Chapter 3

To my two lovely commentors... thank you ladies! You make me smile. So where are all the rest of ya??? I know more are reading, so let's hear it, eh?!! :)

I don't wanna be adored
Don't wanna be first in line
Or make myself heard
I'd like to bring a little light
To shine a light on your life
To make you feel loved

No, don't wanna be the only one you know
I wanna be the place you call home

I lay myself down
To make it so, but you don't want to know
I give much more
Than I'd ever ask for

Fool, I wonder if you know yourself at all
You know that it could be so simple

Hamburg Song - Keane

Ch. 3

“So okay, tell me,” I said to Brad as we were eating lunch Friday afternoon at an outdoor café, “What is your roomie’s problem with me?”

“I guess you two didn’t talk enough last night, eh?” he asked, shooting me a cocky grin with a raised eyebrow.

“Ugh, no!” I growled before taking another bite of my salad.  “Is he always so moody?”

“Actually he’s usually pretty pleasant.  If he was always this moody, I would have kicked him out long ago.  It’s just been like this since you came to town.  I think he likes you,” Brad said, wiggling his eyebrows and tapping my shin with his foot.

“Sure has an interesting way of showing it,” I grumbled.

“Give him some time.  For one, he’s very shy around people he doesn’t know.”

I went to open my mouth to complain about that logic but Brad lifted his chin, warning me to wait and let him finish.

“He has had some terrible dealings with girls.  He’s had a few that just used him and he sometimes has a hard time balancing hockey and relationships.  He’s a very sensitive dude.”

“I’m not here to have a relationship with someone…” I mumbled absent mindedly.

“You might not be, but I can totally see you crushing on him.”

“Okay, you know, that totally sounded like something a high school girl would say,” I joked back. 

Brad just shook his head and said, “Whatever, don’t turn the conversation on me.  I’m just saying that I’ve noticed the way you look at him and the way you act around him.  If you are trying to hide the fact that you want to get with him, you haven’t been doing a very good job of it.  Except for maybe the fact that you are going out with Burish tonight…so maybe you are just a little ho,” he teased.

“Yeah, I’m such a ho,” I giggled back.  “Can I tell you that I haven’t been out on a real date since last Spring semester?  Haven’t really found anyone that has interested me and you know that I’m not the type to need a man in my life.  As for Adam, he has been bugging me about it and I just couldn’t say no anymore without being a bitch.  As for James, he has intrigued me for some reason; not quite sure why though, because I really don’t know much about him than what I’ve found on the internet.”

“Oh, you’ve been Google-stalking,” Brad snorted.

“What else am I supposed to do?!” I asked a little loudly, drawing attention from the table next to us.  I toned down my voice into a loud whisper and growled, “When I try to talk to him, it’s like pulling teeth.”

“Give him some time, he’ll come around,” Brad said with a humored smile.

I didn’t realize how much the whole situation was bothering me until I talked to Brad about it and basically made myself out to look like I was some psycho chick.  I couldn’t get him out of my head and I found myself torn between lust and hatred. 

I was actually looking forward to my date with Adam by the time Friday night came around and I even debated if I was just going to let him get us lost so that he could take advantage of me.  I was pulled so tight that you could have plucked a perfect pitch off of me just by tapping a strand of my hair.

“Nice place Richie got you here,” Adam remarked as I left him in the door of my apartment.

“Thanks, I really like it,” I smiled as I turned to grab my sweater.  As I turned back around I found Adam standing in my personal space, smelling like he bathed himself in Eternity cologne.  Too bad he used so much of it because it’s probably my favorite scent but wow, this is just too much.  I went to step around him but he quickly sensed my hesitation and wrapped his arms around me and helped himself to a kiss.  He was a little pushy about the whole deal, but smart enough to realize it was time to stop kissing me when he felt that I wasn’t kissing him back.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to overstep my boundary,” he said honestly sorrowful.

I put my hand to his clean shaven cheek and said, “Adam, lets just go out and have a nice evening together.  Deal?”

“Deal,” he said with a puppy dog smile.

Adam had embraced the Texas lifestyle.  “I swear, Hanna, being an American in this state makes you feel 100% more patriotic.  It’s weird.  They are very proud people down here and they love to have fun, which is totally up my alley,” he grinned over at me as we drove downtown in his big souped up pick-up.

“Do you miss Chicago?” I asked sincerely, finding it surprisingly easy to relax with him despite his very forward personality.

“I do, I miss my boys the most I guess, but the guys here are really great.  Your cousin, for one, is a great leader in the locker room.  Otter and I get ourselves in a ton of trouble, so it’s good to have someone like me.  It’s a nice mixed age team, I guess you could say.”

