Endzone

I could see his familiar face walking through the crowd of people at the airport, leaving with the other new arrivals to the DFW Airport. His tall stature was able to pick my shorter form in the crowd in record time before he took off in my direction with some speed. “Welcome back Jamie!” I engulfed the man in a hug, he picked me off my feet and spun me around before placing me back on the ground so I could hug his brother. “Hey Jordie.” I smiled giving him an equally tight hug, which he reciprocated. I stepped back to get at the two men. “Look at you guys! Jamie, you’ve been working out this summer.” I said shamelessly checking over his new fitter figure, not that he wasn’t fit to begin with.
“He’ll still be Chubbs to us.” Jordie smirked patting his brother on the shoulder.
I could see a sad look flash across Jamie’s face. I knew how he could be insecure about himself, especially with that nickname. But then again, who wasn’t insecure at times. “Well I think you look good Jamie. And I like what you did with your hair.” I smiled running my hand on the smooth shaved side. “It suites you.”
“Thanks Danica.” He wrapped his arm around my shoulders as we started the walk out to my car. “How was your summer?”
“Boring without you guys. I caught up on a few TV shows and I’m actually all caught up on my work.”
“Well that has nothing to do with us not being here. You don’t have to worry about the players when they’re home for the summer.” Jordie tossed his bags into the truck of my Jeep Wrangler before jumping in the back seat.
“That may be true, but still, I hate when you guys leave me. How was BC?”
“Same old. Not much has changed since we left.”
“How’s Mama Benn?”
“Good, she says hi by the way.”
“I’ll have to call her later then.” The ride back to the apartment was short since we were missing all the rush hour traffic. Jamie and I went our separate ways when Jordie got off at his floor, I could tell he was tired from the flight and would probably want a nap. He leaned his head on my shoulder, which was slightly awkward since he was so much taller than me. “Tired Jame?”
“Yeah. Is it nap time?”
“Of course it is.” I smiled as the elevator doors opened up. Jamie followed me up to our apartment before promptly laying down on the couch. “You’re not even gonna try to make it to your room?”
“Nope. I’m comfy here.”
“Suite yourself.” I smirked tossing a blanket over him.
“It looks weird in here now that Jordie’s gone.” I he looked around the room, noting the change that happened shortly before her left for Victoria. Jordie had finally moved out with his girlfriend of 3 years. Jamie had asked me to move in with him, because he didn’t want to live alone and because I already spent enough time there that it just made sense.
“You’ll get used to it.”
“I’m also surprised it’s not overly girly.”
“Was my apartment that girly to begin with?” I took the chance to look around the room, most of Jamie’s achievements were up on the wall, a few of his jerseys were framed from his time in the minors, and the first jersey he ever wore as a Star was the focal point of the room with a picture of him at the draft. Beside that on the shelf below the TV was one of the few additions I had made, a picture of Jamie and I at the draft, when we first met.
“No, but I still expected it to be different.”
“I wasn’t planning on redecorating anyways.” I shrugged at the chill roommate talk we were having. “You want anything to eat before you go to bed?”
Jamie perked up. “I’ll never say no to your cooking.” I smiled at that before tying my long hair into a pony tail. Jamie followed me to the kitchen and sat himself on the counter watching while I whipped up some sandwiches. We ate in most silence, sharing idle conversation. Jamie commented on how long my hair had gotten since he last saw me, mainly since I just couldn’t be bothered to cut it. We talked about how excited he was for the new season with the new makeover to the Team. They’d decided to do away this the rather plain Dallas jerseys and opt for a new vibrant green with a distinct new logo. The new jersey had been premiered a few weeks ago and so far the reception was good.
“Have you met any of the new players yet?
“Not yet.” I took the plates from the table and put them in the dishwasher. “Only two have flown in already.”
“Who was that?”
“Valeri Nichushkin and Patrik Nemeth.” Jamie nodded. “I’m making runs to the airport tomorrow to get a few players, so I’m stealing your truck.”
“Who’s coming in tomorrow?”
“Tyler Seguin is flying in, and Roussel and Eakin asked for rides since I’ll be there.”
“Did you want me to come with you?”
“I’m sure I can manage, besides I’m sure you’re eager to get back on the ice.”
“It’s not like I spent my whole summer training.”
Jamie and I ended up spending his first night home by watching movies and catching up on life since he went home for the summer, he kept pestering me about finding a guy, which was fun for him until I turned the subject back on him. I was at back at the airport to pick up the boys. Eakins was the first to arrive at approximately 9:30am, we quickly ran his things to the truck before returning to the terminal to grab a much needed coffee. Eakins was telling me all about his lake adventures while he was home in Winnipeg, and how his friends threw him a huge welcome back party to congratulate him from making it into the NHL. Eakin is such a sweet guy, he hasn’t been tainted by some of the jerks that are floating around the NHL, and I was thankful for that.

The doors to the terminal opened up as another flight came in. We kept our eyes open for a familiar French friend, but we didn’t see him. Cody went to check the boards only to find out that his flight had been delayed, but the flight from Toronto Seguin would be on would be early. “Do you want to wait for him or should I do that?”
