Flowers Sent to the Hospital

Training camp and media appearances had started for the boys, and Emily still hadn’t heard from Jamie. At first, she believed he was waiting for an opportune time to call. But as the days went on, her spirits dampened, and she was having a hard time focusing on anything but work. Maybe Tyler and Beth were wrong; maybe he didn’t like her as much as they thought. Emily tried to reason with herself that he was busy, that hockey had started up again and that was, and should be, his main priority. Although, that didn’t keep the cold seed of self-consciousness and doubt from creeping into her chest and spreading like a weed, though she shouldn’t be so worried because Tyler hadn’t contacted her either and he wasn’t able to do anything too physical at training camp; they must keep them plenty occupied.

It was Sunday, two weeks and a day past Tyler’s party. Neither of the boys had said anything to her or Beth about her note. Emily wasn’t getting a good vibe from it, and when on breaks from her nursing duties, waves of frustration and embarrassment rolled down her spine. She didn’t remember how long training camp lasted. Tyler told her before he left, but she didn’t remember; her thoughts had been too scattered by the look of sympathy he had been giving her as he carefully explained that they were all going to be incredibly busy.

~~~~~

“You!”

“Me!” Emily called back, barely glancing up at her apartment door as Beth flung herself through it. Emily was sitting crisscrossed on the couch with her laptop, Denny stretched out on his side beside her. He curled onto his stomach and leapt off his seat in a rush as Beth sped across the hardwood and fell onto the spot he had just occupied. She hiked her legs up under herself, her eyes boring into the side of Emily’s face.

It was early in the morning, 7:40, and Emily had just sat down to relax after a post-workout shower. Beth was trying desperately to get her full attention, coming to the point of faking a cough so she would look up. Emily raised her eyebrows but didn’t take her eyes off the computer screen.

“I have a surprise for you,” she said. Her friend’s eyebrows only went up further. Emily flinched as Beth roughly grabbed her arm and shook her. Once she stopped, Emily gingerly took her arm back and rubbed the spot Beth had had her vice grip around.

“Ow, okay! Why do you have a surprise for me?” Emily was hesitant, the last surprise Beth had gotten her involved sheer material, animal print, and lace, something she claimed would be a perfect ‘night on the town’ outfit.

“Because I can’t let my best friend sit around and mope!” Emily blinked, not knowing where to go from there. It was a waiting game because hell if Beth was going to let her in on the surprise even if she asked.

“Okay.”

A loud pounding erupted from the front of her apartment. Beth squealed, shoving her hands against Emily’s side until she got to her feet.

“Ow, okay, okay!”

“Get the door.”

“I’m getting the door,” Emily shot back. She hustled towards the noise, not bothering to check who it was as she swung the door open. Tyler’s fist stopped mid-knock, and he gave a wicked grin when he saw her standing there, bewildered to have him showing up to her apartment.

“Emily! Good to see you, doll. How have you been?” he asked, leaving a kiss on her cheek as he welcomed himself in. “Nice place.” He spun around, “We brought breakfast,” he said, holding up two white bags with grease stains on the bottom, “best in the South. Beth! There you are. Thanks for the invite!”

“No problem, you find it okay?”

“Peachy, it’s not that far...”

“Tyler,” Emily cut him off, “by ‘we’, do you mean…?” Tyler spun around, one arm now hooked around Beth’s waist. His eyebrows furrowed.

“He hasn’t come up yet?” he asked, taking only a few steps towards the door and sticking his head out into the hall. “Oi, Chubbs, over here man.” Emily turned frightened to Beth, her eyes going as wide as owls’.

“Jam…” was all she could breathe out before Beth was on her, smoothing out her hair, wiping the mascara from under her eyes that hadn’t come off during the night or in the shower. She started to tug up Emily’s tank top to show a strip of stomach, but Emily had just enough time to beat her hand back and fix her shirt before Jamie stepped into her apartment.

Jamie’s eyes narrowed at Tyler as he shut the door behind him; he hadn’t looked over at Emily yet, and her hands were beginning to shake. She clasped them together, then pulled them apart and ran them down her leggings, then put them together again to fiddle with her fingers.

“It’s endearing,” Tyler argued Jamie’s non-verbal plea to let go of the nickname. Beth, noticing Emily’s reaction, pointed with her thumb at the bickering men and rolled her eyes. She nonchalantly slipped between them and waltzed up to Jamie.

“It’s good to see you, Jamie. Thanks for stopping by.” She hugged him, and when they pulled away Jamie met Emily’s eyes suddenly.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” His eyes were intense, but he shot her a big smile, and she couldn’t help but feel comforted by it.

When Beth pulled away she went back to Tyler and led him into the living room, trying to pry into one of the bags, but Tyler pulled it away from her while shaking his head.

Emily was in awe that Jamie was standing in her apartment, his white shirt reflecting the light from the windows opposite him. His brown eyes throwing off sparks of green and gold.

“I heard this one’s your favorite,” he said, pulling her out of her own mind as he brought the steaming cup she hadn’t noticed in his hand closer to his face. Emily recognized the local coffee house brand and grinned.

“Don’t I feel spoiled,” she teased as she stepped off the stairs to reach for it. Jamie grinned, looking down at her now that they were closer. His eyes smiled, and he reached out for her shoulder, pulling her into a hug. Unlike his hug with Beth, this one was a strong, two-armed hug instead of a friendly greeting. It was all too soon when it ended and Emily was leading the way into the living room after the other two.

