The Compromise

James was eager to see Jessica. Because of the start of the school year and the start of training camp he hadn't seen her in nearly two weeks. The last time he saw her was the last true day off he had and that was only because he had gotten sick.
He knew his time was limited before she arrived for the weekend, his last weekend before the season started, and he planned their time together down to the minute. He was looking forward to proving to her how important she was to him.

When he spoke with her on her lunch break she didn't sound like she was having a good day, so he decided that Friday evening was going to be spent staying in and pigging out on her favorite Chinese food and ice cream. He had selected a collection of old eighties movies that he knew she loved and settled on spending their time on the couch.

Jessica showed up at James' place just before six with a weekender bag filled with clothes. After the lousy week of sleep she had, she was exhausted and wanted to his curl up on James' oversized couch and sleep. She hoped that being near him would let sleep come easier for her, and she hoped that the weekend would pan out to be relaxing and stress free.

James opened the front door and walked down to Jess' car parked in his driveway. He embraced her when she climbed out of her car, brushing his lips across her forehead. The couple didn't say much by way of a greeting, instead choosing to just hug each other in the middle of James' neighborhood.

When they finally pulled away from their embrace James reached into Jess' backseat for her bags and slung his arm around her shoulder. Jess instantly slouched against him and the couple walked together into his house.

"How does Chinese sound?" James asked. When he didn't get a response from Jess he added, "Because I've already ordered and it’s on its way."

He gave a sheepish smile as Jess just nodded her head and proceeded to his kitchen. She was on the hunt for a beverage. She grabbed a bottle of water and found a glass in a cabinet for ice. As she opened the freezer door she caught sight of a carton from her favorite ice cream place.

"Oh and I picked up some ice cream for later," James stated after Jess turned around with a smile on her weary face.

She crossed the kitchen to the island where James sat and stood in between his legs, her arms wrapped around his neck.

"I remember when you were worried about finals or a paper you would drag me to get your favorite treat to relax and I want you to relax this weekend. Hopefully you get caught up on sleep too."
"I think just seeing you is helping already," Jess said. She hugged James tightly around the neck. "Thank you."

James pulled away and said, "Why don't you go get comfy and I'll get Mannequin set up on Netflix."

Jess stopped in her tracks and squinted her eyes with an amused smirk on her face.

"I figured 1980s Andrew McCarthy movies would make you happy. We have Pretty in Pink and St. Elmo's Fire too." Jess burst out in a fit of giggles. James just shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and ushered her off to his room with her bag so she could change.

Dinner arrived and twenty minutes later Jess still had not come out of James' room. Curious as to what was taking her so long, he walked towards the closed door and entered without knocking. Not much to his surprise he found Jess sound asleep on his side of the bed. He smiled when he noticed she confiscated his pajama shirt and was curled around his pillow. Not wanting to disturb her, he pulled the turned down comforter over her bare legs, placed a kiss on her forehead, and dimmed the lights.

He was hungry, but didn't want to eat dinner without her so he grabbed an apple, placed the Chinese in the fridge and settled down in the living room with his Xbox and the newest NHL 12. 'Well, night one hasn't gone exactly as planned,' James thought. But he was relieved that Jess finally found sleep. She has never experienced insomnia and on top of it her work week involved parent conferences, faculty meetings and additional tutoring, she spent the week at school arriving earlier and leaving later than everyone. She claimed it was because she was new at this and wanted everything to be perfect.

Three hours later Jess emerged from James' room. She was embarrassed that she fell asleep and for so long. She wondered why James didn't wake her up. She found him lying on the couch with an SVU marathon on the TV. He had the remote secure in his hand resting on his exposed chest. His eyes were closed and his glasses skewed on his face. He looked adorable with his hair sticking up all over.

Instead of waking him Jess sauntered over to the kitchen in search of the long forgotten dinner that James had ordered. She anticipated that he had eaten and drifted off to sleep after, and was surprised when she found all the containers full and in the fridge waiting to be consumed. Hungry, she pulled out the bag and proceeded to fix both her and James a plate. She expected the noise and smells coming from the kitchen would wake him up. He had to be hungry too with all the energy and calories he burned at practice.

Jess was just finishing up with the last plate of food at the microwave when she felt James wrap his arms around her from behind and press a kiss onto her shoulder.

"How was your nap?" James asked as he nuzzled his nose into her neck.

"You should have woken me up! I can't believe I slept so soundly for so long," Jess replied. They remained in their embrace for a few more minutes.

"You looked so peaceful. And absolutely adorable curled up with my pillow and in my shirt."

"It smelled like you! And I put this shirt on so you couldn't," Jess winked. James threw his head back and laughed.

"I could just put on another shirt,” he tried to reason.

"That won't be necessary. I have had my fill of you wearing shirts; it's time for me to have another, much more tantalizing view."

"Oh, me shirtless is tantalizing?" James asked as he crossed his arms.

"Uh huh, it's like me and my legs." Jess walked up to James and gently released his arms from across his chest.

"You do have some amazing legs," James said as he let her run her fingers across his abs and along the band of his gym shorts. He leaned in closer as though he had to tell her a secret, "Especially when they are wrapped around my waist or my face is buried in between them."

"James! Modesty please!" Jess mock yelled and smacked his bicep. He was laughing so much he bent at the waist. As they were gaining their composure there was a loud knocking at the door.

"What the fuck?" James said in aggravation. He couldn't imagine who would be disrupting their quiet evening in and more importantly he was hungry. The food smelled just as good reheated as it did when it was delivered and now he couldn't eat again. He watched Jess scurry off towards the bedroom and turned towards the stairs that led to the foyer and front door.

