Ch. 16

I see you there, don't know where you come from
Unaware the stare from someone
Don't appear to care that I saw ya. And I want you
What's your name
Cuz' I have to know it
You let me in and begin to show it
We're terrified 'cuz we're heading straight for it, might get it.

You're in the song playing on the background
All alone but you're turning up now
And everyone is rising to meet you, to greet you
Turn around and you're walking toward me
I'm breaking down and you're breathing slowly
Say the word and I will be your man, your man

Say when
And my own two hands will comfort you
Tonight, tonight
Say when
And my own two arms will carry you
Tonight, tonight

The Fray – Say When

 

Ch. 16

“Gabby,” I heard a familiar voice whisper as I pulled myself from my dreamland that was surprisingly happy for a change.  I thought I was still dreaming so I didn’t attempt to open my eyes until I felt fingers gently stroking my hair.  “Gabby, you need to wake up,” the voice said again.  I suddenly stopped breathing and froze.  Instead of opening my eyes I began taking inventory of my situation through the rest of my senses.  My sense of touch informed me that I seemed to be wrapped around something warm and solid, a mixture of manly soap, alcohol and popcorn filled my nose and I could hear a heart beating close by my head.

“What time is it?” I asked, barely able to get it out in a whisper because my throat was so dry.

“It’s almost 8am and I need to soon leave for morning skate,” my warm pillow said, sounding very amused and very pleased at the same time.

“We fell asleep together?”

“Seems that way,” he chuckled lightly.

“I would yell at you for wrapping yourself around me, but I’m thinking when I open my eyes I will realize I’m wrapped around you just as much.”

“Yup.”

“Well isn’t that handy.”

“Not really because I can’t feel my right arm at all right now.”

“Good.”

“Gee thanks, and here I was being a good pillow and all…”

I finally opened my eyes and pulled backwards, next thing I knew I was on the floor looking up at Kris who was attempting to open and close his right hand.

“I told you I couldn’t feel my right arm,” he mused as he peaked down over and smiled cheekily at me.

I scowled at him as I clambered to my feet.

“Have fun at practice, Versteeg,” I mumbled as I shuffled to the door of his apartment.

“Do you work tonight?” he called out, still lying on the couch.

“Yup.”

“Well, then have fun.”

“Tons.”

I got back into my apartment, looked down at my phone to check any missed messages.  I was then reminded of the message that made my phone vibrate right before I was going to let Kris kiss me.

“I hope you are still thinking about coming to TO next week.  I miss you, babe.”  Way to go Abby.  First you let yourself get back involved with your Ex-Baby Daddy then you meet Dr. McDreamy and now you wake up in the arms of Mr. Betty Crocker Hockey Star.  I promptly rolled my eyes and fell backwards on my bed, covering my face with my pillow as I groaned out loud. 

A couple hours later I woke up to someone banging on the door of the apartment.  I stumbled to the door and opened it, half expecting Kris to be standing there, ready to mock me for looking like a total wreck.

“Are you ill?!” Kristy exclaimed as she pushed herself into the apartment.

“No, why?”

“Because you look like you just rolled out of bed!”

“I did.”

“It’s after noon!”

“Yup.”

“Oh, God.  The date didn’t go well?!” Kristy asked dramatically as she dropped her coat on the end of the counter.  “I thought he would be perfect for you!”

“The date was amazing,” I stopped her before she began throwing herself into a fit.  “I’m actually going to his rugby game tomorrow.”

“Seriously?! What?!  Well then what the hell is wrong?!”

“I kind of woke up with Kris this morning…”

“So…wait. What?!”

“You heard me,” I sighed as I poured myself a big glass of OJ and sat down at the counter.

“Did you…? Well, you know…”

“No, nothing happened.”

“So how did that happen?!”

I sighed again before explaining how the night progressed, finishing up with the fact that I did not plan on falling asleep during the movie but that I did and woke up this morning completely entangled with him.”

“Holy hell.”

“Yeah and that ain’t the worst part.”

“Seriously?!” she whispered loudly as he eyes almost popped out of her head.  “What else?!”

“I met up with Tyler, my ex-boyfriend that plays for the Leafs and he’s begging me to visit with him in Toronto next week.”

Kristy plopped down across the counter from me and propped her head, probably looking like a mirror image of me.  We sat in silence for what seemed to be a long moment before she whispered.  “First you have no boyfriends and now you have three.”

“I do not have three boyfriends,” I grumbled back.

“Well, I guess the first question is, are you going to go to Toronto?”

