The Tandem

“Joce? C’mon we gotta get up. Plane’s landed.”, Jay said, nudging me gently with his shoulder. I groaned and wiped the hair out of my face. The glow of my phone lights up my face. Fuck. It’s midnight and all I want to do is sleep.

Even though we were exhausted, we trudged off the plane. As I nabbed our luggage from baggage claim, Jay called one of his teammates that lived near him. All I heard from the phone call was Jay begging for a ride to his apartment and a disgruntled voice on the other end.

“Joce, Freddie is picking us up in a few minutes okay? Remember to say thank you because I owe him big time for waking him up this late.”, Jay said as we stepped outside to wait for our ride. I yawned and sat on my suitcase. I’m exhausted emotionally and physically.
A large black car pulls up to where we were, we’re the only people waiting outside at the airport.

“Jay, get the fuck in! I want to go back to bed.”, a grumpy voice yelled from inside the car. Jay laughed and opened the door for me. I slid in the back seat and almost passed out right there. Jay loaded all our bags into the trunk of the car and jumped into the passenger seat.

“I didn’t think you’d be back until tomorrow babe.”, the grumpy voice now softened and grabbed Jay’s hand over the center console. They both thought I was sound asleep in the back seat.

“I know, I know but family shit went down and I couldn’t leave Joce there for another night.”, Jay said back quietly.

“And all this time I never thought you’d be such a protective older brother.”, the voice laughed, making Jay laugh too.

“She’s always looked out for me so I returned the favor. She’s the best older sister I could ever have.”, Jay said. I smiled at that. I couldn’t resist the urge to sit up and hug him from behind the seat. He immediately tensed up as soon as I hugged him and dropped the voice’s hand.

“Joce, how much did you hear?”, Jay asked warily.

“Enough to figure out that I’m not the only one with a boyfriend.”, I shrugged.

He took a deep breath.

“Joce, this is my boyfriend Frederick Andersen. Freddie, my sister Jocelyn.”, Jay said, slightly shaking.

“Jay, why didn’t you tell me about Freddie sooner! You guys are so cute!”, I squealed with happiness.

“Well you know how Dad is about gay people. So I just didn’t want to tell anyone from our family because if he finds out, I’m dead.”, Jay muttered.

“Jay, as long as you’re happy, I’m happy. I don’t care if you’re gay, you do whatever you want. I’ll love you just the same.”, I said. I meant every word.

Jay started crying and turned to hug me over the center console. I love my little brother more than anything in the world.

“Sorry to ruin this sweet family moment, but we’re home. I so wish I had a camera with me right now.”, Freddie laughed and turned off the engine.

“Oh shut up!”, Jay laughed and swatted at Freddie. He wiped the tears from his eyes and gave us the finger as we laughed. We all got out of the car and Freddie unlocked the door to the relatively large apartment while Jay and I unloaded our suitcases.

I thought Jay was going to try to deny dating Freddie but he’d have to tell me once we got to the apartment because y’know they live together. It’s kinda hard to deny dating someone when you live together. But I’m really happy for him.

Once we finally get inside the apartment, Jay points me to the guest room that I’ll be using for the night. It’s very plain with a bed, a desk, and a closet. The apartment itself is very plain, like a studio apartment, but I guess that’s the point. You open the main door and it leads right to the living room. The guest room is on the left when you walk in. The kitchen is all the way in the back of the apartment and Jay and Freddie’s room is right next to the kitchen. The farther you walk into the apartment, the more lived in it looks.

“Do you want me to call for a flight to Boston?”, it took me a moment to realize that Jay had been trying to talk to me.

“Yeah please, but not too early because we all need sleep.”, I laughed quietly and gave Jay a big hug. “I love you and all your gayness.”

He laughed and hugged me back, kissing the top of my head. “I love you too. Night sis.”

He slid the door shut behind him and I collapsed on the bed. I had enough energy left to plug my phone into the wall and text Tuukka.

Willsy: hey I’m coming home tomorrow from Anaheim.
Tuukka: what happened? why are you flying in from Anaheim?
Willsy: family shit went down, I kinda ran away for a few hours. Jay beat the shit outta Marty, y’know the usual haha
Tuukka: shit man that really sucks, just text me the flight details tomorrow and I’ll come pick you up okay?
Willsy: thanks a lot dude
Tuukka: anytime

I passed out soon after locking my phone for the night. God was I tired. I ended up having to call Mom at one in the morning because Marty kept sending me texts threatening to kill me because he’d been checking into rehab on ‘release to only my parents’ conditions.

Mom said she’d get Marty taken care of right away. The texts stopped along immediately. I can only assume that she called the rehab place and they took his phone away. So basically, I didn’t get any sleep at all because I’m going to Montréal in two days on Carey’s insistence. Kill me now.

Jay knocked on my door bright and early. I threw a pillow at the door to get him to let me sleep, but he just laughed and told Freddie to turn the music up louder. Fucking idiots. I finally emerged from my room at 9am and walked in on Jay and Freddie having a full blown make out session.

“What a thing to wake up to, thanks guys!”, I laughed and Jay gave me the finger. They got up from the couch to join me in the kitchen where a breakfast of pancakes had been getting ready. Jay started flipping pancakes while Freddie poured coffee for all of us.

“What time is my flight?”, I asked, taking a sip of coffee. Damn this is good. Jay looks at his watch and almost drops the plate of pancakes.

“Shit, it’s in less than an hour! Sorry Joce!”, he said and I sprinted to throw all my things in my suitcase. I made sure to change out of the jeans I slept in. I hate sleeping in jeans. Grabbing my phone as I ran out of the room with suitcase in tow, I noticed quite a few texts from Tuukka, Devon, and Carey. Why do so many guys like me? This is such a struggle.

