Two Different Worlds Collide

“Hey Cheye,” I felt a hand in my hair and finally opened an eye. Jared was sleepily watching me, and smiled when he saw I was finally waking up.

“Have a good nap?” I merely nodded and moved so I could bury my face in his neck, not ready to get up yet. The nap had been incredible; I don’t think I’ve ever slept better in my life.

“We’ve gotta get up and get ready for the game,” he gently urged me. I groaned, snaking my arms around him and tightening my grip.

“No…”

“I know, I don’t want to either,” Jared admitted, sitting up even as he said it, bringing me with him. We just sat there for a moment, me on his lap, our arms tight around each other, before I let out a sigh and moved to crawl off of the bed. Jared followed after pulling his jeans back on, and as we left his room found his apartment strangely quiet. Jared laughed when we caught sight of both of his brothers asleep; the TV off and Jordan’s legs hanging off of the loveseat.

Jared went and dug the smaller, leftover portion of dinner out of the fridge, warming it up and leaning against the counter as he started to eat. I was content to sit at the table, my head resting on my hand as I tried to wake up.

Jordan and Eric soon woke up, the three of us looking ridiculously tired while Jared was almost trembling with excitement. I didn’t blame him, it was a pretty big game and I guess the coach had told him at practice that he’d be playing second line. He’d just mentioned it to me quietly, wanting to keep it a surprise for his brothers. When he’d finished eating he returned to his room to change – emerging in a sharp grey suit with a red tie. He picked up my phone from the charger and brought it over to me, bringing it to my attention that I’d missed a couple of texts. Liza had been trying to get ahold of me to see how I was getting to the game.

“You can ride with us –then you don’t have to go so ridiculously early,” Jordan immediately offered when I told Jared what Liza had asked. I felt my face heat up, not sure what to do – Liza and Brett would probably have no qualms about getting me and taking me back to the hotel so that Liza and I could go together.

“That’s okay, I mean, Liza and I can go,” I stuttered, and saw Jared shake his head.

“No, you two don’t need to pay and take a cab to get to the game,” he argued, and soon his brothers were on his side.

“Seriously – Brett can drop her off here and the two of you can come with us, no big deal,” Eric insisted, and after a few more minutes of bickering Jordan snatched my phone and started texting Liza back. I attempted to get it back, but found that the height advantage made a lot of difference.

“Jordan!” I complained, pulling on his arm to no avail – he was too strong for it to do anything effective.

“It’s fine Cheyenne – this way’s cheaper for you two anyway, and we’ll have company to the arena. Win-win,” he answered, handing me the phone once he’d finished his message and sent it. I looked to Jared, who merely nodded before wrapping his arms around me and pecking my cheek.

“Jordan’s got a point Cheye, and it’ll be crazy trying to get a cab to the game because lots of people go from the bar to the arena by cab,” he explained. We waited until Brett and Liza arrived, and then after a quick kiss Jared left, waving to his brothers and Liza as he followed his teammate out the door. I awkwardly introduced Liza to Jordan and Eric, and then we made our way to the living room, not sure what to do. Liza didn’t know Jared’s brothers and I hardly knew them well enough to help any conversation along. At least they’re very friendly and talkative, because I was more than a little useless in that department.

“Well, we better head out – traffic is going to get ridiculous,” Eric announced about thirty-five minutes before the doors were supposed to open. We filed down to the vehicle, Liza and I getting in the back while Jordan got in the passenger seat. Just as Eric had predicted, a crazy amount of vehicles were on the road, all of them heading to the arena. It took us about forty five minutes to actually get there and park, so the four of us hurried inside to get our tickets from will call and find our seats.

“Here you go, enjoy the game!” the lady at the counter told us, handing a large bag. Jordan got a shit-eating grin on his face as he pulled out a jersey and tossed it to me, making my face heat up as I saw Jared’s last name and number on the back.

