Sky Full of Stars

The day has finally come.

The first regular game of the season is here and the excitement is evident throughout the entire organization, from the executives to the players. Calista had spent the entire morning at the office, getting some final touches ready for some new marketing projects they had started up specifically for the new season, and now that she's finished and the boys are done with practice, she's meeting them for brunch. She hadn't asked whether or not Jamie's new BFF will be joining them, but she has a pretty good feeling he will be.

She arrives at the diner ahead of them so she heads on back to secure their usual booth, sliding over to the middle just like always so that the giant hockey players with their long legs can have their usual seats on the end with more space. The waitress brings her a hot cup of coffee while she waits for her friends but she hasn't even finished loading it with her usual one creamer and five sugars when they arrive. She isn't surprised to see a third giant body piling in the door behind the two she's expecting, but seeing his face still sends a jolt of pain to that spot right in the center of her forehead where her migraines usually start.

Her best fake smile slapped on, she greets them when they make their way back to the table and she's instantly put off when Jamie lets Tyler slide into the booth next to her instead of sticking him at the end of the table in a borrowed chair. She automatically scoots closer to Jordie and, while he notices, Tyler and Jamie don't so she's at least thankful for that. Jordie shoots her a questioning look but she just smiles, playing it off like she doesn't know what the look is for, and goes back to stirring the sugar packets into her coffee.

"So, little babes, first game tonight. Excited?"

"How many times do I have to tell you to cut that shit out?" Jamie jokes, reaching across Tyler to grab her mug and take a careful sip of the steaming liquid. "We're both older than you."

"I don't give a shit," she retorts. "You may be older and taller, but you're still my little babes, so deal with it. And get your own damn coffee."

He scoffs as he hands the mug back to her. "The way you drink it is disgusting anyway."

"Know what else is disgusting? Your face."

"Alright, children. That's enough," the waitress scolds playfully as she approaches the table with three mugs and Calista and Jamie just grin at each other as she passes them out to the boys before filling each with fresh hot coffee. "Now are we having our usuals today?"

They all nod and she chuckles as she takes out her note pad and writes it all down before walking away; Calista notices that Tyler too must have a usual and that kind of annoys her because the diner is supposed to be her place-- hers and Jamie's and Jordie's. The fact that they've been bringing Tyler here since before she got back into town, sharing their place with him, is highly irksome. The boys must be talking about something funny because they're all giggling like twelve year old girls and she tunes them out pretty easily until she distinctly hears her own name.

"Sorry, what?"

Jamie chuckles. "Are you going out with us tonight after the game?"

"Uhh, no. I have to go in to work tomorrow. Early."

"Well, looks like it's just us then, bud," he says, clapping Tyler's shoulder.

"What, you found a new BFF and started uninviting your brother?"

"No, I just don't bother because I know he's gonna say no. He'd rather spend time with his girlfriend," Jamie says, sneering the last word.

Calista gasps, turning to look at Jordie. "You got a girlfriend and didn't tell me?"

"It's only been a couple of weeks," he shrugs. "It's not that serious."

She leans her shoulder against his with a little smile. "Soooo.....what's her name? What's she like?"

"Her name's Megan. She's great."

Calista's eyes narrow as she scrutinizes him for a moment before she glances back to his brother for the truth. "Jamie?"

The younger Benn already has a smirk on his face because he knows the reaction she's going to have and he knows that Jordie's not going to like it. "She's a Stars ice girl."

"Ugh, Jordie," Calista groans.

"Don't do that, Liss. Don't get all condescending. She's a nice girl!"

"Excuse me, I'm not being condescending! I'm just saying that's a bad idea. It's called fraternizing with a player and it's not allowed. You could probably get in some trouble and she would get fired for sure if someone found out."

"So no one will find out," he shrugs nonchalantly, crossing his arms over his chest.

She scoffs and rolls her eyes as she picks up her mug to take another sip, mumbling, "Yeah, okay."

