One Shots

I hear a loud bang followed by voices swearing, I turn my head and look at my alarm clock it’s 7am. I have half a mind to open my apartment door and yell at the lovely new neighbor who thinks moving in at 7am on a Saturday is an appropriate time, only half a mind though because the other half has reminded me that I’m still in my pajama’s with my hair in a messy bun on top of my head, and anyway it’s probably some spoiled rich kid who’s parents are paying for his condo closer to the campus they’re paying insane tuition for, and the brand new oak dining table meant for him to have a nice dinner with mom and dad and probably a bleach blonde little sister on weekend visits will be used for beer pong when he throws “the party of the year” after he finishes unpacking.

I find myself rolling my eyes at my own minds rant I’m 24 with a masters degree and a job, and yet I’m thinking like the 80 year old woman who lives on the first floor that tells me my dog’s nails on the hardwood floor in the dining room wakes her up at all hours of the night. I reach over and scratch behind my husky’s ear and he wakes up slowly “Captain you lazy boy, wake up we’ve got new neighbors, yay” I say sarcastically and I swear he rolls his eyes. I get out of bed when I hear the next crash of a box and make my way to the shower.

After a couple hours of footsteps up the stairs and boxes and other stuff crashing to the floor I notice Captain pacing by the front door “We’re not going to be able to get down those stairs bud” I say hoping that will make him hold it for a little while longer but all it does is make him scratch at the door and whine “Ok, ok I get it” I say grabbing his Blackhawks leash and latch it onto his matching collar , I open the door a crack and then remember I need my keys, I turn to grab them when Captain bolts out the door.

“Captain! No! Sit! Stop! Someone grab him please!” I yell as I dart out of the door leaving the door wide open. I hear a box crash and a male voice talking to my dog, I look down the hall to see a guy with dark brown hair in a Blackhawks hat crouched down next to Captain who is happily wagging his tail 3 steps from going down the stairs.

“Captain you said right?” hawks cap says

“Yeah” I say shyly

“Hawks fan I take it”

“What gave you the first clue?” I joke and hawks cap chuckles I’ve decided if he looks half as good as his voice and laugh sound I may melt into a puddle on the floor, nothing more gets said for a minute and hawks cap has yet to look up “Uh I take it you’re my new neighbor?” he nods still not looking up “Well I’m Peyton, welcome to the building. I suggest you be careful about the boxes you drop, it doesn’t bother me much but the little old lady downstairs complains about Captains nails on the floor. Do you mind holding him for a minute? I need to grab my keys and he needs to go for a walk and seems to like you”

“No problem Peyton” hawks cap says, and now I feel like an ass for introducing myself to mister secretive and sexy… or just secretive the jury is still out on sexy cause all I can see is dark hair, and muscles and that voice. I turn and make my way back into my condo and grab my keys stepping out and locking the door behind me. When I return hawks cap is still crouched unseeably next to Captain

“So why Captain? Why not name him after a player like Gretzky, or..”

“Too typical, I wanted something different” I say cutting him off

“So why not pick a new guys name, Kane or Sharp, since you’re a hawks fan, you obviously like Captains so why not Toews”

“Captain is no spring chicken he’s 11 years old, no offense to Kaner, Sharpie or Tazer but I didn’t even remotely know who they were then.” He just nods “Well, I’m sure Captain needs to go to the bathroom he was dancing around the hall in my condo, I was trying not to get in your way but nature calls”

“Right, I’ll see you around Captain” hawks cap says finally standing but keeping his head down to pat Captains head one last time “And you as well Peyton” he says and finally looks up and my eyes meet his brown ones and I gasp quickly crossing my arms over my hawks shirt trying to cover his name and number on the front

“Holy shit” I mumble looking at him in disbelief “Captain Serious himself is my new neighbor. Well I guess I don’t have to worry about you throwing frat parties and keeping me and Captain awake all night”

