Sky Full of Stars

Thankfully the Parker-Foster clan have agreed to attend tonight's game with her. She's supposed to meet them at the entrance to the arena and she should have already left by now to meet them in time but she finds herself standing at the foot of her bed, glaring at the three green jerseys laid out over her duvet. She'd worn Jamie's at the last home game so it's technically Jordie's turn, but she's not really on great terms with him now for the thousandth time this season.

Their last conversation she'd been half asleep for but she distinctly remembered mentioning the way they were cuddled up together and how that probably wasn't such a good idea considering the whole 'we-can't-be-fuck-buddies-anymore' thing. He'd gotten all sulky and offended and ended up leaving at three o'clock in the morning, even after she begged him not to, and now she once again has no idea where their relationship stands. Things were weird before and she still wore his jersey every other game, but since last night happened, she decides it's probably not such a good idea.

The other option isn't exactly favorable either. She glares hard at the number ninety-one laid out in the middle, thinking about the repercussions of doing such a thing. Tyler would definitely get cocky and gloaty, walking around all proud like he really accomplished something by getting her to wear his number. And she still doesn't consider him a friend, but he's closer now than he was at the beginning of the season. He's keeping a huge secret from Jamie for her anyway.

Granted, the only reason he knows that secret is because he pushed her into telling him so he is kind of doing her a favor, but only for something that was his fault in the first place. Thinking about that brings a scowl to her face and she picks up the number fourteen just out of spite, pulling it on carefully over her head since her makeup is already done. Once she's slid her feet into her ankle booties, she grabs her phone and keys to haul ass out the door since she's now considerably late to meet her friends.

They're all standing there waiting for her at the entrance even though she's fifteen minutes late and Violet immediately attaches herself to Calista's leg until Nick picks her up so they can go in. They stop at the concession stands to get a couple of beers and a hot dog for Violet before they make their way down to their seats. The boys are still on the ice for warm ups and Violet tugs on Calista's hand, begging her to take her down to the glass so she can wave. Nick offers to do it, knowing how weird things are between Calista and the boys right now, but the little girl insists so Calista reluctantly gets up from her seat. She picks Violet up, situating her on her hip as she walks down the steps, and as soon as they reach the glass, Violet bangs on it with her tiny fists to draw attention to herself.

Tyler hears her instantly since he's the closest and he skates over with a big grin that matches the little girl's. "Hey Vi," he greets, eyeing both her plain black Stars tee shirt and Calista's jersey. "Still no Seguin jerseys, I see." He looks to Calista and she knows that was aimed more at her than at Violet but luckily the child is quick to respond so that Calista doesn't have to.

"Nope!" she giggles. "Only Jamie."

"Lucky him."

Calista drops her gaze from his after that comment in favor of looking at the little girl perched on her hip and an awkward beat of silence passes before Tyler turns to look over his shoulder and call Jamie over. Jamie is at Tyler's side in a matter of seconds and he grins too, which is totally contagious and makes Calista smile back at him in return. If he notices that she's back in his jersey again for the second game in a row, he doesn't mention it, instead immediately engaging in conversation with the four year old. She doesn't have to say anything, instead just listening to the talk back and forth between Jamie and Violet, and then when the two boys finally have to get back to their warm ups, Violet hits her with a question she wasn't expecting.

"Where's Jordie?"

Her eyes scan the ice before she finds him over by the goal talking to Lehtonen and she points him out to Violet, who bangs on the glass again to get his attention. He only briefly looks in their direction but makes no move to come over and that causes the little girl to frown. Eakin skates by them, tapping the glass with his stick as he goes, and that earns a little smile from her, but she's still too disappointed by Jordie ignoring her to really enjoy anything else.

"Why won't he come over, Aunt Lissy? Does he not like me anymore?"

"Oh, baby no, that's not it," she says, gently rubbing the little girl's back.

"Then why won't he come over?"

Calista sighs as she glances over to Jordie one more time, but he's already skated over to stand by Jamie at the home bench. "He's just mad at me right now."

"Why?"

"Just grown up stuff."

Violet doesn't seem to like the answer and she pouts, hiding her face in the crook of Calista's shoulder as they make their way back up the steps to their seats. Felicity immediately asks what's wrong and Calista hands the little girl over to her mother before sitting down with a heavy sigh.

"Jordie didn't come talk to me at the glass," Violet pouts. "He doesn't like me anymore."

Felicity looks over to Calista for an explanation and the younger girl frowns, feeling guilty that Violet is upset. "I'm sorry," she mumbles. "It's my fault."

"No, it isn't," Felicity says, glaring out at the ice. "It's his fault for being an asshole."

Nick tries to diffuse Felicity's momma bear rage by convincing Violet to eat her hot dog and gradually the little girl manages to get back to her usual sunny self, forgetting all about why she was sad in the first place. Felicity and Calista don't however and after the game, when Jamie texts to ask if they're coming down to the locker room, Calista wants to tell him no, that they're just going to head home, but Felicity insists that they do. She wants to give Jordie a piece of her mind and she doesn't give a shit that they just lost a game.

