The Truth Is...

“Claudia!” James called out as he came barrelling down the stairs like a bull moose in a China factory, feet thumping and crashing loudly against the hardwood. Claudia was nowhere to be seen and the house was eerily quiet, and James nearly jumped out of his skin when the doorbell rang.

Laughing at himself he pulled the door open to find a USPS Delivery guy standing on the other side, who smiled gently and handed him a very large, and very heavy package, requiring his signature. Setting the parcel down on the floor by the door before he signed his name on the little screen and then closed the door once the delivery guy was headed back to his van.

James heaved the parcel up into his arm and headed into the kitchen where he set it down and glanced at the name on the outside. It was addressed to Claudia, and so with his eyebrows crunched he called out again, “Claud?”

“Out here!” She called, and James just now realized that the doors to the backyard were hanging open.

So he headed out there, finding her sitting on a pillow with a tea cup next to her and her laptop on her lap. She looked up at him, brushing her slightly outgrown blonde bangs to the sides of her face so that she could see him completely and James smiled at her. Her brow quirked and he told her, “There’s a package for you.”

“For me?” She asked him with a quirked eyebrow, and when he nodded she asked, “We’ve been here like four days, who would be sending me a parcel?”

“Lucca and Colin, according to the mailing slip.” James informed her, adding in, “It was also only addressed to you, seems they clearly have a favorite.”

Claudia let out a laugh and she closed her laptop and took it with her, leaving the tea cup and the pillow neglected. James followed her into the house and into the kitchen where she grabbed a knife and cut the box open, and she laughed. Inside was a large box with James’ name on it, she handed it to him and told him, “Don’t go crying about being left out yet.”

James grinned over at her as he took the box with his name on it. Claudia turned back to the rest of the box, pulling the card out first that held Lucca’s loopy writing.

‘Good luck on your new adventure, we’re happy that you’re going. We know that Vegas will treat you both well, but that doesn’t mean we won’t miss you guys dearly. I wanted to put together a little care package for you to take with you when you go, tell James that the aloe was all Colin (he thinks he’s funny). Anyway, I thought that this was something that would go really great in the new house, don’t say I never bought you a housewarming present.

- Love, Lucca and Colin.

P.S I seriously miss you already, and I still hate Denver. BOOOO.’

The care package comprised of a swim suit, body oil, bubble bath, her favorite margarita mix, and Aloe. Underneath that was a large glass and wooden framed poster of a mint green street map of Nashville, and Claudia noted the fact that little pink stars marked important locations for both she and James.

There was the Bridgestone arena, both of their houses, the address of the very first gallery Claudia had ever put on, the restaurant where they had their first date, and more.

James glanced over at it and said, “That goes right above the couch.”

With a smile Claudia nodded, and upon setting the framed poster down she looked over at what they had sent James and she asked him, “What are all those?”

She was talking about the stack of standard size picture frames he had pulled out of the box but hadn’t let her see what was in them yet. He held them a little closer to his chest now and told her, “Just something I asked Colin to mail from my house.”

“I’ve seen everything in your house you nerd, stop being all weird and secretive.” Claudia stated, crossing her arms over her chest as she watched him in amusement, leaning her hip against the counter.

James’ cheeks flushed as he set down the twelve picture frames all in one pile, and Claudia found herself staring at the very first time she had gotten to shoot the cover page of a magazine. It was a dinky little magazine that she didn’t even know if it was still around, right here in Las Vegas, but it had sure made her proud. Her own copy had been lost when she moved to Nashville thanks to the moving company losing half of her boxes.

She raised her eyebrow as James started to spread each frame out. Inside each frame were covers to various magazines that she had shot for, including the two pictures and their corresponding articles that she had shot for the National Geographic many moons ago.

She asked him, “You’ve had these all this time?”

“I keep everything you’ve published, everything your name has been in… it was really cool to have all these around, just never got around to framing them.” James explained to her.

Picking up that first cover shot Claudia asked him, “Where did you even get this?”

