Hall of Fame

The next week was kind of a blur, between meetings, practice, skating with the two goofballs after practice, and now are new tradition of Sunday brunches my schedule was pretty full. Tyler has even taking to running with me on his day off, which I will admit was a bit awkward the first time he showed up at my apartment…
I finished filling my water bottle, took a quick sip and then re – capped it. I was glad the Star’s got today off because after a week of activities I definitely needed some time alone. I just hoped the guys understood that when I told them I wasn’t cooking today.
I bounced to my door, headphones in, ready to go, but I didn’t get very far, because as I opened my door I ran right into the body standing there.
“Tyler, what are you doing here?” I asked/laughed as my headphones slipped from my ears.
“I was just…” he ran one of his huge hands though his dark hair as he looked down at me. He took a deep breath, “Hi.”
“Hi,” I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t ignore the little ping of joy that I felt in my chest as he stood over me.
“So I was wondering if maybe you would like to join Jamie and me for breakfast, but I guess you’re busy.” He ran his hand though his dark hair with a bit of his lip, was he lying, I thought to myself. Of course he is, what was he supposed to say, I’m here to get you out of your pants.
“I am,” I nodded, not sure if he hear me because I could barely talk with the lump in my throat.
“So I guess you got a late start too?” He asked, as he slipped his hands into his Cowboys’ hoodie.
“I did.” I nodded, today was defiantly a well-deserved lazy day.
“Well in that case do you mind if I join you?”
“You want to go for a run with me,” I asked, taking in his clothes for the first time, over the knee basketball shorts, and new under amour running shoes, this wasn’t no accident.
He shrugged, “Why not, I don’t have practice today.”
“Fine,” I gave in, going against my better judgement, plus I was curious to see what he thought he was doing. So I placed my earbuds back in my ears and closed my door behind me as he followed me down the hall to the elevators.
* * *
“Wow that felt good,” I said as bent over to touch my toes in the elevator as it took Seguin and I back to my apartment. I was never a really big fan of running, but when you ran outside it wasn’t too bad, plus he kept me in shape, at least that is what I told myself. Today, thought, it was kind of enjoyable. It was nice having some else there who made me push myself harder. Thankfully he was just as stubborn as me which meant neither one of us was satisfied unless we were ahead of the other.
“Looks good too,” I could hear the smile on his face and couldn’t help but look at him as I stood back up and stretched my neck.
“Shut up,” I snorted, what did you expect Brittany, my subconscious scolded, as Tyler’s eyes continued to scan my body, not even trying to hide the fact that he was watching me. “Stop looking at me,” I snapped because I knew by this point my cheeks were probably as red as tomatoes.
“Sorry,” he dropped his head with a smile, but I could still see his eyes on me as the doors to the elevator opened. I stepped out with a shake of my head and he followed me.
“Don’t make me regret this,” I swallowed, maybe I should start listening to my subconscious.
“I am Sorry,” he held his hand up in surrender, “It’s just…”
“Don’t, please.” I took a deep breath as I turned back to look at him, knowing that ‘it’s just’ was the start of an excuse, and we were differently too old for excuses. “I don’t need to hear excuses, I am so sick of excuses.”
“Okay, no excuses.” he nodded, “got it.”
“Thank you,” I said as I made my way to my door and slid my key into the lock.
“Would you like to… um, get something to eat?” He asked as he stepped up behind me and leaned on the door frame.
“I would love to get something to eat, but I have things that I need to take care of today.”
“Another rain check,” he questioned with a roll of his eyes.
“Yes, another rain check,” I confirmed with a nod of my head before I closed my door with a deep sigh, finally some alone time even though I wouldn’t mind spending some alone time with him, shut up Brittany.

Notes