Sky Full of Stars

30

Tyler and Jamie have a run planned for 8am so Calista waits until then when Jordie will be alone to go confront him. Casey is still dead to the world but she feels like she barely slept a wink all night. She stared at the ceiling for a long time, just thinking- about them, about Tyler, about all that's happened in the past year or so. She can't seem to wrap her mind around why Jordie would keep doing things like this, like he's trying to fuck everything up for her. She finally drifts off well into the early morning and when she wakes up again, it's already past eight so she jumps right up from the sofa, goes to brush her teeth and pull her wild hair up into a ponytail, then heads straight to the Benns' apartment.

Of course Jordie is still sleeping too but she knocks on the door a few times before she lets herself in and then she's nice enough to make him a cup of coffee on her way up to his bedroom to wake him the fuck up. She throws open his blackout curtains to let the morning sun stream into the room then sets the steaming mug on his nightstand. He rolls over onto his stomach, groaning at the sunlight and she just crosses her arms over her chest, glaring at his bare back. "Wake up, asshole."

He lifts his head from the pillow and squints up at her, taking in her stiff posture, the look on her face, the hurt in her eyes, and he immediately pushes himself up to get out of bed and walk over to stand in front of her. He obviously must think that Tyler or someone else did something to upset her. "What is it, Liss?" She looks up at him, watching him carefully, and when he reaches up to cup her cheek, her eyes flutter closed for a moment as she breathes out a shaky breath.

"I don't understand you," she says quietly, and pushes his hand away, moving around him to go and sit on the edge of the bed.

"What do you mean?"

"Casey told me what you did."

He looks genuinely caught off guard, like he wasn't expecting that to be what she's upset about. He just stands there for a moment, the two of them staring at each other silently, before he moves a pillow to sit down next to her and he leans over, propping his elbows on his knees as he pushes both hands through his hair. "Liss, look, I didn't-"

"Why'd you do it? Explain it to me please. Explain why you just can't seem to let me move on and be happy."

"I don't want you to not be happy, Calista."

"Then what the hell is it then, Jordie?! You gave us your blessing! You said you wanted me to be happy, but it just seems like you're doing everything in your power to fuck it up every chance you get! What is it?! You don't want me but you don't want anyone else to have me either?" She sniffles and clenches her fists against her thighs, angry for letting herself get emotional, and she sure as hell won't look at him. "I don't think it's ever been a secret from you, but especially not after last night-....Jord, I was in love with you for years but you-...you never wanted me back. And I learned to accept that. I got over it because at least I got to have you in some ways. But then Megan came and went. And I realized- it's not what I want. I don't want to settle for that. I deserve-....I deserve better goddammit! I deserve someone who's actually gonna love me back...And I have no idea if Tyler's gonna end up being that person, but at least I'm-...." She breathes out a heavy sigh. "Finally over you. I love you, Jordie. I always have and I always will. But I'm not in love with you anymore. After all these years of-...I've finally moved on."

"What if-" What if I don't want you to move on? is the first thing that comes to his mind, shortly followed by What if I changed my mind? But seeing the expression on her face, the look in her eyes, he knows better than to try and open that door again. He missed his chance, plain and simple. She's with Tyler now, and that's not going to change just because he suddenly caught feelings after seeing her with somebody else. She's not his anymore. "I'm sorry," is what he ends up settling on. "You do deserve better. Way better than me. Better than Segs too."

Calista smiles at the floor for a split second before it's gone again. "Are you done then?" she asks quietly before looking over at him. "No more interfering?"

"I promise."

"Yeah?" she asks skeptically and he can't help grinning a little.

"Have I ever broken a promise I made to you?"

Calista looks back down at her hands in her lap and shakes her head. "No, I guess not. But you've been a real asshat lately so it's not exactly like I can trust you."

"You can't trust me anymore?" He looks genuinely hurt to hear that, like maybe he didn't realize all his stupid antics were actually causing so much damage.

"Does that surprise you? After all the shit you've been pulling?"

"No, I just didn't-....I guess I didn't realize I was-....Fuck." He pushes a hand through his hair and lets out a shaky breath, looking down at the floor between his feet. "I'll fix it."

"Jord," she starts hesitantly, but he cuts her off.

