Two Different Worlds Collide

I woke up buried in blankets and Jared – his arms were tight around my waist and his face was buried in my neck, his breath warm against my skin. It was a way I would definitely enjoy waking up on more than one occasion. Jared mumbled before nuzzling my neck and continuing to sleep. I let my head rest on my pillow as a sigh escaped. I could stay here forever – for the first time in a long time I just felt content and safe. Jared made me feel safe.

After a little maneuvering I managed to roll onto my back, Jared still wrapped around me, his face still against my neck. I softly fingered through his hair, noticing how peaceful he looked as he slept. He let out an odd snore kind of sound, before he started to wake up. A massive yawn erupted from his mouth before his gaze landed on me. I smiled as a lazy grin spread across his face and he leaned in for a quick kiss.

“Morning,”

“Morning – how’d you sleep?” I asked, my hand still in his hair. Jared yawned once more before stretching his arms, replacing them around me before answering.

“Incredible. You?”

“Likewise,” I giggled, before he nuzzled my neck, his slight stubble tickling my neck along with his warm breath.

“Jared! That tickles!” I shrieked, trying but failing to get out of his grasp and away from him. He started to laugh, straddling my waist and standing on his knees above me as he tickled me.

“What’s the magic word?” he sing-songed, and I was laughing so hard that tears were in my eyes.

“PLEASE?” I begged, and finally he let up, sitting back on his haunches and laughing as well. I took my chance and launched myself at his chest, knocking him backward and proceeding to straddle him and tickle him back.

“Come on! Cheye!” he managed to flip me off and soon we were wrestling, laughing and basically acting like a couple of five year olds. Soon it turned into a pillow fight, and by the time we called truce we were both out of breath. I flopped down onto my side beside him and soon Jared’s arm worked it’s way around my waist as we stared at his roof trying to catch our breath.

“That was fun,” he grinned, looking over at me.

“That it was,” I agreed, before my stomach growled. “But now I think it’s time for some breakfast.”

“That sounds good,” Jared nodded, following me up out of bed and into his kitchen. I pulled eggs and some other odds and ends out of the fridge, including the sausages from last night, deciding to make an omelet. It was still early, so Jared had time for breakfast before he had to leave for morning skate. Soon he was making toast to go with our eggs, and his grumbling stomach was getting worse.

“Just stay here forever,” he told me once he’d wolfed down about half of his breakfast. The cheese and sausage omelets were good, especially on toast.

“What?”

“Stay here forever so we can keep hanging out and I can have breakfast like this,” he explained, and I nodded, feeling my cheeks heat up. Soon I felt his hand hesitantly take mine.

“I didn’t… was that out of line?” he asked, sounding worried.

“No, Jared. It’s just… hard knowing the circumstances and all,” I managed a smile, and the rest of breakfast was quiet.

“I, um, need to go shower real quickly; make yourself at home,” Jared quickly made his way to the bathroom while I sat down on the couch. This was dumb, I needed to stop spending time with him like this and pretending that something was going to come of it. The last thing I needed was to get my heart broken and stepped on all over again, and Jared was well on his way to being close enough to do so.

Jared had no more than walked back into the living room when the front door swung open, scaring me right off of the couch onto the floor.

“Hey Jay!” I watched as Jordan Staal grabbed his little brother into a hug, Eric standing beside him. He looked a little shell shocked, his brothers not understanding why. Neither of them had seen me on the floor, and I hoped they wouldn’t. How bad would that look; me in Jared’s t-shirt and boxers, having obviously spent the night here with him. It didn’t matter that we didn’t do anything, that was no way to make a first impression.

“Jared, you okay?” Eric asked, and he stuttered for a second.

“Y-yeah, just… I didn’t expect you guys this early,” he choked out. Jordan put on a pout.

“Jeez, you seem so excited that we got up at the ass-crack of dawn and drove all the way here to see you,” Jordan scoffed, and Jared ran a hand through his hair, his eyes moving to me before back to his brothers.

“Um, it’s not that,”

“Oh,” Eric’s eyes landed on me, and I knew my face was all kinds of red as he started to blush too. “I, um, see why.”

“What’re you… oh, hello,” Jordan seemed unfazed by my presence or clothing, only adding to my embarrassment.

“Um, Cheyenne, these are my brothers – Jordan, Eric, this is Cheyenne,” Jared managed to say, and Jordan walked over, offering me a hand up. I realized it probably looked like I had nothing on under his T-shirt because it hung down to my knees. Jared immediately walked over and put his arm around me, trying to make me feel a little better.

“We, uh, ran into Tasha at the bar last night,” Jared told them, and both brothers paled slightly.

“What the hell is she doing down here again? Can she not take a hint?” Jordan huffed, sitting down on the armchair and swinging his feet up on the coffee table, obviously not caring that I was feeling awkward being a little under dressed in front of them.

“I don’t know Jord, but she kind of came after Cheyenne at the bar,” he sighed, and after a long moment Eric sat down too. I looked to Jared, who suddenly realized I was wearing his underwear and T-shirt in front of his brothers.

“Oh, sorry – did you want to change?” he asked, and I nodded enthusiastically.

“Here – we’ll be right back,” he told his brothers, going with me to his room.

