Counting Stars

“Ok, bar is all set up, caterers set food in the dining room; we are set.” Avery could keep speaking for all Jon knows but he’s lost all cognitive ability when she enters the room at the end of the sentence. She’s dressed in a short and tight, lace red dress, with black high heels that make her legs go on for miles. Her hair is blown out, down and loose but still mostly straight, and in addition to both of her usual rings, she’s got shiny earrings in both ears and a large cuff bracelet on one of her wrists. He’s speechless at her beauty, he can’t breathe, she’s—“Wanna shotgun a beer on the roof like old times before everyone arrives?”

She’s perfect. “Yes,” It’s the only word he can physically say, the only word he can mentally form.

Avery beams mischievously. “Race ya,” She says and takes off running as fast as she can in her heels.

“Cheater!” Jon calls as he moves to catch up.

On the roof, he crows about his come-from-behind victory as she spouts shit about her heels slowing her down and his leg-length advantage. “Excuses, excuses,” Jon waves it off, pulling two beer cans out of the fridge.

The roof’s been decorated for the party too, with strands of Christmas lights surrounding the edges and decorations carefully placed, as well as a fully stocked fridge full of drinks, but Chicago moving fast toward full winter, Jon’s not expecting too many people to be outside.

Avery’s already shivering as she bounces up and down in place to keep warm and Jon can’t help himself; his eyes travel down to her chest where evidence is more than ample that she’s cold. “Let’s go,” She waves her hand in a move-it-along fashion; Jon hastens to comply and pulls out his keys.

“Ready?” She nods excitedly, as he carefully punctures hers and then his can, and then grins as he begins to count. “3, 2, 1—“

“Winner,” Avery throws down, just a few seconds before Jon, which Jon will admit is almost always the case; she chugs beer like a champ. “Tie game, motherfu—“Jon cuts her off with a kiss, just a soft press of his lips of hers. When he pulls away, she stares up at him with wide eyes, hands still barely pressing in at his waist.

After a moment, he dips back down, an easier feat thanks to the five inch heels. Without the surprise this time, she meets him, opening easy and tangling her tongue with his. Jon pulls her in closer, wrapping one arm around her body and anchoring the other in her hair. Avery tugs on the tie Jon’s wearing mostly just for show to pull him down further and Jon responds by moving down to a sensitive spot on her neck and biting gently.

She gasps, the noise quickly followed by a bitten back moan when he continues lavishing the spot. “People,” Avery whimpers out eventually and Jon understands what she means so he moves back to meet her mouth, but he hates to leave that spot, hates to get away from where she’s so responsive. God damn, one of these days he’s going to get her in bed for a full day just to themselves, spend the entirety of it taking her apart.

“Well,” The smug voice of Abby Sharp pulls them apart, and when Jon turns around, she and her husband are wearing matching smirks as they stand in the doorway to the roof. “We came over early to see if you needed help with anything, but I guess we should have called,”

“Probably good we got here when we did,” Sharpy adds. “Any longer and we wouldn’t have seen them all night,”

“Oh God,” Avery buries her face in Jon’s chest.

Abby’s smirk grows. “See you inside!” She takes her leave, pulling her husband inside with her and shutting the door behind them. Avery groans into Jon’s chest as they go.

Jon presses a kiss to the top of her head. “One day,” He says. “I’m going to finish what I start with you. Unfortunately, that’s probably not tonight,” She laughs, finally looking up to meet his eyes. The annual team-only Christmas party can always be counted on for great food, good times, and plenty of drinks. They’ve both been to enough of these to know there’s no way he’ll be able to get it up tonight when they finally make it to bed…if she hasn’t already passed out.

“Deal,” Avery leans onto her toes a little to press a quick kiss against his lips. “We should get inside before anyone else comes and those two start spreading rumors.”

“Wouldn’t put it past them to do that when we’re standing with them,” Jon says, but he tangles his fingers with hers and leads her back into the warmth of the living room.

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When Jon finally pulls himself out of bed the next day, it’s close to noon, with a massive headache, and the dry mouth that only follows a night full of drinking. An hour or so ago, Avery’s phone had rung, pulling them both out of the deep sleep they’d been in. She’d taken one look at the caller and jumped out of bed, cursing everything from her hangover to gravity before answering the phone pleasantly as she walked out the door to let Jon sleep more.

Jon helps himself to the Advil and water Avery prepared on her nightstand the day before and slips a pair of sweatpants on before deciding to brave the rest of the house and see what didn’t bring Avery back to bed. Each step makes his headache worse; it’s possible it’s an elevator day.

Kaner and Amanda emerge from the guest room as Jon’s standing at the top of the steps staring down at them. They’re the only two that opted to take Jon and Avery up on their offer to stay for the evening and neither one of them looks any better than Jon feels when they come to stand next to him.

“Fuck it,” Amanda mutters after a minute, smacking her hand out to hit the ‘down’ button.

“Atta girl,” Jon says.

She snorts out a laugh as the elevator dings its arrival and then groans as she steps inside. “Ow,” Amanda whines, rubbing her head. “That hurt,”

Jon joins Kaner in his laughter, but she’s right, it absolutely makes his head feel worse.

Avery’s laughter when the elevator opens to the kitchen has them all wincing. “I appreciate it. Yep, Tuesday afternoon works perfectly; we’ll be there. Oh, you too,” She squeals, throwing her phone down on the island counter.

“Please never make that noise again,” Kaner begs.

“Sorry,” Avery winces. “Too excited. Rough all around.”

“What’s going on?” Jon asks.

“Who calls at such a godforsaken hour in the morning?” Amanda adds, only half joking.

“Navy Pier’s event coordinator, with all the details about an inquiry I put in regarding the different spaces they had available for weddings,” Avery beams. Despite how it only makes his worse, Jon feels a smile grow on his face. “Chatty woman, but more than willing to tell me everything I wanted to know about all the venues, including Aon Grand Ballroom which is where Wedding 2.0 is taking place on Saturday June 20th which I know cuts close to Stanley Cup Final but I already cleared is after the end so hopefully we’ll just have an extra guest at the wedding, barring everything goes well when we visit Tuesday after morning skate.”

“Did you say that all in one breath?” Kaner asks, amused grin on his face.

Jon ignores him in favor of pulling Avery forward into his arms. “Sounds perfect,”

“Huge ballroom, lots of space, outdoor terrace attached,” She hums, resting against him. “I think this may be it,”

“Whatever you want,” Jon tells her honestly, then corrects himself because that feels wrong. “Anything you want,”