The atmosphere at the table shifts, the tension palpable as Jordie and Calista both scowl into their coffee mugs while Tyler and Jamie exchange looks. Jamie knows how protective she is over both him and his brother and he knows that she's only trying to take care of them but what he doesn't understand is why she won't meet his eyes when she can definitely feel him staring her down to get her attention. She's got her hands folded on the table top and her eyes fixed on the thin black ring that she's twisting around her middle finger; Jordie's staring at the salt shaker like he's trying to blow it up with his mind; Jamie's staring at Calista, practically about to burst from how badly he wants her to look at him; and Tyler's looking between all three of them, itching to pose a question of his own.

Another awkward beat passes before Tyler clears his throat beside her. "So what about you then?"

Three pairs of eyes immediately turn to look at him but the only pair he notices are hers when she quirks a brow at him curiously. "What about me?"

"Well, you work for the Stars too, right? In the corporate offices?"

Calista briefly wonders how exactly he knows that information about her and if that was something Jamie had told him or something he found out on his own. "Yeah, so?"

"Would you get fired for fraternizing with a player?"

Technically, being at this brunch is fraternizing, as is just being friends with Jamie and Jordie in general, but since her boss Mr. Lennox knows that they've been friends practically since her birth, he doesn't consider it an issue. However, Calista's pretty sure that's not what Tyler means by asking that question. "Luckily, I won't ever have to find out," she says simply before she turns back to pick up her coffee again, completely ignoring the stares she's getting from both Benns, but for very different reasons.

By the time their food comes, she no longer has an appetite and she ends up cutting her pancakes into little pieces before swirling them around aimlessly in the syrup covering the bottom of the plate. The guys are all half finished with their meals before she's even taken a single bite and they're all exchanging looks, silently trying to convince each other to be the one to ask her if she's okay. Finally, Jamie gives in and asks but she doesn't even hear him, too lost in her own thoughts. Tyler reaches over and lightly grazes his fingertips against her hand where it rests on her thigh under the table, causing her to jump in surprise and jerk her hand away from his.

"What?" she asks, annoyed at him just for touching her.

"Jamie asked if you're okay."

"Oh," she mumbles, immediately dropping eye contact, and after a moment, she nods, fingers gently massaging that point in the center of her forehead. "Yeah, I'm just getting a migraine. I think I need to go home and lie down for a few minutes."

"Want me to take you?" Jordie speaks up, meeting her eyes for the first time since their exchange about his girlfriend.

"Um, no thanks. My car-"

"I rode here with them so I can drive us back in your car."

She still would've turned down his offer if Jamie and Tyler weren't sitting there watching her carefully. "Uh, yeah. Sure. Okay. Thanks."

Jordie nods before sliding out of the booth to stand up and she follows suit, sliding out after him. Jamie's still watching her with a worried pout and she feels a little bit guilty for it so she leans down to give him a hug. "I'll see you after the game, okay? Good luck."

He seems to perk up a little after so she counts it as a win as she follows Jordie to the door and points him in the direction she parked once they're outside on the sidewalk. He holds out a hand for her keys as they approach the car and she silently hands them over to him before walking over to the passenger side. Neither of them say a word as they climb inside and fasten their seat belts before beginning the short drive back to the apartment building. The whole ride is tense and awkward and Calista silently wishes he would find an excuse to leave again so she doesn't have to ride the elevator up six floors with him. She doesn't even bother pushing the button for his floor when she pushes hers, instead making him reach over and do it himself while she crosses her arms over her chest as the doors close.

"Look, I'm sorry," he finally sighs.

She shrugs, keeping her eyes on the doors instead of looking over at him. "It's fine, Jordie. Date whoever you want."

"I don't get what the deal is, Liss. We agreed that-"

"I know what we agreed," she snaps. "You don't have to remind me."

"Then what the hell is your problem?"

"I don't have a problem. I just think you should be more careful about who you-"

"Oh, come on," he interrupts, rolling his eyes. "Like I didn't notice you and Seguin."

"Excuse me? What in the fuck do I have to do with that kid?"

"You think I didn't see how he was looking at you today? The fucking flirting last night? Come on, Liss, he was layin' it on pretty thick. You know with guys like him, girls just eat that shit up."

