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The Hockey Life

Roommate Request

PART SIXTY-SIX: ROOMMATE REQUEST
“One more month,” Tess announced randomly a couple days later.
“What are you talking about?” I asked. I was involved in choosing vendors and an officiant for the wedding. I felt the need to stay on schedule, if not ahead of schedule, so I spent most of my free time busying myself with planning.
“One more month until our lease is up,” Tess clarified. She was right. It was up on the last day of March. We were finally able to get out of the tiny apartment we had lived in for far too long. I should have been happy, but as I looked down at the papers spread out on the table I was sitting at and the tabs that were open on my laptop screen, I just felt annoyed. I didn’t need the extra stress of moving now, not when I was trying to plan a wedding.
“Ugh,” I groaned at the thought of it all.
“Please, hold back your happiness, it’s too much for me,” Tess answered sarcastically.
“I just don’t want to deal with anything else. I’ve got enough to worry about,” I complained.
“Oh, it won’t be a big deal. We don’t have that much stuff. Once we find new places to live, it’ll be a piece of cake.” I wasn’t sure why, but I felt a little hurt at the plural in the sentence.
“Places?” I asked, making sure to put emphasis on the “es” part.
“Well, you’re getting married, girl. Aren’t you going to want to live with your hubby?” I hadn’t even thought of that, surprisingly. I was so caught up in the wedding and reception that it was almost as if I hadn’t even realized that there was anything else to take care of once I was married.
“Oh, yeah, I guess so. But what about you? Are you going to live with Jonathan, then?”
“I don’t know, he hasn’t asked or anything. But I can find a roommate. I bet Jordan would room with me,” she decided. If she roomed with Jordan, our former teammate, the neighbors would probably complain. I couldn’t imagine the two of them in a small space together, with their loud mouths and big personalities. It would probably work out well, though.
“That’s true. But, if you do find someone to replace me, just remember that I’m the best you’ve ever had and you’ll never find anyone as good as me,” I laughed.
“That is true, you were my first!” Tess added.
“Okay, this just became really sexual somehow…”
I went back to wedding planning after that, and I made some progress. I headed to Patrick’s later and realized that I practically lived with him already. I had spent a ton of time at his apartment throughout the past year or so, and sleepovers had become a relatively normal thing.
“Do you have any alcohol?” I asked as soon as Patrick opened the door when I arrived.
“Hey, nice to see you too,” he chuckled.
“Sorry, hi,” I apologized as I pulled him into a hug to make it up to him.
“Are you having a rough day or something?” he wondered.
“I’m just stressed. I got some things done for the wedding today, but Tess reminded me that our lease is up at the end of the month. As soon as I make some progress, something else gets thrown at me. One step forward, two steps back,” I vented. Patrick grabbed a bottle of sweet wine from his kitchen and poured some into a glass for me. He grabbed himself a beer out of his refrigerator and we sat down in the living room to continue talking.
“Well, moving sucks, but you won’t have to go too far. I’d love for you to move in here, with me.”
“Patrick, this is all really sudden. I have to be out of my apartment in a month. That’s not a lot of time to think about it,” I said.
“Well, I don’t have to think about it. I’m totally ready for it. I mean, we’re going to be living together in less than a year anyways, so why not start now? Unless you don’t want to.” His face sunk a little after the last comment.
“Of course I want to! I love it here, and I’d love to live with you. It’s just that you’ve been living on your own for a long time and it’s a big commitment to give that up to share your own apartment with me.”
“Yeah, and a marriage isn’t a big commitment at all,” he joked, making me realize how little I had thought things through before I spoke.
“Alright, you’ve got a point.”
“So, it’s settled, then. We’re going to be roomies starting next month,” Patrick declared.
“That sounds so casual. Like we’re just a couple of friends moving in together,” I chuckled.
“Yeah, just a couple of friends with lots of benefits, including an engagement,” he laughed.
I enjoyed my glass of wine and Pat enjoyed his beer. Another glass and bottle later, we found ourselves playing Mario Kart. It seemed to be our go-to game. I didn’t usually play it while slightly affected by alcohol, so it was a little more fun than usual for both of us. I got more competitive than I normally would, and I managed to win a few rounds, amazingly enough. Patrick played a lot more often than me, so I wasn’t surprised at all that he kept his title as overall Mario Kart champion by the end of our long tournament.
“Are you staying the night?” he asked after we decided to give up on video games. By then we had eaten and enough time had passed for the small effect of the alcohol to be tamed.
“Not tonight. I should probably head home soon,” I told him. He wasn’t all that pleased with this answer.
