Nirvana

You're a first class ticket on the last plane home

James glanced down at his phone for what seemed like the hundredth time that morning. He had been debating on calling Paul since he got up that morning, and it was now 11 A.M and he was no further along on that than he was at 8. He didn't know what to say, it wasn't as if Paul would be surprised to find out that James and screwed up, no James knew the only thing that would surprise Paul was the fact that James had a girlfriend, and it was serious.

Before he could convince himself otherwise he pulled up Paul's contact and hit call, holding the phone up to his ear. After four rings he was sure there wasn't going to be an answer, and he was relieved, until he heard the line click, "Hey, what's up?"

"I need some advice." James stated, and upon hearing Paul's laughter he rolled his eyes.

"You stop cooking the bacon when it's crispy but not rock hard." James couldn't help but laugh at this, typical Paul.

James simply told him in response, "I actually know how to cook bacon now."

"That's surprising." Was all he got back.

After a few seconds of silence James told him, "That's actually why I'm calling."

"You called to tell me you can cook breakfast now?" Again James rolled his eyes.

"There's this girl." James said, getting up and making his way down the hall toward the living room. The curtains were all wide open, he hadn't bothered to close them before going to bed the night before, he didn't have to turn any lights on thankfully because of the natural light. He walked into the kitchen, pulled the fridge open and took a drink of milk straight from the carton.

"You gonna elaborate there?" Paul asked on the other end, and James put the carton back in the fridge and closed the door. He smiled upon seeing the picture stuck to the door of the fridge with a magnet. It was of him and Harley, after a game, the first one she wore his jersey to. It was the only picture on the fridge, actually he was sure it was the only picture displayed in his entire house.

"Sorry, it's uh... complicated?"

Paul laughed again, "It always is."

"I think I screwed it up before we even got a chance to really be anything." James told him, and Paul could have sighed. He should have known, James may have had a reputation in Pittsburgh, but Paul knew James and the minute things started to go downhill he was 100% positive it was something he did.

"Okay, what happened?"

James sat down on the couch, ran a hand through his hair and told Paul, "I told her I love her, and I think I freaked her out."

"Hold on, you told her what?" Paul asked, completely caught off guard. He'd known James for years, and the only person he heard him say that to was his mother, and for a brief period of time Sarah. Since Sarah he wasn't sure James was even capable of saying it again.

James wanted to roll his eyes, in fact he was nearly going to when he realized how crazy he sounded. No wonder Harley freaked out. He let out a sigh and explained, "I told her, and she didn't say anything, and we've barely talked since. I screwed it up, no wonder she doesn't want to talk to me. Who says that after like three weeks? I'm crazy."

"Calm down, no one's gonna have you committed for that." Paul told him, waiting a few seconds before he asked, "Did you mean it?"

There wasn't even a second before James told him, "Absolutely."

Paul smiled and said, "Then don't sweat it. As long as you really meant it, I don't see why it matters if you said it at three weeks or three months."

"You don't think it's insane?" James was surprised, Paul was always the rational, think everything through before you say it person. James was definitely not, he was impulsive and always said the wrong thing at the wrong time. He hadn't quite figured out how to stop that yet, and he was beginning to think he never would.

"It doesn't matter what I think, or what anyone else does. If you feel it, then you feel it. Why is it that this is the first I've heard of a girl?" Paul asked, waiting rather impatiently for James' response.

James struggled with how to explain it, he knew no matter what way he spun it, it wouldn't look good. After a few seconds he chose to just say it, "She dated one of my old teammates."

There was a pause on the other line, and James knew Paul was having the same reaction that his mother and sister both had to the news. His brothers didn't really care, but he hadn't expected them to. After a few seconds Paul said, "Go on."

"They broke up a few months before I got here, they're still friends, I met her through him." James told him.

"What's her name?"

"Harley." James said, putting his feet up onto the coffee table before he leaned back into the couch, instantly hitting his back on something hard and pointed. He leaned forward and dug in the cushions behind him before he pulled a book out. He almost laughed, there was a whole shelf full of books in the spare bedroom that was half of an office he never used that was from Harley.

"Like Davidson?" James laughed at Paul's question.

"Sort of."

"So what's she like?" Paul asked curiously.

"I don't know. She's... short, long hair, green eyes. She uh, she owns a bar here." Was all he could think of, and it made Paul chuckle to himself.

"She owns a bar?"

James nodded even though Paul couldn't see him and then told him, "Next time you're here I'll take you."

"So this is serious then?" Paul asked him, waiting patiently for the answer. James was always fairly private with his feelings, especially these kinds, this was probably the most he had talked about something like this with Paul since Sarah left.

"I'm gonna marry this girl."

- - -

Harley slumped into the booth across from Shea with a loud sigh. She pushed her hair out of her face several times before eventually getting annoyed and pulling it up into a messy bun. Shea took in her appearance of sweat pants and a t shirt, no makeup, and raised his eyebrow at her.

She shook her head at him and warned, "I don't have enough food in me yet to discuss my problems."

Shea let out a laugh that made her in turn raise her eyebrow at him. It wasn't until a waitress placed 2 plates down on their table and left that Harley laughed as well. He had ordered for her, Sunnyside up eggs, bacon, cubed hashbrowns and toast. Harley was beginning to think Shea knew a little too much about her.

When she bit into a piece of bacon rather angrily Shea knew something was up and whatever it was, was big. Harley had the tendency to stress eat, and given her lifestyle Shea still didn't know how she managed to keep her body in shape. He bit into his toast and watched as she popped a hashbrown into her mouth, chewed and then paused before letting out a quiet moan at the taste. Finally Shea asked, "Alright what's up?"

