Lonely No More

Nerves shot, Jocelyn got on the plane. The Penguins had two games against the Ducks and the Kings three days apart, and two days after Thanksgiving. In an interesting surprise, Jim asked her to come along on the trip. Though she was excited for a change of pace, the thought of traveling and spending more time with the team was enough to keep her from sleeping the night before.

It was Jocelyn’s understanding that members of the front office often sat near the back of the plane. Unfortunately, they were also the last to board – long after the players were seated and deep into the games on their handhelds, books, magazine and candy. For some reason, she found it irritating, but she pressed on. Hiking her tote bag further up her shoulder, she had a small overnight bag in the luggage hold with clothes and toiletries. To her knowledge, she would be getting her own room for the entire trip.

“Hey Joss.” She was greeted by the coaching staff, who were always nice to her. Around the offices and arena. She smiled back in return, making her way further down the aisle. Though she tried to avoid them all together, she couldn’t not pass the players she wanted to see least.

She gave Sidney a small, tight smile upon seeing him beside Marc. It truly looked like he wanted to say something to her, but she soldiered on. She saw Neal first, giving him a polite smile, letting her eyes flicker over Beau for only moment before looking straight to the back of the plane.

Beau knew better than to try to and talk to her now. He was surprised to see her on the plane seeing as she had never been on an away trip before – and all it did was make him want to talk to her even more.

Dropping down into the window seat of an empty row of two seats in the back, she finally exhaled, taking her phone out of her bag. The day before Thanksgiving, she finally did something for herself and bought an iPhone. She had no idea how to use most of it, but it was enough to keep her occupied for the time being.

Flipping through her Facebook feed, she scrolled through an album Amanda uploaded of pictures from their little family Thanksgiving. It was exactly what Josie needed, time away from the city and away from her “friends” in Pittsburgh. Amanda was keen enough to recognize that she clearly did not want to talk about work or Beau, which made the holiday even that more pleasant.

From: Beau
You coming on the trip?

Josie watched the message flash down from the top of her screen. It was hard not to reply something snarky. No, I’m just warming up the seat, then I’ll get off the plane. She thought. Instead, she closed out the app and opened up Netflix – letting The Vampire Diaries entertain her for their cross-country flight.

Upon touching down in Anaheim, Jocelyn stuck close to Jim’s side, screening a few of his phone calls and helping with check in when they arrived at the hotel.

Thankfully, the team coordinator passed out the team and staff’s hotel keys before then passing out the remaining to the staff. Jocelyn head to the bay of elevators, ready to drop off her bag as they had two hours before the first time she’d be needed by Jim.

She stood awkwardly, pretending to read a text as she waited in a big group of players and coaches for the elevators. Two came at once and the group split up. Jocelyn stood in the back of the first elevator as Sidney, Beau, James, Geno, Marc, Dupuis and Olli all squeezed in.

“Joss, you’re here with us!” Geno smiled with a big booming declaration.

“I am.” She confirmed with a little smile as he nudged his shoulder into hers.

“Where your room?” He asked, craning his neck to look at her hotel key. “442, that’s right by my room!” He announced, making her groan internally.

Some of the team got off on the third floor before everyone else emptied out on the fourth. Jocelyn head left from the elevator alongside Geno and Dupuis while Beau and Sid head right.

Getting into her room, she set her tote and little luggage on the bed closest to the window before stretching out on the other bed, flipping over and answering a text from her sister.

Setting her alarm for an hour, she tucked herself under the thick, warm duvet, letting her headrest back on a fluffy pillow and thought that traveling with the team wasn’t so bad after all. She pulled a bottle of cold orange juice out of her purse that she got from the plane, taking a sip before shutting her eyes.

After an hour of uninterrupted sleep, Joss woke up refreshed, took a long drink of her orange juice before tucking it in the little fridge and freshening up.

Checking her phone for the first time since silencing her alarm, she saw she had a missed text, one from her sister and one from Beau.

Amanda had sent over a few pictures of things Mikey wanted for Christmas and a picture of him at his holiday party in his class. She saved off the pictures, making the picture of Mikey smiling widely with his friends at their little party her lock screen. Then, she switched to Beau’s text.

From: Beau
Can we talk?

He had sent it about half an hour earlier while she was napping. Not sure that it was a great idea given the circumstances, she set her phone down before taking out her work computer and looking at a few emails she had missed. The nice thing about being away from the desk meant not having to deal with her work phone for the next five days.

Glancing at her alarm clock, she had an hour until she had to meet Jim – which was her only commitment so far that day. The boys had skate at six and then would play the Ducks the next day at seven. Checking her outfit in the mirror outside of the bathroom, Joss smoothed down her long-sleeve ivory peplum top she paired with a pair of black, waxed jeans a burgundy statement necklace and black heeled booties. She felt very Californian. Swiping a dark lipstick across her lips, she fluffed her hair before grabbing her tote bag and heading out of her room. If she was going to be in working in Anaheim, she wanted to see Anaheim.

Heading out of the hotel, she slipped her Target sunglasses over her eyes and strode down the sidewalk. Off to find something for lunch, she was going to enjoy the sunshine.