“Isn’t that cute?” he asked, making Liza and his brother laugh while I blushed and mumbled before pulling the huge jersey over my head. Once I had done that I gave Eric a small smile as I took the ticket that he was holding out for me and proceeded to follow him to where Liza and Jordan were already in line to get our tickets checked and get in. I thought it was weird that Brett hadn’t done something down those lines for Liza, considering he’d taken her to meet his cousin and they’d been all but attached since they’d met, but then I caught sight of the Checker Red peeking out from under her coat. The jerk didn’t even tell me that she’d been given a jersey to wear.

It wasn’t hard to find our seats – we were in the third row, straight across the ice from the home bench. Jordan sat on my left, Liza on my right, and Eric sat to the right of her, everybody making themselves comfortable as we waited for the teams to take to the ice for the warm up. Jordan had his cell phone out, texting away, while Liza kept pushing for all the details of spending my day with Jared. It didn’t take long to steer the conversation to her day, and she was more than eager to tell me all about how incredible Brett was. They’d went for a walk around town this morning after practice, and then they’d grabbed lunch at a little deli on their way back. After the whole pre-game nap thing she explained about him asking her to wear his jersey to the game and then going for dinner with Zach, Justin and Michal and then to where we were now. By the time she finished her story the guys had finished warming up and we were asked to stand for the singing of the national anthem. Liza and I stood quietly, but I could hear Jordan half-singing, half-mumbling some of the words beside me.

About a minute and a half in Jared’s line came on the ice, and both of his brothers let out an excited whoop as they realized he’d snagged a second-line spot for the game. Jared was hoping that he could prove to the coach that he deserved to stay on that line, and I hoped that he did, because as far as I could tell he was doing really well. Nothing big happened during his shift, but the whole time his line was on the ice they made smart passes and played responsible hockey.

The first period went scoreless, and by the time they’d started the second period I was getting anxious. I wanted something to happen, and by that something I wanted the Checkers to put away a goal. The whole suspense of it was just killing me, and soon I was flinching at every poor pass or missed opportunity the Checkers had, and it didn’t go unnoticed by the blonde NHL player beside me.

“Hey, take a breath,” he teasingly reminded me. I took a deep one and blew it out slowly, ready to start hollering or pulling my hair out.

“Sorry, I just… they could’ve scored at least twice by now!” Eric started to laugh at my exasperation, and Liza just groaned.

“This is why I don’t go to hockey games with you,” she announced, making the Staals laugh even harder.

“You and Tanya would get along great at a hockey game,” Eric looked to Jordan, who nodded.

“Heather and Lindsay too – I don’t think any of those girls can sit still and just watch a game. I swear Heather’s like a backseat coach or something,” he informed me, making me smile at the thought of his wife standing behind the bench hollering at him to pick up the pace.

“I just… get very into the game,” I finally allowed, making Jordan roll his eyes.

“Very? Try insanely,” It took all of my will power to not smack his shoulder or stick my tongue out at him, and instead I crossed my arms and sunk down in my seat, eyes trained on the ice. Jordan sighed before stretching his arm across the back of my chair and leaning in to talk quietly.

“I’m just teasing – please don’t be upset,” I turned to look at him, eyes wide.

“I’m not,” I replied. He raised an eyebrow at me.

“Come on, you’re telling me that isn’t upset? I’m married, I’m not as stupid as you might think,” he insisted, but I shook my head.

“Dead serious, I’m not upset; I know I get pretty into watching games, and it’s not like you were being mean to me or anything. It took a lot of restraint to not stick my tongue out at you though,” I explained, and he nodded as he laughed before giving me a one-armed hug.

“I like you Cheyenne, and I know you two are supposed to be heading back home or whatever, but Jared needs someone like you,” he told me, the comment casual and his tone light, as if that was a perfectly normal thing to say in daily conversation. It had my head spinning, to the point I almost didn’t notice when Jared slipped the puck behind the goal line to give the Checkers a 1-0 lead. He skated past us, a huge smile on his face as he met his teammates, and I smiled and cheered with his brothers and Liza as he sat on the bench and looked over at us. His smile grew wider, and after that I settled back into watching the game.