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Jamie knew he was fidgeting all through practice. He could feel it in the way his fingertips tripped over his skate laces, like he’d never grasped the concept of bottom up. He could feel it in the skin right under his arm, rubbed half raw from the Velcro on his chest protector because every time he stood still he couldn’t stop swinging his stick back and forth on the ice, clearing the snow. He could feel it in his stride, in the cross over as he sprinted up the boards on passing drills.

If he was a phone, he’d be set to permanent vibrate.

The thought made him think of a vibrator. He wondered if maybe Elle had dug one out after they’d hung up because the tension in his body was unbearable. He couldn’t imagine a world where she hadn’t been wound like a screw after their morning that had almost ended with phone sex.

A puck bounced off the glass by his head and he whipped around to glare down the perpetrator. Coach had his eyebrows raised. “Are you going to join us for practice, Benny, or keep pretending you remember how to play hockey?”

Clearly his fidgeting had translated to some bad on-ice behaviors. Jamie shouted a quick apology, shooting away from the boards to drown out the sound of the line of guys laughing behind him. He scooped a free puck up and shot it back at Coach, circling the top of the point and waiting for the return feed.

His shot hit the back of the net. “That’s what I’m talking about Benny.” Jamie should have rubbed one out in the shower before he ever thought about making a public appearance.

An hour later, he was rushing, pulling off pads and throwing them freely into his stall. He’d left his phone in his car, on purpose, so he wouldn’t think about a text waiting for him as soon as he got off the ice. Only now he was thinking about a message waiting for him as soon as he left the rink. He’d have to read it and then wait for his dick to calm down before driving safely. It didn’t even matter if it was the most mundane message Elle could have conjured at her fingertips. Just knowing she’d sent it would remind him of that little sound she’d made, stretching on what he imagined were cool, crisp sheets.

He took a deep breath, stilling his movements and collecting his thoughts. He still needed to shower and if he walked across the locker room right then every man in here would know what he’d been thinking about. He unclipped his socks from his garters and leaned forward, focusing on his leg gear while carefully hiding the semi he was sporting.

Segs dropped down in the stall next to him, towel low around his waist and stupid grin crinkling his cheeks. “I feel like there was some extracurricular texting or perhaps a phone call this morning. You were worthless out there today.”

Jamie glared up at him from under the dark fall of his hair. “Nope. Got home late, didn’t get a whole lot of sleep.”

“Because he woke up early to call Elle!” Jordie’s voice rang out across the room. His fucking brother was a menace.

“How the fuck would you know I called Elle this morning?”

A couple of guys ooooo’d and Jamie instantly realized his mistake.

“Because you just told me, Chubs! You guys are so cuuuute.” If he’d have been in any condition to stand, he’d have punched Jordie somewhere. Hard. Instead, he settled for a middle finger and turned his attention to his other shin pad. He really did want to leave and the funk of his gear was helping in the groin department.

Segs leaned his head against the stall next to him, eyes watching the ceiling. “You guys really are cute though. When I started talking to her, I was smitten, I admit it. But then, she talked some more and I realized she gives shit talking as good as she gets. I can’t be with someone who comes up with better insults than a hockey player. Just not my style.” He almost looked dreamy, thinking about missed opportunity.

“She would probably eat you alive and spit you back out. It’d break your heart to have the tables turned on you like that.” Jamie chuckled, feeling proud. That was a much better barb than the one’s he’d been throwing out recently.

The other forward didn’t even looked phased. “Whatever, bro. I don’t do that to women.” Jamie snorted. “What? I don’t. They know what they’re getting in to.”

“Right. Is that why the last one still hasn’t really stopped calling you? Because she knew what she was getting into when she fell in love and you disappeared?” It was a little bit of a sore spot, bringing up Segs last girlfriend. He was sure the guy had the best of intentions but his intentions were always light hearted. Some women fell for the whimsy of Segs even when they knew he’d never love them back. Jamie had really liked Segs’ ex too. She was a cool chick.

