Lonely No More

“Oh shit, oh shit.” Joss sat in her driveway, panicking a bit as she sat in her parking space. The flickering of her blinkers and clock display were not encouraging as a loud clicking noise came from under her hood. Her battery was dead as a doornail. She knew none of her neighbors and certainly wasn’t going to start knocking on any doors to see if they’d mind jumping her – and let her use their jumper cables. “Shit, shit, shit.” She chanted.

She couldn’t wake up anyone with kids, they already didn’t get enough sleep. She couldn’t wait half an hour for her sister to drive into the city, and that was on a morning without traffic. She only had one choice that Friday morning.

To: Beau
Would you happen to be awake?

She bit her lip. It was seven forty-five now. If she prayed while simultaneously crossing her fingers, maybe she could get to work by eight.

From: Beau
Good morning. Josie hit ‘call back’ so quickly she nearly gave her thumb whiplash.

“Josie?” He asked tiredly.

“Beau, I am so sorry to wake you up, but I wouldn’t have called if it wasn’t urgent.” She felt horrible.

“Are you okay?” He instantly sounded much more awake. “Where are you?”

“I’m okay.” She assured him right away. Now on top of being stranded, she was embarrassed, enough to have salty tears well in her eyes. She never should have called him. “I’m just, my car won’t start, I don’t know anyone in my neighborhood, I don’t have any cables and I’m kind of freaking out, but now that I’ve actually called you and woke you up, I’m realizing I just should have called a cab.” She rattled off. “I’m so sorry, I’m going to hang up now.” She quickly ended the call.

Bringing up the browser on her phone and wasting precious data, she looked for the cheapest cab service to take her to work. Beau’s call interrupted her investigation.

“Stop panicking, I’m on my way.” He said confidently. “Wait in your apartment, I’ll be there soon, okay?” He asked.

“Okay,” she said in a small voice. “Wait, how do you know where I live?” She asked.

“Uhh…” Beau replied eloquently. “Bailey.”

“Okay.” She laughed, not pressing the issue. “Thank you, Beau.” She said, sincere enough that he could feel it over the phone.

“Thank me when you get to work.” He said before they said goodbye.

Ten minutes later, Beau arrived at her apartment building and she came bounding down the stairs. Normally he would have gotten out and gotten the door, but she was moving quickly, she obviously needed to get to work.

“I have never been so happy to see you in my entire life.” She exhaled, crossing her legs as she buckled her seat belt.

“Really? This is what it took?” He asked, making her giggle. Any time he could make her laugh, he saw it as a little success. “Okay, onto the arena.” He said, glad to be pulling away from her street. “This is quite the area.” He commented, making her sigh.

“I know, but when I moved here, I didn’t know anything about the neighborhoods of the city and this place had rent I could afford.” She said, trying her best to not be embarrassed about her lack of money. “But really, Beau, thank you so much for being here, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.” She insisted.

“No problem, it wouldn’t kill me to get up a little earlier every once and a while anyway.” He shrugged.

“At least you can go right back to bed after you drop me off.” She tried to sound enthusiastic.

“Eh, I have to be here in an hour for skate anyway, I’m just going to stick around, work out, and pester you. Maybe coach will notice me coming in this early and think I’m a hard worker or something.” He winked, making her laugh again.

Thankfully, Jocelyn was still the first to arrive, seeing that Jim’s phone on her display was still idle and hadn’t been used since the night before.

“Phew, no boss man yet.” She said.

“I’m going to run down to Starbucks and get something. Changed my mind, I’m just going to bug you until skate.” He gave her that wide smile. She hadn’t really noticed what a nice smile he had until then.

“Beau, no, you already drove me here, do not buy me a coffee.” She pleaded as she organized her desk for the day and booted up her computer.

“If you don’t tell me what you like, I’m going to guess and then you’re going to end up drinking it anyway out of guilt, so you might as well just tell me so I can get something I know you’ll enjoy.” He reasoned.

