Ice Might Be Nice

The alarm blared in my ear. Rolling over I groaned. Fortunately today was just practice. Yesterday had been the final pre-season game against out first opponent of the regular season, L.A. Unfortunately our off day had been turned into another practice due to a bad game last night. It was one thing to lose to the defending champs, quite another to do so in a 4-0 loss.

I got up unhappily and went to splash some water on my face. I then made sure I was dressed before heading down to breakfast. I wasn’t the first one there; I was beaten by Torts. We nodded to each other over the buffet. I had learned that it was not a good idea to talk to anyone before my first cup of coffee.

Gathering my food and the precious elixir of life, I found a table and set everything down. Saying a quick prayer to whomever made the coffee, I drank some. OK so it was hotel coffee, but it tasted wonderful at that moment. I dug into my food ignoring everyone in the room. Being human before the coffee kicked in was asking too much.

I was about halfway done with my breakfast when someone sat down next to me. I lifted my eyes from my plate and noticed Marc sitting next to me. Under the table he put his leg next to mine but he didn’t say anything to me. I entwined our ankles a little bit, letting him know that I was almost human enough to talk. I felt the flex of his thigh in return and knew he understood. Yeah in the last couple weeks we’d spent a lot of time together, including more than once falling asleep while watching a movie in the evenings. It had gotten us chirped by Hank the next day until he saw that we hadn’t changed how we were acting towards each other.

Yeah, we hadn’t gotten naked yet. It wasn’t that we didn’t want to or anything, more like we didn’t want the first time to be where our teammates could possibly hear us. That meant we didn’t really do much more than steal a kiss or three outside of a hotel room.

I got up and poured a second cup of coffee, feeling the first starting to kick in. As I turned I saw almost everyone was sneaking a look at me and had relaxed even more. Was I that bad before my coffee kicked in? I shook my head and went back to sit down. I found that Hank had joined the table I was at and was quietly chatting with Marty over some goalie thing I didn’t quite hear.

I leaned my leg back against Marc’s and just enjoyed what little peace I would have until this afternoon. I heard him chuckle as I closed my eyes and drank in the semi-stillness of the room. “So is it safe now?” He asked quietly as I opened my eyes.

I looked over at him. “Am I _really_ that bad in the mornings before coffee?” The entire table went silent. The other 6 at the table looked at me and then at Marc. That told me a lot.

“_I_ wouldn’t say you’re really bad before coffee, but then again look at who my family is. The guys have learned over the last couple weeks that you’re safer after at least one cup, although 2 is better for not getting our heads ripped off before practice.” I sighed. I knew I wasn’t really awake without coffee, I didn’t think it effected others like it apparently was.

“Oh.” I said, trying to think of why I was this way. It probably went back to all those early morning summer practices I had in High School before soccer. For my own sake I dropped the subject and finished breakfast. I had a few minutes before I had to get to the bus with the rest of the staff.

On the bus, I thought about what had been said and what wasn’t. I was sure that I hadn’t always been this bad, but I couldn’t remember a time where I didn’t need some form of caffeine to jolt me into moving. I kept my quietness up while I sorted through the things I’d need for this mornings practice.

Cass must have noticed I was much quieter than normal cause he came into the medical room and sat down. “Are you ok Krys?”

I finished what I was doing and sat down across from him. “I don’t think so. I got told this morning that I’m not someone the guys willingly approach before I’ve had at least 2 cups of coffee. I’m not sure I’m happy about hearing that.”

Cass just laughed. “Krys don’t worry about it. You’re awesome and the guys _do_ love you. We’ve noticed it’s safer to make sure you have coffee or some other form of caffeine before practice but then again so do the rest of us. Such if the life of a trainer, we live off of caffeine otherwise we wouldn’t function most of the time, too many things to do and never enough sleep. Don’t worry about what the guys say, just pump yourself with caffeine and keep moving.” He patted my knee and smiled at me.

Jim came in and surveyed the scene. “Oh good you are in here.” He handed me a Monster. “I heard what the guys _weren’t_ saying this morning. I figured you might want something besides coffee.” I took it and started laughing a little bit.