"Liss, I'm supposed to be the second person in the world you come to for shit. I'm not supposed to-...." He shakes his head and glances at her over his shoulder. "You're not supposed to look at me like that." Calista tries to remove whatever is written all over her face while he's staring directly at her but then he's sighing and looking back down at the floor again. They just sit there in complete silence for awhile until her phone buzzes in her shirt pocket and when she pulls it out to look at the text, she sees that the boys are finished with their run and starving. "Segs?" Jordie asks, and she just shoves it back into her pocket and gives a short nod. "Go."

Calista looks at him for a long moment before she finally gets up from the bed to walk toward the door and just before she leaves the room, she glances back to find him sitting there with his head in his hands.

-

She runs into Jamie in the hallway, on his way back to take a shower before they go to breakfast, and he seems hesitant if not suspicious as to why she's on his floor unless it's because she's just come from seeing Jordie, but he doesn't outright ask her. Instead, he tells her he'll see her at her place in fifteen and then leaves her at the elevator to make her way back to her floor. Casey is sitting at the bar sipping from her favorite coffee mug when she enters her apartment and he raises his eyebrows at her curiously, as if asking where she's been, but she pretends she doesn't notice it, instead heading down the hallway to take a shower of her own.

When she emerges twenty-two minutes later with damp hair and in fresh clothes, Tyler, Jamie, and Casey are all sitting in the living room with their noses in their phones. The three of them follow her to the door and the boys make light conversation as they head down to the garage, Tyler wrapping her hand in his much larger one and lacing their fingers together as they follow the others toward the elevator. It doesn't escape anyone's notice that Jordie's not tagging along, except Tyler's, and when he asks where the elder Benn is, Calista looks to her best friend for help and Jamie is quick to come up with the excuse that he's meeting Bethany somewhere.

Bethany. She'd forgotten about the pretty blonde through this whole thing and now she feels even more anxiety about the situation. Bethany has never been anything but perfectly nice to her and Calista feels like she's hiding something from her. She really really hopes she doesn't have to interact with her or even Jordie anytime soon. She just wants to be able to enjoy some time with Tyler and her friends without any drama for once.

Breakfast goes by pretty smoothly. Casey actually engages Tyler in conversation and it doesn't seem awkward or forced, like Casey is really trying because he knows how much it means to Calista. Jamie catches her gaze across the table and gives her an encouraging grin and Tyler's hand rests warm and heavy on her thigh throughout the meal and it's almost as good as she imagines it could be. The only way it could be better is if her other best friend were here, and as supportive as Jamie is being. That's too much to ask for now though, especially after the conversation this morning, so she'll have to settle for the way it is and just hope that in the future Jordie will come around.

Since the guys had no morning skate ahead of their game tonight, they don't really have anything to do until time for their pregame naps so they just wander around uptown for awhile, stopping in at various shops along the way, and Tyler never lets go of her hand the entire time. She even tries to pull away at one point when she notices a group of girls staring at them but he still doesn't let go, instead giving her hand a gentle squeeze and flashing her a warm smile. That's something she's going to have to get used to- someone actively making it known that they're together- and she isn't sure if he's doing it for that purpose or if it's just because he wants to, but regardless, it's definitely not something that she's ever experienced before.

Once they finally make it back to their building, they all go their separate ways; Jamie heads up to his place for his pregame nap and Casey goes up to Calista's place to FaceTime his wife and the baby so Calista goes with Tyler up to his apartment to join in on his nap. Marshall is as excited to see her as always and he's on her heels all the way up the stairs and down the hall, into the bedroom. He hops up onto the bed right next to where she sits down and stretches out lazily across her lap, rolling over onto his side so that she can scratch his belly. Tyler shuts off the bathroom light as he walks back into the room but pauses when he sees the scene awaiting him. "Marshall," he chuckles. "Get off her, buddy."

The dog picks his head up to look at Tyler and then Calista before he slowly gets up and jumps down from the bed, leaving the room completely, and Calista bites her lip to hide her grin. "Well, he's pissed at you now."

"Eh, he'll get over it," Tyler shrugs as he makes his way over. When he's only a few feet away, he lunges forward at her, tackling her backwards onto the bed and curling both arms around her tightly so that she can't escape.

