Je t'aime, tu sais?

"OH MY GO--NO WAY!"
Even from over 300 miles away, Emily still had a way of shrieking through the phone that made Jamie feel like she had jumped right into bed with her to scare her awake, just like when they were kids.
"Jeez, what? What happened?" Jamie asked breathlessly, pulling off her comforter and swinging her legs out of bed. "Is everything ok?"
"You didn't TELL me?! Oh my God, JAMIE!" Emily sounded exasperated. "I cannot believe you even needed to give this man a second THOUGHT!"
"...what?"
"JAMES! HE'S A PROFESSIONAL HOCKEY PLAYER?!"
"Oh god..." Jamie moaned, letting her head sink into her hands as she heaved a sigh. This was something she was dreading if her and Patrice ever got serious. How did professional athletes deal with this stuff on a regular basis? Wait, when could her and Patrice get serious? Is that a thing? Could they get serious--could they be a serious couple?
"Like, seriously? Seriously. I'm watching him ON TV NOW." Jamie could picture Emily standing in front of her TV in her pink pajama pants and a tank top, her mouth wide open and a donut in her other hand. "I cannot beLIEVE you! Business trip," Emily scoffed in disbelief. "HE WAS PLAYING HOCKEY GAMES AGAINST ARIZONA--"
"But that's business to him?" Jamie tried, shyly.
"OH MY GOD JAMIE! Do mom and dad know you're dating a profession athlete?"
"We're not dating--"
"--pretty much dating a profession athlete. A professional HOCKEY player??"
"Oh my god, Emily..." Jamie tried.
"Dad will flip; oh my god, have you SLEPT with him?!" Emily squealed. Jamie could picture her over-exaggerated hand motions and powdered sugar spilling everywhere off of her half-eaten donut.
"No! Oh my god, Em, no, stop it!"
"You have!" She gasped. "Was he any goo--"
"Em, NO! No, we haven't done anything like that yet--"
"Why NOT?"
"Oh my god. No. Emily!" Jamie scolded her sister.
"Ok, ok, ok. I'm sorry. I'm just a little overwhelmed my sister's bagged a professional hockey player and she didn't tell me about it!"
"I did tell you about it! I just... I just left out that small detail," Jamie confessed, biting her lip and blushing. The two settled down, and Jamie could just envision Emily sitting on the foot of her bed, munching on her breakfast donut and shaking her head in disbelief, but still smiling.
"You're unbelievable," Emily laughed. "Could be less interested in the male sex for the entirety of her life and then a beautiful, beautiful man falls straight into her lap. Unbelievable." She heard her sister get up and shuffle around. She heard the clicking on the keyboard.
"I'm googling him," she announced.
Jamie's stomach dropped. She had never... she had never thought to do such a thing...
"What?" She asked, quietly. "Really?"
"You heard me." Jamie listened to her sister's keyboard click a few more times as she thought to herself. Would googling him be invading his privacy? If her information was available online--and it was, just probably not as many pictures as she imagined there would be floating around of him, she was a very bright, up and coming scholar, after all--she wouldn't want him snooping; she'd want to talk to him and tell him about it all. But then again... it is public domain... but why should she feel the need to investigate him online? She was sure he'd tell her about whatever was available on the web if she asked... Jamie was ripped from her thoughts when her sister gasped.
"James have you ever done this?"
"Wh--no!"
"Oh my god, he's like a professional model who plays hockey on the weekends for fun, jesus christ!" Emily squealed. Jamie sighed again and rubbed her temples with her free hand. Now she was definitely curious. She was sure he had had to have a photo shoot or two done as a profession athlete... And, he was so humble and shy he would probably never tell her about those, even if she asked... maybe she should take a peek...
"Do mom and dad know?" Emily persisted. "Jesus Jamies, this kid's gorgeous..." she continued to scroll through the photos as Jamie's phone buzzed alive. She spared a moment to pull the device from her cheek and read the text from Patrice.
"I'm excited to see you tonight. Only a morning skate, a game, and a plane ride between dinner with you."
Jamie beamed and heard her sister's echoing voice calling to her from the speaker of her phone.
"Hello-o?"
"Mom and Dad don't know, I don't even think they know I'm seeing anyone right now, so..." Jamie answered, still glowing from his text; she felt a constant need to pinch herself whenever she received one from him. Emily understood when her sister trailed off that she wasn't ready to inform their parents yet. They were loving, gentle people, but, she wouldn't break the news to them yet, not without Jamie's permission.