“Low blow, bro. Low bro. But I’ll let it pass. Mostly because a fruit basket was delivered to my door step this morning with a card that just said ‘thank you’. I don’t suppose you know anything about that, do you?”

Jamie gave his friend a sly grin before getting the rest of his lower body clear of pads. “Nope. No idea.” He was secretly ecstatic that Elle really had sent Segs a fruit basket. “If there’s any nuts in there, though, I call dibs.” He stood and grabbed a towel.

Segs voice bounced off the walls in the tiled corridor as Jamie walked away. “You can’t call dibs on the shit that was mine first! We already talked about this!” Jamie laughed hard, the sound echoing back in response.

-------

It had taken a massive amount of will power to roll out of bed without reaching into her nightstand full of promising toys, but Elle wasn’t feeling the solo vibe. She had an excellent imagination and was usually content to take care of herself whenever she wanted. She knew Jamie Benn had ruined her, at least momentarily, because there was no way she’d be able to get off without his voice in her ear.

She thought about how long the standard NHL practice was and if she’d have time to call him up before she had to be at work at two.

She probably wouldn’t, but that didn’t stop the thought from following her around her apartment as she woke up fully. Two cups of coffee into the morning paper, a knock sounded at her door. Elle sighed down at the paper at the interruption. Only two people knocked before noon on a Sunday: her mother or Nicole. Her mom would at least have the good graces to text first.

She took her sweet time, smirking at the rising levels of urgency in the taps, to let Nicole in. Elle was already turned half away after throwing the locks so she was spared a full frontal blast of Nicole’s trademark screech. “OH MY FUCKING GOD I WANT TO KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT JAMIE BENN RIGHT THIS INSTANT.”

Elle stopped dead in her tracks and slowly turned back. Nicole’s chest was heaving, her face blotched in excitement. She was lounge shorts and a tank top, looking ridiculous as she held her phone in her hand like it was a relay baton. Elle raised a critical eye brow. “How do you know I know anything? You’ve refused to show your face since you sent him obnoxious texts and a very private photo. From my phone. Which you stole while I was sleeping.”

Nicole swept the door shut with a graceful bow. “Obviously my machinations were successful. And I returned the phone right where I found it.”

Elle knew for sure that there was no way Nicole could actually know the extent that she’d been talking to Jamie. 100%, absolutely, no way on the frozen tarmacs of YVR at the moment-

Her shoulders slumped in defeat as she made a terrible realization. Nicole laughed loudly in her face before bounding to the kitchen for coffee.

“I take it you’ve been texting Nobuko.” Through years of friendship with both women, and many shared birthday party nights out, Nicole and Nobuko had formed a sort of alliance with each other. They framed their alliance as dedication to Elle, making her the best friend and co-worker possible. Their ends were entirely self-serving, of course, but their communication network worked just fine.

Why the fuck hadn’t Elle thought of this sooner?

Nicole had a cup in hand and the paper in front of her by the time Elle joined her in the kitchen. She waited for the redhead to say something with more patience than she realized she was capable of. Nicole continued to drink her coffee, pretending not to care that Elle was standing next to her, tapping her foot. Finally, she pulled the paper out from under Nicole’s nose.

“Hey! I was reading that.”

“And I was enjoying my morning coffee before you barged in here and yelled at me. So spill. What do you want to know?”

Nicole screeched again and leaned up on her elbow, ass off the stool. “Is his chest as solid as I always hoped it would be?”

“No. Definitely not.” Nicole gasped. Elle gave a sly smile and slid onto the stool across from her. “It’s better. Better than you could ever imagine.”

The thing with Nicole being the ever bubbly and bouncy best friend was that her attention span was as short as Elle’s patience. After a fifteen minute explanation of Tinder and texting and phone calls, Nicole said, “Bored now.” She actually turned back to the paper while Elle was in the middle of telling her about the hug, which Nicole had already gotten a full description of from Nobuko apparently.