“White chocolate mocha with a shot of mint.” She whispered, smiling softly as he wrote it down in his phone. “Soy milk, please.” She added.

“One white chocolate mocha with a shot of mint and soy milk coming up.” It would have been too easy to lean across her desk and kiss her cheek, her lips, anything, just like he wanted to – as if they were a couple.

Beau wanted what Sidney had so badly: someone to come home to every day, to watch Netflix with and eat ice cream together at two in the morning, someone to fix his tie or hair before he left for road games and someone to pick him up at the airport with a big hug when he returned. What he wanted was Jocelyn – that dark hair and bright eyes, her petite little stature and her perfect ass right in the palms of his hands.

Jocelyn pulled up a spare computer chair, not quite as comfortable as hers, but it would do – for her new protégé. If he was going to hang around until his skate time, she could at least provide him with a place to sit.

“For me?” He asked with that same big smile as he returned from Starbucks with two drinks in hands.

“For you!” She replied with a laugh. “Your first job as my intern is to empty this bag into the starburst dish and pull out two pink ones to hide for Sidney.” She pulled the bag of candy out of her tote.

“Beau, what are you doing?” Mike Johnston laughed, seeing the young player behind the desk of their receptionist, watching her closely and writing a few things down on a small legal pad.

“Ya know, coach, I can’t be a hockey player forever. It’s important to consider other career options for after retirement.” He replied, making Jocelyn roll her eyes. The coach laughed and shook his head as he walked away.

Slowly as the time carried on and they spent the hour together laughing and exchanging stories about interacting with administrative assistants from visiting teams, a few players started trickling in.

“Morning Marc.” She smiled, taking a sip of her mocha as he came up, picked out his pink starbursts and tossed a lemon one at Beau’s face before continuing on to the locker room. Duper was next, then Ehrhoff for a change, and then Sidney. “Now’s your time, go.” She said, feigning encouragement as she motioned to the two pink candies.

“For you, captain.” He said, pushing the treats forward.

“Good job, Beau. I see you’ve trained him well.” Sidney said to Jocelyn.

“Trying my best.” She laughed politely. As soon as Sidney walked back to the locker room, the door to the parking area opened again. “Hi Kris.” She greeted, Beau watched as she fidgeted slightly in her chair.

“Joss.” He barely gave her a look, even with Beau at her side. She pressed one cold hand to her cheek, hoping her blush wasn’t too apparent.

“I gotta go get ready, thanks for the training,” he fought for her attention.

“Thanks again, Beau.” She said appreciatively.

“Thank me when you get home tonight.” He added, making her smile again. He really liked that smile.

- - -

It was a quarter to five, and even though Jocelyn insisted that she could grab a cab home, Beau rolled up to the arena that evening with a smile on his face in that flashy Mercedes. She wouldn’t lie that the little sleek car made her feel like a bit of a celebrity, especially when he held the door open for her.

“Good evening.” He smiled.

“Hi Beau.” She laughed, getting in and carefully tucking her tote between her knees. When he walked around the front of the car to get in the driver’s seat, she propositioned him. “Have you any plans for dinner tonight?” She asked, biting her lower lip.

“Nope, not past a box of brown rice and a can of tuna.” He shook his head, making her scrunch her nose in distaste.

“I’ve had dinner cooking all day in my crock-pot and it makes way more food than I can eat alone, would you like to join me for dinner?” She asked, “it’s the least I can do seeing as you’ve done so much for me today.” She insisted.

Beau grinned, he was going to be able to kill two birds with one stone, dinner and his first, real, alone time with Jocelyn.

“Oh my gosh, duh. It’s Friday night, you probably have plans to go out or something.” She shook her head, feeling silly. Why wouldn’t a guy like Beau have plans on a Friday night? “Sorry.” She laughed, a little flustered.

“No, I don’t have plans.” He quickly insisted. “And I love eating.” He added, looking over at her.

