Hailey turned to face Mike and saw that he was somewhere else. She wondered for a split second if he was thinking about all he was losing or giving her the hope she had been looking for, but then she realized he was probably going through plays in his head for that night’s game.

In return, Mike saw the flash in her eyes; she was thinking too, about something good. The sparkle was there for a minute and then it disappeared and turned almost somber. He wondered what triggered that but then figured it was just her excitement to move forward with her life nad then the realization that she had to pack or something. Instead of analyzing it further, Mike dragged her into his room.

Once they were in his bedroom, it was obvious that she wasn’t in the mood for sex so he just let her sleep. Mike though, he couldn’t fall asleep so he watched her instead.

Her long, light brown hair was fanned out over the plush pillow. Her hair color was so natural and so beautiful. It was an auburn color that glowed in the sunlight and looked red at a quick glance, but it was more a rich brown when you looked closer. Her long eyelashes made a shadow on slightly tanned skin. She tanned in the winter because she couldn’t stand not having some kind of color on her skin. It wasn’t as though she looked overly tan, it was just enough to give her a slight amount of color, something she kept throughout the year.

Mike had his arm resting on her stomach, letting his thumb run over the tiny amount of skin that was showing on her hip. He moved his hand up to reveal her flat stomach. Hailey had a slightly awkward body. it wasn’t bad awkward, it was just a little different. She had thick legs that were pure muscle, a small waist, descent sized breasts, and a flat stomach. She had a big butt, it was nice though; firm but bouncy. Some might not like her body, but Mike did, he thought she was perfect. He never heard anyone say anything bad about her or how she looked, normally if he heard anything it would be about how good she looked. No matter what Mike was always proud to have her on his arm at events or out on the town.

He sat up on his elbow and brought his hand to her face. Her skin was soft to the touch and warm, like she was blushing already. He leaned down and kissed her lips. She didn’t move so he did it again and let his lips linger, “I’m an idiot,” he said in the quietest voice he could.

He watched her for another minute or two before laying on his back again. He stared up at the ceiling and thought about how things were going to be so different without her. He really hadn’t been without her this past season, the two had spent a lot of time together, so much so that they might as well have just moved in together. He wondered how the next season and those that followed would go, if he would meet a girl back home or if one in Philly, if he even met any at all. He was the captain of the Flyers though, he wasn’t going to have a problem finding girls, it was the women that would be an issue for him.

Knowing who he was and his reputation, Mike knew that he would find someone, but would they ever measure up to Hailey, would they ever make him feel as good as she did?
He and Jeff Carter, his best friend, were the epic tag team in Philly; it was a cold day in hell when we didn’t come home with at least one chick. Therefore, he knew that the reputation he was slowly working himself away from would return in full force. The two would go out more and he would make mistakes that at one time he wouldn’t regret, but now he would.

Hailey and Mike had met a while back, through Jeff surprisingly. She was the one woman who wouldn’t sleep with him nor would he sleep with her. They had met one night when he went out trolling the city sans Mike; he was after her slutty friend and she warned him about her.
Hailey and Jeff hit it off, they shared a lot in common, but there was no attraction between them. He saw her as a confidant or even like a sister, you could say. He introduced Mike to her after he went through a pregnancy scare with some skank he’d slept with. Jeff told Mike that she had this way of talking people down and was just condescending enough to make him feel like an asshole, but make me realize that he actually an asshole. Jeff was right.

Hailey and Mike were friends for about another year before anything happened.
Mike had gone to her place one night to ask her advice on something not even related to women and found her sobbing over a tub of ice cream because some guy had fucked her over.

It was hard seeing someone who he cared about in that situation and it was even harder seeing a girl he thought was so strong crumble at the sound of someone’s name. The tables were turned that night and he was the one to calm her down and he had to admit, it felt good to be there for someone and to make them feel better.

After an hour and a half of holding her and wiping the tears away Mike kissed her. he told her that he wanted to let her know what it feels like to be the center of someone’s attention, even if it was only for a short time. That got her in bed in no time, but it left both of them with more questions and problems that were now going to go unanswered.

Hailey’s arm went around his middle and her head rested in the crook of his neck. He put his arm behind her, cuddling her in closer to him and kissing her head. Mike would never know what could be with her, he was never going to find out if she had feelings for him or if she wanted to move forward with what they had started. He knew he could have straight up asked but he couldn’t hold her back from this opportunity. It had always been about Mike, this was about Hailey now and he wanted to keep it that way and not make her decision any harder.

Mike felt Jeff’s eyes on him as they dressed for the game, ‘what?” Mike huffed.

“She said she’s going,” Jeff looked back down to tie his skates, “You’re just going to let her go?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Mike began lacing his up too.

“Because you have legit feelings for her you moron,” the tall blond shook his head, “You don’t let a woman like her go.”

“Her and I are just friends who occasionally have sex, we’re friends with benefits.”

Jeff stopped what he was doing and looked up at his captain. He didn’t talk for a long minute and when he did Mike wished I was deaf, “You’re a fucking idiot,” he hissed, “If it was just strictly a ‘friends with benefits’ relationship you wouldn’t be moping around. If you two didn’t have feelings for one another she would have just told you she was leaving and left, not still sound like she’s questioning leaving. If you weren’t so stubborn, you could have her, in your life, forever.”

“If you weren’t such a nosey prick you…”

“She’s my friend,” Jeff began lacing up again, “I have to watch out for her. I can already see her coming back home crying and finding you in bed with some bleached blonde whore. That,” he looked up at Mike again with a cold stare, “Is not going to fly with me Richards. You’re my boy and all but you break that girls’ heart I will rip your head off.”

“Whatever,” Mike shook it off.

“Seriously Mike, think about this.”