*Two Months Before*
"Happy birthday baby. How do you wanna celebrate?" Tyler's voice woke me up. I can't believe I ended up here.
Again.
Not to mention the fact that I'm still here when he woke up. After the first few times, I started leaving early. I started to develop feelings, so I ran.
"I have plans with friends tonight," I sat up and pulled my hair into a ponytail, "What team is going to be here tonight?"
"Oilers," he muttered, not impressed at the fact that I probably wanted a hookup with some guy that was never here. I was getting bored with my usual guys, "Avs are in town early too."
"Mmmm. Gabriel Landeskog."
"Puck bunny."
"Alright Ty. I've slept with you and one other NHL player," I told him as I got out of his bed and found my pants and shirt. They were at opposite sides of the room, not surprising, "And don't act like you haven't hooked up with a new girl every night since the last time I was here."
"Don't act like you don't have feelings for me, Jules," he half joked. He hadn't been in Texas very long, only about a year, but it was long enough for him to get around. The girls kind of ran towards him wherever he went, but I can't say I blame them.
"It's not acting babe," I called out as I walked down the hall. I stopped by the fridge for an orange and a bottle of gatorade before I left.
I had gotten to know Ty in all the times I ended up in his apartment after a night on the town. He's a sweetheart, he really is. He's a good hockey player but he's young. He knows he's good at what he does and he knows how to get girls to go home with him. But something told me he wanted more though. That his random hookups weren't cutting it anymore. I didn't want a relationship. Not today, not tomorrow, probably not even in the next year.
I drove to my apartment and was greeted by my roommate who was making breakfast already.
"Who's house was it this time?" She wondered as she flipped a pancake.
"Some tool from the east coast. You plan on making enough for me?"
"Of course," she set a plate of pancakes in front of me along with syrup and butter, "What are you tonight?"
"I was thinking dinner and maybe a few drinks. I'm feeling 22 right now."
She rolled her eyes and went back to making pancakes. It was a rare occasion when I could get Grace to go out with me. We were complete opposites and best friends. She's such a beautiful, sweet girl. Never been one to drink, even if we are legal now. Doesn't sleep around and was the kind of girl you'd want teaching your child. That's why she's a local elementary school teacher.
Me? I'm the girl with red lipstick, 6 inch heels, and a tight black dress that everyone is intimidated by. I'm really not that mean. I'm actually really friendly, I just like messing around with the guys.
I was thankful that my birthday was on a Friday. I took the day off so I could celebrate the whole weekend.
"I got you glass seats for the game tonight, so surprise!" She handed me the tickets before sitting down next to me.
"How did you get these? They had to have cost a fortune..."
"Don't worry about it. I figured we can go with the girls and then you can go out after," I pulled her towards me and hugged her.
"You're the best, Gracie."
After Grace left for work, I hopped in the shower and got ready for the day. I was planning on meeting a few friends for lunch, not knowing all the tickets were bought at the same time. I'm sure the rest of the girls would go out with me after.
I met my friends at our usual lunch spot, Sarah made some ungodly screeching noise that made my head feel like it was going to explode. Apparently I was going to have a hangover after all. This one decided to be a tad bit delayed.
"I'm so excited for you!"
I gave her a funny look, wondering why she was so excited, "Why? I'm 22. Not that big of a deal."
"Yoouuu are the talk of the team," we slid into the booth at the same time, from opposite sides. Sarah worked for the Dallas Stars. I'm guessing she was the reason why Grace was able to get so many glass seats together.
"Don't they have anything better to talk about?"
"Nope. Jamie is still talking about you."
"Anyone else?" I asked one of my best friends from behind a menu, secretly hoping that nobody else had said anything. I had been spending the night at his house for a while now, but we were both pretty good with keeping a secret.
"Seguin said you were hot but that's it," the fact that he didn't tell anyone about our multiple hookups made me feel a lot better. I'm sure a few guys knew, but not any from the Stars.
I wonder how he actually felt about me.
"Awesome," I mumbled as I tried to decide on what to eat. The ribs sounded really good. Or the steak. Even if it is only lunch time. Nope, I'll have some chicken and have steak or ribs at dinner.
"I'm sure he'll be excited to see your pretty face tonight," Vivian nudged my arm, causing my elbow to slip off the table.
"Yeah well hopefully Nate MacKinnon is more excited to see my pretty face."
"He's 18!" Sarah told me, a little disgusted with what I said.
"So he's legal," I argued. He's young. He's hot. He's amazing on the ice, I wanted to see what he could do off of it.
"Are you ever going to get a boyfriend or are you just going to sleep around?" Nora asked me, clearly not approving my behavior these past few years.