“If you’re going to ignore me, I’m not going to tell you about our phone call this morning.” Elle threw the comment over her shoulder as she went to the coffee pot. She figured Nicole’s curiosity would get the best of her. When she glanced back over her shoulder, Nicole was going through Elle’s phone.

“Oh, for Christ’s sake you dick. Cut that shit out.”

“Seriously, your story is boring. Are you telling me you spent almost a full 24 hours just shy of sexting Jamie Benn and didn’t actually track him down to consummate the friendship? Dude, he’s clearly into you.” Nicole gestured at Elle’s phone, like it was a piece of evidence in one of her cases.

“I didn’t track him down because he’s a professional athlete that played a game last night. Duh.” She whacked Nicole on the back of the head on the way back to her stool. “Besides. I wouldn’t say that we haven’t consummated. I mean, not entirely. But there was definitely a new step in the right direction this morning.”

The red head leaned forward. “The phone call?” Her eyes went wide. “Did you have phone sex? Did you have phone sex with Jamie Benn?”

Elle held her hands over her ears in defense. “You have got to stop yelling his name at me. And stop saying his whole name. It’s weird.”

“He’s a living God. Like A Tribe Called Quest, you gotta say the whole name. That’s how it goes. Now, answer my question. Did you have phone sex with Jamie Benn?”

“No.” Nicole’s hands flew in the air, her huff clearly saying that she knew Elle couldn’t seal the deal. “No, we didn’t. But we almost did.” And just like that, Nicole was sucked into her love life again. Elle was explaining the finer details of the way Jamie sounded when he was first starting to come apart at the edges when her phone buzzed.

New text message.

Elle and Nicole both made a lunge for it but Elle was first. Her face went from hopeful to confused to downright disappointed. She threw the phone back on the counter, grumbling about bad timing.

It was just her mom. She was coming over and she was bringing lunch and Elle had twenty minutes to make herself presentable.

Nicole slapped both her hands on the counter and pushed herself up. “Well, that’s my cue unless I want a rousing speech about fire and brimstone.”

“Oh, come on. My mom’s not that bad.”

“She threw holy water on me, Elle. Holy water. And it kind of stung a little.”

Elle laughed and walked Nicole to the door. “What did you expect? You yelled, ‘The Devil is upon us!’ when that woman sneezed next to us.”

They both reminisced for just a moment in their about the one and only time Elle’s mom had joined the two of them for lunch. Elle hadn’t even known before that afternoon that her mom carried holy water around with her.

Nicole safely locked out of Elle’s apartment, but hopefully not her own, Elle turned to look at her surroundings. She scrunched her nose up at the state of the place. Her ‘texting nest’ on the couch. The empty wrappers on the coffee table. The trail of clothes she’d left in her wake when she’d come home drunk two nights ago and was too lazy to pick up. Elle sent Jamie a text to let him know she’d be tied up this afternoon and to not expect any fun messages for a while. Then she got to work.

-------

In Dallas, Jamie was leaning about the limits to his own patience. The text that had been waiting for him when he’d left the rink was really mundane. He wanted more but he was happy with what he got and it left a smile all the way back to his house. The drive was pleasant and infinitely shorter post-lunch rush.

Jamie wouldn’t say he screamed when he walked out of his en suite to find Jordie standing in the middle of his bedroom, looking very stern, but that would be a lie. “Jesus fuck, dude. What the fuck do you want? You have your own home now.” It wasn’t unheard of for Jordie to randomly show up. They’d been living on their own for almost a year but it still felt strange not sharing space with his brother. There were still moments when Jamie would yell out a question to Jordie and wait for far too long before remembering Jordie was miles away.

At this moment, though, he was not looking for company. He was looking forward to some alone time to text Elle some more. Jamie rummaged around his floor for his favorite lounge pants. He’d thrown them somewhere when they’d left town last week.

Jordie waited until Jamie had straightened with a half dozen pieces of clothing in his grip, before he held up a hand and started counting on his index finger. “One. The toilet at my place is clogged again.” Jamie groaned. “Two. Your house always smells much better.”