“Did you want to just throw on something of mine for right now? Then you can shower and everything later,” he suggested. Anything sounded good to me right now.

“Sure,” he found me a pair of gym shorts and a tank top, which I quickly changed into, throwing my hair up into a ponytail with a holder I’d kept in my wallet. He gave me a hoodie too, so I wouldn’t be too cold, so when we walked back out to the living room I felt a little better.

“Feel better?” Jordan asked. I nodded, keeping slightly behind Jared and then sitting down beside him on the loveseat. He pulled me into his side, even though I felt awkward enough already.

“Yeah,” I nodded, and soon the conversation turned to the game and I was immediately glad that Jared and I had woken up ridiculously early so he had time to visit with his brothers before practice.

“Are you always this quiet?” Eric asked, spooking me a little bit.

“Oh, um,”

“No, she’s not,” Jared answered for me, making me blush a little more.

“It’s just, you guys probably think the worst after…”

“Nah – we kind of burst in – we’re lucky we caught Jared dressed,” Jordan brushed off my comment as if it was absolutely nothing to walk in on me or Jared half-dressed.

“Still, that’s not exactly a good first impression,” I insisted. Eric chuckled, looking to Jordan and then Jared.

“I think she’s a keeper Jay – lots of girls don’t get like this,” he teased, making both of us thoroughly embarrassed.

“Hey it’s true - Cheyenne, right?” Jordan asked just to be sure. “One time I dropped in to visit and Tasha had just got out of the shower. I was standing talking with Jared and she walked out to talk to me in just her towel. Now that’s awkward. You were stuck, she had a choice,” he told me. Jared was silent beside me, and I knew right now he didn’t want to talk about his ex, not after our little run-in last night.

“Wow,” was all I could think to say, and Jordan nodded, laughing.

“Exactly. And besides, we know you’re not some one-nighter – when I talked to Jared yesterday he mentioned you. He wouldn’t have done that otherwise,” Jared was about ready to drop dead from embarrassment at his brother, but I was feeling a little less awkward.

“Thanks?” it came out as a question and had all three Staal brothers laughing at me. I really didn’t know what else to say, until Eric started asking about where I was from.

“Saskatchewan, originally. I’m going to university in Edmonton right now,” I answered, piquing his interest.

“What for?”

“Journalism, actually,” I responded, and he grinned.

“So, is this conversation going to show up on a blog or something?” he teased.

“Nah, I’m not really into that. I want to go into Sports Journalism actually – I did an internship with the Oilers this past year,” I told them, and even Jordan’s eyes widened a little bit. I hadn’t told Jared about the internship or my hope for specification in Sports.

“Cool – so how was being the team gopher?” Jordan asked, and I had to grin.

“It was hectic for the first week, but then one of the main people got sick and I got to do the in-game and after that it was spectacular – I did a lot of writing for their website during it,” I told them, and Eric seemed quite pleased with that answer.

“That’s really cool. Got any place specific you’re hoping to go after you get your degree?”

“Anywhere that will have me,” I admitted, before continuing. “Until an NHL team or CFL or something like that would offer me a job, I think that’s where I’d like to work best. AHL would be awesome, and even WHL or OHL would be pretty cool, but that’s the dream anyway.”

“Working your way to the NHL too,” Jordan smirked, looking at Jared.

“I guess so,” I agreed, looking up at him and giving his hand a quick squeeze.

“Well, I uh, gotta head to skate. I don’t know what you two are gonna do…”

“We need to go grab some breakfast,” Eric quickly piped up, looking at me.

“Okay then. Cheyenne, did you want to stay here until after practice, or I can drop you off or whatever you want,” Jared looked to me.

“Whatever’s easier for you,” I told him, and he just put his arms around me and leaned his forehead on mine after he’d put on his shoes.

“No, it’s whatever you want,” he whispered, making me painfully aware his brothers were doing their best to give us some privacy in his apartment.

“If you want to stay, I’d like that; Eric’s planning on clearing out for breakfast so you can shower and stuff. You can help yourself to whatever – I’ve got shampoo and all of that, and you can borrow some clothes if you like,” he offered. I knew it was probably smarter to go back to the hotel, but then the thought of possibly walking in on Brett and Liza wasn’t exactly great.

“Okay,” I nodded, making him smile and press a peck of a kiss to my lips before straightening up.

“I’ll see you after practice, okay?” I gave him a smile and another quick kiss before he was out the door. I turned back, realizing that Jared’s absence left me alone with his two brothers who I hardly knew.

“So, we’ll go grab some breakfast so it’s not all awkward if you’re trying to get all beautified for your day, or whatever it is you do in the morning,” Jordan teased, standing up and walking toward the door. Eric was right on his heels, catching me off guard when he pulled me into a quick hug before heading out the door. Jordan then hugged me as well.

“So, I take it we’ll be seeing more of you today? You going to the game?” he asked.

“Yes, Liza and I had planned on going to it when we got here, then Jared invited me after we’d met,”

“Well then, we’ll have to get seats altogether then – see if you know your stuff,” he tapped my forehead then before the two said goodbye and promptly left. I shut and locked the door behind them, taking a breath before deciding on taking a shower.