After finding a cute café, she snagged a table on the patio, enjoying a chopped salad and crusty, buttered bread along with a strawberry-mango lemonade. She took a few pictures and sent a few Snapchats to her sister – an app Amanda insisted she download when she upgraded phones.

Feeling in a much better mood, she set back towards the hotel. A text from Jim let her know that they didn’t need to meet for another hour as he was meeting with some of the coaching staff instead. She planned to go back to her room and lay out some outfits to make sure they weren’t wrinkled for the next day. She wanted to look put together if she was going to be sitting in the suite with the GM.

Sliding in her key card, she opened the door and shut it behind her quietly, slipping off her shoes before walking further into the room. What she didn’t expect to see was Beau sitting on her spare bed.

“Beau.” She frowned.

“Hi, nice to see you, too.” He replied, making her instantly annoyed.

“What are you doing in here?” She asked.

“I needed to see you,” he said, standing up from the bed. “You won’t return my calls or texts, I needed to make sure you were okay.” He finished.

“I’m fine, Beau.” She replied, hating to sound so defiant, but she needed to be firm in where she stood. She and Beau were friends – only – and if he couldn’t respect those boundaries, maybe she did need to pull away all together.

“I talked to Bailey. She feels awful for what she said. I told her that you’re being the… reasonable one here.” He explained.

“If Bailey wants to talk to me, she can talk to me.” Jocelyn replied, not walking any further into the room as she stood at the foot of her bed.

“Will you please just talk to me?” He asked.

“What do you want to talk about, Beau?” She asked, exhausted as she felt they were always having this conversation.

“Do you not have feelings for me anymore?” He asked point blank, making her instantly uncomfortable.

“I… that’s not an appropriate question.” She said quietly.

“That’s not an answer, Josie.” He countered, “do you or do you not have feelings for me anymore?” He repeated.

Josie was caught – tongue-tied – of course she had feelings for him.

“If I didn’t have feelings for you, Beau, this wouldn’t suck so much, and seeing you wouldn’t hurt, and not being able to be around you wouldn’t be something I have to think about every day.” She said, gesturing with her hands. “And I don’t like to talk about this, because I always start crying and I hate crying – I feel like all I do lately is cry.” She pinched the bridge of her nose and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to keep impending tears from falling.

Her moment of weakness gave Beau his opportunity to swoop in. The next moment, she was enveloped his arms as she tried her best to regulate her breathing.

“What if someone saw you come in here, Beau?” She asked.

“No one saw me.” He insisted, knowing he was right. “I wouldn’t let that happen.” He finished. “The last thing I want to do is put you in jeopardy.” He replied. “But I’ve been talking to Sidney…” He began, causing her to pop away from him.

“Talking to Sidney about what?” She asked.

“He’s going to… back me up when I talk to HR… and Jim and Mario.” He added, causing Jocelyn’s stomach to drop in her stomach.

“What? What?” She asked, instantly running a hand through her hair and tugging at the roots in just the slightest.

“Sidney said he can make them listen.” Beau said, barely able to react as she pushed away from him, turning on her heel, swinging her door open and pounding her feet down the hallway. Three hard knocks to the captain’s door would be sure to shake him out of whatever he was doing.

“Jocelyn.” Beau said, approaching her down the hallway. Sidney swung the door open to see one angry looking little brunette in front of him, and he had an idea s to why she was ticked.

“You, get inside.” She pointed to Beau aggressively before pointing to the room. Beau complied, both apprehensive and a little turned on by his feisty little secretary.

“Joss, I know why – ” Sidney began as she all but slammed the door behind her.

“Nope, nothing out of you.” She cut him off. “Okay tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum, did anyone think that maybe I should be involved in a conversation regarding the safety and security of my own job?” She asked.

“In my defense, you’ve been screening my calls.” Beau held his hands up.

“That’s a weak excuse and you know it.” She spit back.

“Joss, if this is what you want…” Sidney trailed, wondering if that was true given the situation of the moment. “Then I can make sure nothing happens.” He finished.

“How are you going to do that, Sidney?” She asked, “bribe them?” She added.

“Josie, can you just trust us for one minute?” Beau asked, “Sidney is going to take care of it.” He finished. Jocelyn ran a hand through her hair again, which was apparently quickly becoming her nervous tick..

“I’ll prep my resumé.” She sighed, turning back to the door.

“Thanks.” Beau mumbled to his teammate before making his way to follow the girl he was absolutely crazy about.

“Good luck.” Sidney grinned. The Californian certainly had his hands full.

“Josie.” Beau called, almost in a taunting voice.

“No.” She mumbled as she walked away from him, causing a grin to break out on his face.

“Josie-baby.” He called, making a grin appear on her own face as she opened up her hotel room door.

“Beau, you better not follow me.” She opened her door.

“Never did like listening to you.” He said, trailing right behind her as he closed her door, making sure no one saw him. When she turned to face him, he was reminded how just how beautiful she was. “It’s going to be okay.” He said, stepping up to her and letting a hand brush through her hair. “We’ll be free to do… whatever we want together.” He said, leaning down to press his lips to hers softly. “It’s going to work out.” He finished.

Jocelyn knew that at that point, she had no choice but to trust him.