The Compromise

"So what do you think James has to ask you Jess?" Katie asked while the two girls, along with their roommates Jackie and Sara, sat in the living room of their downtown Dallas loft watching the latest installment of Dancing with the Stars.

"I have no clue, but he seemed nervous," Jess responded while biting her lip and glancing at her phone. She received a phone call only twenty minutes before from her boyfriend of a year and a half and now she, and her friends were waiting for his arrival.

"He's going to propose," Jackie piped in which resulted in the three girls squealing and Jessica rolling her eyes.

"Negative. We've barely been together long enough to merit such a question."

"Why are you talking like that? That man worships the ground you walk on. He would drop everything for you," Sara retaliated.

"Not everything and we all know it. His job is his life," Jess sighed and glanced towards the door. What was taking him so long? He said he was leaving his boss's office and coming straight here. Before long, Jess began to imagine the worst. James hadn't answered his phone when she attempted to call again, nor did he respond to her countless texts. Now the topic of what he needed to ask her shifted to whether he was in some sort of trouble.

Just as Jess reached for her phone for the seventh time there was a light tap on the door. Looking around at her roommates, Jess gingerly rose from her seat and made towards the knocking.

"You better say yes!" Jackie whispered loudly so not to be heard by Jess's boyfriend. But Jess rolled her eyes again and began walking to greet James at the door. She knew he wouldn't be proposing. Contrary to what her roommates believe, James was a hopeless romantic. He would pull out all the stops for her birthday, or to celebrate a milestone. He wouldn't just call and say he needed to ask her something and expect that to suffice as a marriage proposal. And she still believed that they had a lot to learn about each other. A year and a half was quite some time to be with someone, but given James' occupation, their time spent together was limited. She was always eager to spend what little time they had together in anticipation of learning something new about the man she fell hopelessly in love with.

Jessica reached for the door and yanked it open to find the tall, reddish brown haired man nervously wringing his hand on the back of his neck. He seemed distracted when he turned to see her and when he leaned down to kiss her as a way of greeting her he missed and kissed her eyebrow and smeared the lens of her glasses in the process.

"Wow, uhm hi. Are you okay?" Jess asked as she observed James. She removed her glasses and reached for the tail of his untucked dress shirt to wipe the smear from her lens and waited for him to respond. When he didn't say anything she started to panic.

"James, you're scaring me. Say something. Did something happen? Did you do something you shouldn't have done?" Jess felt that the look he was giving her indicated guilt. He never gave her a reason to not trust him, now she was thinking the worst.

"Move in with me," James blurted out. It wasn't much of a question as it was a statement and a poorly executed one at that.

"What about Matt? And the girls? We just signed the lease. I'm applying to grad schools and trying to work to afford this place. That's a huge step and we are so young. I mean I feel like there is so much I don't know about you and you are gone so much out of the year." James quieted Jessica with a slow, but sweet kiss. He reached for her and pulled her body flush against his and tangled his fingers in her loose, caramel colored shoulder length hair.

"The move wouldn't be across town babe," James whispered against her lips. Jess was at a loss. Her brows scrunched together as she opened her eyes to look at James.

"Then where would we be living? Too far away from the city will make our commutes crazy!"

"Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania."

"Wow our commute would take days unless we take commuter jets!"

"Jessica, I was traded today." Jess stepped away to get a better look at the man in front of her. Her heart broke. He lived and breathed for the Dallas Stars. He had hoped to be signed to a contract extension.

"Oh James. How much time do you have? When do you have to report there?" Jess tried to hold back tears. Traded. Halfway across the country. To a different division. Which means she will see James even less now.

"I have three days before I need to be there. Go with me Jess. Please. Pittsburgh has so many great universities. And we will both be so much closer to our families. We can get to know each other even more since you claim we don't know much about each other. Which is just crazy since we've been together for almost two years. I'll cook for you and we can get a dog. I'll let you decorate our place anyway you want. I just know I can't lose you. Not to a trade. Not like this."

"Jimmy you're rambling on. Can I think about it? I mean, this is huge. You're asking me to uproot my life here."

"A life that was fluid a month ago before deciding to sign the lease to this place. You could have chosen to go back to West Virginia." James huffed. He turned his back on her and began to pace the small hallway.

"I would like to finish my undergrad and graduate in May. Can we go to my room? I'd rather the neighbors not know our business." James nodded and followed Jess into the apartment. They walked through the living room towards her room in the back of the loft. Sara and Jackie were still watching television in the living room. They glanced towards the couple and began to smile when they noticed the grim looks on the couple's faces.