I blew out some air and looked up at her.  “I really don’t have a choice because it’s actually my twin-sisters 16^th birthday.”  I didn’t remember this until after lunch with Tyler and Darryl, when my dad called to ask if I was going to watch his team play last night.

“Oh, shit.”

“Yeah and I can’t not tell Tyler because he will most likely be at the party because my step-mom invited him and a couple of the other guys over from the team.”

“Well then how the hell are you going to keep your cover?”

“I haven’t really thought about that yet,” I admitted as I bit the side of my cheek.

Kristy took a deep breath and blew it out before continuing.  “I think that is probably the least of our problems right now because that is almost a week away and we have lots of time to plan for that.  What about Jackson?”

As soon as she said his name, memories of last night flooded into my brain and all I could do was smile.  “We really hit it off well and he is absolutely gorgeous, Kristy,” I gushed.

Kristy sported a huge smile as she nodded in agreement.  “Yeah, all the nurses drool when he walks by…”

“I’m not quite sure why he wouldn’t have a girlfriend,” I said honestly.  I didn’t really think about it earlier, but with her saying that, it suddenly made me wonder.

“I think he just doesn’t want to get involved with anyone at work and with the long hours we put in, it can be a little tough at times.”

That makes sense, right?  “I see.  So yeah, we have a date tomorrow to go to his rugby game and lunch afterwards.”

“Well that should be fun!  Rugby players are even hotter than hockey players from what I hear.” Kristy swooned.  “So now what’s up with Kris?”

“Nothing at all!” I quickly defended myself.  “I definitely did not mean for any of that to happen.  Besides, when I’m with him it’s like hanging with one of my brothers.  The whole reason we even laid next to each other like that on the couch was for the simple fact that I refused to let him rest his yucky feet on me,” I laughed, remembering how nasty they really were.  Not that it was a shock or anything.  All hockey players had ugly feet, mine were not much better because Kris was right, if you didn’t have the calluses, you would have to contend with the blisters.  After I stopped laughing I looked over to find Kristy staring back at me with a look in her face that told me she wasn’t taking a word of my denial.

“You are falling for him.”

“No, I’m not!  For one thing, he’s got blonde hair and I do not find blonde hair attractive.  Second, he flaunts his money.  I mean, hello? Have you seen his car?! Third, he makes it a point to constantly pick on me like my brothers do.  Fourth, he’s a hockey player and that completely goes against my #1 rule in Operation Happy Abby.”

“Tyler is still a hockey player.”

“He was around before the rule,” I defended smugly.

“Well then I guess there is nothing to worry about with Kris, if you don’t like him that way.  So I guess, see how your date with Jackson works out tomorrow and then make your decision with Tyler…” she said, not sounding completely sold on the fact that my problem was only dealing with two guys and not three, but she didn’t harp on me.

Practice was a slightly laid back and if you compared it to the first 3 practices of the week, it was like a vacation.  We had back to back games coming up tomorrow and Sunday, so Lavy wanted to make sure he didn’t over work us.  I was glad for the laid back time because I was still a little stiff from lying wrapped up with Gabby, but I sure as hell wasn’t complaining.  Afterwards, I went out to lunch with Richards, Giroux, Carle and VanRiemsdyk.  Carter had flown home to London, Ontario for his Grandfather’s funeral and Danny Carcillo was still sick with the flu, so the crew was a little quieter than normal.

“You interested in going out tonight?” Mike asked as we walked out to our cars.  “G and I were thinking about just heading out to some place low key, like the Continental or something…”

“Sure, I’m game.  We can harass Gabby then,” I grinned, knowing Mike would totally be on board for that.

“Deal.  8pm?”

“Yup, see you there.”

8pm rolled around and soon Richie, me, G, Matty Carle and Riemer were strolling into the Continental.  The bar side was beginning to fill up and we found ourselves a table in the corner of the bar-room to set up shop.

“What is this?” Gabby exclaimed as she walked over to our table, looking like she already had one hell of a night.

“We’re thirsty, bartender,” Richie chirped her.  She swatted her notepad at him and shook her head.

“I didn’t think you worked on this side,” I piped up.

“I am tonight,” she smiled easily over at me.  We placed our orders and soon she was back with our drinks.

“What no curtsey tonight?” I teased as she handed me my drink.

“Nah, you don’t bother me anymore,” she joked back. “Don’t you boys have a game tomorrow?”

“We do,” James spoke up.  “But it’s Friday and a drink or two never hurt anyone.”

“It better not, because I’m already tired of hearing the complaints on the street about how you guys are in a losing streak,” Gabby pretended to give him the evil eye as she smiled.