“When you mentioned, a long time ago, that the movers lost your copy when you came to Nashville I kind of set out to find one. Some guy in Reno had a copy, sold it to me for a pretty penny. I had every intention of framing it and giving it to you as a gift but I just never got around to it.” James told her, his cheeks red as a tomato.

Claudia set the picture down and she leaned up, hands on both cheeks, and kissed him square on the mouth. When she pulled away and dropped back down onto the heels of her feet she told him, “This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.”

“You have the puck from the goal I scored when I finally convinced you to come to a game.” James pointed out and she shrugged, adding in for good measure, “You also have the puck I scored my first Stanley Cup Final goal with.”

“Only because you were gonna toss it in a box with a bunch of other crap.” Claudia told him with a smile, stating after, “That’s something you need to take care of. It’s special.”

“And every single one of these are special too.” James pointed out, telling her, “Which is why they’re going up on that wall with that Nashville poster.”

“James.”

He shook his head, leaned down to kiss her and told her, “Don’t argue. I’ve heard it’s good for a boyfriend to show his girlfriend off a little, and you won’t let me do it on social media so you’ll have to deal with me doing it this way.”

“You’re annoying.” She told him with a smile.

James grinned over at her, “I know.”



Back in Nashville Claudia had managed to talk her landlord into allowing Snoop and Nixon to spend two weeks in her condo, so that James didn't have to live in his now bare home for his last few weeks in Nashville. However, her and James plus two dogs made the place seem even smaller than she had expected. She and James were beginning to drive each other crazy, something they had both noted and that was why James had brought up leaving for Vegas a little early.

Claudia's eyebrow raised and that told him he shouldn't have even suggested it.

With flushed cheeks James told her, "I just… I guess I'm getting a little anxious about it all."

"About what?" She asked him, turning her head to glance over at him as they laid beside each other in her bed. James was laying on top of the covers in his boxer briefs, Claudia was underneath the sheets in nothing.

"Getting out there, getting the season started." James told her honestly, letting out a sigh before he told her, "But I'm also anxious about being there… without you."

"Why?" Claudia asked him curiously.

"Honesty, right?" James asked her and she nodded her head. They had decided long ago that things would never work between them if they were completely honest about things. So James admitted, "I'm trying really hard to… figure this whole relationship thing out and I guess…"

When he trailed off Claudia rolled onto her side, resting her hand on his stomach as she finished for him, "Worried you won't know what to do?"

"Don't laugh, I'm serious." James told her when she giggled, which only made her giggle more. He nudged her gently and she stopped and that was when he explained, "I'm afraid of hurting you."

This really caught her attention, she rolled onto her stomach and looked him right in the eye as she told him, "You have never once hurt me in the years we've known each other."

"But this is different Claudia. I could hurt you in the worst way just by being the kind of person that I'm used to being." He told her honestly.

Claudia leaned forward and kissed him fiercely, and when she pulled back she told him, "I know the kind of person you are. I wouldn't have changed our relationship like this if I didn't have faith in you."

"That's what scares me the most." James told her, sighing before he cleared his throat and said, "I don't want to disappoint you but I know I will eventually."

"If and when you do we'll figure it out. We'll deal with it James, like every other couple does." Claudia told him, but she made sure to warn him, "But the second you find you want something else- someone else, I need you to tell me and I need you to walk away."

He was almost offended and it showed when he asked, "What does that mean?"

"I don't know that I could, so just… if you get tired of this just be honest with me." Claudia told him, and James didn't like the way insecure sounded on her.

He leaned over and kissed her quickly, telling her, "You and I have matching tattoos, that seals this deal."

"Oh does it now?" Claudia asked him with a grin.

He nodded his head, leaned over for another kiss and informed her, "Ink is a permanent thing, you've a little piece of me and I have a little piece of you."

"I kinda like the sound of that." Claudia told him with a soft smile, leaning up to steal one more quick kiss from him.

When she got out of bed and headed into the bathroom James asked her, "Where are you going?"

He heard her digging around as she told him, "Order some pizza, I'm starving."

"It's like eight at night." James pointed out.

"So?" She challenged.

"We already ate dinner." He stated.

