Orpheus & Eurydice

It was two days after the stargazing, the day of the game. Jonny had instructed Cassiopeia to come to his apartment before the game so they could ride together when they woke up in the morning on his friend’s lawn.

She remembers that they were cuddling when his friend, Patrick, started to laugh, causing them to stir awake.

“Wow, Toe-es, Cass is really making you more liberal. Spending the night on my lawn? I would’ve never figured you the type.” Cassiopeia looked over at Jonny and obviously saw that it was bothering him that he was being teased.

Jonny mumbled something back to him that Cassiopeia couldn’t hear and they started to pack up and Jonny drove her back to her apartment.

Right before he dropped her off, he asked her a question.

“Hey, Cass. Will you wear my jersey tomorrow?”

She wrinkled up her nose and thought about it for a minute.

“Can I tie dye it?”

“Uh, no?”

“Then, no.” He looked a little surprised but huffed out a laugh and gave her directions on what to do tomorrow.

Currently, Cassiopeia is stuck on what to wear to the game. Jonny didn’t really give her any idea what kind of environment she’d be in, but she wants to make a good impression.

When she finally decides on what to wear, she realizes that she only has twenty minutes to get ready and catch a cab downtown. With this realization, she just throws her clothes on, not bothering with hair or makeup and runs out the door. She doesn’t see any cabs in sight and it’s too late to call for one, so she decides to take the blue line into the city.

Unfortunately, CTA is always late and she ends up running ten minutes behind, flustered as she finally makes it to Jonny’s door and knocks frantically.

He immediately opens the door and grins, but takes a look at what she’s wearing and his smiles turns down.

“Cass! I’m glad you’re here safe, I was worried.”

She smiles at his words but sees that his gaze is still fixated on the edge of her dress and she looks down to see if anything is wrong with her wardrobe. Nothing seems to be the matter and she looks back up at him with a frown on her face.

“What’s wrong?”

“I – nothing it’s just, your dress is just – ah, isn’t it a little short?”

Well, yes, Cassiopeia thinks. It’s actually supposed to be a tunic but Jonny doesn’t need to know that. Everything is covered up and Chicago is experiencing a heat wave and Cassiopeia already runs a little warm.

“It’ll be ok. Shouldn’t we go? Are we running late cause I was late?”

Cassiopeia now takes the time to appreciate how good Jonny looks in a suit. It’s gray with a tight white button up underneath. His tie is black and overall he looks very simple but very well put together. It makes Cassiopeia’s mouth go dry and she has to blink a couple of times before making eye contact with Jonny again. He smirks at her and she blushes.

“Ready to go?” He asks and she nods her head, stepping aside so he can follow the way to his car. She didn’t really get a good look into his apartment but it seemed to look nice and modern, a little too stuffy for her taste.

They lightly chat while they make their way to the car. Cassiopeia is asking Jonny some questions about hockey that she doesn’t know and he patiently answers every single one of them. Cassiopeia can really tell that he loves hockey so much.

They pulled into the arena when Cassiopeia almost forgets.

“Oh! I almost forgot, I got you something.” Jonny makes a little noise in the back of his throat while Cassiopeia looks through her purse for the present.

Cassiopeia’s fingers finally close around the small object and she holds out her closed fist in front of Jonny until he puts his hand underneath it. She drops it in his palm and watches him examine the tiny gem.

“It’s a good luck charm, a snowflake obsidian. It’s made with lava that cools so fast it forms crystals. Its roots are with the Hawaiian volcano goddess and it’s known to be used when faced with great adversity.”

Cassiopeia is babbling again but she’s nervous cause Jonny is still staring at the black and white gem, not saying anything, and Cassiopeia searched far and wide and called a lot of different stores to have it shipped over from Hawaii.

“I thought you could put it in your locker or something…” She trails off, not knowing what to say. Jonny finally clears his throat and locks eyes with her.

“Thanks, Cass. This – this means a lot and it’s honestly really cool.”

She’s caught off guard when Jonny wraps an arm around her shoulders and pulls her towards him. She reacts enough to get her arms out of the way but her face is smushed into his neck, inhaling his cologne. She finally wraps her arms around his back and they stay like that for a long duration of time.

Jonny is the first one to pull away, mumbling about having to get inside for warm ups. Cassiopeia doesn’t miss him sliding the gem into his suit pocket and it makes her grin.