"Hey ladies," James spoke softly. Jackie, being soft spoken simply waved with a small smile. Sara said hey back and the conversation stopped there. Jess opened the door to her room and sat on her bed. James closed the door behind him and sat in her desk chair. They said nothing to each other.

"Why is this so awkward now?" James asked. He fidgeted with the stuffing that seemed to have worn through the seat of Jess' computer chair. The chair she brought with her from West Virginia. The one she sat in as she worked to earn the scholarship which allowed her to move to Texas in the first place.

"I don't know." She glanced down at her hands resting on her lap.

"Yeah, me either," James paused, then looked directly at his girlfriend, "I don't want to leave here knowing that we don't know where we stand."

"That sounded completely wrong," Jessica cracked a small smile, "And confusing."

In an instant James was hovering over Jess's petite frame tickling her sides until she began to cry from laughter.

"Stop James! Okay, okay I won't tease you about your grammar anymore!" Jess tried to push his solid frame from hovering above her. He stopped tickling her, reached for her tortoise shell frames and removed them from her face. He placed them on her bedside table and captured her lips in a fevered kiss. Jess brushed her fingers through his hair and allowed him to settle in between her legs.

"I need you to go with me. Please baby, I can't lose you," James spoke into her neck as he peppered the side of her face with kisses. His hands began to caress her sides where he previously attacked her with tickles. She closed her eyes, felt a solo tear escape the corner of her eye and nodded softly. James didn't notice her slight movement as he continued to shower her neck and exposed shoulder with more kisses.

"Yes," Jessica whispered. She wasn't sure if it was his attack on her body that was swaying her to go with him, or the desire to be closer to home. Leaving her friends would be hard, but there were ways to keep in contact. The idea of being able to drive to her parents and back to their place was more appealing than the flights and layovers and day long travels.

James jerked his head up and stared in disbelief.

"You will?" James asked. He studied his girlfriend's green eyes and debated whether she was answering his pleas or if she was interjecting her excitement to what he was doing to her body. He needed more than just one word.

"Yes." She smiled sweetly.

"Say it in a complete sentence,” James whispered, poking fun at Jess’ love for speaking as properly as possible.

"Yes, I'll move in..." But Jessica was cut off by James crashing his lips against hers. She reached in front of him and ran her fingers across the expanse of his chest and chiseled abs.

"You have no idea how much this means to me Jess, I cannot believe you are willing to move with me." James smiled and kissed the crown of her head as Jess attacked the exposed skin on his chest with little nips of her teeth.

"Well, not really with you. I have to finish my semester here. So, May. About three months." James shifted to Jess' side and curled around her. He played with the hem of her worn Dallas Stars shirt. One she stole from his drawer early on in their relationship. His hand crept up the soft flesh under her shirt until he was tracing the bottom of her bra.

"What are you doing there Mr. Neal?" Jess turned towards the man in her bed, but her movement only prompted him to cover her entire left breast with his large hand and squeeze firmly.

"You are so hot." James pushed her shirt further up and Jess reached her hands over her head to allow for him to remove it entirely. He attacked her cleavage with his mouth, covering the exposed skin with wet, sloppy kisses. Jess ran her fingers through his messy hair and encouraged him further. He reached around her back and unsnapped her bra in one fluid movement, pulled the extraneous material from her body and propped himself up to look down at her.

Jessica never felt more alive. She reached for the buttons on his dress shirt and slowly, without losing contact, released each button from their holds. When she reached the last button she pushed the shirt off his shoulders and grazed her fingernails down his biceps, slightly bulging from straining to keep his weight off of her. She leaned up towards him and captured his lips again.

"Wait, so we aren't going to talk about this anymore?" James stopped and watched Jessica's reaction.

"You got me half naked and all worked up and now you want to discuss this? The girls will understand. They knew it was a possibility from the beginning. And I have three months to help them find a replacement." Jess tried to rationalize. James was the one who started to undress her in the first place.

"I'm going to miss you," James whispered, his head perched on her stomach.

"Yeah, well you will be too busy making the city of Pittsburgh forget all about Sidney Crosby." James laughed a deep, shoulder shaking laugh. Jess took this opportunity to push him off of her and onto his back where she straddled his waist. He gripped her thighs and smiled his big toothy grin. "Besides, you will be so busy with the remaining season that you will forget about me." James reached up and squeezed Jess' exposed nipples, she squealed and fell forward, her forehead connecting with his. "I could never forget about you." With that James silenced Jessica with a fevered kiss.

Notes