Calista leads the way down to the locker rooms and the four of them stand out in the hallway to wait. Jamie and Tyler are out pretty fast, looking a little worse for wear after their loss, but they put smiles on their faces anyway as they come over to talk. Other players' families soon join them in the hall and as the guys come out of the locker room, they make their ways over to the people that belong to them. Jordie comes out not long after Daley and he heads straight in the direction of the exit instead of coming over to join his brother in conversation, but Felicity is not having it. She takes off after him, leaving Violet standing between Calista and Nick, the little girl's arm wrapped around Nick's leg and her tiny hand in Calista's. They both watch her go but thankfully Jamie and Tyler don't pay it much attention.

"Hey, Benn!" Felicity calls when she gets close enough to not draw so much attention to herself. Jordie turns to look over his shoulder and groans when he sees the small blonde following him. "What the hell is your problem, dude?"

"What do you mean?" he asks, playing dumb.

"Look, I don't care what the fuck is going on with you and Calista right now, even though it's definitely your fault, but you better get over it for a minute and go talk to my kid. She thinks you don't like her anymore because you ignored her during warm ups."

He looks over to where they're standing, finding the little girl first, who's grinning ear to ear at whatever it is Tyler is telling her so animatedly. He looks at Calista next and catches her eye, but she looks away immediately. "Felicity-"

"You're being a dick, you know that, right? Do you know how hard it was for Calista to say that to you? And now you're treating her like shit because for once she's putting herself before you?" Felicity shakes her head and puts her hands up in surrender. "Look, I'm sorry, I know that's none of my business. But don't fucking take out your problems on my four year old."

"Yeah," Jordie sighs. "I know. I'm sorry."

"Don't tell me," she retorts before turning to walk away from him, back over to where her family and friends are congregated. Jordie reluctantly follows her and all eyes turn to him when he approaches the group. He immediately crouches down in front of Violet but she just hides her face behind Calista's hand, which she's still gripping tightly.

"Can I talk to you for a second?"

Violet looks up at her dad, unsure, but he just nods silently so she lets go of him and Calista to take the hand Jordie is offering her. He walks Violet over to the end of the hallway and sits down, apparently not worried about the expensive suit he's wearing. Violet sits down right in front of him, crossing her legs under her little body and folding her hands in her lap as she looks up at him. Calista and the others watch from the other end of the hall as he starts talking and Violet stares at him intently, hanging on every word he says and nodding her head vehemently when he asks her a question.

"Anybody know what that's about?" Jamie asks, and Nick, Felicity, and Calista all just kind of look at each other, deciding who's going to come up with something believable that doesn't give away too much.

"He's an ass," Felicity answers simply.

And Jamie knows that so he kind of just nods his head, but Tyler looks over at Calista and her eyes meet his as he raises his brows in silent question. She knows that he knows it has something to do with her so she just gives a half shrug before looking away from him, back down the hall to where Violet and Jordie are still sitting and talking. Calista watches Jordie nod his head and then he glances her way for only a moment before he looks back at Violet and smiles. She lets out a loud giggle in return and hops up, holding her hand out to him.

Violet squeals when he picks her up and throws her over his shoulder to walk back to the group. Tyler keeps his gaze on Calista to watch her reactions but she just keeps her head down, looking at the floor and avoiding all eyes. Violet lunges back into her father's arms and yawns loudly, prompting Felicity to pull the 'kid-needs-bedtime' card, but Calista doesn't have an excuse when Jamie asks her if she's going out with them tonight.

"I don't know, Jamie. It's late."

"So? It's Saturday night and we just lost a game. Humor me."

Calista sighs heavily, glancing first at Jordie and then at Tyler before she looks back at Jamie's pitiful begging face. "C'mon, Calista," Tyler urges with a little grin. "It'll be fun."

She wants to tell him that a bar plus him never equals fun for her but now there are far too many people watching her far too carefully and she feels like she's about to crawl out of her skin with the weight of their gazes. They know she's going to give in when her shoulders slump and a frown overtakes her expression. "Fine. Just for a little while."

"Yes!" Jamie cheers. "Let's go."

He throws a heavy arm around her shoulders and pulls her down the hall toward the exit to the player parking area with the others following and Nick and Felicity split off to head the opposite direction to get back to their car in a different area after everyone says their goodbyes. Calista makes them at least stop by her car so that she can tug her jersey off, leaving her in just her gray tank top, and grab the denim jacket from the backseat to pull on over it since it's cold out. She follows them over to Jamie's SUV and climbs into the back seat with Tyler while the Benns take the front.