They’re walking down a long hallway when Jonny stops short and turns towards her.

“So, for the game, I’m putting you up in a suite with the other families, is that ok?” Cassiopeia vaguely nods her head. She fascinated with everything going on around her and all of the people bustling along to get ready for the game.

“I told Abby to meet us down here so she can take you up there but I don’t know here she is –”

Jonny is cut off by a blonde woman calling his name. He grabs Cassiopeia’s hand and pulls her over to where she’s standing with a little toddler’s hand in hers and a baby in a stroller.

“Abby, hey. This is Cassiopeia. Cass, this is Sharpy’s wife, Abby.”

“Namaste! My, you have adorable children.”

She bends down to talk to the little toddler. She stickers her hand out and introduces herself to the little girl.

“I’m Cass, what’s your name?”

The little girl grins at her and says, “Maddie.” Cassiopeia grins back and starts talking nonsense with Maddie.

She hears a cough and looks up to see Abby and Jonny watching them. Abby looks amused and Jonny looks uncomfortable.

“Cass, I better get going.” He turns to leave and Cassiopeia jumps up and grabs him arm.

“Wait!”

Jonny looks surprised, but does as she says. Cassiopeia takes the lapels of his suit in her hands and tugs him down so that they’re at eye level. She brings their faces really close together and see’s Jonny gulp. It’s obviously making him nervous the way Cassiopeia is acting.

“You’re gonna be amazing, I have total faith in you.” She tells him with a lot of conviction. She continues.

“Be exceptional.” She rolls up on her toes and presses a kiss high on Jonny’s cheekbone, just where his playoff muttonchops meet the smooth of his face. She let’s go of his suit and come back down off her tippy toes. Jonny’s face has gone scarlet and he looks embarrassed but also has the beginning of a smile growing.

“I’ll see you after the game, babe. Have fun.” He pats her head and walks off towards the locker room.

Cassiopeia turns back around to face Abby and Abby looks shocked.

“What?”

“I’ve just never seen anyone act that way with Jonathan. He’s a very reserved man. Well, let’s get up stairs into the suites. We have a lot to talk about.” Abby grins and motions Cassiopeia to follow her through the large arena.

Cassiopeia immediately is taken to Abby. She’s just like her husband, a great aura and is very nice to Cassiopeia. They chat about Cassiopeia’s life and how she got started in Chicago and in turn Cass asks about her and Patrick’s relationship.

Abby is telling Cassiopeia how they met when the lights in the UC go down. She gives Abby a curious look and she explains that the game is about to start.

Cassiopeia tries to pay attention, she really does, but Maddie keeps wanting to play Barbie’s with her and she can’t say no to that face, so it’s not really surprising when Jonny opens up the game with a goal.

So Abby has decided to stick her front and center and distract Maddie so Cassiopeia can adequately focus on the game and just play with Maddie during intermission. Abby had mentioned that this was Game 6 and for Jonny and company to move on it was a do or die game.

The pressure made it a little more interesting but Cassiopeia found herself thinking of other things while watching. The only thing to pull her out of her thoughts was an announcement of another goal by Jonny. And another. A hat trick as Abby described it. They beat the Avalanche 3-0 and Cassiopeia can practically feel how happy Jonny is on the ice from all the way up in the suites.

Abby takes her back to the basement of the UC to wait for Patrick and Jonny to come out. Abby informs Cassiopeia that Jonny might be a while since he’s the captain and will have to do some interviews and maybe meet with the coach.

One by one each of the players come out of the locker room with wet hair and grins so big they almost don’t fit on their faces. And one by one each of those players isn’t Jonny. Patrick greets his family and they say bye to Cassiopeia and soon she’s almost the last one in the hallway.

Almost a full hour after the game ended, Jonny finally comes stumbling out of the locker room looking frantic but almost instantly locks eyes with Cassiopeia and rushes over to her.

“Hey! God, I’m so sorry. I had some interviews I had to finish up and coach wanted me to go over some of the power play tapes even though I insisted that I had someone waiting for me, and then the guys hid some of my shit, little fuckers –”

“Nice hat trick tonight.” Cassiopeia interrupts. Jonny is obviously all hyped up from the win and she wants to direct some of that positive energy into something useful like happiness.

He immediately grins and pulls her into an unexpected hug. She hugs in back and he pulls back to grab her hand in his and leads her to the parking lot.