“No, I guess you don’t. It was nice meeting you Peyton” he says nodding before picking back up his box while I stand there shell shocked until Captain starts pacing in front of me again.
--
If anyone would have told me 2 years ago that my best friend would be a 2 time Stanley Cup champion, and Captain of his team, I probably would have laughed hysterically in their face. But now it seems as normal as waiting downstairs in the hall for the pizza guy on a Friday, the only thing out of the ordinary is that Jon is all whiny from getting hurt during the penguins game the other night and is slightly driving me nuts so I volunteered to wait for the pizza alone.After it arrives I make my way up the stairs towards his door and push it open with my food

“Tazer, pizza, get your mopey ass off the couch and come eat” I say and Captain jumps off the couch next to him first “Hey buddy, no pizza for you, at least not until I eat some” I say patting his head before grabbing plates and napkins and tossing them on the table “Tazer… Jon!” I say a bit louder he turns his face towards me and pouts “Oh get the hell up nothing’s broken”

“But Peyzer” he whines

“No but’s, get your own pizza” I say plopping down on the couch next to him he sighs and gets up “Hey, will you get me a drink?” I call after him

“Nope, get your own drink” he says sitting down next to me a smug smile on his lips

“Ass” I mumble standing up again to get a drink he just smirks and picks up his pizza

“Yeah, what about ass’s?” he says between bites

“You are one” I retort

“Well, I have one. I’ve been told it’s a nice one” he says and I roll my eyes

“Nice doesn’t begin to cover it” I mumble, he hears me somehow and his smug smile re-appears

Yeah so we may flirt a litt… lot we flirt a lot but we’re always in the right place at the right time, currently I have a boyfriend, he is single, last time around it was the opposite, our flirting is harmless though we both have too much respect for the other person to try to ruin a relationship but sometimes I really want to, like right now when he pinches my ass as I try to sit back down on the couch.

---

I make my way up the stairs to my condo, 3 losses in a row to LA has me drained and pissed off all I want to do is take a nap in my own bed instead of some hotel. When I get to the top of the stairs Peyton is sitting there with her head in her hands, I was supposed to be home 2 hours ago so she might be waiting for me, but I doubt it it’s a Tuesday she should be at work and besides she has a key.

“Pey, you ok?” I ask tentatively and she shakes her head no “What happened?” she sniffles slightly and it worries me, I kind of expect pissy Peyton when I got home, the one that would remind of all the things we should be doing on the ice compared to what we were actually doing, I was not expecting sobbing mess Peyton “Pey?” I urge, I sit next to her and wonder why Captain is laying on the floor next to her like he normally is, I decide it’s probably because he’s lazily sleeping in her bed until she opens her mouth

“I had to put Captain down” she says in a hiccupped whisper

“What? Why? When?” she starts to cry harder and I pull her into a side hug until she calms down

“I don’t know what happened he was fine the other day and then 2 days ago when I woke up he just, he wasn’t Captain anymore he was just staring at the wall and I tried to get him to eat or drink and he wouldn’t do anything he was just laying there staring at the wall. And then I thought well maybe it was just too hot for him, I know the weather has been weird so far this year so I just thought he wasn’t used to it. Then by the middle of the night last night he just started puking everywhere, my poor baby, he was so sick and all I could do was take him to the vet and this just came out of nowhere, they don’t even know what was wrong but when he started to have seizures at the vet I just, I couldn’t let him suffer like that. I had to do it” she says sobbing into my shirt

“Peyton, you did the right thing, he was suffering honey” I say rubbing circles on her back

“Then why do I feel like shit Jon?”

“Because you’ve had him forever and he was your best friend. Pey you did that out of love, I wish you would have called me”

“Yeah cause you can do so much all the way from California” she says wiping her nose on the tissue in her hand “And then to top it off I got into this huge argument today”

“With the boy” I say and roll my eyes, I don’t even remotely pretend to like him sometimes, to the point where I don’t even pretend to know his name, he’s an asshole that’s all I need to know.She just nods “Come on, I’ve got beer in the fridge and I can order pizza” I say getting up off the floor and pulling her up with me I gently wipe the tears off her cheeks “Don’t cry sweetheart” I say and pull her into a tight hug.

