When she was so close to him, anger welled up inside of him. He hadn’t seen her in what seemed like forever. It had actually only been weeks, but being apart from her, not knowing where she was, had driven him mad. Seeing her with another guy didn’t make it any better right now.
“I see you’ve moved on really quickly.” Jonathan crossed his arms over his chest. He kept his face serious to hide the excitement he felt at seeing her again. His heart was racing, something that usually only happened on the ice like this. God, he wanted to touch her hair, hold her close and kiss her lips so badly that it hurt. But he couldn’t do it.
“What do you mean?” April tilted her head to one side, looking in his eyes.
He nodded in Joshua’s direction. “Come on, at least be honest with me! I saw you and the singer just now and Patrick told me that he’d seen you together. Until now I thought you were friends, but, well, this made me realize that I’ve been wrong.”
“Are you talking about Joshua?” Her eyes widened in shock. “Oh God, no! Nothing happened between Joshua and me. We’re only working together.”
“Yeah, right.”
“I’m serious. We talk a lot and we work together, but that’s it.”
“And why should I believe that?” Jonny raised an eyebrow. His heart was beating so fast and hard, that he thought that April would hear it.
“I may have run away and said that I was in Pittsburgh, but apart from that I haven’t lied to you. I was honest right from the start. You know a whole lot more about me than anybody else.” She started to choke up and took a deep breath to keep from crying. “I don’t have any reason to lie to you.”
She was right. She’d been honest with him since the first day they’d met. If she was with Joshua, she would tell him, especially with him watching.
“Okay,” he finally said as he peered in her face. Her cheeks were still pink, her hair a little damp at the temples. She looked good in her usual jeans and band t-shirt. Today it was a band he’d never heard of, but it didn’t matter. The urge to touch her took over and he gently pushed her hair back from her face, causing her to take in a breath. “Can we talk?”
“Yes.” Her answer came immediately. “Can you wait outside for me? I have to check a couple things and I’ll be with you in five minutes tops.” The slight hesitation in his reaction made her add: “I promise.”
“Okay.” Jonathan turned around and left through the back entrance. Once outside he drew fresh air deep into his lungs. This had been more nerve-wracking than he’d expected. But she would talk to him now. If she turned up and didn’t leave him standing here for hours. Oh God.

Once Jonathan was gone, April closed her eyes and tried to control her breathing. Her heart was beating do fast, that she thought she’d pass out any minute now. Seeing him up close had made her nervous and scared. Of course she’d seen him on TV, which had already been a bad decision because she’d wanted to forget about him. Now that she’d seen him again, she couldn’t forget about him. No way.
Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder, opened her eyes and turned around to see Joshua’s smiling face right in front of her.
“Why did you send him away? What happened?” The smile vanished and gave way to a look of concern.
“I’ll meet him outside so we can talk.”
“Good girl. Just so you know, we’ll be at the Stumble In for drinks. Bring him with you or don’t. Depends on how it goes, but at least let me know how it went so I won’t have to worry about you.” With that he gave her a quick hug. “And now go.”
As much as April wanted to run away again and not face reality and her feelings, she knew that she had to. Part of her even wanted to, but she was so scared and that fear made her stay in the same spot for another minute, before she finally moved to her things, put on her coat and took her purse.
Jonathan Toews stood leaning against to wall opposite her when she left the building. Her heart skipped a beat again when his lips curled up into a faint smile. She zipped up her coat and stopped in front of him. “Can we go to your place?” April’s apartment was further away than his. All the cafés were probably busy and they both felt safe there. Needless to say, it was a lot quieter there and they’d be able to talk in private.
“Sure.” They walked to his car and drove all the way without saying another word. Tension filled the car and both of them were a bit nervous. The tension fell away from them when they entered his apartment. April immediately felt at home again, took off her coat and put her purse down. Jonathan watched her in silence, suppressing the smile that was forming on his lips because of her behavior.
“Would you like something to drink?” He finally asked to break the silence when he’d taken off his own coat.
“I’d kill for a beer to be honest,” April said with a smile and took a seat on the sofa.
Jonathan pushed the sleeves of his shirt up and got two bottles of beer out of the fridge. He opened them and sat down on the other end of the sofa. He wanted to be close to her, but didn’t want to scare her away in any way. This was so difficult.
“Thank you.” She took the bottle from him and leaned back. Great, now she got nervous again. Where should she start explaining all this? When she looked Jonathan’s way, she saw him picking at the label on the beer bottle. That made her smile and relax, because it told her that he was nervous as well. He was usually so composed, so it was a relief to see him a little rattled. ”I’m really sorry that I ran away. I should have talked to you, but I was so scared.”
“But why?” That was the question that had been on his mind since the day she’d left him.
“I was in love with a guy years ago. We were together for some time and he was killed in a car crash. It hurt so much that I was scared of falling in love again. I wasn’t in love with Dan, it was just comfortable at the beginning.” She’d lied to Patrick when she’d told him this story. “I heard you when we lay in bed and you said that you were falling in love with me. And then I realized that I was falling for you, too. And I bolted.” She avoided his eyes when she said this. She didn’t even want to see his reaction, because this was hard enough for her. Only when she was finished would she turn around and look at him. “I was too scared to get even more attached to you, to completely fall in love with you and maybe lose you that my only chance was to run away.”
“You were falling in love with me?” His surprised voice made her look up and gaze into his eyes. Slowly she nodded. “And how do you feel now?”
“I guess you heard the last song we played today. The fact that I wrote that about you speaks for itself, doesn’t it?” She cast her eyes downwards again and waited for his reaction. She’d poured her heart and soul into that song and knowing that he now knew that it was about him made her anxious.
She felt his hand on her cheek and turned towards him. A gentle smile was playing on his lips when he leaned in and brushed his lips across hers.

Notes

The Kane spin-off exists and is called "Just a Little Longer"
Just for you information again ;)