The knocking was persistent and grew louder as he prolonged answering it. As he approached it he could hear loud voices and laughter. He recognized one voice among the rest of them.

James yanked open the door to be greeted by five of his teammates, four of which were drunk, one more so than the rest.

"Hey Jamesy! I I I...I need to see your girl man." Sidney stumbled over his words.

Instead of acknowledging Sid, James turned towards Matt Cooke and Paul, "You guys got him drunk? Are you crazy?"

"What's going on?" Jess asked before the two men being accused by James could justify a response.

"There she is! Jess! Jess! Jess! I have, I have to tell you something!" Sid exclaimed. Jess looked at James with an amused smirk, then back to Sid.

"Oh yeah, what do you have to tell me Sid?" She asked. She wrapped her arm around James' waist as he pulled her close to his side.

"I have to tell you that I, I, I'm pretty sure you're the prettiest girl I know. And that I wish you hadn't worked things out with Jimbo here. Because I was telling you the truth about treating you better than him."

"Uh, ok Sid. You should probably go home and sleep this off. And pray you don't remember this tomorrow," Jess said. She felt James' grip on her shoulder tighten. He was angry and she could feel it.

Jess wheeled around on the other four guys, along with Paul and Matt were Geno and Tyler Kennedy. “Isn’t his recovery in jeopardy by getting drunk?”

“Hey, he was the one who overdid it. We tried to get him to stop,” Paul defended their actions.

“Jessica, Jessica. Look at me! Hey, hey, do you think we could go out sometimes. Just you and uhhh and hmm, and you? Wait, no, me. Wait, no.”

“How did he get here?” James asked, getting angrier that the guys were letting this continue.

“He drove over. I’ll make sure he stays,” Paul explained. He clearly hadn’t been drinking.

“Hey, he was all the way over here before we realized he had walked out of the front door,” T.K. explained.

“Sid, let’s go,” Geno said. He was tugging on Sid’s arm to get him to walk away. Everyone could see that Sid’s professing his feelings for Jess was not boding well for James. He was about ready to pounce on his captain.

“Yes, please leave Sid. We can talk tomorrow,” Jess reasoned. She let go of James’ waist and crossed her arms defensively.

“No! Let’s talk now, now is good,” Sid said.

“She said later, Sid. Now get out of here before I do something I could regret,” James said.

“James, Jess is a big girl. Let her make her own decisions,” Sid said as though he hadn’t heard Jess speak to begin with. James pushed forward and made a fist as though he was going to take a swing.

“James! He is drunk! Just go inside. I’ll get rid of him,” Jess said. James huffed, turned away from his friends and stormed back upstairs.

When he was out of earshot and sight, Sid whispered, “Whoa, I think he was gonna hit me.” The other guys chuckled uneasily because they all knew James was on the verge of doing just that.

“Sid, go crash at Paul’s. I will talk to you tomorrow.”

“Oh alright, Jessica. I’ll go sleep.” Sid turned and walked away from the rest of the group and in the opposite direction of Paul’s house.

“Sorry Jess, hope Lazy isn’t too mad,” Geno said as Matt and Paul went running down the driveway to catch a very inebriated Sid from walking in front of traffic.

“Yeah, we didn’t know what he wanted to do honestly. If we knew he’d say something like that then we would have stopped him sooner,” Tyler explained. The two guys turned leaving Jess standing at the front door. She watched as Matt and Paul dragged Sid back up to Paul’s house. She held back a giggle as she watched the guys attempt to get Sid back in the house. Once the door closed she turned back inside James’ house and went in search of her boyfriend.

“James! Where are you?” Jess yelled through the house when she couldn’t find James in the three rooms he frequented the most. She wandered up the second flight of stairs to the guest rooms to find James sitting in the middle of the floor of an empty room.

“Why didn’t you respond when I shouted for you?” Jess asked as she sat down next to him. She crossed her legs and leaned back on her hands.

“You know you are the most honest when you are drunk right?” James asked as he picked at the carpet on underneath his legs.

“Yes, I’ve read that before.” Jess could recall reading about that and being told that by numerous people in her life.

“He’s in love with you.” James continued to play with the carpet and not look at Jess.

“Okay and I am with you.” Jessica shrugged her shoulders as if doing so would prove to James that she didn’t care what Sidney said.

“He probably would be a better boyfriend than me.” Jess’ heart ached. He was feeling insecure, which is completely unusual for James.

“James, stop. I’m with you.” She pushed against him to get him to look at her.

“I know you are, but what is stopping you from choosing him? I’ve fucked things up so much that I can’t believe you still choose me.” James paused to gather his thoughts. “I have been a horrible boyfriend, Jess. I am so self-absorbed in my own shit that I forget that I need to be attentive to you. And I realized that when we broke up. My being selfish is what drove you to not trust me. I am really trying this time. I refuse to make those mistakes again. But then you have Sid, who appears fucking perfect, who knows how to say the right thing to make you calm down, who probably never treated a girl poorly and he loves you.”

“But you and I have a history Jimmy. I can’t imagine me without you. I tried living it and it kinda sucked. Hell, you made yourself sick over it! And we both did things to drive that wedge between us, but we are powering through it and moving on.”

He cracked a smile recalling what happened just a few short weeks before.

“You are going to talk to him?” Jess contemplated her answer.

“I’m going to spear him with the sharp edge of his broken hockey stick.” James fell back and laughed. “Now come on, I’m starving!”

Notes