Promises to Keep

Three months into moving to Dallas, and things were proving to be looking good. She enjoyed her work; her boss and coworkers work great to work with, and she seemed to be making fast friends in Jamie and his girlfriend, Katie. The move was just what the doctor ordered for her.

"Oh my gosh I'm so so sorry" a man apologized over and over. He had bumped into her, spilling his coffee to the ground, narrowly missing her feet.

"No worries, it's fine" she laughed it off. "It didn't spill on me so it's not that bad" she then added, pointing to the spill on the sidewalk. It was a chilly, March afternoon, and on her lunch break she had decided to get some air before writing her next article. Tyler and the Stars were on their Eastern road trip swing, and would be away for a week.

"Still, I'm so sorry- I need to watch where I'm going" he chuckled with embarrassment. The brown haired girl in front of him was gorgeous. She had the most amazing chocolate brown eyes that sparkled in the sunlight.

There was no question, he was immediately attracted. "I'm Nick, by the way" he decided to go for it.
"I'm Tayla" she introduced herself, feeling the attraction to him as well. He was tall, standing at maybe 6'2. He had soft blonde hair he had slicked back, and a smile that was easily one of the best she had ever seen.

"Would you maybe, wanna grab a drink sometime?" he blurted out before he lost the confidece to do so. Tayla was taken aback. It had been a few months since her last relationship had gone south, without so much as an explanation. When it came to romance, she appeared to be cursed; no relationship she had ever lasted, though in her mind, things had been going so well.

"I- uh, yeah.. that'd be great" Tayla stuttered, her heart rate intensifying. Though her last relationship had gone sour and it had only been a couple months, she would never move on if she didn't put herself back out there. Though going for drinks with a man she had just met in the street could be seen as a little strange, it didn't matter.

"What's your number? I'll text you" he took his phone out to compose a new message.

"555-6078" she replied, and he typed it into his phone. "I've got to go back to work- talk soon?" she asked, still skeptical about the stranger hitting on her in the street.

"Absolutely. How's next Friday night sound?" he asked nervously.

"I'll see you then" she confirmed. With that, he gave a wave, and they both walked in opposite directions.

On the walk back to work Tayla was not able to keep the smile off her face. She bit her lip thinking of how attractive he was, and how soothing his voice was as he spoke. Three months into the move and things seemed to be going just the way she had hoped.

*******

"I'm panicking here, K!" Tayla sighed, exasperated. "What do I wear?" she asked for what Katie thought was the one hundredth time.

"You know it's not going to matter what you wear" she assured her new friend.

"I only met him a week ago, and have been texting him a little but he might care!" she reasoned, heading back into her closet. She decided to go with her little black dress. It came just above the knee, and was your typical little black dress. She had a lot of different clothes she had worn for all the dates she had had over the years, but somehow nothing was ever what she wanted to wear. "What about this?"

"That's cute!" Katie commented, approving of her selection. Tayla slipped on the dress and grabbed a pair of black heels before presenting herself to Katie.

"Do I look okay?" she asked, giving Katie a twirl. The pair laughed, and Katie nodded her head in approval. "I'm ready" she then decided. Panicking and being nervous wasn't going to help her at this point.

Tyler and Jamie pulled into the driveway, feeling heavy after a long day of practices and working out. The last crunch for the playoffs was here, and they sat one point out of the last wildcard spot. Unless they picked it up, they would find themselves missing the post season again, something Jamie nor Tyler was prepared to deal with.

"I can't wait to just relax tonight" Tyler sighed. Though the had a game tomorrow night and would have an early morning skate, it was only 6pm, and they had plenty of time to relax that evening before an important game with a division rival the next night.

"Woah, Tayla, looking good!" Jamie wolf whistled as Tayla walked down the stairs. "You look good too, babe" he added to Katie, who shot him a fake angry look.

"Why so dressed up?" Tyler asked, confused. During the months she had moved up, there weren't many nights he had off that they didn't spend time together in some form on a Friday night.

"Someone's got a daaaaate" Katie sang, and Tayla rolled her eyes, turning a light shade of pink.

"A Date?" Tyler asked, eyebrows arched in surprise.

"Yeah, I met a guy who almost spilt his coffee on me the other week" Tayla informed Tyler, feeling bad she hadn't mention it earlier. "I wasn't sure if I was going to go through with it so I didn't say anything but hey- you've got one life to live, right?" she reasoned.

Tyler stood in place, shell shocked. She had been here for three months and had a date already?
"That-That's great" Tyler said, trying to act like he was happy for her, when he reality, it couldn't be further from the truth.

"He's here- here I go!" Tayla suddenly announced, seeing the car lights through the window. "Wish me luck!" she then crossed her fingers and left closing the door swiftly behind her. It didn't take long for Jamie nor Katie to crack down on Tyler's sudden change in demeanour when a mention of a date was made.

"Spill." Katie demanded, folding her arms across her chest.

"Spill what?" Tyler scoffed, pretending he had no idea what she was talking about. He made his way into the kitchen, hoping to avoid the conversation altogether; but he was not that lucky.

"You know what. What's your problem with Tayla going on a date?" Jamie asked, agreeing with his girlfriend that something was amiss.

"No problem- I just worry about her, that's all" he shrugged it off. "She hasn't had the best luck with relationships, and just got out of one before she moved here" he informed them, though he knew, of course, that they already knew.

"I don't buy that" Katie decided. "I mean yeah you're concerned, but you're concerned for another reason, aren't you?" she then asked.

"And what reason would that be?" Tyler asked, being coy.

"You know you're not getting out of this conversation, so you might as well spill" Jamie told him, though he and Katie both were certain they knew the answer to their question.

"Fine. When we were younger, we made a promise" he told them. It wasn't the answer they had expected, but it intrigued them none the less.

"What sort of promise?" Jamie asked, confused.

"Well..." Tyler trailed off, telling the story from when they were younger.