Sky Full of Stars

Calista sleeps well past nine and when she finally wakes up enough to reach over and unplug her phone from where it's sitting on the nightstand, she has six new texts and a slew of instagram notifications. Two of the texts are from Jamie, asking again if she's coming to meet them for lunch after their morning skate, and the other four are from Fifi at various points earlier in the morning, gradually becoming more concerned from the lack of a response that both her daughter and her friend have either died or somehow otherwise mysteriously disappeared. Calista rolls her eyes as she replies to her friend first, apologizing for sleeping through the message dings and promising to take Violet back home to their apartment in the next hour or so.

Once Fifi is pacified, she replies to Jamie with a flat out lie that her intern called her with a problem at the office and she has to fix it so she won't be able to make their usual lunch meeting. Jamie doesn't seem to realize that it's a Saturday and therefore nobody is working in her particular office today because he accepts her answer as truth and only responds with next time then, no excuses. After all of her missed texts have been gone through, she moves on to instagram. Two hundred and sixteen likes on the photo of sleeping Jamie and Violet from last night flood the screen as soon as she opens the app but there's one notification that's unlike the others.

tseguin92 wants to follow you.

She knows she can't deny the request because that would probably only arouse suspicion, but she also knows that she has some pictures posted there that she doesn't want him to see. After a few minutes' deliberation, she hesitantly goes through her account looking for any past signs of black and yellow or any mention of Massachusetts at all. Among the chosen photos are one of her little office party on her last day as an intern with the Bruins, one of her posing with some friends and the majestic Stanley Cup back in 2011, one of her and her old roommate at a Boston U football game, and one of her at graduation with a bunch of girls she doesn't even speak to anymore. She makes sure to at least save them to her phone's camera roll before she deletes them from her instagram account and then, only after all traces of Boston are gone, she finally accepts the request and follows him back to be polite.

Despite the fact that now all she wants to do is sleep for another couple of hours, she drags herself out of bed, careful not to wake the sleeping bear that is Violet. For a four year old, she can be an extremely ferocious beat to tackle in the mornings, so Calista leaves her asleep and heads over to her closet to silently dig out some clothes to wear before retreating to the bathroom for a quick shower. Deciding to just wait and fix her hair before the game tonight, she leaves it down in its natural damp waves and quickly gets dressed in some neon yellow shorts and a comfy gray tee before sneaking back into her bedroom to wake up the little girl as gently as possible.

Violet definitely isn't happy about getting up, but she does so reluctantly when Calista mentions the french toast that she knows Fifi is making back at her home. Once the child has on her tiny pink sandals, Calista plops her on the kitchen counter to fix her curly brown hair into a neat ponytail. She pulls on her cross body bag before picking Violet up from the counter with ease and settles her on her hip as they get ready to leave, locking the door behind them on the way out.

The elevator seems to be running slower than usual but now that Violet is fully awake, she entertains them both with her silly made up songs until the doors finally open with a ding. Before Calista can even look up to step onto it, Violet gives a little squeal of excitement and wiggles in her arms. "Tyler!" she shouts, holding on tighter to Calista's neck. Her head snaps up at the little girl's mention of his name and she finds him leaning against the wall of the elevator with his phone in his hand, his thumb hovering over the screen as he looks up at them in surprise.

"Hey, Vi," he greets easily, slipping his phone into the pocket of his basketball shorts as they step onto the elevator with him. "Hey, Calista." He's lucky she doesn't notice the way his eyes linger on her bare legs before finally sliding up her body to her face.

"Aren't you supposed to be at morning skate?"

He nods and lightly kicks the duffel bag at his feet. "I'm on my way there now. Jamie forgot he was supposed to give me a ride and they left without me."

Calista gives him an amused smile as she shifts Violet on her hip and the little girl clings to her neck like a baby koala with one arm, using the other to brush her fingers through Calista's still damp hair affectionately. "Aunt Lissy?"

"What is it, baby?"

"Does Tyler play hockey with Jamie?"

"Mhmm."

"Is he as good as Jamie?"

"I don't know," she chuckles, looking over at him. "Are you, Tyler?"

"I think I'm a little bit better," he replies in a fake whisper, holding his hand up to make the gesture with his thumb and index finger.

Calista glances back at the little girl in her arms for her opinion. "What do you think, Vi?"

"Nope," Violet decides, her curly ponytail bouncing as she shakes her head. "Nobody's as good as Jamie."

Calista laughs again while Violet grins proudly at her answer, but Tyler just shrugs, unaffected. "One day I'll wear you down, turn you into a Seguin fan. Both of you."