They looked at me oddly until I shared. “They will regret saying that. Monsters make me hyper.” Both of them groaned as I popped the top and started drinking. I went into the laundry room and looked for something to do once this drink kicked in and found nothing. I pattered through the entire locker room looking for something to do, it was all done for now.

By the time the guys got to the arena for practice I was almost literally bouncing off the walls. All of my paperwork and records were up to date, everything that I could do to make the med room ready was done and triple checked, and on top of it I had been trying _really hard not to annoy my fellow trainers. Trust me that was a hard thing.

When I had run out of things that I needed to do… I started making things up. That’s how Marc found me, in the Medical/Trainer’s room, Singing and dancing my heart out to Katy Perry’s ‘Hot and Cold’

“You're hot then you're cold
You're yes then you're no
You're in then you're out
You're up then you're down”

The guys had learned that yes I did enjoy music and having fun while at work, it made the day pass _so_ much faster. Marc had learned how to get up behind me while I was singing and such. He did that and by the time I noticed half the guys were in the doorway laughing at us. Yeah, there was no way we could hide our relationship on the road so we’d told everyone we thought was important.

Once the song was over and I finally turned around Marc’s face was lit up. “You feel better don’t you.” I grinned evilly.

“Jim gave me a Monster when we got here. God help _all_ of you this afternoon.” Marc got a concerned look on his face. “Remember the time you gave me a Dew and I ended up cleaning your entire place?” He nodded slowly without saying anything. “This is going to be worse.” His eyes went wide and suddenly everyone had other things to go and do.

By the time practice was done, I was working on a schedule for myself for things I had to get done at home. Yeah it wasn’t something I could actually work on until November but I wanted it out of the way before we got home and I got too busy. Yep we were on the road most of October.

I got through making sure the Medical room was tidy and the laundry was done. After that, we all went back to the hotel and got a chance to do what we wanted for a few hours.

I went and changed out of my work clothes and into something less uniform-ish. It was late afternoon and I had no clue what Marc have planned. Instead of picking my clothes and having to change, I picked up my phone and texted him. ‘Any afternoon plans?’ I went to my suitcase and started looking through it while I waited.

My phone beeped and I checked the messages. ‘Not unless you have any. We could go for dinner if you want.’ I smiled and put my phone down. I had packed a couple things I could mix and match to make a nice outfit to go out in.

‘I’m good with going to dinner, just us or more?’ I was trying to choose between the grey or white skirt I had. I decided the white one would help keep me cooler. I then added a bright tank top that I really liked. I added a simple necklace and earrings of multiple stones and my white wedges and I was ready for whatever might head our way.

‘Would more upset you? I guess not seeing that you’re asking. Go to dinner and then out with the guys, maybe some dancing?’ I sent back many :D faces to which Marc sent back. ’10 minutes and I’ll be at your door, be ready.’ I had taken a shower at the arena after my workout so I was good there. My hair was damp still which meant I had a shot of pulling off the infamous sock bun. As I rolled, my grin got wider. Not only did it work, I looked _good_ in it. Truly the secret was _not_ using a soccer sock.

10 minutes later there was a knock on my door, I opened it to find not just Marc but a good portion of the guys. “Everybody ready?” I asked as I grabbed my clutch, double-checked I had everything I needed and walked out the door.

Just before curfew Marc and I came back in. After dinner with the guys we’d gone to find a spot to dance. Now we were coming “home” after that. The Monster I had earlier had finally worn off and I was dragging.

We got in front of my door and Marc had me lean against it, waiting. He ran down to his room and came back later with some clothes and stuff he’d need in the morning. “I’d rather know you didn’t hurt yourself overnight, if you don’t mind.”

I shrugged a shoulder. I didn’t care at all. “S’fine.” He opened my door and made sure I didn’t drown while brushing my teeth. Once we were in bed, yes the same bed, he tucked me close and whispered something to me.

“Next time, let’s keep that Monster in the closet. You were hard to keep up with today.” He kissed my temple and I drifted off to dreamland feeling safe & secure.