"Ty," she groans from under him. "Kinda can't breathe down here."

He just laughs as he pushes himself back to prop up on one elbow, looking down at her. "Hey."

"Hey."

Tyler's gaze drops down to her mouth when she licks her lips and she watches him carefully as he ducks his head down to kiss her. She makes a soft little noise and pushes her fingers through the back of his hair, bringing him closer, and the hand splayed across her hip grips tighter before sliding up her side to rest against her ribs. She gasps into his mouth when it slips just a little higher to her breast and it dawns on her in that moment that no one has touched her like that in almost a year. It's not even that big of a deal-- a natural progression in the kissing they've been doing and it's not like she's even minus any clothing at all-- but it's been eleven months and not only is it not Jordie, the only one who's ever touched her that way, but it's Tyler of all people.

She knows her face is red when she breaks the kiss because she can feel the heat in it but Tyler doesn't even break stride, instead moving down to focus on her neck and collar bone instead. "We came up her for your nap, you know."

"Mmm, I know," he mumbles against her skin.

"Ty," she persists, and he pulls back to look down at her this time, studying her face for a long moment before he swallows hard and nods.

"Okay. Let's go to sleep."

He sits up to turn the lamp next to the bed off and then crawls over to his correct side of the bed, pulling his fuzzy blanket up over the both of them before he situates himself next to her, but not too close. He's not mad exactly, or it doesn't seem like he is, but it's almost like now he's worried about touching her at all. She wants to apologize because she didn't mean it like that, but she isn't sure she could even find words to convey what she actually meant so instead she rolls over onto her side to curl up against him, reaching for the hand he's resting on his chest and tangling their fingers together.

-

"What's taking so loooooong?" Violet asks for the third time since they made their way down to wait outside the locker rooms. The Stars managed to pull out a win which means the boys are going to be in a fantastic mood when they come out and Calista has a little something extra for Tyler that she hopes makes the night even better. She still feels bad about earlier and she knows this has kind of been an important thing for him so tonight felt like the perfect time, especially since they've got family and friend all around. She did it a little bit to make a statement to her brother and, if she's honest, a small part of her motivation was aimed at Jordie too but really she just hopes it means something to Tyler.

"Vi, we can go home right now or you can be patient and wait for the boys. Take your pick." The little girl pouts at her mother's warning but stays quiet, burying her face in Calista's shoulder.

"Hey," Calista whispers, gaining the little girl's attention. "Tyler's gonna be really happy when he sees us, okay? We just have to wait a little bit longer. Can you do that for me?"

Violet nods even though she's still pouting but as soon as Tyler emerges from behind the metal doors, she wriggles down from Calista's arms and hauls ass down the hall toward him, stretching her arms out wide so that he can see her jersey. "Look what Aunt Lissy bought me!" she squeals at him and he just laughs, catching her when she lunges forward at him and checking out the 91 on the little girl's back as they make their way down to the group.

"That's a good lookin' sweater, Aunt Lissy," he says when he reaches them, handing the squirming child back to her dad.

Calista just grins at him. "Thought you'd think so," she replies, then turns her back to him so that he can see his name plastered across her shoulders in her matching one.

Tyler would seriously back her up against a wall and kiss her right here right now if her brother wasn't standing next to her but since Casey is, he has to go for option B, which consists of wrapping his arms around her and squeezing her as tight as he can in hopes that that conveys his appreciation. Plus he can always do that other part later when they're alone. "You look amazing in that," he whispers into her ear before he plants a kiss on her cheek and releases her from his boa constrictor grip, although keeping an arm draped across her shoulders.

Luckily Nick says something to him about the game and they both go off on talking about that because she is blushing like an idiot and Felicity is grinning at her like an even bigger idiot. Jamie joins them not long after that and starts casually herding them toward the doors and nobody says anything about how they're not waiting for Jordie like usual but Calista knows that the two brothers must've talked, especially after Jamie saw her leaving their place this morning. But Tyler draws her in closer to his side and her brother is laughing his ass off at some joke Felicity told and she's got so many good things to be focusing on right now. Things with Jordie will work themselves out in time, but for now, she can be content with all she has.
♠ ♠ ♠
outfit.

:)