“What are you doing tomorrow afternoon, Gabby?  You should come to the game,” Mike asked her.

“She’s going on a date tomorrow with her English boyfriend,” I said in a terrible English accent, garnering a look of surprise and disgust from her.

“How did you know?  I didn’t tell you about going out with him tomorrow or that he was from England,” she inquired with a raised eyebrow.

I felt not only her eyes burning a hole through me, but also the looks from the guys around the table.  Busted.  “Um, well, I ended up parking next to him while you two were saying good-bye last night and I was getting my gear out of the car when I overheard you two talking,” I said in a quieter voice.

“Oh, so you were eavesdropping?” she asked with look that told me she was more amused than anything.

“No.”

“Yeah you were,” Matty Carle laughed as the rest of the guys were starting to bust up laughing at my not so smooth move.

“I just wanted to make sure the dude wasn’t a total creep.”

“Well thank you for your worries, but like I told you yesterday, I’m a big girl and can handle myself,” she winked before walking away and waiting on another table of guys who began flirting with her as soon as she flashed them a smile.  I really need to get over her and find something else to spend my energy on.

As soon as she walked away Mike jumped on me.  “She’s going on a date with some English dude?!  I thought you two were together…”

“She told you that night that we were just friends,” I mumbled.

“Wow, you could have fooled me, Claude spoke up out of nowhere with his thick French accent.  You two looked pretty comfortable together the other night at the bar…”

“Well, you saw that right, we are comfortable together…” I paused.  “I’m totally done with her because she is such a fucking tease,” I grumbled as I swallowed a big gulp of my drink.

“She doesn’t come across like that at all,” Mike said thoughtfully as he looked over at her and then back at me.  “I’m pretty sure there is something more to her story.”

“Yeah, like why is she here in Philly?  I thought she just graduated from college in Toronto?” Matt asked.

“She did just graduate, she said something about going to Drexel in the fall.”

“Oh, so she’s just hanging out here until then?”

“I’m assuming she needs some funds to pay for school and what-not,” I said, even though I had been wondering more and more about her past because she hadn’t really divulged much information except for the fact that she was closer to Patrick than she was the her own immediate family.

“She’ll come around, just keep asking her to do things; my wife was the same way, always using the excuse that hockey players weren’t boyfriend material…” Matt said with a reassuring smile.

Like a guy that still wasn’t sure it was worth putting effort into something that didn’t seem so promising, I just shrugged my shoulders and took another sip of my beer.

The guys left right before 11pm but I decided to stay behind to offer a ride home for Gabby.

She walked over and raised an eyebrow to find me sitting there alone.  She didn’t say anything at first while she loaded the empty glasses onto her tray, so I just sat there watching her clean up, before she reached for the empty glass in front of me I reached out to pick it up myself in an attempt to help her.

*Smack!*

“Hey!” I cried out as I quickly pulled my hand back.  “I was just trying to help!”

“That is not your job, it is mine,” she said in a tone that was serious but when I looked up into her green eyes, I saw she was playing with me.

“Then make it my job to take you home tonight,” I said in the same tone.

She looked down at the empty glasses on her tray and bit her lip nervously.  “I’ll be ready in about 10 minutes,” she said happily.

“Okay, I’ll have the car warmed up for you,” I informed her as I grabbed my coat off the back of my chair and lightly brushed her hand with my finger tips before walking out into the cold, waiting the longest 10 minutes of my life.  Damn women, no matter how hard you try not to care, you still do.

“If you need me to dump Jackson for you before your date, let me know,” Kristy informed me in an excited pinched tone.

“He’s just taking me home, Kristy,” I grumbled, telling myself once again that it was normal for friends to wait around for friends so that they could offer them rides home.  What is wrong with me?! You aren’t even attracted to him…okay, that’s definitely a lie because you know he looked totally hot again tonight in jeans and a fitted light grey long-sleeved shirt.  Plus I can’t deny how much I love that black military jacket.

“Well, just remember what I said early,” she elbowed me in the side as I zippered up my coat.

I just rounded the corner when Kris moved out from the shadows and hooked his arm into mine, scaring the shit out of me.

“Kris!”

“What?”

“You just scared the shit out of me!”

“I didn’t want you walking in the dark parking lot alone, the lighting is shitty here,” he commented as we walked to the Audi.

I gratefully climbed into the warm passenger seat when he opened the door for me and made myself at home by the time he got in on the driver’s side.  “This car is somewhat growing on me,” I confessed as he shifted the car in reverse.

