Storm Warning

The last week of the season comes and goes, unfortunately ending in a shutout loss. The whole team is disappointed, especially Jeff, and Cash invites him and some others in for free drinks. Jeff brings his roommate Elias, Ryan, Brett, and another teammate Riley and all of them end up in too poor a state to drive. Lyla helps Cash and Kyle haul them all upstairs, some to Lyla and Kyle's apartment and some up to Cash's. She puts Jeff in her bed with Elias and Riley on opposite ends of the sectional in the living room and, needless to say, Jeff wakes up the next morning pressed against her back with a pounding headache and a permanent blush on his cheeks.

Eric the captain invites the team and their families over to his house for an end of season barbecue as kind of a last team event before everyone goes off to do their own things for the summer. Lyla decides that she shouldn't go because it's a team function and she's not even remotely family but Jeff insists that she should, because Elias is bringing a date 'and they're not even that serious at all.' She can't help dwelling on that part for awhile because the inference from that is that she and Jeff are serious. His puppy dog eyes coupled with a few nagging texts from Elias are enough to finally make her cave and she hesitantly agrees to go while also immediately regretting her decision.

Lyla meets him at his apartment on Saturday afternoon where she's introduced to Elias's date for the day. The girl's name is Haley, she's finishing up her sophomore year at N.C. State, and she's a total bitch. She puts on a good front around Elias, obviously trying to impress him, but the moment he climbs into the passenger seat up front and she's left alone with Lyla to slide into the back, she doesn't even try to hide her distaste. Lyla wonders to herself where Elias even met this girl, but she keeps her mouth shut and a polite smile on her face for the duration of the drive.

She's surprised when they finally pull up at Eric's house. For him to be the captain of an NHL team, his house doesn't show it. It's not flashy and ridiculous like some; instead, it's simply a nice, beautiful dark brick house. They have to park pretty far back in the driveway thanks to all the vehicles that have arrived before them. Lyla can definitely feel the nervousness sitting heavy in the middle of her chest and she can tell that her hands are shaking a little but that all stops the moment Jeff reaches over and laces their fingers together as they walk toward the house.

He leads the way up the front steps and straight through the heavy wooden door without even knocking first. They make their way through the foyer and into the main living area where most of the people have congregated. Eric shouts his greeting and waves to them with the spatula in his hand on his way outside with a tray full of raw meat to grill. Jeff leads her over to the living room first where some of the younger players are all lounging around with their girlfriends. She's already met Riley and Ryan of course but they introduce her to their girlfriends and then Jeff moves on to introduce more of his teammates, Faulk, Malone, and Nestrasil.

Once she's met everyone in the living room, he takes her into the kitchen where she's greeted with another crowd of new faces. Gerbe and his very pregnant wife Brennan, Eric's wife Tanya and their oldest son Parker, Jordan's wife Heather, Liles and his wife Erin, and Ward's wife Cody are all standing around the kitchen talking and sipping their drinks. Jeff goes around the circle, rattling off names and it's a good thing Lyla has excellent recall when it comes to that. He stays with her for a little bit while she strikes up a conversation with Heather and Erin but as soon as Tanya tells him that most of the kids are out back, he takes Parker out the french doors off the kitchen and leaves her with her new acquaintances.

The baby monitor sitting on the counter by Jordan's wife lets out a sudden wail and she hops up from her seat, explaining that her baby daughter had been upstairs napping. She goes to retrieve the baby while Lyla sits down in an empty seat at the table in the adjoining dining room with Cody, Gerbe, and Brennan. They talk about Chicago a little before Lyla finally successfully steers the conversation in a different direction by asking about their baby's due date. Heather soon returns with two sleepy-eyed babies, one in each arm, and she immediately hands off the little boy to Tanya, who tickles his belly until he giggles.

Lyla ends up holding baby Abigail while Heather goes to make her a bottle, which is worrisome at first because she's never been super great with kids, but the infant just smiles and coos in her arms until her mother comes back. There's some excited shouting in the living room shortly after the front door opens and closes but they don't pay much attention to it because they're too busy talking about what a good baby she is and how she and her little cousin Finley are only two weeks apart. After Lyla's fed her the whole bottle, Heather takes the baby off her hands and she goes into the kitchen to get herself a drink.

Instead of worrying about ice and a cup, she just grabs a coke from the cooler and pops the tab to take a sip as she peeks out the window to see if Jeff is still outside with the kids. She hears his voice somewhere behind her instead and when she turns to look over into the living room, she sees a pretty brunette that hasn't been introduced to her yet pulling Jeff into a tight hug. The french doors open to her left and she glances over her shoulder just as Jordan walks inside, straight over to the big cooler where all the beer is being held. She walks over to stand beside him, leaning back against the counter he's standing in front of.