"Give me a break, Jord. That wasn't flirting! Trust me, guys like that don't flirt with girls like me anyway and, besides, I'm not that naive."

He breezes right on past her self deprecation and straight to her last comment, scoffing. "Yeah, right. Fifty bucks says your break that little 'fraternization' rule within the month. As much as you apparently love to enforce it, you're not immune to all that shit he's throwing at you."

"Even if he were trying to hook up with me, which he most definitely is not by the way, what makes you think I'm just gonna get on my back for him?"

"Well, you did for me."

The impact of his words hit her right in the chest, so hard that she actually stumbles back a step into the wall. Her hands grip the railing that wraps around the inside of the elevator, keeping her from feeling like she might tip over, and thank God they've reached the sixth floor because she is definitely going to cry and there's no way she wants to do that in front of him when he's just said something like that to her. The doors ding as they slide open and she pushes off the wall to leave but Jordie grabs her wrist, spinning her back around to face him. "Wait, Liss, I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"

"Fuck you," she mutters and even though her voice quivers as she says it, it shuts him up immediately. His brows pinch together and the corners of his mouth turn downward into a guilty frown as she snatches her arm out of his grip and steps out of the elevator, letting the doors slip back closed before he can follow her out. She hurries down the hallway to her apartment, unlocking the door as quickly as she can and somehow she manages to wait until she's inside with the door shut behind her before she finally dissolves into tears.

-

"Hey, there you are!"

Calista turns at the familiar voice and immediately spots the blonde and blue hair coming toward her through the sea of people packed inside American Airlines Center. Felicity is the only person in the immediate vicinity not wearing victory green so she's even easier to spot as she slips past a large group of teenage boys and finally makes it over to where Calista is standing by the wall.

"Nice shirt, Captain."

Calista looks down at the #14 jersey she changed into before the game and the new little C on the left side of her chest and smiles, tugging on the bottom hem a little before she looks back up at her friend. "And where's yours?"

"Still at The Hangar because I'm too poor to buy it."

"Come on," Calista says with a chuckle and she loops her arm through Felicity's, pulling her along through the crowds all the way down to the team store. "Now, whose name are you willing to wear?"

"Oh no. Liss, I'm not letting you buy me one of those things. I told you-"

"I'm not buying it," Calista interrupts with a grin. "Just trust me. Now go pick something out."

Felicity gives her a skeptical look but the younger girl just shoos her over to the clothing racks before she makes her way over to the counter where the cash register is. She's on a first name basis with the girl who works there so it's not even questioned when she tells her to charge Jordie for Felicity's jersey. However, when her friend approaches the counter, she's not holding a jersey, but a plain green tee shirt that has the Stars logo across the front. "Fifi, you're supposed to get a jersey."

"Jerseys are a hundred and sixty bucks. This is only twenty."

"I got it covered though! Go get a jersey!"

Felicity chuckles. "This is fine, Liss. I can actually wear this on a daily basis unlike a jersey. Seriously this is the one I want."

"Alright," Calista sighs, a little disappointed and she momentarily considers going to pick out another jersey for herself so that she can still make Jordie pay. She could get a Whitney one, or a Lehtonen; they're both nice guys and she wouldn't mind supporting either of them. The Seguin ones seem to be popular with the other customers in the store but she'd rather wear the opposing team's jersey than have his name and number on her back.

The girl behind the counter waves them off, telling them it's taken care of and she gives Calista a wink before the girls leave the store to go back in the direction of the section they're supposed to sit in. They stop by the restrooms on the way so that Felicity can change out of her light blue v neck and into her new tee shirt and when she comes back out, she strikes a model pose, making Calista laugh. "Much better."

"Why thank you!" she says, stuffing her other shirt into her bag before looping her arm through Calista's again and they keep walking back toward Section 120.

"Thanks for coming by the way."

"Are you kidding?" Felicity laughs. "Violet's spending the night with my mom and Nick's out with his friends. You saved me from a boring night home alone with laundry and leftover lasagna."

"Well I'm glad I could help then."

