Status: Just starting!! :)

Two Different Worlds Collide

eighteen.

“Jared you did awesome!”

“You didn’t tell us you were playing second line!”

As soon as we were allowed back to the player’s lounge Jordan and Eric bombarded their little brother with questions about his position in the game. Jared’s smile was huge, his goal and assist earning him second star of the night, and his brother’s compliments were adding to his mood. Liza had immediately found Brett when we’d walked in, so I stood there by myself for a few minutes, feeling that Jared needed some time with his brothers after a game like this. They rarely got to see his games, so this was huge for him.

“What’s got you so quiet?” I jumped as Jared spoke in my ear, making everybody who saw laugh as I blushed and tried to calm back down.

“Don’t do that!” I finally told him, but Jared merely chuckled and wrapped his arms around me before kissing my forehead.

“Sorry. Did you enjoy the game?” he asked, and I nodded enthusiastically.

“It was awesome! Jare you played so well!” I immediately launched into a mini-recap, not that he needed it, highlighting my favorite parts of the game, which included his goal and his incredible blind one-timer pass to Bellemore for the put-away goal. Jared stood there soaking up the attention, his eyes sparkling and his smile wide as I told him everything. More than likely I sounded like an excited five-year-old, but I didn’t care.

“Thanks Cheye,” he whispered, pulling me in for a quick peck of a kiss when I’d finished talking. After another short hug he pulled away, putting his arm around me and leading me to where his brothers were visiting with Zach and Justin Faulk, who’d both been called up before so Eric knew them.

“The lovebirds decided to join the rest of us?” Zach teased. Jared flipped him off before pulling me a little closer to him. I stayed quiet, not sure what to even say if I had wanted to say something.

“Jeez Staalsy I’m just kidding, relax,” Zach immediately apologized for his comment. Jared nodded then, and made a half-hearted attempt to join in the conversation. To me he looked exhausted, but when I went to stand on my tiptoes and ask he just shook his head and offered me a small smile.

“So, is Alice dragging you all out tonight?” Justin asked, and Jared nodded.

“Apparently it’s not a good visit if she doesn’t haul all of us out for a couple drinks,” he replied with a smile. The guys all visited for another ten or fifteen minutes before gradually starting to leave. Jared looked to me, and I shrugged, content to wait for whatever he wanted to do. He quickly excused us from the small group of his teammates and with his arm around me we started heading for the door.

“So, are you two going back to your place?” Jordan asked, and Jared nodded.

“Yeah, we’ll stop at the my place so I can throw on some jeans and then head to the hotel so that Cheyenne can change,”

“Well, we’ll meet you guys at the bar then, sound good?” we both nodded at Eric’s suggestion and then continued on our way toward Jared’s truck.

“Thanks for the jersey, by the way,” I managed to get out. It was huge on me, but it smelled like him, and even just knowing that he’d put that kind of thought in was touching.

“Thanks for wearing it,” was his shy response, squeezing me tight for a second before unlocking and opening my door for me. I hopped up into the passenger seat as he went around to his side and got in, immediately cranking up the heat once the engine turned over. When the engine had warmed up and warm air was coming through the vents Jared pulled out of the parking lot and made the drive back to his apartment. It took him all of two minutes to change into a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, and before I knew it he was back in his jacket and we were off to the hotel. I grabbed a shirt and went into the bathroom, slipping out of the large and comfortable jersey I had on over my hoodie and T-shirt. I changed into a comfortable fitting top with a sweetheart neckline – the shirt fitting snugly but without being too tight, showing off my waist. I decided on putting some makeup on my face, and even went so far as to put on a necklace before exiting the bathroom. Jared’s eyes moved over me quickly as I stepped into view, before he stood up to meet me with a kiss.

“I’ll have to fight guys off all night,” he complained lightly, making me roll my eyes at him before kissing him again. We were just about out the door when Jared stopped, and I turned to him, wondering about his delay.

“Um… do you know if you want to stay at my place again tonight?” he asked quietly, making my face turn bright red as I stumbled over what to say. Did I want to? Yes. Was it a good idea? Probably not.

“I, um…”

“You don’t want things to get out of hand and make this worse?” he supplied for me. I couldn’t help but sigh in relief, unable to believe Jared’s ability to read my mind.

“Yeah,” I nodded, and he copied the action before shoving his hands into his pockets.