"Hey, Jordan?"

The tall blond looks up from where he's removing the cap from a beer bottle and grins. "Legs, hey! What's up? When did you get here?"

"Probably like an hour ago," she chuckles. "So answer a question for me."

"Shoot."

"Who's that over there?"

Jordan takes a swig of his beer before he turns around to face in the same direction she is, leaning back against the counter next to her as he scans over the little group of people standing in the middle of the living room. "Uhh, the one in the blue shirt is Nasher's girlfriend. The short blonde next to her is Murph's. The brunette in the stripes is-"

"No, I mean that one. In the pink dress. Ya know, the one who's glued herself to Jeff's side?"

"Oh. Yeah......" Jordan's face scrunches up and he takes his time getting another few swigs of his beer because he really doesn't want to say it, but she just keeps her gaze steady on him until he eventually sighs, giving in. "That's Mia. They dated off and on for a long time I think but broke up for good during preseason. He was really messed up about it for awhile."

"So then why exactly is she here?"

"She's still friends with some of the other wives and girlfriends," he says, looking back over to the room where Mia has one arm draped over the shoulders of Faulk's girlfriend and the other arm looped through Jeff's, pulling him closer to her as they all smile for a picture being taken by the girl Elias brought. After the photo, she giggles flirtatiously at whatever Jeff's just said and her hand slips down to his forearm, giving it a little squeeze. Someone calls out Mia's name excitedly and Jordan and Lyla both watch as Heather rushes into the room, baby Abigail in her arms, and pulls the younger girl into a hug. He winces when Lyla looks over at him. "Sorry."

She gives him a half smile and shakes her head. "Don't be. I can't be mad at her for having friends."

"I know, but it kind of puts you in an awkward position."

Lyla shrugs, reaching around to grab her coke off the counter behind her. "I'll be outside."

She turns to leave the kitchen, exiting out the french doors Jordan came in. Eric is over on the other side of the yard next to the grill with Ward and another couple of teammates she can't remember the names of, having a beer and talking and thankfully none of them notices her come outside. A bunch of kids are still out in the middle of the backyard, kicking a soccer ball around in the grass. She sinks down into the chair farthest away from the door, curling her legs up under her and taking a sip of what she now wishes was some alcohol-filled concoction instead of soda. The rational side of her knows that it's unfair for her to be upset that some of the other wives/girlfriends had invited Jeff's ex to the party. They had probably been friends with her for as long as Jeff had been on the team if the backstory Jordan gave was true. She's been around for the same amount of time as Jeff so it's unreasonable to expect that they would just stop being friends with her when her relationship with Jeff ended.

Another side of Lyla, the emotional side that she absolutely despises, hates that Mia is there. She'd thought she'd been getting along swimmingly with the other ladies, but now she just feels like maybe she isn't good enough, like they prefer Mia to her, and it hurts a little. She knows it's stupid to feel that way because she understands the situation from an objective point of view, but she can't help feeling a little jealous that even though they've been broken up since September, Mia is still greeted here with big grins and open arms, even from Jeff. Besides, it kind of does put her in an awkward position: coming face to face with an ex is never easy, plus there's fact that everyone Jeff spends time with already knows and loves the ex and doesn't know and love her, even though they've been nothing but pleasant to her so far.

The door opens behind her and when she looks over her shoulder to see who it is, Elias is standing there with raised brows. He glances back into the house at someone before he walks fully outside onto the patio, shutting the door behind him, and comes over to sit in the chair next to her. "What are you doing out here by yourself?" he asks her in Swedish, because of course he does. His native language is easier for him and it's not like there's any non-Swedish speakers around that she's say it was rude to speak in front of.

She takes a sip of her drink and shrugs. "It's a nice backyard."

"Is it because of Mia?"

"I didn't want to intrude on them all catching up."

"You're not intruding on anything, Lyla. He invited you because he wants you here with him."

The patio door opens again and they both turn to look as another of Jeff's teammates, Victor, steps outside and walks over to them after shutting the door softly behind him. He takes the chair across from Elias, looking at him expectantly, and Lyla knows that he must've been the one Elias glanced back at before he came out to join her. He'd seen her sitting alone outside so now he's forming a group to come sit with her so she's not anymore. Of course he first calls on the team's other Swede.

"Did you need something?" Victor asks him in their native tongue and that confirms what Lyla had been thinking. She gives Elias an unamused look but he just smiles at her and Victor looks between the two of them, confused.

