Two Different Worlds Collide

It was a by the slice kind of place, and all of it looked so good my mouth just about started watering. I ended up getting two slices of Pepperoni and cheese with mushrooms, and sausage on it. Jared looked surprised as he ordered his, and then grinned at me.

“I hope you’re gonna eat all that – the pieces here are huge,” he teased, and I shrugged, eyeing up the two pieces that were put on my plate.

“I’ll manage,” I decided, and his grin remained as we found a table to sit at. We were fairly quiet as we ate, and about halfway through my second piece I was quickly losing steam. That was a lot of pizza.

“Full?” Jared’s eyes were shining as he teased me. I laughed him off and took another bite, but definitely took my time chewing it.

“To be honest? I’ve never seen a girl eat like you do,” he admitted a few moments later, making me feel self-conscious about the fact I’d just dug into my food like Liza and I were watching a football game or something.

“What do you mean?” I quietly asked, and he seemed to realize I was feeling off.

“It’s not a bad thing,” he insisted, before continuing. “It’s just cool that you aren’t picking around your food like most girls do.”

“Oh,” I nodded as if I understood. But I took care to finish my pizza a little more politely than I’d started. Jared was quiet then, and after I leaned back and let out a yawn he managed a tiny smile. I felt his foot brush mine, and thought it was just him stretching, but his foot stayed there next to mine.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you or anything when I said that, I really did mean it was just nice to see that you aren’t trying to act different around me,” he insisted a few minutes later.

“No, Jared you didn’t offend me, I’m good,” I replied with a smile, butting my foot against his lightly. That brought his now-familiar smile back to his face as he rubbed his foot on mine.

“Wanna go for a walk?” he suggested.

“Sure, that sounds good… but what about Brett and Liza?” I asked, and he just grinned.

“You really think they’ll mind some extra time together?” he asked in response, making me shrug. After a quick argument over who would pay Jared put money down on the table and we left. He took me down the street we were on, pointing out different buildings and stores, and we caught a glimpse of the arena – after which he promised to take me and show me around. It was so nice, to walk around with him and talk while he held my hand, not caring who saw. Chad had never been like that, and the sudden thought of him made my stomach roll slightly.

We came across a park, and Jared’s soft tug on my hand told me he wanted to go in. The frost on the trees made it look like something out of a travel brochure, the inch or so of slushy snow just enough to coat everything and turn it white. He continued walking until we came to a bench, and he quickly cleaned it off as best he could before sitting down, and pulled me to sit on his lap rather than get my ass wet on the bench.

I don’t know what it was, but something made me want to explain the sudden bi-polar day I’d been having. I hadn’t really talked to Liza about all of it yet, some of it was still too hard to handle. But something about Jared made me want to make him understand why I was acting so weird.

“Look, I, um… I’m sorry for being so weird today,” I mumbled, fiddling before his huge hands took mine in his own, his cheek pressed to mine as our breath came out in a slight fog in front of us.

“It’s okay,” he insisted, but I cut him off.

“No, it’s not. You haven’t done anything and I’m acting stupid,” I turned slightly into him, our cheeks pressed closer together. “I was dating this guy who turned into a total douche. It’s just… it was a long relationship and it had been serious before all of… that happened, and sometimes stuff reminds me of it and I act stupid.”

“That’s okay Cheyenne, I get it,” he told me, leaning his head against mine. His eyes were closed, and I noticed just how long his nearly-blonde eyelashes were, although most of the time they looked invisible from how pale they were.

“My ex and I dated since we were seventeen. We broke up a couple of months ago, after her breaking things off and coming back a few times. I got tired of it, and when she broke things off in one of our arguments I was done with it. Done with the fighting and the whole mess it had become. Everything just changed, like what you said, and it sucks, but at some point you have to realize it was for the better,” he told me, with wisdom that sounded years beyond his age. I leaned heavily into him, feeling relieved that he understood. I’d went on one date since Chad, and after trying to explain everything the guy had told me I was being stupid and that was the end of it.

“It’s hard to though, especially when… what happened with us did,” my voice quieted to a whisper, and I shut my eyes to keep the memories at bay. Instead I focused on every way Jared felt different, how he smelled different, anything to keep me from the pain that the memories would bring.

“It’s always hard. But Cheyenne,” he pulled away, making me open my eyes and stare into his hazel ones. “You’ll get through it, and you’ll be okay. A girl like you doesn’t deserve whatever he did to you.”