She falls asleep on my couch not much later and I sneak over to her condo, with Captain being so sick and then a fight with her boyfriend she probably didn’t get a chance to clean anything up, I open the door and find the floor half clean, paper towels and bath towels all over to try to clean up the mess, on top of a mop bucket and part of the floor being clean. Her bed is stripped clean, a black garbage bag stands tied tight in the corner, I carry that out and toss it down the garbage chute. Another bag follows a little while later stuffed with the towels and paper towels and her old mop head. I open her linen closet and pull out fresh sheets and make her bed for her, in the corner I re-arrange Captains bed that he hardly ever slept in, hang his collar and leash on the wall above it, put his favorite toy in the middle and a framed picture of him right behind it.

--

“He got me another dog” she says disgust laced in voice, I look out the window of the hotel watching the car’s go by on the New York streets

“What’s wrong with that?” I ask quietly

“I didn’t want another dog, and besides her name is Kayla which just seems like a typical dog name, and she hates me”

“She can’t possibly hate you, and Kayla is a nice dogs name” I have no idea why I’m even trying to defend asshole, other than the fact that it seems like a nice gesture

“She bit me, twice, both times when I was trying to give her food and water! She’s wearing a pink studded collar and won’t even let me try to replace it with the new hawks one I bought. And every time I walk in the room she barks at me, she hates me Tazer”

“Your house is just new to her” I say “What kind of dog is she?”

“I don’t know, I think he said, part lab, part retriever, part spawn of satan”she says, I start laughing and then I hear uncontrollable barking “Stop barking at me, I live here too!” she says exasperated

“Peyzer, I think she hates you”

“Thank you Captain Obvious!” she says and I scoff “Hey don’t complain, you got rid of Captain Serious”

“That I did, if only for a moment” she laughs then and even though I can’t see her it makes me smile

“Thanks Jon I’ve had a really bad day, between work, this damn dog, and arguing with him you just made my day like 10 times better” that makes me smile even more

“Alright, now go to bed, hang up the phone then shut it off and go to bed”

“Why?”

“Why not? If I’ve made your day better then why not let me be the last voice you hear tonight?”

“Goodnight Jon”

“Night Pey”
--

When I get home it’s late and I’m so tired but when I get to the top of the stairs I hear Peyton squeal and I wake right back up

“Peyzer” I say and smile at her

“I’m so fucking proud of you!” she says wrapping me in a tight hug that I return “I knew you guys could do it again! I swear tomorrow we’re all going out and I’m buying the whole team a drink on me!”

“Sounds like a plan, but first I would like to get some sleep”

“Oh of course, night Jon” she says but doesn’t move from my door

“You ok Pey?” I ask and she nods and smiles “Are you sure?” her smile falters just a bit but she nods anyway “Do you want to spend the night here?”

“Do you mind?” she asks timidly, which is weird for Peyton, who invites herself over, or wakes me up with the smell of coffee cause she forgot to buy some so she came over to use my pot

“Have I ever?”I ask and she smiles softly

“Thanks Jon” she says quietly and opens the door to let us both in. When I turn on the light in the hall I notice something different

“Are you wearing makeup?” I ask surprised

“Am I not allowed to?” she retorts angrily

“It’s 3am, you barely wear makeup at 3pm” I say and move closer to her as she swats my hands away, finally I grab both of her hands in one of mine and hold them away as I wipe the thick coat of makeup from her cheek revealing a deep bruise “I’ll fucking kill him”

“You don’t know that!” she yells at me

“I don’t? You’re standing outside my door, makeup on at 3am, clearly scared to go back into your own condo, don’t tell me what I don’t know Peyton! He fucking hit you didn’t he?!” I yell back and I notice her cower “Was this not the first time?” I ask trying to keep myself calm and she says quiet “Peyton” I urge a bit firmer