“Because you don’t know how to use a plunger, which is a basic skill set for adults, Jordie.”

“Regardless. The first two points stand. Which brings me to my last point. Three. You already took a shower, less than an hour ago. Unless you fell into a wee little mud puddle on your way home, you were jerking it in the shower. Total rookie move when you’ve got your own place.”

Jamie threw a shirt at his brother. Jordie batted it out of the way without blinking an eye. “Well? Was it a good phone call this morning?”

“Okay, that’s it. I’m not taking this from you. Out.” He grabbed the sleeve of Jordie’s shirt and physically removed him from the room. He slammed the door behind him to drive home the point. This behavior, the childish need to know everything about each other, had defined their whole lives. Jordie needed to learn about boundaries. Jamie would call him later and fill him in on the phone call, maybe catch up for dinner or something.

Right now, Jamie just wanted to lay down and nap. Or think about that phone call and the way Elle had sounded when she stretched. When she started to get worked up. Jamie flopped forward onto his bed, mindful of his dick that was starting to take a keen interest in his thought process. He was fucking 24-years-old. He was not in Juniors. He did not need to jerk off twice in less than a half hour because of some girl he’d been texting.

Some beautiful girl that he’d been nursing a crush on for months. With golden highlights in her chestnut hair and an ass that wouldn’t quit. He pushed his crotch into the mattress look for some small measure of relief. His groan was stifled in his bedding, lest Jordie was still skulking around.

Next to him, his phone buzzed. He rolled over and grabbed it up.

Elle: I’m going to spend all afternoon at the airport checking in my hockey team thinking about you groaning my name. Just thought I’d share that.

Jamie threw his head back in resignation before pushing his pjama pants down his hips.

She was going to kill him.

-------

“Bienvenue à l'aéroport de Vancouver Internation, Monsieur Burrows. Vos papiers, s'il vous plaît?”

Elle loved Alex Burrows. She loved his sass, and his ass, and his eyebrows, and especially the smile he always gave her when she conducted their check-ins in French. She was rusty, it’d been years since she’d taken her final grade 12 coursework. But, Burrows always appreciated it.

“Elle, mignon! Bon matin!” Burrows gave her a fist bump before handing over his passport. They chatted while she typed in his information. His smiling was blinding when she wished him a safe trip.

The Captain stepped up next, exchanging his usual Swedish greeting. Elle chuckled and welcomed him in English. “One of these days I will get you to learn Swedish, too.”

“I’m afraid speaking one non-native language sort of well is it for me, Mr. Sedin. Sorry.”

He leaned forward, conspiracy in his eyes. “Nothing is impossible, you know.”

Shaking her head, Elle handing him back his boarding pass.

While the Canucks weren’t always the easiest team to run through her line, they were her favorite. Because they were her team, her hometown heroes. She saw them 82 times a year between take-offs and landings and had fond memories of every single one of them.

Bieksa slapped his passport down before she had a chance to ask for it. Kevin was a sweetheart, when he hadn’t crumpled defensively the night before. She gave him an apologetic look. “Sorry about the game. How’s Katie and the kids? Things at home going well?” Kevin was the sort of dad that would show you a hundred photos of his son and daughter without prompting, which had always brightened Elle’s day. Cole was an adorable little shit and Reese was just the sweetest.

“Oh! Oh you have to see this. Katie’s birthday was last week and the kids roped me into helping make her a cake.” Half the line behind Kevin groaned as he dug his phone out.

“Hey, come over here and show me so I can keep the line moving.”

He nodded absently and shuffled to her side of the counter, eyes still glued to his phone. She processed two more staff members before he finally held his phone up for her to see. It was hard to really comprehend what was going on initially. Kevin appeared to be wrestling on the floor of their kitchen with the eight year Cole while six year old Reese wielded a spatula covered in a dark brown substance that could only be chocolate. All three were covered in a powdery substance.

