Lonely No More

Beau Bennett was frustrated and it showed. He had taken Jocelyn out for lunch the previous day and she was oddly distant. She turned her cheek each time he went in to give her a kiss, she shied away when he tried to hold her hand, and she was being extremely noncommittal.

Was she mad? Was she self-conscious? Had they gone too far before establishing some sort of relationship between them? Beau groaned as he finished his bench press sets.

“You alright, there, Sunshine?” James asked, walking into the gym with a clean towel around his shoulders. Beau tossed him a less than amused look before taking up on the stationary bike beside her.

“I’ve got a problem.” Beau said, tossing his own towel over his shoulder before wiping down his face. He had been hitting the equipment pretty hard that day and was borderline exhausting himself.

“Let me guess, lady problems?” James asked.

“How did you know?” Beau asked, slowly starting himself off on the bike, matching James’ warm up pace.

“You’re young, rich, talented and good looking. It’s pretty much the only problem you can have at this point.” James listed off, making Beau let out a sarcastic laugh.

“You can’t tell anyone else about this.” Beau began, looking over to James.

“My lips are sealed.” He replied.

“I’m serious, not Geno – nobody.” He insisted.

“I mean it, I can keep a secret.” James nodded. Beau took in a deep breath, wondering just how he was going to word what he wanted to say.

“You know I’ve been trying to go after Josie for… months now.” Beau began, watching for any kind of joke in James’ face, but his teammate simply nodded. “Well, after like four months, we finally hooked up after your Halloween party.” He added, checking James face again, waiting for him to break.

“So what’s the problem?” James asked.

“Well, we spent the day together, got breakfast, then spent the rest of the weekend together and I thought everything was great. I mean, we haven’t had sex yet, but everything was awesome. She’s fuckin’ perfect James, like actually perfect.” Beau sighed, “but now, she’s been dodging me, being really impersonal, not even letting me hug her or hold her hand.” He explained, “it’s driving me fucking crazy.” Beau insisted. His teammate watched on as the blonde started peddling faster and faster as he explained his situation.

“Do you think something happened between then and now?” James asked.

“I feel like something must have happened because she’s seriously flipped like a switch.” Beau replied, “it’s seriously so frustrating, like how do I tell her I want to be serious if it feels like she doesn’t want to be alone with me anymore?” He asked.

“Okay, so something happened between Sunday and Monday,” James said, looking like he was trying to solve a puzzle. “You don’t think it was another one of the guys, do you?” He asked.

“I didn’t even consider that.” Beau said, looking at his teammate with wide eyes. “I wonder who she would have talked to.” He said, looking around at the gym and scanning the few Penguins that were around and working out after practice. “Downie!” He called, catching the brunette’s attention. Steve walked over, taking a drink of his water bottle.

“Sup, Beau?” He asked, leaning on Beau’s machine.

“Did you say something to Jocelyn on Monday?” Beau asked.

“On Monday?” Steve looked up as he racked his brain, thinking about the hot little receptionist. “I came in for practice, asked her how her weekend was…” he trailed off.

“And?” Beau pressed.

“She got a little clippy with me. She said her weekend was fine, and I said, if her weekend was fine, then you must not be doing a very good job.” He laughed, pointing at Beau, who instantly saw red.

“What else did you say to her?” Beau demanded.

“That’s it. She kind of snapped at me and then apologized.” He shrugged. “Trouble in paradise?” Downie asked.

“She’s been acting really weird around me lately and I don’t know what changed.” Beau explained.

“Sorry, Sunshine, but I don’t think it was me, she seemed pretty ticked before I got there.” Downie shrugged.

“Thanks.” Beau mumbled.

“Wait,” Downie turned back to face his teammate. “She did tell me very explicitly that you and here are friends and strictly friends.” He added, making Beau’s mood darken even further.

“Thanks Downie.” James said, replying for his teammate. “So maybe she’s just salty that you haven’t asked her to be your girlfriend?” He asked.

“It just… I mean that could be it, it just doesn’t seem like it.” Beau said, “she’s not that kind of girl.” He was so confused. “I don’t know, I’m going to swing by her place later.” He shrugged. “I don’t want to go on trying to figure his out for days.”

James frowned, feeling bad for his friend, and hoping that it wasn’t something bigger.

Beau took a little extra time getting ready after his workout, dressing in his favorite flannel, fixing his hair just right, and even brushing his teeth. He needed to make an impression.

It was dark when he left the arena. Glancing at his watch, he noticed it was just before eight. The drive to Joss’ apartment was short and he walked very determinedly up to her apartment.

Jocelyn was just making her nightly cup of tea, already in her pajamas as she waited for the water in her Keurig to heat up when the doorbell rang. She had a good idea of who it may be. Grabbing her bathrobe from the back of her dining room chair, she slid it on, tying it around her waist before opening the door.