I pressed my lips to his then, and Jared eagerly met my kiss. We pulled apart and he rested his forehead on mine, his arms tight around me as we merely sat there.

“I don’t know if I will be Jared. The things he said and…” I didn’t want to admit it, but Jared seemed to know the words I didn’t say.

“Jesus… he didn’t…. hit you, did he?” he asked, his eyes wide with fear. My lack of answer was enough for him, and his grip on me tightened before he pressed a kiss to my temple.

“You deserve better than that. I’d kill to get my hands on that douchebag,” he growled. I shook my head, running a hand through his unruly red hair.

“I’d rather just never think of him or see him again,” I admitted with a half-smile. Jared returned the smile before kissing me again.

“I know the feeling… Tasha came back down here last week and had a fit when I insisted that things were still over,” he sighed. I raised an eyebrow, unable to believe that the girl could be so dense, especially when he said that they’d broken up months ago.

“Yeah, seriously. She came to the locker room after practice and caused a big scene in front of all the guys because she thought it would make me want to agree with her so that she wouldn’t cause one. That isn’t the first time she’s done it either… I don’t see why she’d bother – especially when she had that other guy in Toronto for the last year or so anyway,” he huffed, and I grimaced. Obviously she’d cheated on him.

“What a bitch,” I slapped a hand over my mouth as the words came out, and Jared looked at me in surprise before laughing. And I mean hard, stomach hurting, causing tears, laughter. I was still horrified with myself when he got a hold of himself and pulled me in for a kiss.

“Where the hell were you when I was seventeen?” he asked, and I only relaxed slightly when he kissed me again.

“I’m so sorry, I’ve never met her I have no right to say that—” another mind-blowing kiss made me lose my train of thought, and Jared just chuckled.

“I’m glad you said it – it makes me feel like less of a dick when I think it,” he replied, making me shake my head at him. Sometimes he made sense, and times like this he really didn’t.

“Whatever helps,” I retorted, and he buried his face against my neck, still chuckling to himself as we watched the cars go by on the street about fifty yards away. I was almost ready to fall asleep – the stomach full of pizza not helping – when I realized that we’d been here for a while and Jared’s butt must have fallen asleep a long time ago.

“Did you want to keep walking?” I quietly asked, and he grimaced.

“I don’t know if my ass is going to co-operate; I lost feeling a little while ago,” I scrambled off of his lap, horrified as he slowly got up. He turned to look and wiped some snow off of his pants, glad they weren’t completely soaked while I tried to stifle a giggle.

“You know, you could help warm it up,” he smirked, before laughing at my expression. “I’m kidding!”

Just to make him put his foot in his mouth I wrapped my arms around his waist and put my hands on his ass, which was indeed ice cold. He looked surprised before I shot him a cheesy grin, and just shook his head before leaning down and capturing my lips with his own. We stayed like that until his phone went off, and then we only pulled apart enough for him to pull his cell out of his pocket and see the text.

“Brett’s wondering if we took a cab back to my place,” he rolled his eyes, and my cheeks heated up as I rested my head on his chest.

“He would,” I scoffed, making him grin as he was replying to his friend.

“Wanna head back in that direction? Brett’s got seat warmers in the back seats of his car,” he suggested. Instead of walking holding hands he kept his arm around my waist as we made our way back to our friends. Once the McDonalds was in sight we sat Brett and Liza making their way out, coffees in hand as they stood and waited for us.

“Where the hell did you two get to?” Brett asked, and we both shrugged.

“We went for a walk and hung out at the park for a bit,” he answered, and Brett shivered.

“It’s too cold for that shit today,” he decided, making us all raise eyebrows at him.

“And you call yourself Canadian,” I teased. Brett stuck his lip out then, pouting openly.

“Hey, I’ve been down here for a while – you start getting used to it you know?” he insisted, and kept trying to convince Liza and I as we got back into the vehicle. Jared reached a long arm up between the front seats and turned on the rear seat warmers, and soon I was quite comfortable.

“So… you girls want to go see anything in particular today?” Brett asked, driving with one hand and holding his coffee in the other as he effortlessly navigated through the traffic.

“Not really,” I admitted, and Liza soon seconded it. He suddenly changed lanes then, and Jared looked confused.