Awkward

“Were they normal?” I asked Brooke as we walked into the team Christmas party.

“They were fine,” she laughed, “I almost had to put your mom in timeout though, she got a little rowdy toward the end.”

“Ha ha,” I rolled my eyes, “They weren’t too bad?”

“They’re normal parents, of course they’re going to be obnoxious,” she put her hand on my chest, “They just asked questions about my life and what I do, where I went to school, the normal stuff.”

“Thank you for putting up with them,” I smiled at her.

“You should thank them for putting up with me; I’m the freak of nature who can ramble off half your team’s stats.”

“I like that,” I told her

“Yeah, I bet you do,” she turned around to take off her coat.

I helped her take it off and made sure to let my hands brush down her arms as I did. I watched her shiver and smiled because I did that to her.

As I set both our coats on the counter she turned around. Her red dress was tight, but went down to just above her knees, so it was still classy yet over the top sexy. This was the first time I was able to see her body and I was left drooling at the sight. She was curvy in all the right places, her legs were a little thicker than I had noticed when she wore pants, but they were toned and looked incredible with her dress and black heels. Her hair was down and wavy, almost the same style you would see in one of those movies from the forties. Her makeup matched that too. She wore red lipstick and had perfectly smokey eyes.

“Wow,” I managed.

“Wow what?” she seemed anxious.

“You,” I shook my head, “This,” I motioned to her, “Fuck.”

Brooke furrowed her brows at my lack of linguistic skills. I shook my head again, “You look
incredible,” I took a shaky step into her body, “Gorgeous,” I said lower, “I really, really want to k…”

“Tazer!” we were interrupted by Viktor and Allison, “I’m amazed you made it out of the parking
lot without falling,” he let out a loud laugh, “You look great Brooke,” he winked at her.

“Thank you,” she did a little curtsey, “Your date talked me into this.”

“Well,” he looked at Allison, “I’m sure Jon will thank you later,” he hugged her closer to him,
“Both of you look amazing tonight, we’re lucky guys.”

Viktor had said that he and Allison had hit it off the other night, but Brooke had told me that
her friend felt as though she had embarrassed herself in front of him. Stalberg wasn’t easily scared
away, so even if she had thrown up on his shoes he probably would have chalked it up as a story to
tell when they met new people.

“Where are your parents?” Brooke asked me.

“Sitting at a table,” I told her, “We’re not going near them for a while.”

She laughed and tugged at my suit jacket, “Your mother did ask what my favorite flowers were and if I wanted an indoor or an outdoor wedding.”

I put my arm over her shoulders, “Outdoor, definitely outdoor.”

“Huh,” Brooke looked ahead.

“What?” I asked.

“That’s what I told her.”

“People are going to think we’re crazy,” I laughed at how stupid we had to sound to people who were listening in on our conversation.

“We’re awkward Jon, there’s a difference.”

We started to walk toward the bar to grab a drink and mingle when I was forced to dodge a group of ornaments hanging from the ceiling. In turn, I ran into a chair and pulled Brooke so hard that she nearly toppled onto me as i tried to recover and sit in the chair, like I had had some kind of plan.

"Wow Jonny," Brooke broke out laughing, "Pretty sure those decorations aren't even that low and you're fake recovery nearly killed me."

"We're awkward," I reminded her of what she said, "This is normal for us," I laughed too.