Jonny is excitedly chattering about the game the whole ride to his condo. He talks about every detail, every up and down, and every goal he scored. Cassiopeia just lets him ramble, basking in the amazing energy that he’s creating and she feeds off it. Happy Jonny is like a super human, he makes Cassiopeia feel so bubbly and alive. She wants to keep him happy forever.

They make is back to his apartment complex and she follows him up the elevator and into his apartment. He doesn’t waste time turning any lights on since it’s just a little after midnight. He does ask her if she wants anything, food, water. She denies and he tugs her down a hallway and ducks into a room.

She follows him and is pleasantly surprised by his room. While the rest of the apartment is pretty boring and modern, stuff that Cassiopeia would normally stick her nose up at, his bedroom looks really comfortable.

He has a very large bed stuck in the middle of his room with candles scattered everywhere. Cassiopeia smells the remnants of some sage and smiles thinking of Jonny traveling back to Earth Lore to get some.

Cassiopeia’s attention to drawn back to Jonny when he starts unbuckling his belt and slowly taking all his clothes off sans his boxers. Cassiopeia isn’t sure she’s welcome to stay the night so she stays hovered by the doorway, tracking Jonny’s every move.

He doesn’t really notice her, just slowly going through his bedtime routine as he quickly ducks into his bathroom to brush his teeth, Cassiopeia assumes. It’s when he comes back out scratching his stomach and yawning, when he stops in his tracks and gives Cassiopeia a questioning glance.

He starts to walk towards her and Cassiopeia stands her guard. Having Jonny impose on her apartment at all hours of the day are completely different then staying with Jonny at his own apartment. Jonny needed Cassiopeia in those odd hours during the night and she just wanted to help.

But now. Now, Cassiopeia doesn’t know what Jonny wants. She doesn’t want to go but she also doesn’t want to impose.

Jonny comes up to her and they’re standing toe to toe. He’s staring intently at her and she’s just wondering what he wants.

“Are you staying?” He whispers.

She shrugs, breaking off eye contact.

“Do you want me to?”

“I want you to do whatever you want to do.”

Cassiopeia stays silent but also doesn’t move. She’s confused about how she feels about Jonny. All her emotions are jumbled up in the pit of her stomach and it’s making it hard to talk.

“I couldn’t stop thinking about you during the game, mon petit chou chou.”

This time Cassiopeia needs to look at Jonny and when she does she finds that he’s looking down at the floor but has also stepped closer to her.

“I couldn’t stop thinking about the gem you gave me. How you basically saved me from myself earlier this month. I swear I’m a whole new person because of you. You’re amazing, Cass.”

Jonny brings a hand to the side of Cassiopeia’s face and circles it around so it’s cupping the back of her neck. He backs her up until she’s flush against his bedroom wall and his thick body.

“I can’t stop thinking about you, period.” He whispers before he brushes his lips against hers.

She sighs into his open mouth and tilts her head for better leverage to push into the kiss. Jonny answers back by sliding his free hand around to the small of her back and pushing her into his bare chest.

She gasps and Jonny takes the opportunity to slide his tongue in her mouth, deepening the kiss. Cassiopeia has never been kissed like this before. She can almost taste how much Jonny likes her and it makes her dizzy with want. His hand slides down from her back to the very top of her thigh, right where her dress meets skin and she almost blacks out from how electrifying Jonny’s touch is.

She brings the hand that was resting on his shoulder to the back on her hand and threads her hand through his damp hair. If possible, Jonny starts to kiss her harder and with more passion. Cassiopeia’s mind is a whirl and she bites on Jonny’s lip to give her some time to take a breath.

Jonny’s mouth barely pulls of from hers but then he gives her a chaste kiss before stepping back completely. Cassiopeia takes a couple of minutes to open her eyes and is greeted with the sight of a messy haired, swollen mouth, red-cheeked Jonny.

She bites her lip and grins at him. He grins back and starts walking backwards towards his bed.

“Can I light some sage?” He nods his head at her, telling her where to find it. She fiddles around his room, wasting time.

“So, are you staying?”

She looks over at him and sees that he’s lying flat on his back above his covers with his eyes closed.

“Yeah, yeah I’ll stay.” She replies, bending down to take her sandals off. She sees Jonny smile, eyes still closed.