Violet giggles. "No way."

Since the little girl had supplied an answer, Calista doesn't feel the need to and, for that, she's very thankful. She knows that's never gonna happen. It would be a very very long path to converting her into a fan of his and he doesn't even know it, which makes the possibility even less likely. She can be civil and polite til the cows come home, but that's all she'll ever be toward him.

The elevator dings and the doors slide open at their desired level but Tyler lets them go first before he follows them out. Their cars are parked in the same direction so they walk together over to the correct section of the parking garage, not really saying much to each other. Luckily, Violet is there to provide some mindless chatter that fills the silence. It turns out that Tyler's expensive black sports car is parked right next to her little silver Scion tC so he stands there with Violet once Calista sets her down to retrieve the spare booster seat she keeps in the trunk for exactly this reason. She notices that even though Tyler is supposed to be on his way to practice and should be in a hurry, he sticks around until after Violet is all buckled in. Calista wishes him luck in the game tonight before climbing into the driver's seat of her car and it's only afterwards that Tyler finally does the same.

-

It's the second game of the season and, even though Calista usually alternates between wearing Jamie's and Jordie's jerseys, tonight she's discarding that unspoken rule. It's technically Jordie's jersey's turn, but when she's getting dressed for the game, she grabs the #14 and tugs it on over her head, leaving the #24 hanging in the closet. She still hasn't spoken to him since the elevator and, even though that doesn't sit well with her, she's decided it's her only option for now.

There are more people at this game then there were at the one two nights ago. Felicity didn't come this time but her intern Miranda texted her earlier to make sure she was coming because the younger girl wanted to come but didn't want to have to sit alone. Calista sends her a text with her usual seat section and tells Miranda to meet her there since she's only using one of the two seats she always has reserved. She goes to grab herself a beer before she heads down to find her seat and Miranda is already waiting for her there, eating a hot dog while she nods her head along to the beat of the music playing over the sound system. Calista drops into her seat with a huff, setting her phone down on her thigh.

"You don't look very happy," Miranda says as she takes a sip of her coke. Poor girl isn't of legal age to have a beer at a hockey game yet.

"It's been a long week."

Miranda gives her a sideways glance, her perfectly arched brows shooting up in curiosity. "Wanna talk about it?"

"No," Calista sighs. "Just wanna forget about it."

"Not to sound insensitive, but I'm glad. I need you to really focus on this game for me."

Calista chuckles. "Okay. And why's that?"

"Because I'll have no idea what's going on and I'm gonna need you to explain things as we go."

"What do you mean you'll have no idea what's going on?"

"I've-....never actually been to a hockey game before."

"Seriously?" Calista asks, stunned. "Not even, like, an AHL game or a college game? A backyard pond game?"

Miranda laughs and shakes her head. "I grew up in Mississippi. It's not exactly the most prevalent sport there. You Canadians with all your winter sports just wouldn't understand."

She shrugs and takes a sip of her beer but doesn't question her further.

"Aren't you gonna ask me why?"

"Why what?"

"Why I applied for an internship with a team that plays a sport I've never even seen played before."

"Nope," Calista replies simply. "It's not like it's a hockey internship. It's a media studies internship that just so happens to be for a hockey team. Knowing or not knowing hockey has nothing to do with your job so I don't see why it should matter to me. I picked you because you were the best candidate for the position. And I liked those shoes you wore to the interview that day."

"Steve Madden making dreams come true," Miranda laughs, remembering the bright heels she's taken a gamble on wearing to meet with the Digital Media team for her interview back in May. "You know honestly, I never expected to get it. I thought it was a long shot when I applied for it, but then after I met Mr. Lennox, I thought it was completely hopeless."

Calista rolls her eyes. "He's a hard ass, but you deserved the job and that's what I told him."

"Thanks for vouching for me. This internship's been incredible so far. I've already learned so much just in these past few weeks working with you guys."

"Well hopefully now that we're not working over skype and communicating mostly through emails, it'll be even better. My internships were the best things I could have ever done; they opened a lot of doors for me. The people I worked under in Boston were incredible mentors for me and I'm hoping some of that might've rubbed off so I can be that for you. I know I'm only a couple of years older than you are but I hope I can, y'know, teach you a thing or two."

"You already have," Miranda grins and then she glances out to the ice and nudges Calista with her elbow as the lights go down. "Ooh, they're about to start!"