“Are you sure?” She asked, “you don’t have to lie to make me feel better.” She insisted, feeling even more awkward when he looked at her incredulously.

“I would never lie about food.” He said seriously, making her smile.

“Okay, great.” She blushed – blushed! why was she blushing?

Oh my God, is she blushing? Beau thought to himself. Was his magic finally starting to take measure? Was she actually noticing him since he had been firing on all cylinders for the past five weeks?

Beau would never say out loud that he was a little worried about parking his car in her neighborhood, but he parked it between two fairly decent looking Prius’, so he hoped for the best. He followed her up the two flights of stairs to her floor, he wondered how she moved in with no elevator. That, and she must do squats.

“This is it.” She opened the door with her key, “um, no shoes please.” She looked up at him, removing her key from the deadbolt. He smiled as he slipped out of his Vans.

“Noted.” He grinned.

“Let me give you the tour.” She said, also slipping off her black work flats. Beau followed her enthusiastically; thankful she headed to the kitchen as the smell of barbecue pork filled the apartment. “This is the kitchen.” She swept her arm across the moderately sized-area with some updated and some outdated appliances. “Dinner tonight is pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw and kettle chips.” She listed off. “I think have some beer at the back of my fridge.” She bit her lip.

“Whatever you have is great.” He smiled. He couldn’t believe he was in her apartment. There was so much personality in here that he never would have gotten to see at work.

“This is my dining area.” She laughed, motioning to a breakfast nook in the corner of the kitchen with a miniscule table set with two chairs. “In here is the family room.” He followed her dutifully, looking around at the warm-painted room. There was a medium-sized couch against one wall under a horizontally hung mirror, a coffee table sat in front of it with a few books, a tray with two remotes and a clean mug on a tiny coaster. On the opposite wall of the couch was a small stand with a decently sized flat-screen TV (smaller than his of course) surrounded by two bookshelves – one filled with books and the other filled with DVDs.

“What a minute.” He paused, spotting the tiny cushion that he recognized to be an animal bed under the window of the family room. “What is that for?” He asked excitedly.

“That’s for my cat, Geno.” She smiled. “He’s probably sleeping on my bed, he always runs up there when I leave in the morning.”

“You named your cat, Geno?” He asked, jaw dropped. And all along he thought Kris was the threat.

“I adopted him as a kitten when I moved here.” She laughed, “a lot of the kittens in his litter were named after Penguins players and Pirates players so that they were more likely to get adopted. I just thought he was the cutest kitten, so I picked him.” She laughed with a shrug. “I didn’t really care enough to rename him.” She finished.

“Let me see this cat.” He demanded playfully, following her down the small hallway.

“Bathroom right here.” She pointed to a door on the left, “and this is my room.” She opened the door to reveal a pale blue bedroom, a queen-sized bed in the middle of the far wall with all white bedding, a nightstand and a small TV atop a white dresser on the opposite wall of the bed. On the far right wall was a cavernous set of bookshelves filled to the brim with books, knick knacks, candles and two pairs of shoes on display.

A white alpaca rug was warm under his feet and he approached the bed slowly as a brown tabby with bright green eyes watched him.

“I love cats.” He said excitedly, leaning down carefully to pet the animal. “So soft.” He insisted, rubbing his face against Geno’s exposed belly. “Hi kitty.” He purred almost as much as the cat.

“Should I leave you two alone?” Jocelyn giggled.

I’d like for this cat to leave us alone. Beau thought, just realizing that he and Josie were in her bedroom – for all purposes – alone.

“So I was thinking of maybe watching a movie with dinner, does that sound okay?” She asked, biting her lip again.

“Yeah, that sounds great.” He nodded, still cradling Geno to his chest as he followed her out of the bedroom and back to the kitchen. Jocelyn laughed at Beau, surprised at how much he liked holding her brown tabby.

“One or two?” She held up two potato buns.

