Chance Encounters of the Canuck Kind

Jacob seemed distracted at practice. All he could think about was getting off the ice and getting into the locker room so he could check his phone. Since that chance meeting on Saturday night Jacob and Juliette had been texting constantly. He’d been desperately trying to work out his schedule so that he could meet Juliette again for that coffee, but hockey always seemed to be getting in the way. His frustration hadn’t gone unnoticed.
“Hey Marky! Are you going to let me put pucks past you all day?” Sutter chirped as he roofed one glove side.
Jacob turned and removed his mask, drenching his face in water. Alex Edler approached the net and tapped Markstrom on the back of his legs.
“What’s up Marky? Got something on your mind?”
Jacob didn’t answer; instead he began fiddling with the straps on his mask.
“It’s that girl, isn’t it? From the bar?”
Markstrom gave Alex a knowing look and exhaled loudly.
“We were supposed to meet for coffee and every time we’ve come close to arranging a date, something comes up. I’m worried she’ll think I’m not being serious or that I’m blowing her off.”
Edler studied his goalie’s face, he’d never seen Marky this wound up about a girl before and frustration wasn’t a look that Jacob wore well. He tried his best to reassure his friend:
“I don’t think she thinks that at all. She probably knows you’re busy. Why don’t you see if she’ll come meet you after practice?”
“She might be busy. It’s pretty short notice.” Markstrom seemed unsure.
“She might not be.” Edler replied with a small smile.
Jacob made a mental note to text Juliette as soon as practice was over to see if she wanted coffee; hell, he even considered turning up to her workplace with a takeout cup, if only to see her again. He placed his mask back onto his head and pulled it down, readying himself for a wrister from Horvat. He steered it away with ease and found himself falling back into his rhythm.

***
“Hey Julie, I know u might be busy, and I know its short notice but I wondered if u wanted to get coffee? I’ve just finished at practice I could pick u up in 10?”
Julie felt her phone vibrate in the pocket of her scrubs, her last patient before lunch had just left and she was helping the dentist clean down the surgery. She rushed down the hall to take the last few instruments down to the sterilising technician before frantically pulling her phone out to check the message. Seeing it was from Jacob she instantly opened the message and grinned, it had only been sent 10 or so minutes ago. She assumed he would be finished practice by now and pressed “call.” He answered after the third ring:
“Hey you”
His voice was warm and Juliette could feel her stomach begin to flip.
“Hi, I’ve just seen your message. I’m working but just about to go for lunch, I’ve got an hour though. Did you want to get coffee?” she asked.
Barely waiting for her to finish the question, Jacob responded:
“Absolutely. Where are you?”
“I’m on West Georgia Street, at Aria. There’s a place that does great coffee just down the street. Meet there?” Juliette could feel her stomach knotting at the thought of seeing him again.
“Sounds perfect” he replied, “I’ll be there in 5”.
Juliette practically ran to the nurses’ locker room and grabbed her bag and coat, nearly knocking her colleague Rachael out of the way.
“Sorry!” she yelled as she set off out the door and down the street at a jog.
She slowed down as she approached the entrance to the coffee shop and quickly checked her appearance in the window before entering.
Jacob heard the door opening and quickly looked up from the menu he was studying. It was then that he saw her. She hadn’t noticed him yet and was looking around the room. Jacob took in her appearance for a few seconds; she looked even more beautiful than she did the night they met. Her wavy auburn hair, which cascaded down her shoulders and back on Saturday night, was tied into a neat bun and her face looked fresh and natural. He noticed her grey eyes seemed to sparkle in the daylight and he found himself feeling quite captivated by her effortless loveliness. He caught her eyes and waved from where he was sitting.
Juliette moved towards the table where Jacob was sitting and prayed that her knees wouldn’t give way beneath her. She wondered how it was possible for a man to look to as handsome as he did and yet be so casual. She was internally chastising herself for only applying minimal makeup and wished that she’d bothered to take her hair out of her bun on her way out of work.
“Sorry, I look a bit of a state” she said meekly as she sat down opposite Jacob.
He looked at her with his soft, blue eyes and said “You’ve absolutely nothing to be sorry about.” He reached over the table and touched her hand. Juliette’s breath caught in her throat causing her to almost cough.
“Good morning at work?” He asked.
Juliette nodded, meeting his gaze. She couldn’t get over how intently he was focussing on her, like they were the only people in the room.
“Do you want to tell me about it?” He prompted.
“Oh!” She exclaimed. “Oh, you don’t want to hear about that. It’s pretty boring.”
“I doubt it, you work in Aria, right?”
“Erm… Yeah, I do. I’m only a dental nurse, though.” She said hesitantly, aware of how unimpressive it must sound.
“Only a dental nurse!” Markstrom laughed, “You sell yourself short, Jools. You make scrubs look good.”
Juliette could feel herself blushing. How could he be so nice? Where did he come from? Where had he been all her life?!
“How was practice?” She quickly changed the subject, trying to divert his attention away from herself. It’s not that she wasn’t enjoying it, but she often thought that if something was too good to be true, it probably was.
“Oh, the usual. I stopped pucks, chirped a little.” He was focussing so intently on Juliette’s face, taking in her radiance. He wanted to know every last thing about her; her favourite food, what her favourite band is, her favourite colour. He wanted to know about every time a guy ever hurt her, or made her feel inadequate so that he could show her that she was special and exquisite. All the things he wanted to say to her, that he knew would sound corny or cliché, were circling through his mind. Instead he said:
“How do you like your coffee?”
“A latté would be great, here, lemme give you some money.” She pushed $10 towards him.
“No! It’s my treat, what are you going to have to eat?” He pushed the cash back towards Juliette.
“Jacob, please! Let me give you some money for my lunch.”
“I won’t hear of it, this is me taking you out for coffee and or lunch. Therefore, I will pay for said coffee and lunch. There is absolutely nothing you can do about it. This is happening. Let it happen.” Jacob whispered the last part and stuck his tongue out at Juliette who responded with an overdramatic sigh.
“Fiiiinneee… If you insist. A salad would be great… I’m buying next time Marky!”
“Yeah, yeah, we’ll see about that.” He responded with a wink.
Juliette sunk back into the armchair she was sitting in and smiled to herself, her mood only dampened by the realisation that she only had another half an hour left before she needed to be back at work. She knew she liked him, she was falling for his goofiness and she was falling hard. She’d been hurt before and deep down, she knew she should be more cautious and not go in too deep. But when she saw him standing in the queue, looking as good as he did, and when she thought about the way he looked at her, she knew that he had her. Hook, line and sinker.

Notes