"Obviously not enough." Claudia informed him, and she stuck her head out the bathroom, leaning against the door frame she smiled over at him and said, "Besides, we just burned a lot calories and I need to replace them."

James let out a laugh and grabbed his phone from the nightstand next to him to order them pizza. His interest was piqued and he quirked an eyebrow when he heard water running in the bathroom, he asked Claudia, "Whatcha doing in there?"

"Come find out." She told him.

So James heaved himself up and out of bed and he padded across the floor and into the bathroom where he found Claudia bent over the side of the tub pouring a liquid into the running water. He peeked over to see the tub filling with both water and bubbles and he smiled.

Curiously he approached her sink and pulled the drawer underneath it out, asking out loud, "You know we've been friends for years and I've never once snooped in your bathroom."

"That's because you're not a snooper." Claudia reminded him, and he smiled over at her, laughing when she added, "I snooped in your bathroom the first time I ever stepped foot in your house."

"I know you did." He told her with a grin. He picked up a face mask and asked, "Why do women like these things so much? Like does it really do anything?"

"Aside from hydrating? Probably not but it feels very luxurious when you put it on." She told him, laughing when he put unscrewed the lid and brought it up to his nose to smell.

He shook his head in amusement at the idea of a face mask and put it back before he pushed aside a package of razors and tampons, things he expected to be in here and didn't care to snoop for. He pulled out a bottle of massage oil and grinned, "Orange and ginger huh?"

Claudia smiled, "It's even edible."

"Really?" James asked her, she had obviously caught his attention with that one.

Nodding Claudia piled her blonde hair into a bun at the top of her head before she lit a handful of candles on shelves by the tub. She turned to him and asked him, "How long for the pizza?"

Glancing at the watch on his wrist James told her, "Fifteen minutes maybe."

So Claudia slipped past him and headed into the kitchen, she grabbed two cans of Sprite before she reappeared into the bathroom. James watched as she put the pop cans on the little table that was tucked in the corner by the tub before she approached him.

His eyebrow raised when she grabbed the face mask he had been questioning her about minutes earlier and unscrewed the lid. She dipped her fingers into it and then smeared it across his nose and cheeks, James made a face in response and told her, "My skin was fine."

"Debatable." She informed him, using her other hand to gather more of the mask before she put it on her own face. She then grabbed an elastic from the little jar by the soap on the sink and James let out a laugh when she pushed his shoulders down, making him bend his knees so that he was closer to her height and she put his hair into a little pony tail, pulling the longest pieces out of his face.

"Am I ready?" He asked her in amusement.

She looked him up and down before she shook her head and tore open a package, taking out two under eye sheet masks and applying them to his face, again mimicking the actions on her self.

He asked her, "How about now?"

"Perfect."

"And how do I look?" He asked her with a wide grin.

Claudia told him, "Absolutely fabulous darling."

The doorbell rang and he groaned when Claudia looked at him, he asked her, "You're gonna make me answer the door like this aren't you?"

"Yup. Hurry up I don't like cold pizza." Claudia told him.

"Yeah, yeah." James muttered as he headed out of the bathroom and to the door to get the pizza.

Claudia dropped her robe by the sink and climbed into the tub to wait for James, and when he didn't come back right away she asked him, "Did you get lost or something?"

"I was locking up, hold your horses-" James started, and when he walked into the bathroom and spotted Claudia naked in the tub he nearly dropped the box of pizza.

Her eyebrow raised as she asked him, "Well, are you gonna get in or what?"

"You're in the bath… and you want to have pizza?" He asked her in surprise.

"I'll have you know my favorite way to spend a Thursday evening is eating pizza in a bubble bath." Claudia stated with a smile.

James out the pizza on the table with their Sprite and stripped out of the sweat pants he had pulled up over his underwear to answer the door. As he stepped into the tub and sat down facing Claudia he shook his head in amusement as she leaned forward and kissed him quickly.

He watched as she grabbed herself a slice of pizza, bit into it, and chewed with a smile on her face.

There was never a dull moment with Claudia and God did he hope that never changed.