“Hi Beau.” She crossed her arms under her bust as she felt the cold air from the hallway hit her bare legs.

“Can I come in?” He asked.

“Did you need something? I don’t think I have anything of yours…” She asked.

“Joss, can I please come in?” He asked again, to which she nodded, opening the door all the way.

“Can I get you something to drink? I’m making tea.” She said, closing the door behind him and turning to realize he was standing right behind her. She didn’t have the wherewithal to get out of his way when he bent down to kiss her.

His lips were soft and she could taste just a hint of the Carmex he wore. The soft whimper she emitted when he held her body against his only encouraged him as she slanted his mouth over hers. Beau kissed Jocelyn like a starving man and she was a filet mignon – he couldn’t get enough. He walked her back through the doorway to the kitchen, pressing her up against the countertop without breaking their lip lock.

“Beau.” She gasped when he slid his hands up her sides, brushing his thumb over her nipple. “Beau stop.” She stuttered out, pushing his hands away from her. Beau frowned, feeling like a gorilla for pouncing on her the moment he got in the door, but she often made him lose rational thought.

“Why are you avoiding me? What did I do?” He asked, cutting through the bullshit.

“I’m not avoiding you.” She mumbled.

“The hell you aren’t.” He pressed, “you’ve been avoiding me since Monday morning.” He insisted, “I thought we had a fun weekend together, I mean, you at least acted like you were having fun.” He frowned even deeper. “What changed?” He asked.

Beau Bennett did not do well with crying girls and he instantly cringed when he heard the water in her voice.

“I went to HR.” She admitted, “Monday morning, I went up to HR to see if they had a policy about dating within the organization.” She explained, “and they don’t.” She added, making her look at him oddly, “as long as I’m not trying to date a player. They’ll fire me, Beau, even for what’s already happened, they could fire me because like everyone on the team knows I went home with you after Missy and James’ party.” She explained.

“No one is going to tell – ”

“Beau, all of your friends know, it’s going to slip. I like my job and I want to keep it. I need to have a job, I don’t have millions in my savings account. I need to keep my job.” She explained. “They’ve fired a girl in the past for consorting with a player and I can’t take the risk.” She finished. “Downie said something to me, and Sidney said something, they both knew. If either of them said anything - even in passing to anyone on staff, I would be gone.” She finished.

Beau had a million thoughts running through his head, the first being, why didn’t she just say something to him?

“Why didn’t you just… tell me that instead of icing me out?” He frowned.

“What was I going to say, Beau? We’re not together.” She sounded almost bitter. “I like you a lot, like a lot - more than I thought I did, but I can’t be the girl who got fired for hooking up with a player, that’s not me.” She shook her head, eyes watery and nose turning just a little pink.

God she’s beautiful. He thought, even with her little tears and in her blue bathrobe that did nothing to shield her figure from him.

“We can… still be friends.” She mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest, looking away from him, down at Geno who was winding around Beau’s ankles.

“What if I said something to HR?” He asked, running a hand through his hair, “what if I tell them that I want to date you? Like I’m the instigator.” He offered.

“Aren’t you?” She laughed sadly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He asked.

“You pursued me, Beau.” She said, “and it’s not that I minded or anything, but they don’t care what happens, they’re just going to see me as a problem.” She shrugged. “Please, just please don’t say anything.” She insisted.

“What if we hid it?” He asked. “I’ll only come here, I won’t tell the guys, you won’t tell anyone.” He listed off.

“I tried that and four of your teammates walked in on us having morning-after breakfast with me wearing your clothes.” She pointed out, “what would we have done if it was Jim or Mike or Mario who had walked in instead. I can’t do the secret… boyfriend thing.” She muttered, the word boyfriend sounding sickly saccharine in her mouth.

Beau let his head hang as he tried to think of something else – anything.

“I don’t know what to do.” He said quietly. “This sucks, Josie.”

“I know it does.” She nodded, letting a few tears slip down her cheeks. I really like you, Beau, but I just don’t see how this can work.” She shrugged. Beau sighed, running a hand through his hair again.

“I’m going to figure something out, okay?” He insisted, causing her to look up at him.

“Beau, I mean, we’ve kissed, and spent time together… why are you so adamant?” She asked him.

“Because I fucking like you, Josie. I really, really like you, and I’d like to have the chance to date you before you tell me I can’t.” He explained, as frustrated as ever.

“I don’t know what to tell you, Beau-tie. I don’t know how to fix it.” She said sadly. “Maybe we just become friends.” She offered a little smile. “I’d like to be your friend.” She bit the inside of her cheek.

“Yeah.” Beau lied, “friends.”

It maybe wasn’t the last thing he wanted, but Beau did not want to be Jocelyn’s friend.