Harley raised her eyebrow and tried to play stupid, "What? I can't have breakfast with you for no reason?"

"As much as I know you use any excuse to not have to cook for yourself it's obvious somethings up." Shea told her with a pointed look, making Harley sigh and put her piece of bacon back onto her plate.

She stared at the plate for a long second before she looked up at him and told him, "So James told me he loves me last night."

When Shea choked on his orange juice she gave him a look as if to say 'yeah'. He coughed a few times, before he looked at her with slightly wide eyes and asked, "Seriously?"

Harley nodded and pushed her eggs around on her plate with her fork, not even looking up to say, "Yeah and I left."

"I'm sorry you what?"

She still didn't look over at him, instead she just nodded slowly and explained, "He said 'I love you' and I made some bullshit excuse up about needing to get to the bar. Who does that?"

"So wait… he just randomly said it?" Shea asked curiously, James didn't seem like the kind of guy that said it first. Maybe that showed how little he really knew about his new teammate.

"Yeah. We were…you know...kissing and he just blurted it out." Harley told him, popping another hashbrown into her mouth. Shea watched as she chewed, swallowed and then took a large gulp of her chocolate milk, an amused smile on her face. When Harley glanced up and saw his smile she raised her eyebrow, "What the fuck is funny about this whole situation."

"Nothing, it's just… is it really that bad of a thing?" Shea asked her curiously, watching carefully to gauge her reaction. She stayed silent for a few seconds, bit into a slice of bacon, before she shrugged.

"We've been on like one official date."

Shea raised his eyebrow and challenged her, "But you've known each other for what going on four months?"

"Your point?" Harley asked, immediately shoving another hashbrown into her mouth.

Shea let out a chuckle at her before telling her, "My point is that I knew I loved Emma 3 weeks in. It took me 5 months to tell her. So he said it first, what's the big deal?"

"It's not about who said it first Weber."

Shea laughed at the last name useage and quipped back with the same tactic, "Then what's it about Callahan?"

Harley let out a groan and slammed her head against the table. Shea saw a few people glance toward their table, obviously curious as to what was going on. When he turned back to Harley she had her elbow on the table, with her hand holding her head up, and a sour look on her face as she told him, "I didn't say it back. That's gonna change things."

"Did he expect you to?" Shea asked her.

"Not technically but-"

Interrupting her from going further into her downward spiral Shea told her, "Then maybe you should see how it goes. If he says he's okay with waiting then wait until you're ready to say it back."

"But what if I'm never ready?" Harley asked softly, looking down at her plate of food again.

Shea was surprised when she didn't start eating again, but he was more surprised to hear her say that. Sure he had only known her a few years but if there was one thing about Harley that he knew it was that she had more love in her than she knew what to do with. He continued to watch her in silence for a few seconds, trying to mentally decide if he was going to share some of this with James, maybe help him understand Harley's process a little better, or if he was going to keep silent.

Finally he told her, "That's not gonna happen."

She looked up at him and rolled her eyes, "In case you forgot I'm not exactly the poster girl for good relationships."

"You're selling yourself short here."

She raised an eyebrow, "Am I? Name one of my relationships that worked out?"

"That's not fair." Shea told her, sending her a pointed look to go with his words, that only resulted in her shrugging.

"It is what it is. It was only a matter of time before this one blew up in my face too." She stated.

Shea shook his head at her, "It hasn't blown up. You're making a bigger deal over this than you need to."

"I just need to come to terms with the fact that clearly I am supposed to be old and alone with nothing good in my life." She knew she was being dramatic, but she wasn't sure she was that far off at this point. Nothing seemed to work for her lately, and she was starting to get tired of trying.

"Well you have the bar." Shea joked, his brows furrowing in confusion when she let out a short laugh and nodded her head slowly.

"Not for long." Harley muttered before she looked up at him and told him, "Probably gonna be shutting it down by Christmas."

"Not a funny joke." Shea told her, and he realized she was serious when she didn't smile or laugh. Curiously he asked, "Why?"

"Because I can't keep up with the reno's needed and the constant changing of trends. It's getting too overwhelming and I don't have the money to fix it all." Harley told him honestly, finding it felt good to at least tell someone. She'd been keeping it to herself for almost a month, when she realized that going at the speed they were with no changes they'd close their doors within the month.

"Well how much do you need?" Shea asked her, partially being curious and partially asking to help.

Harley shot that idea down quick, "Not a chance."

"Why not?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, leaning forward on the table against his forearms.

"Because I'm not taking your money Shea." Harley told him, biting into her toast.

He watched her for several seconds again before asking, "Does James know?"

"No, and I'll tell him when I feel like it's time to." She wasn't sure why she kept it from James, but it was probably because she knew he'd go straight to the bank if she did.

"You're not even gonna let us help?" Shea asked her, and she could tell he was annoyed with the situation.

"This is my mess not yours. I knew going into this that owning a bar is a hard business. I'll figure something out." Harley said, giving him a look that told him to drop the subject.

Taking her hint Shea asked her, "Are you at least gonna take my advice on the whole James thing?"

"I don't see how we can go back to normal after this."

"Honestly Harley when he told you what was the first thing that came to your mind?" Shea asked her, waiting patiently for an answer from her.

Finally she said, "That he was crazy."

Letting out a laugh Shea shook his head in amusement at her before pushing forward, "And then what?"

Harley thought about it for a moment before she admitted, "That I think I love him to too."
♠ ♠ ♠
Wee updates!

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Hoping to get a ty update done this weekend and update this again before Sunday so keep an eye out. Also expect new stories to start showing up soon :)