Eakin quickly shoved a bagel in his face using the excuse that he was eating. “Besides Dan, isn’t that you’re job?”
“You’ve been demoted from my favorite.”
“I thought Jamie was the favorite?”
“No, he’s the roommate, I tolerate him.”
“I’m so telling him that.”
I took the sign I had brought with Seguin’s name on it, seeing how he hadn’t been to the state before it was my responsibly to make sure he got settled in and had a smooth move from Boston to Dallas. Most of his stuff had arrived a few weeks ago and I saw to it personally to have it all set up. I of course had to recruit some of the Stars that stayed in Dallas for the summer to help me move couches. This was something that made me own Daley lunch for a few days in repayment for labour.
I’d only seen pictures of the clean shaven dweeby looking guy I was supposed to be picking up, so you could imagine the surprise I had experienced when a tall dark haired tattooed man walked up to me. “You must be Danica.” His deep voice resonated in me. I couldn’t help but smirk at the facial hair that covered his face, making him look a lot older than 21.
“You must be Tyler. Pleasure to meet you.” I smiled shaking his hand. “Welcome to Dallas.”
“Thanks.” He smiled a wide smile, and I could see exactly why he got into so much trouble in Boston. This guy is a fucking lady killer. That smile would make any girl swoon. He wasn’t the typical guy I would go for, but I couldn’t deny that he was attractive.
“Come on, we’ll go toss your stuff into the truck while we wait for Roussel to get in.” Tyler shrugged and following me out to the car. He commented me on the nice truck I had, which I had to explain I had swiped from Jamie. He smiled at that, before we returned to the coffee shop to visit with the ginger haired center.
Tyler and Cody were chatting over hockey, like any of these hockey players do, I would get my little tidbits in here and there. Tyler was actively asking us questions to get to know us. Like how I got into working for the organization and how Cody like playing for the team next year. Cody and I were taking turns checking the terminal to see if Antoine had come out but we had no such luck. We chatted for a few minutes before my phone ran, the name on the screen reading Roussel. “Salut mon ami.”
“Salut mon cher.”
“Antoine, what’s taking so long? You were supposed to be out 20 minutes ago.”
“They lost one of my bags.”
“That’s terrible. I hope it wasn’t your equipment.”
“No, it was just some clothes.”
“Well that’s a plus, are you on your way out now?”
“Yes, I shall see you soon mon cher.”
I hung up the phone and informed the guys that our third person was here. We grabbed Roussel and were on our way out of the airport before noon. My phone started ringing again once we were out of the airport tolls. “Cody can you answer that please.” I asked handing him my phone.
“Danica Williams, how may I help you?” He answered using his best professional voice. “Oh hi Jamie.” I rolled my eyes knowing fully well he was wondering where we were, having been gone an hour longer than we should have. “I don’t know man, I’ll ask.” I pulled the phone away from his face. “Jame wants to know if we want lunch.”
“By lunch does he mean going out, or me cooking?”
Cody relayed my question to Jamie. “He means you cooking.” I rolled my eyes again.
“That boy is going to abuse the fact that he lives with someone that can cook. I just know it. Well at least we’re all going in that general area.”
“Would you be able to drop me off Danica? I’m supposed to be meeting up with Emily.”
“Of course. Tyler did you want to go to your apartment to get settled?” I shrugged catching Tyler looking at me through the rear view mirror.
“I wouldn’t mind dropping off my things if that’s okay.” He continued to watch me through the mirror.
“That’s not a problem, you actually live in the same building as Jamie and I.”
Jamie was anxiously waiting all morning for Danica to come back home. He was pacing and worrying that something had happened since she hadn’t replied to his texts. He was also growing hungry as the morning ticked away. His morning had been spent working out at the rink and he had come home expecting Danica to be here after he got out of the shower, so when she wasn’t home, he worried.
He swooped Danica into a hug bear hug when she and Cody walked into the apartment. “Miss me that much Jame? I’m surprised you lasted the whole summer without me.”
“You didn’t answer my texts, I didn’t know why you were taking so long.”
She gave him a kiss on the cheek. “First Antoine’s flight was delayed, then one of his bags was lost. It was nothing to serious Jame. You know these things can happen.” Smoothing her hand over the shaved side of his head to calm him down. “Now you go sit in the living room with Cody, while I go make the four of us lunch.”
“Four of us?”
“Tyler is coming over too.”
I didn’t make anything to elaborate for lunch, just a salad and some steak sandwiches. The boys gathered at the kitchen bar and I served them their food. Cody and Jamie hungrily bit into their food, eliciting moans from their mouth as the delicious food hit their taste buds. Tyler waited for me to sit down across from them before digging in. His eyes went wide as he slowly chewed the first bite, I watched him carefully always a little insecure when someone new was eating my food. “How is it Tyler?”
“It’s amazing.” He took a large gulp of water before taking another bite. “You may just be a better cook than my mom.”
“Well thank you Tyler.” I smiled as my insecurities were now gone, I bit happily into my sandwich.