“It was an accident, we were fighting, I told him to take back that damn dog, and then he accused me of cheating on him again and it just got really heated, it was an accident” she defends

“But was it the first fucking ‘accident’ Peyton?” I say running my hand through my hair, pissed at myself for not noticing whatever it was that I should have noticed before that

“No” she answers quietly

“I’m gonna fucking kill him” I say again and spin around to grab my keys

“Don’t bother” she says behind me and I whirl around already pissed

“Don’t bother? Are you out of your damn mind? Of course I’m gonna bother, look at how tiny you are! It’s time he fought someone his own size. Unfortunately the only hockey players I know that scrawny are still in pee-wee” say seething and trying to find my damn keys!

“Jon!” she yells and I turn to her surprised at her persistence

“You’re really going to defend him Peyton?” I say and I feel my shoulders slump

“No, I already broke his fucking nose, I think he gets it” she says and even though I’m still really pissed I smile at her

“That’s my girl” I say quietly and pull her in for a hug

“I just really don’t want to sleep in my condo alone tonight, ok?” I nod

---

It’s been a few months since I saw that asshole I used to call a boyfriend, the bruise on my face has long since faded, and I’m sure his nose probably healed. I think Jon is disappointed that I didn’t immediately fall in love with the night in shinning armor he turned into that night, but if he is he doesn’t say it. I make my way back into the front doors of the building the air conditioner creating goose bumps across my skin where the sweat was from my long walk, it’s Friday and its pretty late so Jon has probably already ordered the pizza, I make my way up the stairs and to my condo to grab my money since it’s my turn to pay, passing his door I see its open so I yell in “Order the pizza yet Tazer?”

“Yeah, normal price!” he yells back and I nod even though he can’t see me and quickly make my way to grab the money from my counter. When I make it back out in the hallway Jon is standing there wide eyed

“You’re not going downstairs to wait for the pizza like that are you?” he asks and I look down at my tank and shorts

“What’s wrong with this?” I ask defensively

“How about what’s right with it!”

“It’s 90 degrees out, the pizza guy is not going to care that I’m wearing shorts and a tank top” I say and Jon scoffs “What?!” I say defensively

“Look at you, in short shorts, and a tight shirt there’s little left to imagine”

“I’m grabbing a pizza probably from some 18 year old working his way to the car he wants cause mommy and daddy won’t buy it for him, he’s not going to lose his shit because I’m in a tank top and shorts. I’m grabbing a pizza”

“Put this on” he says pulling his shirt off, and even if I wanted to say no I couldn’t because damn he knows how to get me to shut up, before I can even try to stop my drooling over his abs he’s pulled the shirt down over my head and I look down not only have my arms disappeared because he just pulled it over me, so have my shorts because his shirt goes down to almost my knees

“Now it looks like I don’t have any bottoms on” I say pulling my arms through the sleeves

“Well if they aren’t longer than that, you might as well not have bottoms on”

“now the pizza guy is gonna lose his shit cause it looks like I have no pants on”

“No, now the pizza guy is going to keep to himself cause it looks like you have a boyfriend” he says patting my head “Now get downstairs, I’m hungry” he chuckles swatting my ass and winking at me

“I will get you back for that” I shout as I walk down the stairs

“Promise?!” he yells back

“Horn dog!”I yell back and blush

---

This girl will be the death of me I just know it, for her birthday I got her a husky puppy, a little girl promptly named Chelsea, although her AKC registered name is Lady Chelsea Dagger of Chicago, yeah Peyton gets a lot of weird looks when she tells people the dogs full name, but she’s a hawks fan through and through and I find it attractive, I don’t think there’s anything she can do that would make me think she isn’t. But at the same time she’s so damn frustrating.