“So where are we going tonight?” I asked as soon as a lull in the conversation fell between us.

“Do you like country music?” he grinned broadly over at me.

“I like all music.”

“Good, cause we are going line-dancing tonight!”

“Well now that can’t say I’ve done much of except for the Electric Slide…” I frowned, suddenly feeling a little nervous.

“It’s really easy and since we are getting there are little early, we’ll get to learn some of the dances before the really good people get there.  Hey, if I can do it, I’m sure you can handle it,” he smiled encouragingly.

Well I fell twice after getting my feet twisted up a couple times, and I’m fairly sure I ended up laughing more in the course of a few hours than I had in months.

“Adam!  I definitely need a break!” I gasped for air after doing the Boot Scootin’ Boogie.

“Come on,” he laughed, threading his arm through mine and dragging me over to a table.  “Are you having fun?” he asked after some drinks arrived.

“I’m having a blast!” I said enthusiastically, completely meaning it.  Adam was a fun guy who enjoyed making people laugh.  He was a total clown and besides the kiss at my house, he didn’t make me feel like he was trying to get into my pants.  I was still laughing when he pulled up in front of my apartment around 1:30am.  “Adam, I really had a good time.”

He looked over at me with a charming smile and took my hand in his, kissing it.  “I did too.  This was the first date in a long time that I didn’t feel like I had to take a girl to some expensive club to keep her interested.  You really are down to earth.  Thank you.”

“Hey, no problem,” I said with a genuine smile.

“Can I take you out again?  I’d really like to take you to the rodeo or something.  It really is something you need to experience here.”

I left out a snort and said, “I’ll be in charge of the tickets,” I said as I thought of the guy I had sat next to on the plane.  He actually sent me four free tickets to a rodeo, fulfilling his promise of getting me to go to one.

“Sure, you game Monday night?  We leave for our away jaunt Tuesday afternoon for the week.”

“Sounds good.  Pick me up at 6?”

“Yup!” he said as I leaned over and gave him a quick peck on the cheek and quickly scampered out of the truck before he got anymore ideas.

“Richards, your cousin is totally amazing!” Burish swooned late Saturday morning at practice.

“I do not want to hear anything about if it has anything do with getting into her pants,” Brad announced, elaborately threatening to place his hands over his ears, causing me to chuckle a bit.

“Do you really think I’d bang your niece on the first date?  I’m really not that into looking for trouble and I am still new here,” he spoke loudly, making sure everyone heard him.

“So where did you take her, Burish?!” someone piped up.

“We went line-dancing and we had a blast…or at least I did and she said she did,” he smiled, puffing out his chest a big, obviously feeling proud of himself.  “We’re going to the rodeo on Monday.”

“Sounds like she fell for Burish’s charms anyway.  That’s too bad, because I thought she would give a better run for the money than that…” Otter shook his head after pushing his hand into Burish’s chest, causing him to fall back onto the bench.

“Oh don’t worry Otter, if I know my cousin, I’m sure Burish hasn’t cracked into the family line just yet!” Brad chirped, pushing Adam back down onto the bench as soon as he stood up again, garnering a good laugh from the whole locker room.

Truthfully, I was surprised she had agreed to a second date with him.  It’s not that Adam wasn’t a good guy, but he didn’t come across as Hanna’s type.  However, I probably wasn’t the best person to judge that, considering I was definitely harboring my own severe crush on the girl.  Of course I barely admitted that fact to myself.  So much for just going on a date with him to get him off your back, Hanna.

My first game as in-house DJ was on Sunday afternoon.  I was slightly nervous, but once I got behind the turn-tables, I let it loose while having a birds-eye view of the guys getting pumped up on the ice.

“So what happened to the other person that did this?” I asked Jimmy as they dropped the puck.

“I got an intern who can lay the beats down a hell of a lot better than me,” he said with a wink.  “You keep up the good work and we can get you a full-time job here if you like.  Just keep it in mind.”

I didn’t have time to reply to him because it was time for me to lead into some music for a commercial break to pump up the crowd, so I just smiled and nodded my head, excited to tell the good news to my cousin.

“Brad!” I squeaked as I ran into the locker room, completely forgetting that there would be half naked men walking around in a very stinky atmosphere.  “Oh wow!” I gagged out, holding my hand over my mouth as the stench hit me full-on.

“HaHa!” Otter called out as he walked by in just a towel.  “Good to see you Hanna Montana!”

“That’s not my name, Ott!” I yelled muffled through my hand.  “She spells her name with an ‘h’ on the end of it.