~~~~~

Tyler and Beth had not so subtly left the two of them alone to get more coffee, leaving Emily and Jamie in an awkward silence that was trying to be filled by the mid-morning news. Jamie was sitting in an armchair adjacent to the couch Emily was perched on. They were sharing a small stool as a table, the lamp it usually held sat on the floor behind them.

“I got your note.” Emily’s breath stopped in her chest as images of a severe storm on the east coast flashed across the screen. His tone gave her no indication of what he was about to say. Her mind raced, and she had the urge to start fiddling with her fingers again as she awaited the verdict.

She took a deep breath, “Yeah?” she said as loudly as she could, mustering up enough courage to urge him on.

“Well, Jordie found it, said he woke up to the front door closing when you left. He came and woke me up to see it.”

Emily took another sip of coffee, wanting to altogether disappear from this conversation and the violent slamming in her chest. “Damn, look at those waves.” She kept her eyes on the sloshing water showing on the screen, hoping to stretch out the moments where she was blissfully ignorant on whether what she did was right or wrong. After a few moments, Jamie shifted in his seat, and Emily could tell he was no longer paying any attention to the newscaster. She could feel his eyes looking at her, like knives dragging gently across her face, prickling her skin.

“You could’ve stayed.” Emily blinked, no longer seeing the T.V. in front of her. One second of bravery, that’s all she needed right now.

“I’ll remember that,” she smiled, turning her head to meet his eyes.

Jamie paused another moment before saying, “I was looking forward to seeing you the next morning, talking over coffee and eggs.”

“You could have easily gotten my number from Tyler.”

“I did get your number.” Emily paused, blinking. She studied his face and his guilty eyes. “I just didn’t know when to use it, with us leaving for training camp and all.” That was the worst excuse she had ever heard, and yet, she was completely relieved. Her eyes remained hard but neutral.

“Two weeks ago would have been a great time.” He sighed, taking a sip of his coffee. He looked away, and then back, her eyes following his movements.