“Make sure you tell her that because I’m sure you’ve hurt her feelings more than once with your ostentatious remarks,” Kris joked as he stroked at the dash before putting the car in gear to pull out into the street.

“Give me a break.  Just because it’s growing on me does not mean I won’t still think it gaudy over-kill.”

“Hey!  Look!” Kris suddenly cried out like he had seen something really cool.

“What?!” I began looking around the street to see what he was yelling about.

“I think I see your bus coming down the street and I’m fairly sure they’ll be willing to take you home!”

This lovely remark earned him a hard punch in the shoulder.  “Ass.”

“Ouch!” he whined as he rubbed his shoulder.  “I’m going to have to call the trainer and say I have an upper body injury and can’t play tomorrow…”

“You are definitely a pansy.”

“And you find it very easy to just throw the smack talk around don’t you?  I’ll be willing to bet it wouldn’t come out so easy if we played a game of one-on-one on the ice…”

“I’ll be game for that,” I chirped.

“Fine. The next time you are around the practice facility, we will have a little competition.

“Fine.”  I crossed my arms and left out some air to show it was a done deal.  Of course my whole idea of coming across somewhat intimidating failed miserably as Kris practically had to pull over as he laughed hysterically.

“What is so funny?”

“The fact that you think you can beat me.  Little Miss ‘I’m not that into Hockey,’” he picked.

“Just act all smug Versteeg…”

“Don’t worry, I will.”

“I know and that is why I will win.”

“Whatever.”

“Whatever.”

We talked easily about my night at work and about the fact that he would be leaving for New York City right after the game tomorrow.

“Are you coming to New York again on Sunday?” he asked as we stepped into the elevator at our apartment complex.

“No, I’m working for someone on Sunday so that I can have some extra days off during the week,” I informed him, hoping he wasn’t going to ask me why I needed the days off.  The truth was, I was leaving for Toronto early morning Tuesday.

“Are you working Monday night?”

“Nope.”

“Would you be interested in going on a road trip with me?” he asked with a silly smirk that made his blue eyes sparkle like the Caribbean Sea.

“Where would this road trip be taking us?” I asked with a curious smile as we got to the doors to our respective apartments.

“This place called Reading, Google Maps says it’s a little over an hour from Philly.  My brother is playing in an ECHL game against the Reading Royals and I want to go up and see him play since I rarely get the chance to see him.”

“Bryce?” I asked, slightly surprised because I assumed Bryce was in college.

“Mitch, he’s our middle brother.”

“Oh.”

“You in?”

“Is it just us?”

“Well, yeah,” Kris said hesitantly.  “I guess I could ask some of the other guys to go…”

“I’m comfortable enough to go along with just you,” I giggled at his sudden insecurity.

“I just feel a little weird asking one of the guys to go along because I don’t know them overly well yet and I don’t want to bother them.”

“But you obviously have no problem bothering me.”

“Nope,” he grinned.

“Well then just text me the time or whatever that you want to leave or just knock on my door…whatever,” I said as I began unlocking the door.

“Um, it would help to have your phone number.”

“Heh, yeah, you are right,” I laughed, ask I dug through my purse and pulled out my phone.  We exchanged numbers and once that was done we were back to the awkward silence that sometimes happened between two people that still weren’t sure where they really were in their relationship.  “Well, good luck tomorrow,” I said as I gave him a quick hug.  “Thanks again for the ride home.”

“No problem and thank you.  Maybe I’ll see you Sunday night, but if not, I’ll definitely see you Monday at some point.”

“Sounds good,” I said, once again turning back towards my door and heading into my apartment.

I was brushing my teeth when my phone began vibrating across the bathroom counter.  I spit out my toothpaste and picked up my phone to see it say: text message from VERSTEEG!  “And already I’m regretting giving him my number,” I mumbled to myself as I shushed away the sudden rise in my heart-rate.  I clicked on the screen and laughed out loud at the message that came up.  Good luck on your date tomorrow.

I giggled as I typed back: Don’t say things you don’t mean.

A few seconds later my phone beeped with a reply: Fine, then just don’t let Dr. McDougal perform any internal exams on the second date…

I rolled my eyes as I typed: Come on, you can’t tell me that you haven’t hit it on the 2^nd date?

It took a little longer for this reply: I’m a guy, I have needs.

I huffed at that message and shot back: Like girls don’t?

Two seconds later my phone beeped again: If that’s the case then I’m thinking there is someone across the hall from you that can totally take care of that problem…

Once again I rolled my eyes and groaned: Good night Kris.

His last reply was just a picture of a smiley face with sunglasses on.