Stay the Night

The week seemed to pass by slowly, filled with classes and work. It started to feel like months had passed since Rachel and I had been to the hawks game. I was starting to not believe that it ever happened. A couple of my classmates grilled me the first couple days after seeing my picture in the news paper. It was the guys I worked with that really didn’t leave me alone about the article. A few even found it funny to blow up the picture and post it all over my desk. I just laughed it off, since it was just part of working in a male dominate field. I really didn’t reveal much on what happened, just enough to get them off my back and that seemed to work well enough.
The a few of the guys would text every now and then. Bollig sent the best texts that always seemed to make me bust out laughing, but, it was Jon’s that I enjoyed the most. We had yet to set a day for our “date,” I wasn’t worried since we were both really busy. Or I kept telling myself so I wouldn’t worry about why he hadn’t brought it up.
I had just entered the Student Rec Center for my afternoon workout when I felt my phone buzz against my stomach. I reach into my leather jacket, pulling out my phone covered in a photo of Jon. Rachel must’ve stolen my phone and set a Googled picture of him. I didn’t mind, the picture looked good.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Cailynn?” Jon’s voice filled my ear.
I did my best to suppress a smile, “Hey, Jon, whats up?”
“Nothing,” he paused for a moment, “just heading to do some conditioning work outs, thought I’d see what you were up to.”
I continued over to check in, “Oh, I’m just about to workout, myself.”
“Going to walk on the elliptical while watching Say Yes to the Dress?”
I sarcastically laughed, “Is that how the Chicago Blackhawks work out?”
“Yup,” he laughed. “Anyway, what do you have planned later?”
“Nothing, except some studying. Got a test coming up that I’m a little stressed out over.”
“I was going to see if you wanted to, maybe, rent a movie tonight and get some take out,” his voice dropped some. “But, if your busy we can do it another time.”
“No, no,” I stopped before entering the locker room. “That sounds great. How about you help me with some flash cards during dinner, and then we’ll watch the movie?”
It took him a bit to answer, “Yeah, I could do that. Just don’t hold anything against me, I only went to university for a year.”
“Okay, deal,” my heart did a flip.
“I’ll text you in a bit to let you know when I’ll be over.”
We said goodbye and I headed to my workout. I felt distracted during my whole run. Even before I got to the first mile my stomach was in knots. By the time I finished mile five I felt sick from my stomach doing flips. I hurried to the locker room to find a text message waiting for me.
>> I’ll be at your apartment around 6:45. Hope you like Italian, cause that’s what I’m bringing.
I checked the clock, that gives me about 2 hours. I quickly responded and headed straight home. As soon opened the door I started cursing Rachel. Even though she wasn’t there she had left the common area a mess. Blankets covered the couch, papers covered most of the surfaces, and there were bags of different chips laying opened all over the coffee table. I checked my watch, and I had lost 20 minutes since the Rec Center. Swiftly I began to clean the room, even organizing the few toys of Elwood’s the laid around. Once I felt satisfied with how the room looked I hurried the dog downstairs for a quick evening walk.
“Come on, come on,” I kept muttering to him even though he couldn’t hear me. When he was finished with his business I dragged him inside and up to the apartment again to feed him. I took the quickest shower, knowing I wouldn’t have enough time to do much with my hair. I prayed for a good hair day, and sprayed some Beach Spray into my locks. After a speedy application of a little eyeliner and mascara, I ran to my closet. Absolutely nothing, I thought as I looked at my stocked closet. I grabbed a pair old black leggings, my light beige sweater, and threw on my ugg slippers. I checked myself again in the mirror, Cute but not trying to hard. The clock on my phone said I had a few minutes spare.
I checked the living room one last time, and decided I’d light some candles. I was worried it would give the wrong idea, but, I really enjoyed how they looked in the room. My anxiety started to creep back, so, I decided to I would distract myself with a few flashcards. Mindlessly I went threw the stack, trying to remember all the different terms the class had gone over this semester so far. All the same, I was too focused on my phone to really comprehend anything. I set the cards down and decided to do some deep breathing I had learn during my mom’s yoga phase. After two breathes my focus was interrupted by the buzzing of the intercom. I opened one eye and looked around, Elwood was sitting in front of me wagging his tail. Again the intercom bleeped, and I ran over to answer it.
“Hello?” I spoke threw the speaker.
“Hey, its me...” I buzzed Jon in before he could even continued.
I opened the front door some, and then ran into the kitchen to grab two glasses of wine. I decided this would make me look laid back and relax. What had I turned into... I took my sweet time fetching the glasses from the cabinet, and examine the different expensive wine’s my mother’s new boyfriend had bought me for different occasions. I knew nothing about wine, but, I was trying to be classy.
“Hello?” I heard Jon’s voice from the hallway.
Stay cool, I told myself. “I’m in the kitchen.”
He walked in wearing a Blackhawks zip-up with the hood pulled over his ball cap. His face was flush red, showing that he had just come from a work out. Across his face was a big smile, showing the dimple in his cheek. “Hey, I brought some RPM take out. What are you doing?”
“I was just trying to decided which wine we should have. What is your preference?”
He walked over to me and took me into a side hug as he inspected the different bottles. “Wow, these are really nice wines. This red is really good,” handing me the bottle.
“Okay,” I began to uncork the bottle, “I really don’t know anything about wines. My mother’s boyfriend is a chef and gives me them often as a gift.”
“Thats nice of him. I really don’t know much more, I often let others order for me,” he laughed.