So here I sit, with her watching some stupid romantic comedy, I’m leaning against the back half sitting up one way on my sectional couch against the part where the 90 degree angle turns and she’s laying on the other side leaning over top of me so we’re criss crossed and somehow comfortable, Chelsea is curled up at her feet and they’re both sound asleep. I study her for a moment and then gently move the hair out of her face she wakes up

“Oh no, did I miss the best part?” she asks groggily and I shrug

“I don’t know what the best part is” I say although they pretty much all have the same ‘best part’

“Well it’s when she realizes that she loves the blonde guy and not the dude with the fancy name” she says and I chuckle

“Then no, no one has fallen in love yet” I say “Except maybe me” I mumble and yet because we’re so close she hears me and turns to me an annoyed expression on her face “What?!” I ask like I’m innocent

“Don’t bring this up again” she says in a sigh

“Why not?”

“Because Jon, I mean really can’t you just leave it alone?”

“No I can’t” I say defensively “I can’t leave it alone when you fall asleep on my couch like this, and flirt the way you do and then just turn me down every single time. I literally cannot let it go”

“What do you want me to say?” she says sitting up, the sign that this is going to once again be a full out argument. Instead of starting like we always do when she opens her mouth to speak I hold my hand up

“I want you to stop acting like it would be such a bad thing to actually fall in love with me”

“Jon”

“Peyton seriously” she sighs heavily “I know you’ve had your heart broken, I’ve seen it happen, I know promises can be broken, and I know it takes a lot of time to heal but damn it look at us! We talk every night when I’m on the road and constantly all day when I’m not, we spend at least Friday if not the entire weekend together, the only difference between us and a couple is I can’t tell you I love you and mean it” I say and she looks at me wide eyed “Oh don’t act surprised I tell you I love you all the time, you just assume I can somehow still mean like a sister, news flash, I never have meant like a sister. Peyton come on”

“Jon, it’s just” she starts and sighs loudly

“Just before you speak, before you give me 900 reasons why we can’t that only make sense to you, just” I stop talking and just chance it and kiss her

---

The second his lips brush against mine it’s like an electric shock, my mind goes blank and my heart beats a mile a minute, even the butterflies in my stomach have stopped to swoon and decided to make me turn to jelly instead, I go on auto pilot and run my hand through his hair, when he pulls away I know I’ve got to be the color of a tomato. I just stare at him for a minute, a lot can go wrong, it can all start in a downward spiral if I take too long to answer, but my mind has turned to complete mush and the only thing I can process right now is way that kiss felt, I take a deep breath and run my hand through my messy brown hair.

“What are you thinking?” he says quietly, his voice sounds more sultry now than I ever remember it, or maybe it’s always been like that and I’m just noticing it, I bite my lip to keep from blurting out something stupid and I see him rub the back of his neck while studying the plaid pattern on his pajama pants, classic nervous Jon. Finally I clear my throat and his soft concerned beautiful brown eyes snap up to study my face

“I’m thinking about a lot of things, ya know how bad of an idea this could be, the terribly tragic ways our entire friendship and everything could end if we fail at a relationship, who would get custody of Chelsea if we break up, speaking of Chelsea does she have to go potty” I say and I see him smirk when he notices I’m joking about that last part but he quickly goes back to being serious “But I’m also thinking of how our friendship could end now that you’ve gone and messed it all up by kissing me, there was a line there and you crossed it and now even if we want to we can’t go back”

“I do not want to go back” he says quietly his eyes a mix of hopeful and pleading

“I don’t want to either and it scares the shit out of me, because I can’t lose you” I say my voice sounding shaky instead of strong like I’d hoped

“You won’t lose me, I swear it, I’m right here forever”

“You sure?” I ask and he nods “How are you so sure?”

“Because it scares the shit out of me too, to think that could have messed everything up, I’ve wanted to do that for years, I couldn’t risk it”

“Jon” I say quietly and he nods kissing my forehead “I’m pretty sure I love you”

“Well that’s good, cause I’m pretty sure I love you too Peyton” he says laughing and kissing me again.

Notes

Song- Not a Bad Thing, Justin Timberlake