A Winter Classic

Lunch with Casey the next day had been pushed to the day after that and she was still ten minutes late when she finally showed up. The hole in the wall diner they always met at not only boasted some of the best food, it was also the perfect halfway point between her job at the hospital and the PR firm Casey worked at. She’d offered to meet somewhere closer, since she was off this week but Casey had insisted to meet here.

“Sorry I’m late.” Casey apologized sliding into the booth across from her. “That place is going to kill me, like literally; my blood pressure must be through the roof!”

That was the same line she’d been hearing from Casey for the last 3 years, she loved that place, she might spend most of her time complaining about it but in the end she loved it.

“Don’t worry about it.” Ellie started. “I’ve got all day; you’re the one who needs to get back.”

“Don’t remind me.”

She watched Casey wave over the waiter, charm him like she did almost anyone else she met, and then sent him on his way with their order. That was the thing with Casey; sometimes it was like she was two different people.

“I’ve been locked in my office all morning long so I can get everything done and out of there on time for the big game tonight.”

Casey looked down at her phone as it buzzed against the table, rolled her eyes then flipped it back over onto the screen.

“Now speaking of big game…”

Leave it to Casey to get right to the point.

“Well it took you longer to get there then I thought you would.” Ellie laughed taking a sip of the coke in front of her. “Lay it on me.”

“How do you, of all people, end up with a Toronto Maple Leaf in your living room?”

“Gee thanks Case, that’s a real ego boost.”

“Oh shut up, you know what I mean!”

She did, she knew what she meant but she was really enjoying having the upper hand on Casey for a change.

“Remember how I told you that I thought I’d finally gotten a new neighbor?”

Casey’s jaw nearly fell off as dropped open.

“Turns out I did.”

“Shut up!”

Ellie laughed, it was all she could do really.

“You’re telling me that you’ve got not one but two extremely talented and unbelievably good looking hockey players living next door to you?”

Ellie shrugged her shoulders, she didn’t know if there were two of them but she definitely knew there was one. Phil had mentioned a roommate but he’d never really used a name, he could really be anyone.

“Well I don’t know about two but there’s one for sure.”

“Oh trust me,” Casey started. “There are two.”

“That’s creepy Case, real creepy.”

She didn’t want to know how she knew that, or even how she had found that out but it was time to move away from that topic before it was too late.

“Oh whatever.” Casey dismissed her with a wave of her hands before continuing. “So what? Did he knock on your door looking for a cup of sugar?”

“No, he actually waited with me for the locksmith when I broke the key to my apartment.”

“You what?”

Ellie forgot that they’d both been so busy this last week that she hadn’t even had a chance to tell her that story. So she told her the whole thing, the broken key, the offer to wait with her, and then her offer to make dinner. Casey shook her head; it was all she could do.

“Some people have all the luck!”

She signed dramatically sitting back in her booth.

“Oh yeah, that’s me.”

Lucky was not a way she would ever describe herself, especially not when it came to dating. Their food arrived in that moment and they sat in silence for a few minutes, picking through their plates before Ellie spoke again.

“He called yesterday.”

They’d been texting back and forth throughout the day while she ran errands and he packed for the trip and then just as she was heating something up for dinner her phone had rung. The conversation had been brief, mostly to gloat about what a great game he was planning on having and then he’d had to board his plane.

“So this is like a thing?” Casey started. “Like it could actually go somewhere?”

Ellie shrugged her shoulders, pushing her plate away.

“He didn’t kiss me.”

“What?”

She pushed her hands through her hair, sliding forward in the booth.

“That’s weird right?”

“Maybe there wasn’t that moment, you know?”

She shook her head, that moment had been there, a few times and he’d never taken it.

“No it was definitely there.” Ellie explained. “Like three or four times but he never took it, so I thought maybe it was me you know? But that can’t be it right?”

“No, not if he’s still calling you.” Casey argued. “Maybe it was nerves.”

She’d thought of that too.

“This is why I’m terrible at the dating game.”

She blew out a dramatic breath, her bangs fluttering at the contact. She’d thought about it a lot, the kiss that never was, and had been hoping that Casey could help her shed some light on the topic.

“Your fine.” Casey reassured her. “It’s always a little weird for the first few dates right?”

That’s true, that balancing game was always interesting in the beginning of any kind of relationship but this time it had been different. Everything had flowed so smoothly, even then texts they’d exchanged since had been fun and flirty, so why hadn’t he kissed her? If she was bolder she would have asked him just that, Casey would have definitely asked but she’d never been able to lay things out like that. She sat back in the booth for a second, combing her fingers through her bangs, thinking about the last message he’d sent her. Pulling the phone out of her bag, she opened the text thread and slid it over to Casey.

'Heading to practice, make sure you keep your schedule open for my post game victory call.'

He’d also attached a jealousy inducing shot from the balcony of their hotel in Montreal that morning.

“Well he’s clearly interested.” Casey started her fingers scrolled through dozens of texts that had been exchanged in the last 24 hours.

“So I’m not crazy?”

Casey shook her head before sliding the phone back over to her. She checked to make sure she had no new messages before putting it back into her purse.

“But this does change everything!”

“How?”

“Montreal, Toronto, how can you possibly root against your new boyfriend Elle? Price will be absolutely devastated when you come over to the good side.”

Boyfriend? Leave it to Casey to jump to crazy conclusions already. One date and she was already picking out a China pattern and bridesmaid dresses.

“You sound just like him.”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh just a little bet.” Ellie started. “He told me he’d have me in blue and white before the season ended and I…”

Ellie stopped abruptly when Casey slapped her hands against the tabletop.

“Wait one bloody minute.” Casey illustrated her point with a finger directed right at her. “You’re sitting here over analyzing a kiss…”

“A non-kiss.”

“Irrelevant!” Casey threw her hands up. “When he’s just casually taking about converting you by the end of the season.”

“It’s just something people say Case.” Ellie explained. “You say it all the time.”

“Yes but I’m your best friend who doesn’t want to see you get mixed up with bad people, not an attractive NHL hockey player whose trying to brand you with his colors!”

Ellie rolled her eyes.

“Your insane.” She started. “Sometimes I wonder how I ended up stuck with you.”

“Easy, you love me.”

And she did, she’d been her best friend since they were babies. The fact that they were complete opposites had always seemed to be the thing that somehow kept them together, they just complimented each other.

“Elle?” the serious tone in Casey’s voice caught her attention. “Do you like the guy?”

“I do.”

“Then do yourselves both a favor and just go with it.” She suggested. “I know it goes against everything in you when it comes to these things but just follow your gut.”

She thought about those words, it was solid advice and something she didn’t do nearly as often in her personal life as she did in her professional life.

“Your right.”

She resolved in that moment to do just that, for the first time in her life she was just going to go with it.

“So when are you going to see him again?”

“About that…” she smiled over at her. “You free Saturday night?”