I turned to hand him his glass, but before I could I feel his hand cup the back of my head. I stretched up to his face, as he took me into a passionate kiss. I did my best not to spill the glass as my free had grabbed his tighten bicep. He bit my lip lightly causing me to moan and lean more into him. Time seemed to stop as a surge ran threw our bodies. When he finally released me, I was left panting.
“I’m sorry, I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time now.” He whispered to me.
All I could do was nod my head up and down slowly. He smile and gave me a light peck on the lips again. Jon then turned and began to lay out the food on the counter. There was some pasta, and a chicken dish. He even got dessert for us. Jon dished us both a plate and I fallowed him to the dinning table.
“This all looks delicious,” I said taking a sip from my wine.
“Yeah, I’ve been looking forward to eating this all day.” He placed his napkin in his lap, “So, where are your flashcards?”
I groaned, “How about we do those during dessert? I want to hear about your week.”
He grinned at me as he took a bite of the chicken, “Not much to say, just getting ready for our games this weekend. Fly out tomorrow for our game against Nashville.”
“What do you do with all your free time?”
“Sometimes I have interviews, or work related stuff. I spend time with the friends I have in the city. They come over and play pool or we go out to dinner. I really am focused on my hockey, though.”
“So, what you are telling me,” placing my fork down, “your life isn’t as glamorous as one might think?”
He grinned, “Yeah, I guess that could be it.”
We sat in silence for a little bit, eating our food, not really knowing what to talk about.
“Where are you from?” He broke the silence.
I finished chewing my food, “Chicago area. We lived in a few different towns, but spent my high school years in Wheaton.”
“Nice, nice. Where did you go to University before Depaul?”
“Michigan University,” I answered. “Anymore questions, Mister Toews?”
He shook his head, “No, not right now.”
“Okay, well,” I sipped more wine, “I will do my best to be an open book for you.”
“Your best?” His eye narrowed at me.
I shrugged, “I’m not accustomed to bare everything about myself. Actually, I find that a really annoying habit of girls.”
Jon laughed, “What do you mean?”
“You should know since you’re a guy. Girls just want you to accept them so badly, they seem to tell you every little detail about themselves right away,” all he did was nod his head. “Then they try to be mysterious with the stupidest things. No wonder why guys always feel confused and annoyed. In all honesty I think something should come with time.”
“Okay, I can understand that. Take time to revealed everything...”
I bit my lip, “I shouldn’t have gone on that rant.”
“No, no,” Jon reached his hand across the table and grabbed mine. “I agree, somethings need to be earned in order for you share. I’m the same way. No worries, we are on the same page.”
My body relaxed a little as I rubbed my thumb over his fingers. We continued are meal, but, switched to a lighter subject. Everything thing so comfortable and natural, as if we had known each other for a long time. When it came to dessert he demanded we work on the flashcards I had mentioned. It made the studying fun.
“What is this?” He flipped the card back and forth, “I’m a professional, fucking, athlete and I don’t even know this.”
I did my best not to fall over in my chair laughing, “It’s okay, it’s just the legal side of the business. No one expects the athletes to know all this.”
His eyebrows scrunched together, “According to what you have here I’m considered ‘talent.’ I’m calling my manager tomorrow.”
I smiled at him, and grabbed our plates. “I think I’ve had enough studying. Thank you for all your help.”
“Yeah your welcome,” he stared at the card.
I placed the dishes in the sink and began to clean up the cartons of food. I poured another glass of wine for each of us and returned to find Jon sitting on the couch with Elwood on his lap. I don’t know if it was the wine or how comfortable I felt but, I took a seat very close to him as Elwood moved to his bed. I handed him his glass as Jon slipped his other arm around my shoulders.
“So, what would you like to watch?” I reached for the remote and brought up my Amazon Prime on the Roku.
“Anything you’d like,” he grabbed a piece of my hair a twirled it in his fingers.
“Skyfall it is...”
I chose to movie and curled up into his side. The movie began, and it was complete silence. I was too busy wrapped in my thoughts and sipping wine to really pay attention to what was doing on. All of a sudden James Bond was under water. My body did an involuntary shiver as I took a gulp of my wine.
“What was that?”
I looked up at him, kind of embarrassed. “I have a fear of being underwater. When there are scenes of TV of it I can’t help but cringe.”
A smiled crawled across his face, “Don’t worry, your safe with me.”
I couldn’t help be giggle at how cute he was, and the buzz I was feeling didn’t help. His eyes were still staring into mine causing me to want to shiver again. Without breaking eye contact, he grabbed both our glasses and place them on the table. All I could do was focus on my breathing, breathe in and breathe out. Almost instinctually I raised my arms to around his neck, as his wrapped around my body. His body felt warm and tense against mine. The surge between our body reappeared. It felt like forever, but, finally he kissed me. It felt like my body was doing flips. Slowly, he lowered me back onto the couch until his body was over mine. I lost myself in all of it. He is a very good kisser, I decided. Eventually, Jon pealed his body from mine.
“I don’t want to be too forward...”
“Would you like to take this to the other room?” I finished for him.
He stood up and reached a hand down to help me up. With her perfect timing, Rachel came home. “I’m home.” We stood there still, looking towards the front door, my hand still in his. I’m sure we looked quite guilty since a sly grin grew on her face. “Hey, Jon,” she spoke in her fake sweet voice, “I didn’t know you were coming over.”
I rolled my eyes, “Yeah, we were just watching a movie. I think we are going to take it in my room.”
“Okay,” her eyes squinted.
“There is left overs in fridge,” I gave her a pleading look, “we are going to take the movie into my room.”
“All right, enjoy,” she waved and walked into the kitchen.
Jon’s hand squeezed around mine as he pulled me into my room and shut the door.