Freddie sent Jay and I off with tupperware full of pancakes and hugs. He knows I’m gonna be hungry on the flight, goalies know what goalies want. I’m actually sad to be leaving so soon from their place. But I don’t think family time will be happening anytime soon, due to Marty’s erratic behaviour and Rosie just being a bitch in general. My family kind of really sucks. Except for Jay and Tanya, they’re the only good parts. Marty and Rosie just had to fucking ruin Minnesota. Wow, my family sucks a lot.

“Joce, promise me you’ll be okay in Montréal? I can always go beat Carey up if you need me too”, Jay said, pulling me into a hug before I could go into the airport.

“I know, I know. I’ll be careful, and I can handle him if I’ve dealt with you for a good twenty years”, I laughed and ruffled his hair. He swatted at my hand and waved as I walked into the building. I’ll see him next time they play us. But, right now, all I want is to go home.

Rushing through security, I made it on the flight within record time. All I need right now is a nap. But first, all the idiots that are in love with me back home will not stop blowing up my phone. Why do I have so many guys that love me? Not that I’m complaining, but damn they need to learn that I need space. Well, Devon is actually pretty good about giving me space. Carey is alright at it, I think his big thing is that he hasn’t seen me since playoffs. Tuukka is the worst at this. He doesn’t know when enough is enough and he always oversteps the line when my privacy is concerned. This is a struggle.

The first thing I see when I unlock my phone are texts from Tuukka, 12 so far and it’s not even 11am!

Tuukka: are you on the plane yet?
Tuukka: Jocelyn are you still in the airport?
Tuukka: can you text me back?? call me???
Tuukka: Jocelyn where are you
Tuukka: are you okay????

He tries too hard. He doesn’t get that I’m not interested in him at all. Five bucks says he’s sitting on the couch with his phone right next to him and he’s waiting for me to text back.

Willsy: yes tuukks I’m alive and on the plane
Tuukka: when should I pick you up from the airport?

Yeah, he doesn’t get it. At all. I mean, I know I’m fabulous and perfect but he needs to chill.

Willsy: uhhhhhh actually Devon is picking me up from the airport, and shit sorry the plane is taking off soon so the phones going away. I’ll see ya when I get home
Tuukka: oh
Tuukka: okay
Tuukka: um I guess I’ll see you when you get home

Whoops, guess I just broke his heart.

I text Devon about flight landing times and where to pick me up. Since Tuukka’s gonna be a mess, I decided to just stay overnight at Devon’s. I don’t have the energy in me to fight with him again. I sighed and leaned my head back in the seat, falling asleep in a matter of minutes.
Once the plane landed, I got up and stretched. Everything is really sore and just ugh. I had to take a few layovers because of the last minute flight booking, so by the time I landed in Boston it was late. I was exhausted and just so done with everything.

Luckily, Devon was waiting at the gate when I got off the flight. As soon as I saw him, I went right over and hugged him really hard. He started laughing a little bit, making his chest vibrate.
“Missed me that much, huh?”, he laughed and held me tight. It felt so good to not feel like shit every once in awhile. He let go after a bit and pulled my suitcase for me as we walked to the parking garage. Unfortunately, he has a tiny car, which is weird for a giant hockey player. He’s giant and I’m not exactly tiny either. We squeezed in and he started the car up, turning off the loud rock music he always listens to.

“Thank you for not blowing my ears out.”, I smiled and he held my hand between the seats. During the 20 minute car ride to his apartment, I was slowly falling asleep. When we arrived, I sleepily got up and collapsed onto his bed. A few minutes later, I heard the door close and some moving in the kitchen. He came into his room with a sandwich and some water.

“Babe you need to eat”, he said, nudging me awake. I groaned and sat up, practically inhaling the sandwich. I fucking love food. After I finished the water, I lied back down and he pulled the covers over me.

“I’ll be back in a second, gotta call Mom. I love you.”, he kissed my forehead and went into the living room, shutting the door behind him.

“Okay, I love you too”, I mumbled. I have a feeling that his mom kinda hates me, moms other than my own have always hated me. Mine has to love me. Every single guy that I’ve dated have always played sports and their moms have always had a problem with me playing on other boys teams and being in locker rooms with other boys. Dear god, it’s not like I’m getting with all of them what the fuck.

“Sorry that took a while, Mom had some words for me.”, Devon said when he got into bed a while later. Pretty sure she definitely hates me.

“Bad things?”, I asked, still very sleepy.

“Uhhhh yeah, you probably don’t wanna hear it.”, he said, pulling me closer to him. I shook my head and turned my head farther up to look at him.

“Of course I wanna know, she’s your mom. If she hates me, I should probably know”, I said. He sighed and brought his hand to stroke my face.

“Well, it’s complicated.”, he paused and looked anywhere but me. “She thinks it’s good that I’m finally dating a girl that can hold her own and has her own money. But she hates that you do hockey too and that you might as well could be cheating on me with any of the Bruins or anyone you saw in Minnesota.”

It’s quiet for a few moments.

“Do you think I’m cheating on you?”, I asked, wondering if he actually thought that. I really don’t want him to think that.

“No no no of course not, I would never. I really trust you, it’s just that my mom is, well, my mom.”, he pulled me closer into his chest, kissing my forehead.

“I love you.”, I said into his chest. I felt his hand smooth over my hair.

“I love you too. Goodnight baby”, he whispered into my hair. I barely heard him, I had already passed out. Whoops?

Notes

I know it's been foreverrrr since I last updated, I've been writing this on and off for a long while! Hope you all love it!!