"His game winning goal was on the sports news highlights; I guess he's from around here?" Emily asked.
"Yeah," Jamie told her his hometown, one not very far away from the city. She made her way to her own TV and surfed for the news as she sat back on her green velvet couch. She threw her throw blanket over her cold legs and reminded herself to turn the heat up in her apartment.
"James, he's gorgeous," Emily said, quietly. Jamie could picture her intently watching the news again, google having dwindled her attention in favor of a loud, French sports announcer.
"Yeah, he's very good looking," Jamie blushed. The two watched their separate news casting shows, Emily's in French, Jamie's in English together for a few minutes.
"Emily..." Jamie knew Emily was more affluent than her in the world of dating. It's not that Jamie had never dated, but she hadn't recently, due to her commitment to her studies. She was nervous to ask her sister, she knew she would have some wise-crack to answer her with, but hadn't had the chance to ask Alex for advice yet, either. "How long do you think we should wait before we... we..."
"Before you tie him to the bed and do unforgivable things to him? Didn't you say he gets into town tonight?"

Andy looked across the aisle at his friend who looked longingly out of the plane from his window seat. The sun was setting over Boston, and so was the team's jet as it made its final preparations for landing.
Andy had yet to see Patrice so relaxed since Christmas. It had been over a month of him pursuing Jamie and confiding in Andy, calling him late at night to help manicure the perfect text message response, and brainstorming for the most perfect date ideas; he was happy for him, really. Andy was the kind of guy who believed in love-at-first-sight, and had no doubt that Patrice had fallen hard and with good cause.
He himself liked Jamie, enjoyed her company, and loved their intelligent conversations on nights he and Krista had spent with her and Patrice, but he hoped that she was as crazy for him as he was for her.
Patrice lay back in his seat with his arms crossed over his chest, one hand clutching his phone. Andy watched his friend heave a sigh and direct his attention again to outside the window. He caught Paille coming back from the bathroom and decided to exchange seats with him for landing.
"D'y'mind?" Andy asked Danny, getting up and gesturing to his seat. "I wanted to talk to Pat."
"No biggie," Danny responded, falling into Andy's old seat and waving at Patrice, who had snapped out of his trance at the mention of his name.
Andy took a seat next to his friend and they looked out of Patrice's window seat for a while. The Boston skyline was pretty this time of year, with all of the snow and the orange, silk sun.
"You seem pretty relaxed," Andy noted.
"Yeah, pretty much," Patrice replied. He lifted a finger to his lips and bit at the tip of his nail. "I feel pretty good, you know? Flying back to Boston with two out of our three games won, a night off and stuff," he shrugged.
"How're things going with Jamie?" he asked nonchalantly.
"Yeah, y'know, pretty good," he said. As they looked out the window, Andy could see his friend smile.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, she's gonna meet me for dinner," he said, making eye contact with his friend and nodding, happily.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, we're meeting at Abe and Louie's. You and Krista want to come?"
"Aw, naw man, you guys do your thing," Andy said, graciously declining. "Krista and I do hope we get to start seeing a bit more of her around, though."
"Yeah, as do I. She's real busy though, writing her thesis and stuff. I wish she would come out to more of the games, y'know? I'd get her the tickets no problem."
"Have you asked?" Andy asked, crossing his legs and resting his ankle on his other knee. He leaned forward to stretch a bit as Patrice yawned in a pathetic effort to pop his ears; he dreaded forcefully blowing air through his ears via plugging his nose.
"Yeah, I ask all the time; I mean, I don't want to put too much pressure on it or anything; she works a lot, and teaches and stuff," he trailed off and reverted his eyes back to the window.
"Oh yeah, she teaches undergraduates, I forgot," Andy said, gripping the arm rests and severely turning his back to the left to crack it. Patrice sighed as he was unable to pop his ears and plugged his nose to clear his sore ears.
"Yeah, math. I feel like such an idiot around her," he laughed, bashfully. "And when we text and stuff she's always spelling things correctly and using like, semi colons and stuff, I dunno."
"Don't think too much, bud," Andy said, pointing at him. "You're always thinking. Just go with your wits on this one. This girl likes you, I promise." He watched his friend break into a smile.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"For sure, eh?"
"For sure." As if on queue, Patrice's phone vibrated and Andy saw his friend falling deeper and deeper for a girl from Quebec.