My friends were all pretty cool with the amount of hookups I usually have. Grace makes sure I'm careful, Vivian kind of encourages it, Sarah just wants to hear about every painstaking detail of them, and then there's Nora. She wasn't exactly a goody two shoes, but she was definitely dedicated to her boyfriend of two years. Before she met Scotty, she went through about 6 guys in a month, only having even kissed three since she was a sophomore in high school.
"Coming from the closet slut.."
"I'm only a slut for my boyfriend." She stated, matter of factly.
"Don't worry, I've heard about some of the kinky shit y'all have done. I don't need to know every detail of my cousin's sex life, thank you," I paused for a few seconds, realizing something about my own love life, "The only people I've slept with in the past year have been Canadian. So there's that."
"New topic!" Sarah interrupted, "How's preparing for the shows and competitions?"
"Stressful," I let out a sigh, "It's still three months away but I don't have time for work and my classes and my own pieces for the first comp. I'm actually headed to the studio after lunch."
"Dancing on her birthday? Who would have imagined that," Vivian laughed.
"Hey, you don't get to be 5th in the world by sitting at home."
"Quit acting like you actually care about your standings. You're happier performing than you are competing. You're going because you can't physically take a day off. Every other dancer needs to be just like you."
I wasn't sure what to say. I was one of the rare dancers that didn't care about the trophies, medals, or even getting on the podium. My dresses always had the traditional celtic embroidery, but the cape was usually a big bow. I didn't bedazzle my socks or wear different colored ghillies. Although, I did see a little girl with a Wizard of Oz dress and ruby red dance shoes. It was adorable to say the least.
"That's what I'm trying to teach my girls."
Having a dance studio to myself is one of my favorite things. It was only me and some mirrors, dancing. The satisfaction of hitting every single beat in one of my hard shoe dances is something I can't really describe to anyone, unless you dance of course.
I had completely lost track of time when I saw three little girls running towards me and their mother holding a bouquet of flowers.
"Julie!" They all yelled, hugging my waist. "Happy birthday!"
"Thank you, girls."
"They wanted to surprise you at your apartment, but I knew that you would be here." She handed me the bright blue roses with white lilies. The shade matched my dress almost perfectly. They smelled great.
"Oh Mrs. Smith, these are beautiful. You really didn't have to."
"Juliet, my daughters look up to you and I wouldn't want it any other way. You're such a good role model." Those little girls have a role model that sleeps around a lot, but hey. I dance because I love it. Not because I want to win. "They're always practicing so they can be as good as you. I already know that they love it as much as you."
I put my hand over my mouth, completely in awe. This is exactly why I taught classes. I wanted to make sure these girls, and a few boys, danced because they wanted to, not because they wanted some big trophy and a world on their solo dress. I started tearing up, hoping that my makeup would get ruined.
"You girls are the best." I leaned down to hug them.
"Will you go to ice cream with us?"
"Of course, I will. Let me grab my stuff." I untied my shoes and put on my slides.
I got home and sprawled out on my bed, not wanting to get ready for dinner. As much as I wanted to get dressed up and turn heads tonight, I decided to stick with the tight jeans and t-shirt.
It wasn't even a close game against the Oilers. I got to see Kari Lehtonen sit on the goal for a brief period of time so that was pretty cool. Grace dropped us off at the bar, telling us she would come back later if we needed her to. Once guys found out it was my birthday, the drinks just kept coming. Not that they didn't on any other night, but it was definitely better today.
Eventually, the hockey players started arriving. A few of them came to talk to Sarah, who then introduced them to me. They just wished me a happy birthday and went on with their night. The Russian kid, I think his name was Val, stayed and talked for a while. The entire conversation, all I could think about was the fact that if I slept with him, I would have slept with the Dallas Stars first line.
Maybe I should...
Val got pulled away by one of his teammates and I went to go find someone to dance with. I was standing there looking around for a while, trying to find where my friends were when some guy decided I was his kill for the night.
"What's a pretty girl like you doing here all alone?" He towered over me. I was too drunk to put up a fight so I just stood there and talked to him.
"It's my birthday. Came with friends that I'm looking for."
"Who could turn down birthday sex?"
"I could." Especially with you. I tried to step around him, but he blocked me. "Can I just-"
"Come on baby, you know you want to."
"Get the fuck away from her, Hall." Someone growled from behind me. I turned around to see Tyler with balled up fists.
"She yours? Good luck with her." He scoffed and walked away.
I mumbled a thanks and the next thing I knew, Tyler was dragging me out of the club. He looked me up and down, searching for something. "Did he hurt you?"
"No, Tyler. I'm fine." I sighed, he was being overprotective and we aren't even dating.
"Hall's a prick. Thinks he's God's gift to women."
"But isn't that you?"
He laughed, "Shut up. Why don't we go back to my place?"
I paused. I knew that going back was a bad idea, but I couldn't stop myself.
"Sounds great."

Notes