If It's Over, Let It Go

Jeff greeted Brooke eagerly at the door, a smile spread across his face. She couldn't help but smile back.

"Why are you so happy?", she laughed, as he pulled her into a hug.

"The team doctor cleared me to play!"

Brooke pulled him into an even tighter hug, "Oh my God, bab-Jeff! That's great!"

"I practised with the team this morning and they said I can play in Friday's game"

"That's awesome!", Brooke said as she slipped off her boots, "Against the Leafs, right?"

"Yep", Jeff said absentmindedly, leading her down the hall to the dining room table, which had a meal of spaghetti waiting on it. It took Brooke a moment to comprehend what she saw.

"You made that?", she asked incredulously. Jeff nodded, a shy smile on his face.

"Since when can you cook?"

"Eric explained what to do", he admitted, making her laugh. Then his face went serious.

"And you always cooked for me so, I don't know, I thought maybe that was one of the reasons that you, you know..cause I was kinda useless"

Brooke sank down into one of dining room chairs, "You weren't useless"

He shrugged, sitting down across from her. He took the lid of the pasta sauce and Brooke smiled when she noticed that he'd remembered that she liked chicken rather then beef in her sauce.

After they both served themselves, Jeff bit his lip, "Hey, would you want to go to my game on Friday?"

Brooke put her fork down, "In Toronto?"

"Yeah. I have to fly up with the team but I could book you a flight for Thursday night or something and then you could fly down a few days later because your parents would want to see you, right?"

"Y-yeah. You actually want me to come watch?"

"Yeah. I play better when you're there", he said sweetly, smiling so sincerely that Brooke wanted to cry. How could he still feel that way about her when she treated him so shitty?

They went back to eating, talking about school and hockey, Brooke making sure to change the subject every time their relationship came up. When they were done eating, she helped Jeff carry the dishes to the kitchen.

"I'll do that", she volunteered when Jeff started to fill the sink with dish soup.

"No, it's fine", he insisted. She rolled her eyes.

"I'm pretty sure this is the first time you have ever volunteered to do the dishes"

"There's a first time for everything", Jeff shrugged, smiling. Brooke grabbed a dish towel off the counter.

"How 'bout you wash, I dry?", she suggested. Jeff laughed, "If you insist"

She grabbed a rinsed plate out of his hands, drying it off before setting it in the cupboard. They didn't talk while they worked, instead, in Brooke's case, taking the time to think.

"You know, I never told my parents we broke up", she said, when Jeff was washing the last plate.

He turned off the sink, "Really?"

“Cause we didn't..we just have to work on some things", Brooke reached up to rub her neck, something she always did when she was nervous.

Jeff reached out and grabbed her hand, sliding it into his, "Okay, we never broke up"

They smiled at each other for what felt like hours before Jeff leaned in and kissed her softly.