“Whatever,” he chirped back.  I shook my head until I realized a half naked James Neal was standing at the locker next to his.  Holy Mother Mary he has one hell of a body.  My dreams have not been doing the boy justice.  I was snapped out of my gawking as Adam slapped me in the ass with his extra towel, effectively grabbing my attention.

“Hey Beautiful!  Music sounded great,” he winked at me.

“Thanks!” I answered, getting back to my task of finding Brad so that I could tell him my news.  At that he walked out of the trainer’s room, already looking to be showered.

“Are you crazy?” he quipped as he playfully covered my eyes.  “Your mother will kill me if she finds out you were hanging out in the locker room with half naked men.”

“No, she would probably give me a high five and say, “Way to go Hanna!”

This made Brad laugh and just nod his head in agreement to my statement.

“So, the whole reason I came down here is because we have to go out and celebrate…Jimmy basically told me that after I’m done my internship I could have a job here as the in-house DJ and be his assistant!!!”  I squeaked in a loud whisper, but completely drawing attention to myself as I bounced up and down as a bunny.

“That’s awesome news!” Brad beamed as he pulled me into a hug.  “Celebrate we will!  Did you bring a change of shirt or something for just in case, so you don’t have to wear your polo?”

“Yup, I’ll go get it now,” I said, bounding out of the locker room as I yelled, “Thanks for the scenery boys!” which proceeded to get me a couple cat calls and whistles and some compliments on tonight’s music choices.

A group of us headed to a back alley bar that had a lot of character for a celebration.  There was a cheap jukebox that was cranking out everything from Country to dance tunes and the make-shift dance floor was packed.  I had a good buzz going on as I found myself out on the dance floor with an awkward dancing Jamie Benn.

“Sorry, I suck,” he mumbled between songs.

“It’s perfectly fine.  I definitely think it’s a cool thing when I guy at least has enough confidence to get his ass out on the dance floor and not sit glued to the bar stool all night,” I said as I motioned my head over at Loui, Otter and Neal who were just sitting there sipping on some adult beverages.

They must have been paying attention because I was soon berated by the three of them bumping me back and forth between them.  I was laughing so hard that I couldn’t stand up straight.

Steve put his hands on my shoulders to steady me and Loui handed me my drink to wash away the dizziness that now ensued.  James and Jamie just laughed at me.

“Where is Brad?” I asked James as the others went back over to the bar, leaving us out on the dance floor alone with a slow Garth Brooks song playing in the background.

James looked around and pointed over to a dark corner where my cousin was mackin’ it up with some blonde.

“Well then,” I giggled for a moment before reality setting in that we were officially the only two on the dance floor not swaying back and forth to the song.  I looked up and found James staring at me with his beautiful grey eyes that were surprisingly soft for a change.  He didn’t even ask, he just held up his hands and I instantly found myself taking step towards him, accepting his silent invite for a dance.

I could easily feel the warmth of his hands on the lower part of my back through the light material of my shirt.  The heat made me feel dizzy and even more intoxicated that I already was.  The space between us was a little too much; there was enough room to drop a bomb between us.  It was like we were dancing in elementary school when you didn’t want to be too close to the boy because you thought you might get pregnant.  As much as I wanted to step closer to him, I behaved myself and rested my arms casually on his hard, broad shoulders.

It felt like an eternity before he spoke.  “So are you going to stay in Dallas?”

“If I get an official job offer, yeah.”

He just nodded and bit his lip.  “Do you stay here during the summer?” I asked, trying to keep the small talk going.

“No, I go back up to where I’m from, outside of Toronto.  My friend Jared Boll and I spend the summer at my lake house,” he said thoughtfully.

“That name sounds familiar…”

“He plays for the Columbus Blue Jackets; we’ve been best friends since Jr. Hockey.”

“Well that’s nice,” I said with a smile.

Again he just nodded silently.  I just kept staring at him, studying his beautiful face.  I couldn’t help myself.  “James, I don’t bite,” I whispered softly into his ear as I decided to take matters into my own hands and step closer to him.  He stopped dancing and stood stiffly still as I spoke the words.  The heat radiating off of him was intense and I thought I might burn up.

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You are hurting me more by treating me like I have some sort of disease.”

“I’m only going to break your heart.  Hockey is my life.”

“People find a nice balance,” I said gently.

“I don’t think I am one of those people,” he said through his teeth, trying to keep control.  “I’m going back to the bar, I think I’ve had enough dancing,” he mumbled as he broke away from me and stiffly walked back over to the guys that were looking at us curiously, leaving me alone and cold out on the dance floor.