The Off Season

James noticed Katherine out of the corner of his eye. He saw that she had already changed her clothes into something a little more casual than what she had worn for her interview. And, she looked a little pissed off; James guessed that it was probably because of him. Before Katherine had time to think, turn around and run, James called out to her.

“Ms. Donnell, I think I owe you an apology.”

Katherine stopped in her tracks and slowly turned around to face James, not knowing what would be the next words coming out of her mouth or his. She slowly made her way over to the table where he stood , all the while, staring him down, waiting to hear the apology creep out of his mouth. The tough girl glare she was giving him was softened when the only thing Katherine could focus on where those eyes. The same eyes that she first saw when he looked up at her when they collided. There was something boyish and innocent, yet devilish and unpredictable in those eyes, something that Katherine would be drawn to time and time again with him.

“Please, call me Katherine,” she said. “After all, this isn’t the first time we’ve met.”
James looked at her and smiled, “yea, about that.” “I think I need to explain and apologize.”
James pulled out the chair beside him and motioned for Katherine to have a seat. Skeptical as she was about his intentions, Katherine decided that she should at least hear him out before making a run for it.

“I was with the PR Department all morning long, booking autograph sessions and scheduling other things and I wasn’t paying attention when I was walking down the hall,” James started to explain. “I just wanted to get out of there and then, boom, there you were.”

Katherine could accept this as half an apology and as she leaned back into the chair, she gave James a go-on nod as if she was waiting to hear the rest.

“I am sorry about the coffee and I am sorry about being such a…”

“Asshole,” Katherine blurted.

“Ugh yea, okay, an asshole.” James Neal had conceded that he had been the exact thing that had been floating around in Katherine’s head ever since they met.

“Wow, you don’t hold anything back do you,” James asked. “Does that ever get you into trouble?”

“It got me a job with the Penguins Group,” Katherine replied. “So no, my directness doesn’t get me into trouble; it gets me what I want.”

She got the job. James smiled and waved the waiter over to the table.

“This calls for a celebration, so what will it be?”

Katherine looked at the waiter, “what is the most expensive scotch you have?” The waiter gave a few suggestions and when Katherine recognized the name of the scotch that her mentor drank, she just smiled and ordered a double, on the rocks.

“So is the dry cleaning bill going to be cheaper than that drink?” James asked.

“Macallen; 21 year-old scotch, and a double at that.” “I’m pretty sure,” Katherine said with a smirk.

James could have cared less how much Katherine’s drink was going to cost him. The only thing James could think of was that this was going to be fun.

After the waiter brought over Katherine’s scotch and a beer for James, James offered up a toast to her new job, new friendships and clean clothes. James Neal offering to buy her drinks and get her clothes cleaned; somehow Katherine knew that this wasn’t going to be the only conversation about her clothes that they were going to have.

Two hours and a scotch and a half later, James and Katherine had filled the time with the usual talk of two people doing the dance between friendship and flirtation. James asked about the new job and Katherine asked about the still on-going lockout. They talked casually about the weather in Pittsburgh, real estate agents and where to get the best late night munchies in town. It was all very comfortable in comparison to how their first encounter started.

Katherine looked at her watch, realizing that she still need to review the contract that she promised Ray she would give him an answer on in the morning and noticing that James was in no hurry to leave.

“Listen, this was very nice of you, and I’m sure we’ll see more of each other in the upcoming weeks,” Katherine said as she gathered her purse, took the last swig of the $75 a glass scotch and was about to stand up. “But I really need to take a look at the contract and make some calls before it gets too late.”

That is when it hit her. That last drink of scotch went right to her head. Katherine sat back down and took a deep breathe in and slowly let it out.

James just looked at her and laughed. “So you can order expensive drinks, just can’t handle them, eh?”

“I think I just might need a little something to eat,” replied Katherine. “I had some yogurt for breakfast and I’m pretty sure that is the last time I ate.”

“I have an idea,” James said as he leaned in to whisper to her. “Let me order some room service for you, that way you can kill two birds with one stone; get something in your stomach and review the contact, safe and sound in your room.”

Katherine agreed to James’ suggestion and as has offered her his hand to steady herself, she thought that maybe, just maybe, James Neal wasn’t the asshole she thought we was.

That was until he opened his mouth and said “and I’ll just walk you up to your room, just to make sure you get there in one piece.” “Oh, and that will give you the change to give me those clothes so I can get them cleaned for you.”

The last bit of tipsiness was flushed out of Katherine when James invited himself up to her room. She was stone-cold sober and wondering what her next move should be. Sure any girl in all of Pittsburgh would give their left arm to be in this precarious situation with a very good looking, very charming, very well put together hockey player, but Katherine had other things to consider. Like employment. Like a future in her chosen career. Like guys gossiping in locker rooms worse than girls on a playground. She hadn’t even officially become an employee of the Penguins and already she was probably breaking one-hundred and one rules by just being there with James.

“You know, I’m probably okay to get to my room myself, and I’ll just order room service from there,” as Katherine got up and pushed her chair in. “Thanks again for the drinks and hey, don’t worry about the clothes, I’m covered,” she said as she was walking away.

Katherine all but sprinted out of the bar, into the lobby and onto the elevator. Pressing the button for the 10th floor as hard and as quickly as she could, the doors to the elevator shut and hurried her away from a potential night of room service and hot, sweaty sex with a man she barely knew.


James stood in the bar wondering what the hell just happened. He just about had the deal sealed before Katherine got spooked and ran away. He would admit that Katherine wasn’t drunk by any means, but she had softened and seemed to be enjoying his company. It could have been a great night with someone who was nothing like the girls he met in the bars on Carson Street. Katherine was smart, funny, and most of all, she saw right though the bullshit that James tried to lay on her.

James reached for his wallet to pay for the bar bill, when he noticed Katherine purse sitting on the floor next to the table. With the biggest smile on his face, James picked up the purse and chuckled. This night was far from being over.

Notes