It's only a short few seconds before the usual intense music begins to play and the lights inside the arena start flashing, the crowds going wild as the giant silver and green star begins to descend to the ice and the intro video plays on the huge screens overhead. Miranda watches in awe while Calista watches her with an amused smile. She's always enjoyed seeing people experience an NHL game for the first time; several of her friends had gotten into the sport thanks to her and she had considered it her duty to take them to experience it in person. Miranda gasps when the flames erupt from the giant star and then laughs at herself, standing up to cheer loudly with the rest of the fans around them as the team comes skating out.

"What are you doing? Come on!" she shouts over the loud music and Calista sighs but humors her, uncrossing her legs so that she can stand up with her. The Capitals skate out on the opposite side of the rink, but Calista is too busy on their end, her gaze constantly flickering between Jamie and Jordie and then surprisingly to Tyler. She grimaces when she realizes that her eyes keep finding him out on the ice so she mentally scolds herself and concentrates extra hard on the usual two.

Jamie skates over to the bench to do an interview as the starting line-up is announced over the PA system and the crowd goes crazy once again when his name is announced, along with his newly acquired 'Captain' title. Miranda's constantly finding something new and interesting to look at and the smile stretches wide across her face as she just takes it all in. The boys line up on the bench and on the center blue line across from tonight's rival players for all the opening activities and once the national anthem is finished, they take their seats to get ready for puck drop.

Calista spends the whole game explaining icing, offside, and power plays to Miranda and the younger girl ends up getting really into it, groaning along with the rest of the crowd every time Dallas draws a penalty and turning around to high five the group of hot guys in the row behind them when a Washington goal is waved off as no good. Calista doesn't even bother chastising herself anymore for keeping tabs on three players instead of the usual two. All three of those idiots end up earning a point for their assists on goals.

The game ends with a 2-1 win in favor of Dallas. They stay for the announcement of the three stars and then some, waiting for the crowds to clear out a bit before attempting to venture away from their seats. Calista walks with Miranda all the way through the arena to the side doors where she can easily get to her car in a separate parking section from the general public and the girls say goodbye as the young blonde leaves. Calista glances at the time on her phone screen and finds a set of texts from Jamie that make her roll her eyes.

if you try ditching again i WILL come hunting you

so see you down here in 30? :)

He must have sent it first thing as soon as he got back to the locker room to make sure that she doesn't bail on him again. She knows he's going to have quite the media scrum after the first win of the season and his first win as captain and, after that, the team will have a little post-win celebration and pep talk for a few minutes, and then, finally, he'll have to shower and put his suit back on. So she takes her time working her way down into the inner makings of American Airlines Center, even stopping to talk to her favorite security guard for a few minutes. The wide hallway is completely and totally clear by the time she reaches the locker room and she leans up against the wall next to the heavy silver doors to wait, feeling the rush of anxiety that floods her when she thinks about possibly running into Jordie.

She catches Lehtonen, who's the first one to come out of the locker room after she gets there, and asks if Jordie is still inside, but he shakes his head and tells her that he hasn't seen him since before he took his shower so he isn't sure. She thanks him, letting him go on his way after congratulating him on the win, and leans back against the wall with a sigh of relief. Waiting for Jamie is going to be a lot less stressful now that she doesn't have to worry about running into Jordie. Her phone buzzes with at least a dozen notifications in the back pocket of her jeans so she turns it on silent before she opens her twitter app to see all the favorites of her most recent tweet about the Stars' win.

"I thought it was my turn."

Her head jerks up in surprise at the sudden voice because she didn't even hear the doors open but when she sees that it's Jordie walking over to her from the locker room, she frowns and drops her gaze back to her phone. He comes to a stop next to her and leans his shoulder against the wall, watching carefully as she scrolls through twitter and tries not to make any movements that would betray her discomfort at having to face him.

"You haven't answered any of my texts and now you're going to ignore me to my face too?"

Calista had been avoiding each of the messages she'd received since she walked out of that elevator two days before. She knew she'd have to see him again eventually, but she had been hoping that she could put if off for at least a little while longer until it didn't hurt so much to look at him. Even though she doesn't want to now, she can feel his gaze on the side of her face, waiting for her to look up at him in return so she rolls her eyes but shoves her phone back into her pocket before looking up at him. "What do you want, Jordie?"

"I wanna apologize." He pauses for a moment, as if he's expecting her to cut him off from speaking any further. "I'm sorry for what I said in the elevator, okay? I didn't-....I didn't mean it."

"Which part?" she asks bitterly.