“I know.”

~~~~~

“You girls are invited to another mixer tonight.”

Tyler and Beth had reappeared, knocking on the door multiple times and loud enough to possibly earn noise complaints from the neighbors before they opened Emily’s apartment door. Beth peeked around the corner with her eyebrows raised high, hoping she’d catch Jamie and Emily in a compromising position. She rolled her eyes when she saw the real scene. The news was still playing but the food was cleared, new coffee cups graced the table, and scattered across the remaining wood, were Uno cards.

“Hey guys,” Emily had said, holding up her new coffee cup, “we went to the coffee shop to find you, but apparently you had to go to Houston for your caffeine fix.”

Beth shrugged, turning her back to the two in the living room as she pulled off her purse and set it on the bench “Houston does have the…”

“Green.”

“Fuck!” Emily yelled, looking down at the Draw 4. Jamie’s lips were parted wide in a grin. He put a hand to his heart with a mock pout, but his laughter pushed through his lips and ruined it. “Damn it, Jamie.” Emily reached for the deck, then quickly pulled her hand back to her cards that she held and threw another Draw 4 on the pile. She smiled sweetly at him, cocking her head to the side. “Blue.”

“Fuck,” Jamie reiterated. He looked between the pile and his hand a few times before looking back at his opponent. He dipped his voice into a sweet, Southern accent, “God bless your heart.” Emily threw her head back laughing as he reached for the pile and started to draw his eight.

“...best coffee,” Jamie and Emily glanced up at Beth, who stood with a shoe in hand. Tyler stood smirking behind her, arms crossed. Beth’s expression seemed calm, but her tone made it obvious she was upset. She dropped the shoe, and it made a loud, annoyance-filled bang on the hardwood as she stared them down; whether it was for interrupting her or for filling their time together with such G-rated activities as playing Uno, they couldn’t tell. Jamie and Emily glanced back at each other and continued laughing.

Tyler and Beth had joined in on the next game, and Tyler was convinced that their relationship as a group was forever ruined.

“How does a 50 minute Uno game end up with me losing?” he had kept up his pouting until Jamie dropped the bomb he’d been waiting for since he had gotten knowing about Emily’s note off his chest.

“You girls are invited to another mixer tonight.” Beth had instantly made the ‘I told you so’ eyes at Emily, but Emily just rolled hers.

“We’ll be there,” Beth answered, earning a look from her friend. “What? You don’t work tomorrow. I checked.”

“You’ll be there right?” Jamie asked. Emily hesitantly glanced into his hopeful eyes. She inwardly sighed, her stomach already turning into knots at the thought of another team party with Jamie. She smiled to hide her sickening feeling of nervousness.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
~~~~~

“No.” Beth said, sending Emily back into Beth’s closet in search of another dress.

“That’s the last see-through dress I could find, and you don’t want to wear any of them? What’s wrong with you?”

Beth was glancing over her newly done nails, blowing on them gently from time to time: “The illusion of innocence, my dear child, is what draws a man in for the kill the most.” Emily rolled her eyes, grabbing the only two longer dresses from Beth’s closet she could find and emerging from the depths to throw them on her bed. She walked towards the vanity, sitting down to start her makeup. “Especially when…”

“Especially when they know the wild side is there. It’s the suspense that gets them,” Emily quoted, glancing over her shoulder. Something in Beth’s closet caught her eye, and the corner of her mouth curled “I know. I’ve heard it all before.”

Beth winked, standing to strip off her top, “And it hasn’t failed since.”

~~~~~

“You’re not fretting in front of the mirror again are you?” Jordie called.

“No.” Jamie replied, turning as he heard his brother jog up the stairs and walk into his room. “Not tonight.”

Jordie looked strangely at him, “Isn’t that the shirt you wore a couple of days ago?”

“Yeah, why?” Jamie asked, “I wore it for like two minutes, it’s not dirty,” he said, messing with his collar.

“Well, I admire your confidence little brother. I wouldn’t be so certain I would get the girl with a ketchup stain on my shirt, but that’s just me.” Jamie’s eyes went wide, and he quickly looked down. Sure enough there was a smeared, red-orange spot on his left side. He looked up, eyes wide and horrified, at Jordie.

“I need a new shirt.”

Jordie nodded, lips pursed, “I’d say so.”

~~~~~

“For you and your girl,” Jordie held two glasses filled with light liquid out to Jamie. “She liked this stuff last time, so I figured it would be a good choice.”