“Two.” Beau replied, watching as she moved about the kitchen, plating up their dinner.

“This okay?” She asked, showing him the plate loaded down with delicious looking food.

“That looks amazing.” He said, eyeing up the pork as he stroked the cat.

“You know you’re going to have to put him down to eat, right?” She asked with a laugh. Beau reluctantly set the cat down on the floor, who promptly ran away with a loud meow.

“He liked me.” Beau insisted, making Jocelyn laugh.

They carried their plates out to the family room, settling on the couch.

“What can I get you to drink? I have water, iced tea, orange juice, coke and like two beers.” She said, standing from the couch.

“Can you buy beer?” He asked.

“I’m twenty-two.” She blushed, making him feel like a tool. “How old did you think I was?” She asked.

“I don’t know, you look younger.” He shrugged, that was a compliment, right? Women liked to look younger than their actual age?

“We’re barely a few months apart.” She insisted. “Aren’t you twenty-two?” She asked.

“Just turned twenty-three, actually. But I’ll have some iced tea, please.” He smiled, making her turn to the kitchen to grab two drinks. Beau grabbed the remote for her Roku box and flip through to see what movies were available. “What do you want to watch? Funny? Sad? Romance?” He asked, perking his eyebrow and making her laugh as she entered the family room.

“You can pick.” She insisted, “I will watch pretty much any movie, I love them all.” She set down the two drinks on coasters, tucking her feet under her as she got comfortable on the couch.

Beau scrolled through her recently viewed, Love Actually, Sixteen Candles, Pretty Woman, The Princess Bride, Grease.

“I love the Princess Bride.” He said, selecting the film. It didn’t go unnoticed by either of them that all of her recently viewed movies were love stories. As the movie started, Beau picked up his first sandwich, sinking his teeth into the soft bun. “Holy shit.” He said, swallowing the bite. “This is so good.” He looked at Jocelyn who smiled in return.

“It’s all Pinterest.” She admitted. “During the week I like to throw stuff in the crockpot before work otherwise I’m too tired to cook something when I get home.” She laughed.

“Well this is awesome.” He said, scooping up a bit of meat with a chip and popping it into his mouth.

The two got settled into the couch as the movie played, Beau went for seconds of dinner and Jocelyn pulled a plush throw blanket down over her legs as she leaned against the cushions of the couch.

“Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.” Beau quoted, making Jocelyn laugh and stretch out a bit. Beau jumped when he felt her cold feet touching his legs, even through his jeans, he could feel how cold they were. “Holy hell, Josie, why are your feet so cold?” He asked, grabbing onto them before she could retract them back up closer to her.

“They’re not that bad! Don’t touch them!” Her face blazed red in embarrassment.

“I would honest to god think you were a corpse, that’s how cold these things are.” He pressed her feet between his wide palms. She wouldn’t deny that the warmth coming from his hands felt wonderful.

“I have poor circulation.” She said with a laugh. “My feet are always this cold.” She fell silent as they focused on the movie again, Beau still holding her feet together, occasionally rubbing his hands over them to create friction. He watched as the movie was about two-thirds over as she let out a big yawn, trying her best to cover it up.

When the film was finished, he helped her bring their dishes into the kitchen and load them into the tiny dishwasher. Looking at his phone it was just about nine and she was trying to cover up yet another big yawn. Since he didn’t think she was going to be inviting him to stay the night any time soon, he decided to gracefully bow out for the evening.

“It’s past my bedtime.” He announced, “thanks so much for dinner.” He smiled, wanting nothing more than to lean down and kiss those pink lips.

“Of course, it was the least I could do.” She replied, “I’ll walk you to the door.” Beau slid his feet back into his shoes, grabbing his car keys out of his pocket as he stood in the doorway.

“Have a good weekend, Josie.” He caught her completely by surprise as he turned, kissing her on the cheek before giving her that big, California smile and disappearing down the hallway.

Why in the world did he do that?