Oh Juliet

I look Monday off to recuperate from the weekend of dancing I had. We got back to Dallas at a decent hour, but my body needed to just rest. Or at least that's what I had in mind until Jamie called.
"You should really come over. Tyler and Grace are already here." Way to sell it, Chubbs. Now I can't turn down your offer.
"I'm tired, Jamie. I don't want to do anything." I whined, rolling over in my bed.
"We're just watching movies. I'll even come pick you up."
I sighed. I didn't have enough energy to argue with him and he did only live a few blocks away.
"Fine. Call me when you get here." I threw the blankets off of me and turned off my tv. I slipped into a pair of my brother's old basketball sweats and shoved my feet into my moccasins.
I met Jamie outside of my building, immediately climbing into his car.
"So I hear you kicked ass this weekend." He pulled on to the street, back to his place.
"Yeah, I guess." I shrugged. I hated being put on the spot like this. I was good, but I wasn't that good. "My treble reel didn't go as well as I wanted it to, I only got sixth, but apparently that didn't matter."
"If you keep up what you're doing, you'll be the best in the world soon." I laughed, oh how I wish that were true.
When we got into his apartment, we found everyone standing around the kitchen.
"Jules! I was just telling everyone how amazing you were this weekend." Oh good. That's exactly what needed.
"Yeah! Can you show us one of your dances?" Someone spoke up. I hated when people did this.
"Do the dance you took first in." Jamie nudged me with his elbow.
"There's not enough room and I can't dance in these sweats, sorry."
"Bullshit you have on spandex underneath them, I know you do." My best friend called me out. She definitely had a drink or two in her system. She never acts like this. Ever.
"And we can move furniture." Damnit Jamie. You're supposed to be on my side about this shit.
"Fine," I huffed, "But I'm not doing my hornpipe because I'm too tired for that so you're stuck with the slip jig."
I danced and they moved the furniture back to its original place. All I wanted to do was go to sleep, so as soon as I laid my head on Jamie's chest, I did.
When I woke up, they were switching movies. I sat up and looked around the room for Grace.
"She had to go home so she could wake up for work tomorrow." Jamie answered the question going through my mind.
"I need some water." I got up to see Tyler standing where I needed to go. I was tired. Just in general and of seeing him. "Get me a glass, please."
I walked over and rested my head on the fridge, closing my eyes. They opened back up when Tyler cleared his throat. "We need to talk." His voice was low, making sure his teammates didn't hear me.
"About?" He took a sip of his water and leaned back against the counter.
"What do you think?" I raised my brow. I'm not exactly in the mood for his coy games right now. I'd honestly rather be in my bed sleeping.
"Right. Is this a problem?" He smirked, making my heart drop. He knows exactly what he's doing to me right now. "Aren't you and Jamie a thing?"
"I don't know if we are a thing but are we going to tell Grace about our past?" I didn't want him to back out of any more of my questions. Beating around the bush isn't something I enjoyed, especially not when I'm tired and forced to watch at least one more movie.
Tyler stopped his games and his face changed. He was thinking. It was all his choice. My relationship wasn't going to get ruined. Well, it might. But it seems like Grace hasn't been caring about our friendship lately now that she has Tyler.
"I think we should keep it a secret because it didn't mean anything, right?" I inhaled sharply. That one hurt.
"No. No it didn't." I grabbed my glass and walked back to where Jamie was.
The next morning I woke up in Jamie's bed with the smell of bacon drifting through the halls. I put my sweats back on and grabbed his sweatshirt from the chair. I wandered out to the kitchen to see Jamie making bacon on the stove.
"Wow. You really know how to win me over." I sat down at the island and pulled my knees up to my chest. Jamie left the bacon unattended for a minute to pour me a glass of orange juice. "What's the occasion?"
"You won all-around dancer, or whatever. That deserves a good breakfast. Even though I'm horrible at making pancakes. They taste good."
"No. They look good. Thanks Jamie." I pulled three of the fluffy, yet slightly burnt, pancakes onto my plate. Jamie was such a sweetheart and if I wasn't so hung up on Tyler, I'd definitely try with him. But I think on some level he knows that the closest to a relationship we're going to get is best friends. The position for mine is now open.
"These are actually really good. Still a little bit of batter in the middle."
"Oh I'm sorry, do you want me to make others?" His eyes widened, worried that I didn't like the breakfast.
"No. These are perfect. Exactly how I like them."
I spent pretty much the whole day lounging around Jamie's place. Apparently I had woken up a few hours after he got back from practice. Who knows how long I was out for. I didn't really care though, I felt great.
When I got home, I was greeted by the two people I didn't want to see. He has his own apartment. Why don't they go there were no one else is? I mean, I would. That's why I stayed at Jamie's as long as I did.
"Are you coming to my family barbecue tonight?" Grace's head poked out of the bathroom. Shit. I completely forgot about that. "We're leaving in 15 minutes."
"Yeah. Sure. I just have to change and brush my teeth." Why I agreed to spending quality time with Grace and her family was beyond me. Loved her siblings. Well, her whole family, really. Tyler was the problem. So was the way my best friend acted around Tyler.
"Have a nice night?" He laughed.