“She’s not my girl,” Jamie mumbled, taking a swig of his drink. Rum. Jordie’s eyes went over Jamie’s shoulder, and he let out a low whistle.

“You better make her soon, or you’re in serious trouble.” Jamie turned his head to look where Jordie was, and his mouth dropped open. There she was, standing next to Kari Lehtonen. They were laughing, then suddenly Lehtonen started looking around and locked eyes with the Benn brothers. He glanced at her and pointed with his drink hand in their direction.

Jamie didn’t see Emily look over because he had already turned back to Jordie who gave him a pat on the shoulder and walked off humming. When Jamie took a breath and turned around again, there was a brunette bombshell with a tight, blue dress that was half covered in blue lace walking towards him. As she neared, his hands itched to reach out and cling to the fabric that hugged her so well. When she came to a stop she stood shorter than she did during the other party, her boots only being about half as tall, but the way they defined her legs had the ground swimming underneath his feet.

“You,” he held out her drink, “look great.”

“Thank you,” she grinned, taking her first drink of the night, “And to you as well. I see you were waiting for me,” she said, lifting up her cup. “How’d you know?”

“Jordie.”

“Ah, well he is a good bartender, I’ll give him that.” Jamie mocked offense.

“I’ll have you know, that I have a signature drink of my own, and it’s much better than Jordie’s.”

“Well,” Emily laughed and handed over her cup, “I’ll have to try it then.” Jamie grinned and winked, taking the cup from her. They turned, Emily’s hand on the back of his arm to follow him closely through the crowded room.

When they got to the drink station, Jordie raised an eyebrow at them, but kept on talking to a teammate across the bar. Jamie dumped the contents of her cup into the sink before walking up to the liquor bottles, grabbing a few, and making a show out of mixing the drink as Emily perched herself on a bar stool. When he topped off the cup with what looked like melon liqueur and pineapple juice Emily and a few of the guys were sending him odd looks. But he ignored them all, and Emily, being a good sport, took a swig of the drink. She tried to keep her face from contorting, but the moment the acrid liquid touched her tongue, she gagged.

“What the hell did you put in this thing?” she asked.

Jamie shrugged shaking his head, “I have no idea.” He laughed watching her try to get the taste out of her mouth. She reached for his glass, throwing it back like a shot. Jamie was impressed, there was almost half a glass left.

“Another,” she croaked, sliding his own cup towards him and motioning to the ingredients he had left on the counter, “and not one of those.” Jamie laughed harder.

“I’ve got this,” Jordie reached in, grabbing Jamie’s glass and refilling it for her. “Here.” She raised the glass in salute.

“Thanks.” She threw it back again, keeping her eyes on Jamie’s. Once she had nothing left to drink, she couldn’t help but laugh, too.

~~~~~

The night came to an end, and the group went their separate ways. Emily was sure that Beth would have gone home with Tyler, but she quickly reminded Emily that by not letting him have it, she was making him want it more. She insisted that she was doing the same favor for Emily which had her blushing as she caught the teenage Uber driver giving them a quizzical and embarrassed glance through the rearview mirror.

~~~~~

“Why the hell didn’t you move in on her then?” Tyler yelled from the living room after Jamie who walked into the kitchen and into the awaiting glare from his brother.

“I absolutely hate to admit that Tyler’s right…”

“Thank you!”

“...but,” Jordie continued with a pointed glare in the direction of the living room where Tyler sat watching football highlights, “he is, and any girl who can put up with your shit is a gift.”

“The fuck was that! That’s a damn fucking penalty!” As Tyler continued to fume in front of the T.V., Jordie made sure Jamie saw his fixed look.

“Are you going to call her?” Jamie glanced at the clock, it was past midnight.

“Well not right now.” Jordie rolled his eyes. He turned his back for a second, opening and reaching into the fridge, before turning and throwing a can towards his little brother. Jamie caught the cold beer before it smacked against the edge of the countertop he was leaning up against.

“Then come watch football and work up a plan to talk to her tomorrow.”

Notes