Two Different Worlds Collide

When we pulled up to the hotel, even though it was against my judgment I asked Jared if he wanted to watch a movie or something. He looked surprised before accepting, and we paid for the cab together, the driver obviously coming to the same conclusion Jared’s teammates had. It’s not that it couldn’t happen, just that I wasn’t sure if I wanted it to or not. I kind of liked Jared, and while I wasn’t big on the whole ‘one night stand’ thing in the first place, I couldn’t deny having done it once or twice. But when you had even the tiniest bit of a crush on someone, I figured that meant a hell of a lot of trouble for you further down the road.

“Just a second… I have to see if the room is decent,” I warned him, placing a hand on his chest for a second to stop him. That’s when I realized I must be drunker than I had thought – I wasn’t a touchy feely person. I made my way into the room and rolled my eyes at how messy the two of us were. Clothes were strewn everywhere, and it wasn’t limited to just jeans and T-shirts either.

“Worried about having your underwear on display?” he teased, making me laugh.

“It’s not mine I’m worried about being out,” I admitted, making him laugh harder.

“That would just kill Brett,” he told me, and I had to laugh as well as I gathered Liza’s clothes into her suitcase and mine into my own before Jared walked into the room. He laid down on half of my bed, and made himself comfortable before looking up at me.

“You guys did pretty decent on the bed situation,” he told me, and I nodded as I laid down beside him. We clicked through the movies available on cable, and finally decided on Iron Man 2. I turned to look at the clock and felt my face turn bright red when I saw the bra I’d worn on the flight here sitting on the chair at the tiny table. Without thinking I scrambled up to get it and hide it, but inevitably brought my actions to Jared’s attention.

“What lit a fire under your ass?” he asked, trying to look around me.

“Just, uh… missed something,” I replied, keeping the bright purple bra hidden behind me as I inched toward my suitcase. Jared let out a laugh as he put two and two together.

“It’s not like I haven’t seen a bra before,” he informed me, and I rolled my eyes.

“Doesn’t mean you’ve seen my bra before,” I shot back, and with an over-exaggerated sigh he covered his eyes.

“Okay – hide it,” he told me, and I stuffed it in my suitcase before launching myself at the bed and landing half on top of him. He let out a startled grunt, his arms instinctively going around me. He opened his eyes, and I realized just how close together we were. I had been going to tickle him or something to that extent as payback for his teasing, but all thought kind of slipped from my mind. He licked his lips, his gaze slipping to mine for a brief second before he leaned up and kissed me. I cupped his cheek, letting him deepen the kiss as he flicked his tongue against my lip.

The movie forgotten, we continued to make out, our positions switching as Jared rolled us over, his hands softly skimming over my tank top to rest on my hips. Things started to heat up, and while my body and heart wanted things to continue, my brain knew that I couldn’t let things go where they seemed to be going.

As if he’d read my mind Jared shot back from me, breathing heavily, his eyes wide. I laid on the bed still in shock, unsure as to what the hell had just happened. Then my drunken mind wandered to his pink and slightly swollen lips, and my brain lost its train of thought in wanting those lips back on mine.

“I’m so sorry, you probably think I’m a total dick,” he apologized, still breathing hard.

“F-for what? Jared…?” my eyesight was drawn downward when he moved to adjust his jeans. And then I realized the reason for his sudden pulling away, my face turning red as I did so. His also turned a deep shade of red, leaving him stuttering.

“I’m not trying to get in your pants or anything… I didn’t even think this would happen…” he apologized. Instead of speaking, as my logical brain would do, I closed the gap and pressed my lips back to his. It took him a moment to respond, and when he did he pulled me tight against him.

“I just…” I pulled away slightly, just enough so I could speak. “I don’t want this to go… all the way,” he nodded, pressing a sweet kiss to my nose.

“I agree. You’re a really great girl Cheyenne,” he told me, his voice deep and husky before he kissed me again, laying us back down. Everything about him was so sweet, from his gentle caresses, and even when his kisses were heated he was gentle.

“Oh shit—” we broke apart and turned to see Liza and Brett frozen in the little entranceway of the room. Both of our faces heated up as they began looking for excuses to leave.

“Sorry, I didn’t realize we were interrupting,” Brett apologized, putting his hand on Liza’s hip to guide her back out of the room.

“N-no, you’re not,” I choked out, and Jared nodded a little more enthusiastically than was necessary. He rolled onto his back, careful to bend his knee and place his foot on the bed in an attempt to hide the stretched state of his jeans.

“Sure we weren’t…” Liza allowed, pressing into Brett as they tried to retreat. I sat up, putting my hair into a ponytail and again insisted that they weren’t interrupting. Brett snickered then, and when Jared pulled me so I was basically on his lap I knew why.

