Je t'aime, tu sais?

Patrice couldn't hide his smile as he hung up his final piece of equipment at his stall in the TD Garden's locker room after morning skate. He had been extra peppy during practice, but couldn't help himself after such an amazing day spent with Jamie last night.
His phone buzzed alive, sitting on the hardwood bench below him. He looked down his body and discerned Jamie's name on his screen.
"Of course I would love to join you for lunch; I've already promised Alex, though. Join us at Chipotle?"
He pulled his smile to the side and bent forward to reply.
"Hey," someone called to him. "You," Patrice looked over his shoulder, his mouth open in exhaustion and as a decoy for the shit eating grin he had had plastered on his face just moments before. It was Zee.
"What are you so happy for?" His giant friend asked, fixing his towel around his waist and laughing at Patrice.
"What do you mean?" Patrice laughed, again unable to hide his happiness.
"You were like a fairy princess or something out there today! I was looking for rainbows flowing behind you every time you skated around me!" Chara's laughter boomed throughout the locker room, much more massive and low then many of their other team mates'.
"I think I have an idea," Tyler sang from next to him once the chuckling died down. He was also clad in a towel he clung to cinched on his right. He winked at Patrice and the remaining men in the locker room whistled and cheered.
Patrice shook his head, his face flushing a deep red as he quickly pulled his shirt off and turned back to his stall, wrapping a towel around his waist and stepping out of his black tight underpants.
"You guys are all crazy," he laughed, grabbing his bathroom kit and fastening it under his right arm pit. He had his phone, continuing to blush and laugh as he typed a response to Jamie.
"Is that her?" Chara asked, raising his eyebrows.
"I didn't expect this from you, Zee!" Patrice accused jokingly. "And yes it is." Most men began to trudge to the showers, playfully hitting Patrice or ruffling his hair if they were taller than he was, giving him the usual grief. He did his best to bat most of it away, chuckling still.
"What's her name?" Chara asked, standing next to Patrice as he typed: "I don't want to intrude, we can always meet later" to Jamie.
"Her name is Jamie," he answered, locking his phone and turning to toss it back into his gym bag. The two walked towards the showers as Patrice talked about his new love interest.
"She's awesome, really. She's a PhD student at Harvard," this really impressed Chara, who had pursued his own education during his free time, "she teaches there, too, undergraduates."
"Is she your girlfriend?" He asked, finding a shower stall and leaning on it. The mighty captain crossed his arms across his chest, listening intently.
"No, I'm not really sure how to go about that stuff, to be honest..." Patrice trailed off, checking the stall next door to see if it was free. "I'm fine with taking it slow, I can't really say I know what to expect in a relationship like this one," he said, placing his toiletries bag on the bench just outside the shower curtain.
"A relationship like what? It's more than casual, right?"
"Right, for sure."
"So like, a serious one?"
"Yeah, I guess so. Uhm, like an important one, I want it to be important."
"Yeah," Chara nodded.
"Yeah, so, I dunno," Patrice trailed off again. He thought of Jamie fondly and nervously remembered he had been texting her. He made a note to shower fast so as to respond in a timely manner.
"Make it important, then," Chara laughed, clapping him on the shoulder. Oh such wise words, Patrice thought to himself as he shared a laugh with the gentle giant.
"Yeah, I suppose," he shrugged, lifting his eyebrows and smiling. The two parted for their showers.

Dressed and sitting in his stall, Patrice was one of the last out of the locker room again. He sat with his knees separated and his left hand supporting his head, his elbow on his thigh. He was waiting for another response from Jamie. His stomach protested his heart's decision to wait as opposed to going to devour food with the rest of the team immediately after practice.
"Your girl leave you hanging?" Brad asked, coming out of the shower room, his flip flops squeaking noisily on the plastic flooring.
Patrice laughed a bit. "No, I'm just torn," he confessed. "She wants me to join her and her friend--you know her friend, Alex--for lunch but I don't want to intrude. And y'know like, I want to see her again but we hung out all yesterday and I don't want to suffocate her, y'know?"
"Alex?"
"Yeah, the one from the First Amendment--"
"Yeah that Alex," Brad said excitedly. He looked around the locker room to ensure it was empty, then made very serious eye contact with Patrice. "Did Segs sleep with her?"
"What?" Patrice barked, his hand covering his mouth in surprise. Brad hushed him quickly and urged him to divulge the truth which he knew nothing about with his eyes. "Was that a thing?" Patrice asked incredulously.
"He swears he didn't!" Brad stated, worriedly.
"Oh man, I don't know!"
"Sh! C'mon man!"
"What?"
"Stop being so loud! I just had to know; I didn't believe the kid," he said seriously, standing tall and making his way back across the room to his own stall. He pulled up some boxer shorts and dropped his towel.
"Why didn't you believe him?" Patrice asked, curiously. He didn't understand Brad's desire to delve into his friend's or his acquaintance's personal life. He himself had never thought to ask what came of the others that crazy night at the First Amendment.
"Because its Segsy; he sleeps with anything," Brad said, a bit severely, still not facing him. Patrice watched the muscles in his shoulders stretch and flex as he donned a t-shirt. He felt a hint of jealousy.
"Aw, come on Marchy, he's our liney," Patrice said, trying to soothe a bit of the tension. Brad just shook his head and stepped into his jeans, still not facing Patrice. Patrice sighed and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. His phone rumbled alive and his face broke into a smile as he read Jamie's text:
"Bring a friend, then :)"
"Hey Marchy, do you have any plans for lunch?"