmm," Charlotte encouraged him to continue.

"I kind of cheapened what I meant by asking you to go to Vegas. I don't wanna run off into the night and secretly marry you-- I just meant I'd marry you today. I'd marry you tomorrow-- I'd marry you five minutes from now if you said yes. I just want to marry you and I would have done it at sixteen if it were an option." Jon's vulnerability was completely raw and on display and it made him nervous, but when he saw Charlotte's face he knew he had nothing to feel nervous about.

"I know how you feel-- because I feel the same exact way as you. I just...I got upset because like you said, you cheapened it. It felt like it was just something you wanted to say rather than something you really would have gone through with. I'm not asking you to spend monstrous amounts of money on me. I just want you to make it special. You know I'm not the kind of girl who will accept a half-assed effort-- and I would never give you one."

"Char, I know that. I just went about it the wrong way. I guess, for starters I should realize it's too soon and you probably don't wanna dip your foot back into the water just yet."

Charlotte cocked her head and looked at him with a wrinkled brow. "That's not it at all. I don't care about my past with Patrick. It doesn't have any impact on my life with you. I don't even care what anyone would say or think. If you asked me-- and I mean really asked me, I'd say yes and not think anything of it. Like you said, if this were an option when I was sixteen, I would have said yes with all my heart and meant it. You always were so unpredictable and spontaneous with me. It felt like a slap in the face that you wanted to go to Vegas-- without at least our parents. I love you, and that's why I said no."

Jon nodded finally getting the entire picture. "I know you do. I'm sorry I made you feel that way. You really don't think it's too soon? You aren't a little freaked out?"

Charlotte adamantly shook her head as she sipped her water. "No, no way. Everything you said when you asked the other night was perfect and true...I just want to see you mean it. You could wake up the next day-- had I taken you up on your offer-- and been like...'shit...' you know? I don't want that. I wanna marry you and have you marry me."

"Believe me, it'll happen. Sooner than later."

"Are you asking me again right now?" Charlotte asked with a grin.

"Nope," Jon couldn't mask his own smile. "Don't worry though, I'll ask you alright. You just won't see it coming and trust me when it happens it'll just blow your mind."

"I don't know," Charlotte sang sweetly and it was music to Jon's ears. "I've always been good at figuring you out."

"We'll see," Jon flirted back. "You won't see this coming."

"You're on." Charlotte sealed the deal with a seductive eyebrow raise and all Jon could think about was getting her back to his place later that night.

***

Jon crawled out of bed and walked with Charlotte to the bathroom where they went to clean up after their crazy session of make-up sex. Jon's heart was racing, Charlotte's skin was flushed pink and silky shiny from the sweat he made drip from her pores. He loved the way she looked after they made love-- he loved her messy sex hair, the glow on her face. If he could permanently keep her in a post-coital state he'd be forever happy.

Charlotte tossed one of Jon's bigger t-shirts over her head and donned nothing but that as she was about to get back into bed. Jon stopped her in her tracks and scooped her up into a kiss, grabbing her bare ass and giving her cheeks a squeeze. Jon pulled his boxers back on and just as he was about to get into his bed he heard his doorbell go off. He and Charlotte looked up at each other having no clue who to expect before Jon made his way to his front door. "Stay here," he told her as he walked out of the room. "Keep that bed warm."

When Jon got to his front door he opened it not caring that he was sporting his own obvious sex hair, and when he did his eyes popped open.

"Hey Jon," Rose said calmly and Jon felt the rage building up inside of him.

"Can't you take a fucking hint?" he erupted. "This is getting ridiculous. What is your problem? We broke up fair and square. You were fucking my teammate behind my back. I don't know what you can't accept here. We're done. I'm happy and I love Charlotte and all your pathetic attempts to break us up aren't going to work."

"Jon I'm pregnant," Rose blurted out before shakily inhaling and taking a deep breath. "Almost three months."

Jon heard a noise behind him and when he turned around he saw Charlotte standing there, her hand over her mouth and her eyes wide as the sun. He knew she had come out because she heard all the commotion and the yelling, but when she immediately turned and quickly made her way back to Jon's bedroom he felt his heart sink.

Jon was totally numb-- he couldn't feel a thing. He needed a second to catch his breath along with his composure. He looked back at Rose and she nodded her head but he couldn't think remotely straight.

Just as Jon was about to speak Charlotte came back out fully dressed. "I'm so out of here," she spat out in a fit of irrationality as she tried to brush by him. Jon grabbed her arm and pulled her back, pleaded with her to stay. "Is this why you were so gung-ho about a quickie wedding? You knew I couldn't go anywhere if I married you before I found out? You deal with this. I'm going home."