"Let's get some food before puck drop. I'm dying for some of those nachos."

After a quick stop at the concession stands, the two girls head down to their seats with their nachos and beers. They're right at the glass almost in the corner, where they will be able to see what's happening on the ice at all times. These are the seats that she always tries to get if she can, but Jamie had arranged them for her specifically tonight considering it's the first game of the regular season. She occupies herself by swirling a tortilla chip around in the thick cheese as the seats around them begin to fill in but she can feel Felicity watching her suspiciously and she knows it's coming.

"So what happened?"

Even though she's expecting it, she still groans inwardly at the question. "What do you mean?"

"You sounded really sad on the phone earlier and you've had this pitiful kicked puppy look on your face since I got here."

Calista scoffs, but makes a mental note to do better with keeping her expressions in check as she picks up her large plastic cup of beer and takes a sip. "I do not."

"You totally do. So tell me."

Her eyes drift down the ice where the team is skating around, talking and laughing as they shoot pucks at the net and each other and fans behind the glass. The two Benns are standing side by side in front of the home team's bench being interviewed.

"Jordie and I had a fight."

"Fuck buddy Jordie?"

Calista shoots her an unamused look. "How many Jordies do you know?"

"What was it about?"

"Jamie told me he had a new girlfriend," she sighs, glancing over at the group of pretty young women in skimpy green and black outfits over in the corner, and adds, "Who's one of them." Of course she's not surprised because all Jordie ever dates are beautiful, perfect, usually blonde women and that's the exact opposite of what Calista is. It doesn't surprise her, but it still hurts more than she could ever admit.

Felicity follows her line of sight and watches the group for a moment before she looks back at her friend. "Isn't there a rule against that? Like with football players and cheerleaders?"

"Yep, there is, and he didn't like it when I reminded him. Somehow it turned into this whole big thing and he basically said it's just a matter of time before I break the rule and screw his teammate because, after all, I-....I screwed him."

"Are you serious? He said that to you?" Calista stares straight ahead as a few players skate by them and rolls her lips together in lieu of answering. "How could he seriously not see it by now? After all these years?"

Calista had developed a a crush on him when she was about four years old. The Clarks and Benns were neighbors so spending the day out in the backyard with their families was a regular occurrence in the summer growing up. Both of their parents thought it was cute how she followed him around like she was permanently attached to him by an invisible string. He didn't mind it though; he was a good sport, letting her trail him everywhere. She eventually grew out of the whole shadow thing, but the crush never went away and, as she got older, it only got worse. It became more than a little girl enamored with her older next door neighbor. By the age of sixteen, she was sure that she was actually in love with him, even though he was four years older than she was and never treated her as anything more than a little sister.

College had offered a break from those feelings, but every summer when she went home and saw him again, they only came right back. Moving to Dallas after school, she was determined to put it to rest for good, but the more time she spent with him and Jamie, the more she realized that just wasn't going to happen. And then they started sleeping together. It wasn't a constant thing-- only when neither of them were seeing other people, which she never was because, to her, there wasn't anyone else but him. It was a painful situation to be in from the very beginning because she knew he still didn't care about her that way, but she kept it going because at least she still got to be with him. It was a secret too. The only people who knew about it were Felicity and Nick because she would have gone crazy if she didn't have someone to talk to, and she sure as hell couldn't tell Jamie.

"He doesn't want to see it, Fifi. If he acknowledges that he knows, then he'll have to, like, try to let me down easy or something. He doesn't want to have to talk about it so instead he just pretends it isn't there."

"He wouldn't have to let you down easy though. I mean, he obviously likes you enough to have kept it going for the six months before you went back home. Why couldn't you two give it a shot?"

"Because he dates girls like them," she says, nodding her head toward the group of ice girls over on the opposite side. "I'm just the girl he fucks in secret because I'm too embarrassing for anyone to know about."

"Don't you fucking say that," Felicity scolds.

"Why not? It's true."

"Calista-"

"I don't want to talk about this anymore," she says, picking up her beer and Felicity hesitates, but ultimately agrees to drop the conversation completely as the game begins.