"Any of it. Calista, even-....aside from all that other shit, you're one of my best friends and I would never wanna hurt you like that." Even though she knows one hundred percent where exactly he stands on the subject of them, she still allows herself a moment to be hurt by the 'best friends' comment, but only on the inside. She tries to keep the exterior neutral, but she's not the best at hiding emotion; he sees her flinch and then swallow hard, blinking her eyes a few times to keep her eyes from watering. "I'm sorry, Liss. You gotta believe me."

He pauses again and she knows he's waiting for her to respond but before she has the chance to say anything, another voice calls his name from down the hall. Both their heads turn at the sound of it and Calista has to laugh to keep herself from crying as she bows her head to drop her gaze back down to the floor under her black flats. The pretty blonde standing at the end of the hallway has changed out of her green and black uniform but it's pretty obvious who she is anyway. Calista hadn't even thought of her once throughout the entirety of the game but now the searing burn of jealousy in the pit of her stomach and the overwhelming feeling of inadequacy hit her all at once upon seeing the girl a mere twenty feet away. "Just give me a sec," Jordie tells her and she huffs, planting her perfectly manicured hands firmly on her narrow hips.

Jordie turns back to Calista, reaching out and lightly squeezing her wrist between his thumb and index finger. "Liss?"

"Yeah," she says immediately, clearing her throat as she casually shakes him off to fold her arms over her chest, all without looking up to meet his eyes. "Uh, you should go."

"Not until you forgive me," he presses.

The girl, Megan, stomps her high heeled foot at the end of the hall. "Jordie!"

"I said give me a sec! Can't you see I'm in the middle of something?"

"Yeah, I see that, but I've been waiting for you for like ten minutes already. Who is that anyway?"

Calista closes her eyes at the question and bites down on her lip so hard she thinks it might bleed. That hurts too. Here, she's got Jordie telling her she's one of his best friends and yet his girlfriend doesn't even know who she is. Luckily, two more familiar voices hit her ears and she turns just as Jamie and Tyler come out of the locker room laughing hysterically about something. "Hey, you actually showed up this time!" Jamie calls out to her as they approach and she rolls her eyes as he wraps his arms around her in a hug. His hair is still wet from the shower and a thick droplet of water drips down to hit her in the face as she returns the hug.

"Good game, Captain," she says, patting his back reassuringly.

He pulls back to look down at her with a grin and he kisses her on the forehead, keeping his arm draped over her shoulders. "One win down, eighty to go." He high fives Tyler with his free hand before the latter finally looks over at her and grins.

"Tyler," she acknowledges in return with a smile of her own. "Nice penalty."

His smile only widens at that. "Okay, but did you see the assist?"

"Must not have been paying attention," she replies, shrugging her shoulders and Jamie laughs even though it's not that funny. He's just on that usual post-win high where he's in an unbelievably good mood. And he should be; it's his first regular season win as Captain.

"So, you're coming out with us tonight, right?" The expression on her face is probably something like a grimace and she has to try her hardest to keep from glancing over at the older Benn while the younger one shakes his head vehemently. "Oh, no no no. You can't back out again! You haven't been out with us once since you got back!"

"I've only been back for a week, Jamie."

"What's your point, Calista?"

"There's plenty more nights to go out in the future. But I have to be up early tomorrow."

"For what? It's a Sunday."

"I'm supposed to go in to the studio in the morning. Get back into the swing of things there. There's a class at 9."

"Liss, come on, please? One night won't kill you."

"Are you saying you want me to walk into one of Fifi's classes with a hangover? She would kick my ass. She'd probably kick your ass."

"Probably," he agrees, and he pauses for a moment before letting out a heavy sigh. "Fine. You get a pass tonight, but this is the last fucking one! No more excuses to get out of lunch or post-win cellys. You hear me?"

"Yes," Calista groans, rolling her eyes. "Now get out of here, all of you. Go celebrate your win."

Jamie whoops loudly, right into her ear and she winces as she pulls away from his overexcited self. She knows whoever ends up going with him (Tyler of course, and Jordie, and it looks like Megan too from the way she's dressed) is going to have a hell of a time keeping up with him when he's in this much of a partying mood. "Take care of him, Tyler," she says, squeezing Jamie's arm lovingly.

"Oh please," Jamie cuts in. "He can get worse than me!"

"Fine then, take care of each other."

"Yes ma'am," Tyler nods, grinning at her.

Jamie slings one arm around Tyler's shoulders and the other around Jordie's, cheering loudly as he pulls them down the hallway. Calista sighs heavily in relief once their backs are to her and she leans back against the wall, running her hands through her hair and over her face in frustration. She doesn't see Jordie turn to look back at her before Megan yanks him out the door.