Chapter 5
“No, I don’t think it’s right that she was seeing other women without mentioning it but I don’t know…
maybe it’s like a Swedish thing? I don’t want to offend any Swedes but I’m not familiar with their dating customs, Syd,” Frankie said as she punched in the code to her condo building’s door.
It beeped and clicked open. “But did you ever consider just, oh…I don’t know… asking your teammates about it?”
Frankie crossed the lobby floor towards a bank of elevators, giving the security guard a curt nod and a friendly wave. She pushed the button for an elevator and quickly stepped inside when the doors opened and just as the doors began to close an arm flew out between them to keep them open.
“Sorry, sorry. Thank you, I just didn’t feel like wait…oh.”
Well if this wasn’t a nice surprise. The woman Frankie met in the fitness centre, the very pretty blonde who had introduced herself as Jules, the woman Frankie’s thoughts had drifted to more than once since their meeting, nervously smiled at Frankie as she stepped into the elevator car.
“It’s you,” Jules said with a friendly smile.
“Hey, Syd,” Frankie said into her phone, “I'm sorry but I’ve got to call you back.” She hung up tucked her phone into her back pocket then focused her attention on Jules.
She was wearing a pair of boyfriend cut jeans with a floral patterned tank top, her short hair loose beneath a baseball hat with ‘Northern Ontario Pond Hockey’ stitched onto it.
She was so naturally beautiful that Frankie was certain she turned heads wherever she went
Huh, she’s a hockey fan then? Frankie thought.
“It’s me,” Frankie said, returning her smile. “Fancy meeting you here…inside the elevator…in the building where we both live in.”
“It’s almost like it was bound to happen eventually.”
Frankie looked at her, their gazes locked and she felt it. A buzz, a kind of energy between them she couldn’t quite make sense of but the soft smile on Jules' face, the playful glint in her eye, it was intoxicating and they didn’t even know each other.
“Should we uh, should we press the buttons for our floors?” Jules asked, breaking whatever trance Frankie had slipped into.
With a slight shake of her head and a glance at the keypad, Frankie laughed. “Right, yeah. Obviously. I’m 14 and you’re…?”
Jules furrowed her brows for a second, looking a little confused before she straightened and reached past Frankie to push the button for floor 17.
The elevator car began to rise and they stood in silence for a second or so, Frankie tearing her eyes away from Jules to look at the little screen that changed numbers as they the elevator car travelled up.
“So…how’s things? How's that pesky jet lag treating you?”
Frankie absolutely hated small talk but what else were you meant to do when you were in the elevator with a person you’d interacted with for all of five minutes?
What she really wanted to do was ask Jules out for a drink that night, to go grab a bite to eat at one of the many restaurants Halifax offered that she hadn’t yet ventured out to on her own.
She wanted to come back to one of their condos and work out all of the stress she’d been feeling in ways that left them as sweaty as their workout but then she remembered her job, the weight of it all on her shoulders, the world she’d been thrust into and everything that came with it.
How could she date right now? Not that what she wanted to do with Jules was dating but she was only human, she had eyes, and Jules was gorgeous.
Gorgeous and staring at Frankie again, studying her with an inquisitive look.
Frankie realized she’d once again gotten lost in her head while admiring the bright blue pair of eyes sparkling back at her.
“Are you okay?” Jules asked.
Frankie blew out a breath and waved her off, hoping it wasn’t glaringly obvious how she’d just been staring at Jules and thinking about what it might be like to get her into bed.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m just tired, so I guess that’s your answer.
The jet lag is tough and my new work schedule has been a lot to adjust to. ”
But maybe asking Jules out is exactly the kind of thing Frankie needed to.
She rarely admitted it to anyone, even to herself, she was lonely.
Her friends were scattered across North America and beyond playing and working in the world of a sport they all loved so much, she was estranged from her family, and at the end of the day she wanted to settle beside someone on the couch and talk about her day.
For years, that isn’t what she had wanted. For years, she was content to work and to have fun, which usually entailed an array of one night stands with women she’d met at a bar. The next morning she would wake up and head to the rink. It was easy, it was predictable, it was safe.
But something had changed.
When the league had come calling with the assistant coaching position, Frankie decided that this time she would change, she would grow up. Her life couldn’t just be her job, even if her job was now ridiculously elite.
Her life, both at the rink and outside of it, would be better if she gave herself the opportunity to let someone in. Could that person be Jules? Well, considering Frankie didn’t even know if Jules dated women and they were still strangers, probably not.
But…maybe? Frankie would never know if she didn’t make the first move and if Jules said no, if Frankie asked her for a drink or a meal or…
anything, she would accept it and be proud of herself for at least giving it a shot.
She would happily settle for someone she could call a friend in a new city, because it had been years since her friends were just a stone throw away.
She was going to ask, the words on the tip of her tongue and just about to slip out; would you want to go get a bite to eat?
A drink? A coffee? But then the elevator dinged and the doors opened.
The empty hallway that led to Frankie's condo stared back at them and just like that, the moment was gone.
“Well, this is you I guess,” Jules said with a laugh. “I hope you get some rest, Lord knows we could all be sleeping better, right?”
Frankie smiled in return and nodded. “Right, yeah. Thanks.” She stepped out of the elevator and threw one last glance at Jules over her shoulder. “Have a nice evening.”
The doors closed with Jules gave her a wave and as soon as she was alone, she deflated.
“Nice job,” she muttered, giving her head a shake.
“Way to really give it your all.” She rummaged around in her bag for her key and turned to the right to head towards her door at the end of the hall.
As she walked past the door to the condo beside her own, she heard a loud pair of male voices swearing and cheering above the sound of rock music.
“Dude, you’ve got him, you’re right on him. Aim right, right! BOOM. Smoked him!”
“Fuck yeah, the boy’s hate to lose.”
Great, she was living on a floor with a bunch of frat boys who spent their free time playing shoot ‘em up video games.
She tapped her key fob against the little pad beside her door and it clicked open.
The condo was still bare, with only basic furniture and a nice TV sitting on an entertainment console in front of a large, plush couch.
While there wasn't much to it yet, it was nicer than anywhere she had lived before.
She dropped her bag on the kitchen island and grabbed a can of sparkling water from her fridge before she padded into her bedroom and changed out of her work clothes into an old pair of sweats.
She pulled her hair, which desperately needed a trim, up into a bun on the top of her head then fell back onto her bed and stared at her ceiling.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the Halifax waterfront glimmering through her bedroom window.
Out of everywhere she'd lived, the view through this bedroom window was easily the most picturesque she’d ever had and it was calming, watching the water ripple with the waves and the boats come and go.
She closed her eyes and let herself relax into her plush duvet cover. The room was quiet and she took a deep breath, counting in for five seconds before she exhaled, counting out for five seconds.
As much as she didn’t want to think about work tonight, the team practice rink appeared in her head and before she could will the thoughts away, she started to visualize the drills on her list for tomorrow’s practice.
The team, her team, was settling into their new way of life and adjusting to her coaching styles. Luckily, which came as a relief to her, she’d felt respected and listened to so far.
Still though, she couldn’t quite put her finger on why Cameron Clarke, a talented hockey player and a certified heartthrob looked so familiar to her. She could almost swear that she'd seen him before, somewhere that definitely wasn’t on a hockey rink or on her television.
“Shit, I need a drink,” she said aloud to no one but herself.