“You have alcohol in your system, you shouldn’t be driving home, missy!” he jokingly scolded me, even though we both knew I would be more than alright driving myself home.
“Two beers doesn’t do anything to you, you could drive me,” I suggested, knowing it was a statement that he didn’t want to hear.
“I guess I’d have better luck driving than taking a cab,” he said. I tried not to smile until he laughed at himself. I didn’t really know if negative events of his past like that one still bothered him. It was clear that he had matured a lot since then, but people still made jokes. I guessed it was good that they didn’t get to him.
“Seriously, you don’t need to drive me. I’m fine and you know it.”
“So what? I don’t get why you can’t just stay,” he pouted.
“There’s an early practice and a big game tomorrow, that’s why. We both need to get plenty of sleep, especially you,” I answered. Patrick just rolled his eyes at me.
“Oh, come on. We’ll get plenty of sleep.”
“You say that now, but the story always changes when it’s actually time to go to sleep…”
Eventually I gave in and decided to stay. That was usually how it went. I couldn’t help myself - Patrick was too convincing, what with his cute little curls and those eyes that I still got a little lost in every once in a while. It was nice to just fall asleep next to him, even if nothing more happened. And that was exactly the case that night - we both got tired after another hour or so and we were glad to go straight to sleep.
***********************************************************
“Hey.” A whisper from Patrick was the first thing I heard in the morning. I was in that state of half asleep, half awake. I hadn’t even realized that I was the slightest bit conscious until I heard his hushed voice.
“Hm?” Barely any noise came out of my mouth when I answered.
“Are you awake?” I laughed a little on the inside at his question which had such an obvious answer.
“No.”
“Does it feel a little sarcastic in here, or is that just you?” he asked. I grinned a little and rolled over so I was no longer facing him. I felt his arms snake around me.
“Go away,” I yawned. I had no idea what time it was, but I didn’t sense too much sunlight coming in through the window, so I assumed I had more time to sleep.
“I don’t want to,” Patrick said. He was being stubborn as hell. For whatever reason, that inspired me enough to finally open my eyes. They felt crusty, as if they weren’t ready to open yet. It definitely was early in the morning; too early.
“Patrick, what time is it?”
“Four-thirty.”
“In the morning?!”
“We’d be out of bed if it was four-thirty in the afternoon…”
“Why the hell would you bother me this early in the morning?”
“I can’t sleep!”
“Count some sheep or something, then. I can sleep, and I’m going to,” I grumbled. I was not a very happy camper at such an early hour.
“I’ve been trying to go back to sleep and I just can’t. It’s been an hour and I’m too awake now,” he explained. I sighed rather dramatically for effect and rolled back over to face him.
“You’re such a pain in the ass sometimes, you know that?” I complained as I rubbed my eyes.
“But you love me for it.”
“Well…”
“Don’t even pretend you don’t!”
“So what do you expect me to want to do at four-thirty A.M.?” I wondered, completely ignoring his last comment.
“I don’t know.”
“Well, what do you want from me?”
“I don’t know.”
“Am I really going to have to live with you and all your shenanigans next month?” Patrick chuckled at my question and I just grunted in frustration.
“You’re adorable when you’re mad,” he smirked.
“You’re adorable when you’re quiet,” I fired back. I was trying to be as sassy as possible so he’d get the hint. Unfortunately, he was getting it and simply ignoring it.
“Fine, I’ll shut up, then,” he decided. I was about to let out a sigh of relief when he moved closer to me and started kissing me, beginning with my cheek and making his way down to my neck.
“Patrick.”
“You told me to be quiet!”
“Yeah, I know. Come here.” I wanted to keep up my mean remarks, but I knew he would just come up with good replies and I wasn’t about to waste my time trying to win. Instead I pulled him towards me and kissed him, and he seemed to be fine with that. I guessed it was probably what he wanted all along. We kissed until the strange time of day caught up to us and we fell back asleep, cuddled closer together than we had been before.
When the alarm on Patrick’s phone woke us both up a few hours later, we both groaned in annoyance. The warmth of the blankets and our mixed body heat was comfortable and neither one of us wanted to abandon it. But, we did. We knew we had to. It was another day on the job. Even though the day started earlier than we wanted to, it was a nice distraction. Sometimes that was all we needed.

Notes

Comments

@hockeygirl07
Thank you so much! :)

MrsKaner MrsKaner
11/1/14

I just love this story...been reading it right from the start!!! Love your writing and the plot ;) keep up the great work

hockeygirl07 hockeygirl07
11/1/14

Awe. this is so cute, but sad.

Psquared91 Psquared91
5/29/14

AWE! So Cute!

Psquared91 Psquared91
5/10/14

@MrsKaner
HAHA. my BF and I are the two people in the whole school who don't get sick, but when we do Its not as bad as every one else, and we always get each other sick.

Psquared91 Psquared91
3/24/14