Tongue Tied

"Over my dead body." Alex scoffed over the phone.

"You have to wear a Drouin jersey tonight!" Jo begged.

"I am a Colorado faithful." She smirked.

"Bullshit. You're a Drouin groupie." He teased.

"Count your days, white boy." She warned as she held open the door for Starbucks.

"Just wear the damn jersey! I bought it for you and everything!" He whined.

"I can't. Your girlfriend might beat me up." She mocked.

"Alex, I swear to god,"

"Unbelievable." She gasped. "How many Starbucks in Colorado and I end up in the busiest fucking one?"

"It's because you won't wear my jersey." He stated.

"I'm hanging up. I'll see you in a few days." She told him.

"Love ya, cupcake. Have a great day." He sang.

"Please stop." She laughed before she ended the call.

She waited in the longest line ever. Ironically, no one lined up behind her. She smiled when she heard the door ding. Someone was gonna have to wait behind her. Good. She looked to see who the person was and her smile fell. Nathan, of course. Who else would it be? He met her eyes and hesitated before he just stood in line. There was awkward tension between the two. A lot of awkward tension. She prayed that the Starbucks would burst into flames, or at least she would. She didn't know how else to handle the situation.

He was just as unsure. He could make small talk, but he was still pretty upset. Maybe he could just pretend to be okay. He didn't get a chance to do anything before Alex spun around to face him. He looked at her in shock. He looked her over before he exhaled the breath he was unaware he was holding. She took a deep breath.

"How have you been?" She asked.

"I've been alright." He lied. "And you?"

"Great." She smiled, also lying.

"This line's insane." He shook his head.

"Yeah, I said that to Jo when I walked in." She nodded.

"Was he making plans for when he's here?" He questioned.

"Not really. He's just trying to get me to wear a Drouin jersey to the game." She laughed.

Nathan nodded, his jaw clenching. That made him mad. She was a Colorado fan. She was going to the game in his jersey, not Jo's. Didn't Jo have his own girlfriend to wear his jerseys? But that's when it hit him. Alex wasn't his girlfriend. He had lost that a long time ago. He remembered the feud they were in. The battle of the Instagram photos. He got angry again.

She turned forward. He looked over her outfit. She had her same green jacket on with jeans and some army boots, combat boots, navy boots? He didn't know. One of her many bags was resting on the crevice of her arm. She had her hair in a pony with her RayBans perched on top of her hair. She could feel his eyes on her.

She had taken the liberty of looking him over earlier. He had his typical beanie on his head, since his hair was starting to get long. She loved it long. She loved it short too. She snapped out of that thought. He was wearing a dark grey shirt with the buttons open and a black jacket over it. His jeans were tight over his thighs and ass. Not that they were skinny jeans, he was just very fortunate in those areas.

She reached the counter and ordered her drink, giving her name. "And I'll pay for whatever he's getting." She explained, pointing to Nathan.

The barista nodded and looked to Nathan for his order. He said it, along with his name, and the barista rang it in. Alex paid before turning to face Nathan. He shook his head at her. They stepped to the side to wait for their drinks. He took a deep breath.

"Thanks but I think I make enough for coffee." He teased.

"I owed you." She stated. He cocked a brow. "I'm sorry about the shit I said that night, at the diner. I didn't mean it, I was just,"

"Nathan?" The barista called.

Nathan grabbed his drink and nodded at Alex. "Thanks."

He walked off with that. He was still mad. Alex sighed and grabbed her drink when her name was called. She didn't know how to fix it and it was driving her insane. She walked out of the Starbucks slowly, preparing her phone for the call she was about to make. It rang twice before it was picked up by someone that wasn't her intended target. She checked to make sure she called the right person.

"Ryan? Where's Gabe?" She asked.

"Busy. What do you want, Punk?" Ryan growled.

"For you to be nicer and I need to talk to Gabe, or Matt, if he's around." She told him.

There was shuffling before a voice became louder.

"What's up?" Matt hummed.

"Just ran into Nathan and he wouldn't talk to me." She sighed.

"Then come out with us tonight and make him talk!" Ryan hollered.

Notes