“That’s not even the best one. Obviously, Katie caught us and took the pictures. She also managed to catch a picture of Reese when she realized her mom was in the room.” He swiped to the next picture and Elle burst into laughter. The men of the house were still wrestling in the background only the tiny blond girl was running towards the camera, spatula raised. The picture was slightly off angle, like Katie had been lowering her hands to brace for impact when she’d hit the camera button.

“Oh my god, that’s amazing. How was the cake?”

Kevin gave her his trademark ‘not-impressed’ look. “Inedible. We took her out to dinner instead.” The line was starting to stall again, Elle too caught up in the story. Kevin gave his guys the finger before heading to security.

She was able to get everyone else through with plenty of time to spare. She didn’t really need to go hold anyone’s hand in the player’s lounge which gave her twenty minutes before the plane would start boarding. Elle shuffled through her paperwork, checking her itinerary for the next week. The Canucks were headed out East, gone for six days. That was a lot of time to kill. She should repaint her bedroom. The pale yellow walls were too bright in the morning.

She wondered what Jamie’s favorite color was.

As if on cue, her phone buzzed next to her. Color bloomed high on her cheeks thinking about the text she’d sent him right before she’d left for work. It had been salacious.

But that was them, apparently. Salacious.

Jamie: I can’t stop thinking about you.

She smiled broadly, looking down in the hopes no one around her would notice.
Jamie: 79 days is a really long time.

Me: We’ll survive. Somehow.

Jamie: I don’t know. After this morning, I don’t know how I’m going to make it to next week.

That filled Elle’s chest with joy and a little bit of pride. That she could get one of the most attractive men in the league all messed up in the space of a few days was baffling, but awesome.

Me: Well, the Stars schedule I have pinned up behind my desk says you’ve got a handful of games. I’m sure you’ll keep busy.

Jamie: Do you really have our schedule?

Elle took a quick picture and sent it on the way.

Jamie: That’s cheating. That’s every game in the league.

She shook her head, seeing how he could make the mistake. She had four full schedules tacked up: the Canucks so she’d know when she was working, the Wings because they had a couple of diabetics on the team which required extra time to clear security with medication, the Hawks because she needed at least two weeks to brace herself mentally for the impact, and the Stars. Because Jamie Benn. She wouldn’t explain exactly why those four teams made the cut but she made sure to frame the Stars schedule in the center.

The first image she took was clear enough, but she felt it was lacking. She pulled down the schedule and drew little hearts and smiley faces all around the month of January. That picture was much funnier.

Me: See. Totally not every team in the league.

Jamie: I like the hearts and stars. Very artistic.

Me: I have many skills.

Her tongue poked out between her teeth as she thought for a second then she turned the camera back on. She reversed the view and fixed her hair before giving her phone a blinding smile. It wasn’t a bad selfie, not at all. She was usually really particular about selfies, but luck was on her side. She sent that off as well.

It took Jamie a while to respond. Too long, in fact. Her work phone went off. It was the check-in desk, letting her know that they would be ready to start boarding momentarily. Her cell got tucked under her computer in her purse and she wandered over to see the Canucks off.

-------

Jamie was sitting on the couch in the living room when Elle sent the picture. It was a like a punch to the gut, her unexpected appearance driving home the memory of their morning in bed. He thought about that little sound she’d made. Paired with her image, that breathy little sigh made his position uncomfortable.

Damn. This woman.

He craned his neck, checking the state of his living room. The cleaning service had come while he was gone so everything was tidy. Certain that his house looked well appointed, he took a selfie too. His smile was less wide with his chin tilted down slightly. Segs always said it was his ‘getting lucky’ face. Jamie really hoped Elle liked it enough to call him up when she was done with work.

Notes

My precious, sweet pumpkins. Thank you, again, so very much for the lovely comments. I know the last chapter was a little hot and heavy and this was a bit of a slow down. Fear not! Sexy times are ahead for Elle and Jamie. Just, you know, a little delayed. Because it is the summer, I'm taking a weekend off life and will be back on Monday with delicious, fresh fic for you all to read. I appreciate your patience. It will be worth it, I absolutely promise.

Remember, comments are love!