The Sailor and the Hawk

I was really relieved to finally hear back from Katie. Not getting a hold of her had me upset enough that Jon felt the need to try and reach her. Who just leaves their phone like that when they go for a run?

“I have never seen her like this before,” Patrick poked fun at me as he watched me pace about the living room. I just couldn’t sit! Even though I had gotten a hold of her and she was coming here, I still had that anxiety.

“You have sisters! Don’t you ever worry about them?” I couldn’t help but throw his way.

“… No,” was his reply.

I rolled my eyes at him and couldn’t fight off a groan from escaping me. Of course, him and Jonathan thought it was funny. Another huff came out while I plopped down on the couch next to my man.

“Can I ask you something?” I glanced at Patrick as I spoke.

“Sure…” he countered, looking a little unsure of what was about to leave my mouth.

“Did… anything happen with you two that night we all went to dinner?” I dared to ask him.

“Why?” nearly every part of his face wrinkled in puzzlement.

“It’s just a question,” I assured him.

“No,” he shrugged it off.

Honestly, I didn’t expect him to tell me anything. Katie hadn’t told me anything about it, so I did just assume that nothing happened. However, I kept an eye on Patrick after he replied and the look in his eye changed.

“Well…” he started up once more obviously thinking about it, “I don’t know. There was… this one thing…”

“What?” I felt my heart rate speed up.

“She got out of the car really fast and I…” he paused to gather his thoughts for a few moments, “I wanted to talk to her so I grabbed her arm and then she turned around like… She was going to rip my arm off,” he said through a chuckle, but the look in his eyes was full of concern.

“And you didn’t think that was something to tell someone… Like me?” I looked at him with wide eyes. That’s kind of a big deal there, Patrick!

“I thought it was just me! She didn’t know I was going to grab her and I thought I just scared her,” he shrugged once more.

“I mean she barely knew the guy…” Jonny stepped in. He knew that I would look into this too much and worry.

“But you don’t understand. She could have… really hurt him.”

“Yeah, right,” Patrick found humor in my words.

I couldn’t keep my brow from rising as high as it would go after he spoke. Is he serious right now? Sure, he’s Mr. Buff Hockey Boy, but… he doesn’t have the training that Katie has.

“Maybe you and her should wrestle when she gets her then,” I taunted.

“I would pay to see that,” Jon butted in.

“Oh, whatever,” Patrick rolled his eyes.

“I think someone’s scared,” I whispered over to Jonny.

“I think so too,” he whispered back, sending a wink my way.

From that point up until Katie came, Patrick was rambling on and on about how he wasn’t scared. He wasn’t going to let anything happen between the two. I knew if faced with the challenge, Katie would gladly accept.

Once the knock on the door came, I got up to get it, but Patrick hurried to push himself ahead of me. He swung the door opened to reveal Katie, gretting her with a large, sly smile. The look on her face was a bit surprised to say the least.

“He just came over,” I informed her, knowing she was going to question why exactly he was here.

She looked a bit nervous as she nodded her head and stepped inside. That same nervousness came off of her as she came in and joined everyone else in the living room. Small talk echoed against the walls. She would make a comment every now and then. I didn’t think she was acting right… but maybe I was just watching her too closely.

“So, before you got here, Kaner was talking a big game…” Jon brought up.

“Oh?” Katie asked, looking between him and Patrick.

“I didn’t… No,” he stumbled out his response while he sent a hardened look towards his teammate.

“He said he would be able to take you in a tussle.”

“Yeah, right,” Katie blurted out through laughter.

“I’m not going to have a ‘tussle’ with a girl,” a look of annoyance took over his face.

“He’s afraid he’ll lose,” Katie straightened up a bit then.

“I am not!” he came back with.

After a little more taunting, specifically from Katie, everyone pushed the furniture back to clear up some space for the two. He did look a bit uneasy while Katie stood straight, ready to thrown down with him. As I watched, I thought it would be all in good… and hoped nothing went too far.