"Fuck off." I snapped. "But yeah. Jamie made me a great breakfast. Suck it, Seguin." That took the smirk off of his face.
The drive wasn't bad since I drove. Only one of them could sit in front and I got to control the stereo.
"What horrible noise is this?" Tyler complained.
"This is Sleepyhead by Passion Pit. Have a problem? That sucks cause we're here." I slammed on the breaks, which was completely unnecessary, and put it in park.
Grace led us into the house, bringing us back to the patio. People flocked to meet Tyler so I was able to avoid some questions. For now at least. I walked to the cooler and grabbed a beer and sat down by Grace's older brother.
"Hey Shakespeare." That was Brock's nickname for me ever since I started hanging out with Grace. He was two years older than us, but you'd think he was younger than us by the way he acted.
"I hate you sometimes." I shook my head and laughed. He was a brat, but I loved him like family.
"So what's the deal with this?" He motioned to everyone crowding around his sister and her significant other. He was significant alright. A significant ass.
"I don't know. She just came home one day all happy, like happier than normal. Then the next thing I knew, I was on a double date with Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn." I took a bigger sip of my beer than I usually do. Too bad I was driving and couldn't have more than one.
"They're complete opposites."
"Not really, Tyler is a sweet guy."
"That loves to drink. That's not Grace." I shrugged, knowing that Tyler would settle down if he knew that she was the one.
If we weren't meant to be together, I'd get over him.
Right?
I caught up with Grace's mom while she and Tyler played with the kids. Someone had given two of the boys markers - not permanent, of course - and they were coloring in Tyler's sleeves. It was probably the most adorable thing I've seen. He was so good with kids. I wish I was.
<< Kill me now. Please.
>> What's going on?
<< Tyler is amazing with kids and he's not mine.
>> Well you're sol
<< Thanks Viv. I appreciate that
Later that night, I was sitting in the living room watching Beauty and the Beast getting some work done when Grace got back from Tyler's place. She set down her purse and got something out of the fridge. "Why don't you like him?"
I could play dumb, just like the him she's talking about does, but I know that would just piss her off. "I don't not like him but he's not exactly my favorite person on the planet."
"Can you just act like you do? Please?" She was acting like herself again. Please, let it stay this way.
"Yeah. Anything for you, princess. What else would you like me to do for you?" An empty bottle of water flew towards my head.
"Smart ass."
"Damnit Gracie. What did I tell you about throwing things at me?" She laughed as she walked into the bathroom and got ready for bed.
I finished sorting out the papers I needed for the next morning. I had a day full of business meetings and then it was off to family bonding time at the Stars game. My brother was still in town, so my father bought really good seats for the game against the Penguins. With help from Sarah, of course.
My sister was talking about how cool it would be to get a puck and the wonderful person I am made sure that happened. When Jamie skated by, I tapped on the glass and threw my head in the direction of Sawyer and he knew what to do. Once they were finished warming up, he popped one over glass for her.
"Since Grace is dating Seguin, why don't you date him?" My dad started laughing. I shot him a dirty look and drank the rest of my beer.
"Oh look at that. I'm out. Gotta go get more."
"Get me one."
"Piss off Austin." I stomped up ther stairs and went to the beer stand. If I wasn't already extremely full from dinner, I would have gotten a pretzel or nachos. Nachos sounded kind of good, too.
Seeing Tyler on the ice just made me hate the situation at hand so much more. I honestly think I'm a better match for him than Grace is. We're both one of the top people in whatever we do. I'm sure Grace supports Tyler. I know she does, but he should be mine damnit.
"What took you so long?" Sulking about my best friend and her boyfriend. No big.
"Long line for the beer garden."
"I want to meet Benn tonight." Jamie meeting my brother wasn't something that I wanted to happen. He would give some lecture when I was probably going to be the one that hurts Jamie, not the other way around.
"Okay let me text him. Do y'all want to meet him too and we could make this family bonding with the Stars?" I sarcastically asked my family. It was a good thing that Sawyer had school in the morning because my dad and my brother would make me want to die. "Mmkay sweet."
Instead of going out tonight, we decided to go get milkshakes and talk. Mainly because my brother had to get up and catch a flight. I really enjoyed it. Jamie and Austin talked about guy stuff and I got to finish both of their milkshakes. It was a win-win situation for everyone.
"Hey Juliet, can we talk for a minute?" Jamie asked as we walked back to our car. I tossed the keys to my brother and turned to the hockey player standing next to me.
"What's up?"
"I need to know how serious you are about the two of us?" Serious? Whoa. Don't mention commitment. That's almost guaranteed to make me run. Ask your linemate, Chubbs.
"I'm going to be completely honest with you, Jamie. I think you're a great guy but I'm hung up on someone else right now. If you want to start bringing other girls home, that's great. But if not, I'm always up for whatever you want to do." I smiled, hoping he would feel better about what I just said. I knew I was hurting him, but I wanted to make sure we were on the same page.
"Oh. Okay."
All the happiness flooded out of his eyes. I couldn't imagine how he would feel if he knew that it was Tyler that I was hung up on.
Actually, I could. My best friend is dating the guy that I want to be with.

Notes