Tyler gives her some suspicious, knowing looks as they're driving toward the bar but she refuses to meet his eyes, instead staring out the window at the city passing by. The bar they end up at is one that Jamie discovered his first year in Dallas and has been frequenting ever since. It's a little off the beaten path which means that it's not at all fancy, but no one will bother them. The other patrons are an average of probably fifteen to twenty years older than they are as is the lady bartender. The fact that she's old enough to be their mother doesn't stop her from flirting with Jamie when he goes up to get drinks for everyone and the other three of them watch in amusement from the booth they've taken up residence in.

He's blushing like crazy when he returns to the table with an armful of beers and a whiskey sour for Calista, only confessing after being chirped mercilessly by the guys that the woman had insinuated some pretty dirty things. That only earns more ribbing and Jamie just rolls his eyes at his friends before looking over at Calista, who shares the same feeling. She mostly stays quiet, sipping on her drink and only offering something to the conversation when prompted. Jordie and Tyler both keep giving her looks across the booth but she pretends not to notice either of them. She knows after what happened at the game that Jordie's going to ask to speak to her sometime in the near future and she also knows that Tyler is going to ask her what's going on the next time he catches her alone. She is decidedly not ready for either conversation.

The phone in her back pocket buzzes with a new text and she immediately retrieves it, thankful for a distraction. It's from Felicity.

Tucking the kid into bed when suddenly she just announced that Jordie is a dickhead. The Calista's-friend part of me wanted to laugh but the parent part of me is now a tiny bit worried about their conversation....

Calista can't help laughing out loud when she reads it, prompting questioning looks from the other three people at her table, but she just shakes her head and types out a reply to Felicity instead of explaining her outburst.

You asked for it. That's what happens when you leave them alone with your kid unsupervised. She learns new words

Well, hey, at least he admitted he was being a dickhead

Yes, to a four year old

First step: four year old. Next step: you

Not sure I can handle that tonight

You may not have a choice

Don't tell me that or I'm going to down about four more drinks right now

At least you wouldn't be nervous anymore....

Shut up

Calista slides her phone back into her pocket and tosses back the rest of the drink before nudging Jamie out of the booth so that she can go order another one or three. She anxiously taps her fingers against the smooth wood of the bar as she waits for the bartender to finish serving the two men on the other end but when she feels a presence come up behind her, she almost wants to say fuck the drink just so she can get away from him. He slides up into the space next to her but she doesn't even spare him a glance.

"I've been an asshole again."

She stares intently at the bartender, putting all her energy into it and hoping if she stares hard enough, that the woman will feel it and make her way over to save her from this conversation. "Yeah, you're getting pretty good at it."

"I'm sorry," he says guiltily as he props his forearms on the bar in front of them so that he can lean forward a bit and look at her more full on. "Can we talk later?"

Calista still doesn't turn toward him even slightly. "Jord, every time we talk, it just ends badly. Maybe we should just forget it and move on."

"I wanna apologize, Liss. I just need five minutes."

Saying no would be much easier if he didn't have a ridiculously pitiful begging look on his face. She's not even facing him full on but she can see it out of the corner of her eye and it takes all she has not to just abandon her current stance and throw her arms around his neck. Instead, she just glances over her shoulder to make sure the other two boys aren't looking at them before she lets out a heavy sigh. "Fine. When we get home."

The bartender chooses now to approach the two of them and Calista orders herself another whiskey sour before Jordie orders two more beers and a coke for himself. He's apparently volunteered to be the designated driver for the way home so he's stopping after only one but he'd used the excuse of getting another round so that he could talk to her while she was alone. After the older woman walks away to get their order, Calista finally glances over at him but she's surprised to find him watching her intently. She quickly averts her gaze back to the flat screen television across the room even though she doesn't have the slightest interest in the recap of the football game that's currently on.

"You know, you should probably stop saying words like 'dickhead' around a four year old."

Jordie smiles a little before narrowing his eyes at her. "How do you know what I said?"

"Felicity told me Violet called you that while she was tucking her into bed tonight."

"Hmm, sounds more like something you'd say about me."

Calista scoffs. "I'd never say that in front of the kid no matter how true it happens to be."

"Felicity would," he chuckles.

"An asshole, yeah, she most definitely would. And did. But I don't think Violet ever heard the term 'dickhead' before you said it tonight."

"I'll try to be more careful from now on."

"You better."

The bartender returns to them then with two beer bottles and two glasses and they both pick up one of each before making their way back to the table. Jamie gets up from the booth to let her slide back into her seat and she passes him the beer in her hand as she moves past him before she returns to her spot directly across from Tyler. He gives her a questioning look, obviously knowing Jordie's true motivations for getting up to go after her, but she just shrugs her shoulders and takes a sip of her drink.

Things are remarkably more relaxed now and Calista leans back in her seat, feeling a weight off her shoulders now that she and Jordie are at least semi-okay again. Jamie is quickly getting to the point of intoxication that he's forgotten all about their tough loss tonight and is a little more giggly. Calista notices that Tyler seems to be keeping an eye on her as if he's waiting for some kind of reaction, but she does her best to ignore him, instead focusing on how good it feels to not have any drama in her life.

For now.