“Sure, and Jared isn’t popping one right now,” he retorted, before clapping a hand over his mouth when he realized he said it out loud. Maybe they were less sober than I had originally guessed. The death glare Jared sent his friend was a completely sober one though, and Brett looked sheepish.

“Sorry about that… it slipped out…”

“So what are you two doing back here anyway?” I asked, hoping to turn the conversation from Jared to help him out.

“Well, uh… we have practice in the morning, so instead of getting up extra early and Liza dealing with a massive hangover and me making noise in the apartment—”

“Brett offered to drive me back tonight,” Liza finished. I nodded, glad that Brett was at least thinking of her. Brett was nice, and from the way they were still wrapped around each other I had a feeling their little ‘thing’ wasn’t done with tonight.

“So… Jared how the hell did you end up here?” Liza asked, and he shrugged.

“We left not long after you guys – Cheyenne was tired and I was about done for the night anyway. We were gonna split the cab, and then when we got here decided to hang out and watch a movie,” he told them. Liza and Brett shared a knowing look, and I rolled my eyes at her disbelief.

“That’s actually true… then this, just sort of happened. But it wasn’t going where you two obviously think it was,” I insisted, and they both nodded as if just to appease me.

“Well Jare, are you, um, staying here or do you want to catch a ride home with me?” Brett asked, and Jared sighed.

“I guess I should head home,” he finally decided, his voice quiet. Brett nodded and pulled Liza back to the hallway so they could say goodnight, and I turned to Jared, surprised when his lips softly brushed against mine.

“I um, I had a good time tonight,” he mumbled, feeling a little awkward. I nodded, and smiled to myself when his hand found mine.

“Me too,”

“So I was wondering… d’you think I could take you to dinner sometime while you’re here?” he asked, leaving me a little on the surprised side.

“Uh, yeah. Yeah that’d be nice,” I nodded, and he held out his free hand. I looked at him quizzically, and he just laughed at me.

“Your phone, so that we can text each other,” he clarified, leaving me feeling stupid as I reached for it and gave it to him. He quickly entered his information, and about ten seconds later his phone vibrated, letting me know he’d texted himself from my cell to get my number. He handed it back and we stood up, feeling a little weird.

“Talk to you later?” he suggested, and I nodded, eagerly walking into the hug he offered. I lifted my head to meet his lips, our kiss drawing out a little longer than had been intended.

“Talk to you later,” I confirmed, and with a smile tugging at his lips he walked out of the hotel room, moving out of the doorway to let Liza in. I waved goodbye to Brett and sunk into my mattress once the door had closed.

“So… you and the ginger…” Liza’s eyes were teasing as she laid down on her bed and kicked off her high heels.

“The ginger? Really? That’s not nice,” I informed her, before deciding I wanted to change into my pajamas. I grabbed them and walked to the bathroom, changing quickly. When I emerged I saw that Liza had already changed and was curled up in her bed ready to go to sleep.

“So what, Brett tired you out?” I teased, getting satisfaction from the embarrassed look on her face.

“He’s a really nice guy… it makes me wish we were here longer than a week,” she whispered. I nodded, feeling bad for having made a joke of it now. Liza wasn’t a ‘casual’ kind of girl – she liked meaningful relationships. I had no idea how hard it was for her to let go with Brett knowing we were heading back to Edmonton in a week’s time.

“And from what Brett told me on the way over here, Jared’s a really nice guy too,” she added, making my face heat up. She didn’t have to tell me that part.

“I know,” I whispered, and heard her shift. I turned my head to find her looking at me, and immediately I moved my gaze to the ceiling. It would be stupid to be crying over Chad now, considering Jared and I had nearly jumped each other not much earlier.

“It’s okay to have feelings for someone else, you know. I know Chad meant a lot to you, but whatever he did definitely makes him unworthy of you doing this to yourself,” Liza quietly assured me, making the tears well up.

“It’s not just that Liza… it’s knowing that it’s not going to mean anything long term. You know I get attached way too easily,” I reminded her, thinking to the time we found a lost cat. We knew we couldn’t keep it, and the five hours we had it while waiting for the animal shelter to open up had me convinced it needed to stay. Three hours of crying later I finally let Liza take the cat to the shelter, and even then I visited it every day until somebody took it home. I was even worse with people. I fell too quickly and, before Chad, trusted too easily.

“It doesn’t mean you couldn’t stay in touch with him Cheye. Brett said he’s not much of a fling kind of guy. Jared and his ex were long distance for a couple of years,” she told me.

“Liza, I know you’re trying to help, but that’s for Jared to tell me, okay? That’s his private life – that would be like you telling Brett all about the Chad thing and Brett telling Jared,” I cut her off, and she nodded.

“I get it,” she told me, and soon after I heard the small snores that indicated she was asleep.

“And besides, I really don’t want to be just the rebound girl,”