Confessions of An Ice Girl

"Move in with me?" James asked again. He'd been asking for a few months now. I was almost five months pregnant with our child.

"James, I don't know..." I sighed "I don't want to be more of a burden to you than I already am..."

James looked almost offended, "Abigail. You are not a burden to me now, nor will you be. We're having a baby together and I want to provide for you...I know things have been rough on you since you had to leave...and I want to do this to help you out. Move in with me."

"Can I think about it?"

James nodded, "Take all the time you need."

"I have an appointment next week to find out the sex of the baby. Can you come?"

"What day?"

"Tuesday."

"Tuesday...Tuesday..." James said making that adorable thinking face of his. He pulled his phone from his pocket and started scrolling through something "Home games both Monday and Wednesday. Just a morning skate planned for Tuesday, but that's optional."

I nodded, "Okay. Sounds good."

James smiled "I can't wait."

"What are you hoping for?"

"A happy, healthy baby." James laughed before kissing my forehead "I'm okay with a boy or a girl. As long as I can teach them to play hockey."

I smiled, "Okay, deal."

"Do you wanna go out for dinner?"

"Like out...to a restaurant?" I asked, confused

James nodded, "Well, yeah...where else would we go?"

"I don't know...are you sure you want to be seen with me, James? I'm pregnant...what will people say? What if someone from the team sees us?"

"Abby, I don't care if someone sees me with you...I..." James stopped and looked down

"You what?" I asked feeling my heart start to beat faster

"I love you, Abigail." he replied "I love you and I don't want to hide it anymore."

"I love you too." I smiled

James smiled and kissed me "So dinner?"

I nodded "Yeah."
__________________________________

Sitting across from James Neal at a quiet little place downtown felt so surreal. It all felt like a dream. It was almost picture perfect. The reason I say almost was because our nice time out was cut short...

We had just arrived and got seated. Ordered out waters and an appitizer, and were discussing what we should each get for entrees. I'm not a shy girl. I was an ice girl, but people were staring and talking. I tried not to be bothered by it. But the staring and the talking was getting to me. "Is that James Neal with that pregnant girl?" "What's going on?" "Who is that pregnant girl with james neal?".

"Abby..." James said quietly, as if he could sense the uncomfortable vibes coming off of me "Do you want to just go home?" he sighed

"I don't want to, but..."

"You don't like people saying stuff." he said. I nodded "We can order our entrees to go. Go back to my place and we can talk more about you moving in?"

I nodded "Okay."

James smiled "Great." We ordered our entrees to go and got back to James'. I felt bad that we had to cut our time out short, but sitting in his living room watching netflix and eating our dinners all curled up in his big blanket was perfect too.

"James..."

"Yeah?"

"You're not worried someone will say something about it to like the blogs...or the news?"

James laughed "Abby. I'm James Neal. Not Sidney Crosby. People really don't care about what I do...and if they did, so what? I'll tell the truth. I'm in a relationship with a wonderful girl and we're having a baby."

I smiled "James, you're amazing."

"You're amazing, Abby...and I love you." There is was again. The four letter word that sent shivers up my spine. 'Love'. James Neal loved me and I loved him.

"I love you too." I smiled

"Now...about you moving in..." James laughed

I laughed and shook my head. This boy was persistent. "James..."

"Please? I have a ton of room here as you can see. We can even paint a room for the baby. You can decorate my place as you like. Please?"

I smiled "You drive one hell of a bargain Mr. Neal."

"So? Yes?" he smiled

I laughed "Yes, James. I'll move in with you."

Notes

I am SO sorry this update took so long. Things have been blah lately and writers block destoryed me for these weeks/months.