"Have you met Lyla? She's here with Skins."

"Hey, speaking of dates," she interrupts in her perfect lilting Swedish and Victor's head snaps over to her in surprise. "Where's yours, Elias? Shouldn't you be with her instead of out here with me?"

"She's fine in there. Besides, you looked sad sitting all alone."

"I'm fine."

"Well, we're already here now," Elias shrugs.

Lyla rolls her eyes at him but cracks a smile as he launches into telling Victor everything Lyla's previously told him about her life in Sweden and pretty soon Victor is talking way more than she ever would have expected him to. She's seen interviews of him just from watching games and knows that he seems uncomfortable during them but now she guesses that's just because he has to do them in English. He's obviously way more comfortable and talks a lot more when he can speak his own language. It isn't long before Faulk joins them and Haley comes looking for Elias, seeming unhappy when she finds him sitting there laughing and carrying on a conversation with Lyla.

Naturally, they switch to English once they're not alone anymore so that everyone can understand what they're talking about but Victor grows more and more quiet the longer they sit there. He keeps looking over at Haley with an indiscernible look on his face, and Lyla too has noticed that she hasn't said a word since she came outside; she's stayed glued to her cell phone, not even bothering to attempt engaging the others in their conversation. At one point while Elias is in the house getting another beer, she even snorts derisively when Lyla answers one of Faulk's questions about her and Jeff. They all look over at her but she doesn't even notice, still keeping her sights on her phone screen.

When he comes back, he takes his seat next to Lyla and nudges her with his elbow, making her look up at him. "So what do you think of her so far?" he asks in Swedish so that only Lyla and Victor understand.

Before she even has a chance to respond, the other Swede does it for her. "She's mean. I don't like her."

"Victor," she says softly, not missing the fact that both Faulk and Haley's heads snap up when she begins to speak. "Maybe we just haven't given her a chance."

"Jesus Christ," Haley interrupts their conversation, groaning. "Does everybody around here speak fucking Swedish except me?"

Faulk glances around awkwardly before he lets out a laugh and looks back at the girl to his left. "Um, I don't?"

Haley rolls her eyes, obviously not finding him very funny, but Lyla can't keep the amused smile off her face. Elias looks a little annoyed with his date, but Lyla still tries not to say a bad word about her, instead only apologizing to him. He shrugs his shoulders like he doesn't seem too upset about it but things are a little awkward until Haley finally gets up and goes back into the house without a word. Faulk's girlfriend soon takes her place and it isn't too much longer before the french doors open again, the sound of Jeff's voice hitting her ears.

"There you are," he says as soon as he steps outside and when she turns to look over her shoulder, she sees that his ex girlfriend Mia and Riley have followed him out. They all walk over to where she's sitting with his teammates and Jeff plops down on the arm of her chair, looking over at Elias. "I should've known you two would be together."

Elias grins. "She likes me more than you, Skins."

"In your dreams, buddy."

They all laugh and then there's a beat or two of awkward silence where everyone's looking at Jeff, waiting for him to make the inevitable introduction. It takes him a minute to catch on once he realizes they're all staring and he clears his throat, glancing down at Lyla before he looks behind him. "Oh uh, Lyla, this is my friend, Mia. Mia, this is my-...uh, this is Lyla."

The two exchange polite pleasantries but Lyla doesn't miss that the other girl rests her hand on his shoulder and squeezes when she faux cheerfully exclaims, "Jeffy's told me so much about you!"

"Most of it's probably not true," Lyla quips with an easy smile, not allowing Mia's subtle hints of possessiveness to affect her, or at least not showing that they affect her.

"This is awkward," Elias mutters in Swedish next to her and she whips her head around to scold him while Victor just sniggers quietly to himself. Everyone else looks a little confused at the exchange as the three who understand what's going on all have a little laugh at their expense.

After a moment, Lyla turns back to look up at Jeff and pats his thigh sympathetically, resisting the urge to smile when she sees Mia's posture stiffen behind him. "Don't worry, nothing important."

"Yeah, you guys always say that," he chuckles, sliding his arm around her shoulders. "One of these days I'm gonna join in on one of your little Swedish conversations and surprise the hell out of you."

She smiles up at him. "I'd actually love that."

"C'mon," he says, standing up with a grin that matches hers, and he holds out his hand to her. "There's still more introductions."

Lyla slips her hand into his, letting him pull her up from her chair, and he doesn't let go even after they reach the other side of the backyard where his captain and other teammates are standing by the grill.