A Winter Classic

The phone to her left rang for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. It was the same name and number she’d been ignoring all day. She’d been tempted to pick it up, had been tempted a hundred times to make the call herself but whenever she’d reached for that phone she just couldn’t do it. She was still so angry, so confused and she didn’t wanna get into anything with Phil with such a complete mess going on in her head.

Ellie sighed pushing the covers off her body; sitting up she could hear the movement in the other room, could hear Casey moving around and down the hall till she knocked on her door.

“You up Elle?”

“Yeah.” She nodded as the door slid open. “I’m up.”

She watched Casey push the door open, pop her head in and smile.

“How are you feeling?”

Ellie shrugged her shoulders in response. She didn’t really know how to answer that one.

“You ready to talk about last night?”

“Joffrey kissed me.” Casey had barely finished her question before she blurted out her answer. She watched Casey’s eyes go wide as saucers before she dropped onto the bed next to her.

“What? When?”

“Right before I came to find you.” Ellie confessed. “He kissed me then we got into an argument, he said some eye opening things.”

He’d said a lot, none of which she was sure she could actually believe but some of it had sounded so convincing she’d been up all night trying to sort through it all.

“Like what?”

“Oh you know the usual.” She dismissed. “That Phil’s cheating on me, that he’s in the prime of his career not looking to be tied down, basically that everything I was afraid of was true.”

“What?” she watched Casey eyes narrow. “I’ll kill him.”

“It’s not worth it.”

“What a fucking sleezeball.” Casey’s outrage was almost palpable. “I’ll tell you what I’m burning that jersey the minute we are done here.”

The absurdity of that thought, of that sentence made her burst into laughter which then turned into tears.

“How did I get myself into the mess Case?” she’d always been so low-key, so drama free that this was new territory for her.

“Love is messy.”

“Life is messy.”

Boy was it ever.

“So what are you going to do?”

“What should I do? What would you do Case?”

She watched Casey mull over the decision in her head. That was the best thing about her, she would always be honest, always be open but when it came to important decisions she would always think before she spoke.

“Well if you wanna lay low here for a bit I get it, and your more than welcome to, but eventually your gonna have to talk to him.” She started. “And clearly that’s what he wants.”

Casey indicated her phone, a phone she’d heard go off countless times throughout the day and Ellie knew she was right. They needed to talk and they needed to be honest, it was the only way anything would work and the only way to build a relationship.

“Should I tell him?”

“You’ve gotta tell him.” Casey answered. “If you don’t it’ll just eat away at you.”

It would, it would eat away at her and she’d feel completely dishonest even though she had no part in it.

“Your right, of course.”

“Of course.” Casey confirmed with a wink.

“Thanks for putting up with me Case, for all this.”

She could rely on Casey like no other in her life and ever though sometime she felt like she was throwing too much at her to her credit Casey never turned her back on her.

“Don’t mention it.” She started with a wave of dismissal. “You’d do the same for me.”

“I would.”

“Good so now you can help me.”

“With what?”

“Let’s go burn that jersey.” When Ellie burst out into laughter the serious look on Casey’s face brought her back. “No I’m serious; I want it out of my house.”

Ellie laughed again, following Casey back to her room where the offending jersey called home. By nights end the jersey was gone and her confidence was as high as ever.

-----

Phil threw the phone down as it rolled to voicemail again. He’d given her time to cool off, taking some time to get his shit together and now he was ready to talk, to get everything out and see where it went. Only now she was nowhere to be found and wasn’t answering any of his calls or texts. It was frustrating, being so out of control was not something he liked or something he wanted to get used to but it was exactly what she did to him. When he’d actually thought through everything that had happened to this point he’d realized that unless he relinquished some of his control he’d lose her and he’d lose her over something stupid. That option just wasn’t acceptable.

“Still nothing?” Tyler broke him from his thought.

“No, she’s not answering.”

“I’m sure she’ll come around.”

He wasn’t so sure, he wasn’t sure if he’d be so forgiving if the roles were reversed.

“I don’t know…” he shook his head raking his fingers through his hair. “Everything’s a mess right now.”

“What happened anyways? You were all loved up when I left.”

“It was me.” He confessed. “I did something stupid and I see that now.”

“You’re pushing her away.” He didn’t even get to agree or disagree before Tyler continued. “You do that.”

He did do that, he didn’t know that other people really saw that but then again maybe he wasn’t giving Tyler enough credit. He definitely saw more then he let on.

“What do you mean?”

“You forget that I’ve been around you two.”

“And?”

“And I see what’s going on.”

“And…” he wanted a little more information than these vague statements Tyler was throwing at him. If it was so obvious to him did other people see it too? Was everyone in on this but him?
“Well you love her obviously.”

Obviously? How was it so obvious to Tyler when he was still trying to decide himself?

“And she obviously loves you so what’s the problem?”

“Obviously?”

“Yes.” Tyler confirmed with a nod. “Obviously.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Cause I’m not blind.”

Could that really be it, could it really be that simple? Tyler kicked his feet down from the table, turning his whole body towards him before he spoke again.

“I’ve know you a long time, been living with you for years.” He laid his credentials out on the table before going on to prove his point. “You love her and the bullishit you’re holding onto you need to let it go because if you don’t you’re going to regret it and you’re going to regret it for a long time.”

He would, he knew that. Just having no contact with her for the last day didn’t sit well with him. No teasing texts, no light-hearted calls, he was already starting to take notice how she impacted his daily life.

“When did you become so good at this?”

“I’m at smart guy Phil; it would do you good to remember that.”

Tyler laughed swinging his legs back up onto the couch.

“What do you think I should do?”

“Just give her a little more time.” Tyler instructed. “You’ve called, she’ll see that, and she’ll get back to you.”

“Yeah?”

“And when she does get back to you be honest with her, I think you’ll be surprised where it’ll get you.”

He sure did hope so because at this point, though it was entirely too early in their relationship, the thought of her not being here anymore made his stomach turn. He’d never felt this way before, not this quickly, not this strongly, and even though it scared him he knew that fear was going to have to be his motivation to push past everything to get to her.