“I could, um, sleep on the couch, if you want to stay at my place. Then at least we’re in the same part of town…” he quietly suggested, making me want to swoon and cry at the same time.

“Jared I wouldn’t ask you to do that… why don’t we figure this out later?” I pleaded, and he nodded, pulling me into his side as we left my hotel room and headed back toward the elevators. He was fairly quiet the entire trip to the bar, and immediately I felt like shit for doing that to him. I knew Jared should be bouncing off of the walls with excitement – he’d had an amazing game, and they’d won – he shouldn’t be feeling bad because of me.

“Hey, lighten up,” I teased, gently elbowing him as we walked across the parking lot toward the front doors. “You’re kind of a big deal tonight, remember?”

“Sure,” he shrugged, and I sighed, tugging on his hand. He stopped and turned to me as I raised myself up on my tiptoes and pulled his lips to mine. For a second Jared didn’t respond, and when he did he pulled me in as tight to his body as we could get. As we pulled away for air we were both breathing heavily, and I nuzzled his neck for a moment.

“Come on, everybody’s going to be waiting for you Jare,” I whispered, finally letting the heels of my feet drop to the ground. I didn’t miss the grin on Jared’s face however, as we showed our ID and were let inside. Immediately a cheer went up, making Jared laugh – his eyes lit up and I knew he was genuinely happy right now.

“I’ll go grab us a drink,” I offered, and while he argued I insisted, wanting him to soak up all of the attention he deserved from his teammates, friends and brothers. It only took a few minutes to pick my way across the room to the bar, but I had to wait quite a while for the waitress to come over and ask me what I wanted. I wasn’t really surprised – there were a lot of men in here, plus the Checkers – and I knew female bartenders tended to cater to their male patrons more because of better tips. But it was still pretty frustrating to wait that long just to get two beers.

“Thanks,” I managed a tight smile at her before I started to make my way back to Jared. As soon as he saw me his smile changed, becoming wider and, if possible, softer. It was a whole different kind of smile, rather than a rowdy one it was almost like a secretive smile, the kind he would give me when we were alone at his apartment and had just woken up from a nap. It made me feel self conscious and flustered all at once, and by the time I was able to hand him his drink my face was red.

“Thanks babe,” he pressed a kiss to my cheek before taking a swig, completely ignoring the cat calls and smart-ass comments from his friends and teammates at the sweet, chaste kiss. It was definitely a boyfriend type move, and as much as I wanted to hate that he kept doing this to me I definitely enjoyed it far too much for my own good.

“You’re welcome,” I replied, and caught Jordan grinning like an idiot at the two of us. As soon as he knew he’d been caught, however, he wiggled his eyebrows before turning his attention to his brother and Ellis’s conversation. I shook my head, not sure what to think of Jared’s brother even now.

“Hey! You look good,” Liza seemed to appear out of nowhere, wrapping her arms around me and hugging me. As usual she looked like she’d just stepped off of the cover of a magazine, and I shook my head.

“I’ve got nothing on you Liza,” I grinned, making her laugh before she took my arm, obviously going to lead me to either dance or sit down. Jared made a sound of protest, tightening his grip on my waist.

“Hey, we’re going to sit down and talk,” she complained, and much to my surprise Jared pulled a pout that would give Jordan a run for his money; his lip stuck out and quivering, the puppy dog eyes in full effect and all.

“No – we need some girl time; I’ve hardly seen her all day!” Liza insisted, but Jared didn’t waver.

“But you’ll get to see her at the end of the break – I won’t,” he pointed out, and Liza’s expression fell. I knew she understood, and I knew Jared felt the same way about this mess I did, but that really sucked to have it said out loud.

“Oh fine, but in ten minutes she’s mine for a bit,” she decided, and Jared nodded, giving her a relieved smile before tightening his grip, bringing me right against his side, and planting one on me. Not that I minded, by any stretch of the imagination, but we weren’t exactly in private or anything.

“You two are too damn cute for your own good,” Justin decided. Jared merely shrugged, taking another drink as his fingers stroked my arm.

“Well, Cheyenne is pretty cute,” Jared said, making me laugh at him.

“You’re a goof,” I retorted, but met him for another kiss. I couldn’t resist that smile for anything.

“And so are you. At least you’re a cute goof,” he told me, causing more laughter from the two of us. Once we’d finished our drinks Jared drug me out to the dance floor, holding me close as we danced to a few songs, our lips meeting more often than would probably be the norm, but I was more than happy to just focus on him.
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