37. Jules
THIRTY-SEVEN
JULES
Dating a hockey player is weird because what do you mean the season has just started and he’s already travelling for two straight weeks?
You’d think being best friends with Lavinia would have prepared me for the insane travel schedule and it’s not like I’m just finding out how much travel is involved with being a hockey player.
I’m just surprised because we haven’t had the time to schedule a date and he’s already leaving.
“We haven’t even gone on a date yet and you’re already bored of me,” I complain, watching Drew pack.
I’m leaning against the doorframe of his walk-in closet, watching him add clothes to his bag. Yes, I have traversed the sacred and terrifying grounds of his room. All I have to do is not look at his headboard, which is where my eyes keep travelling, obviously.
The hooks fascinate and terrify me at the same time.
“I don’t make the schedule,” he says, laughing.
“So, you can leave me any time? At the drop of a hat? I wake up and you’re gone?”
Leaving his bag, he comes over to me. Before I know what’s happening, he picks me up and carries me to the bed. We fall down on the bed, sideways, facing each other.
“I’m not leaving permanently. I’m traveling for work,” he says gently. I reach out and remove his glasses because they’re askew. Setting them aside, I smooth back his hair.
“I like the NHL even less now,” I say.
Laughing lightly, Drew kisses my cheek. “When I come back, we’ll go to the bookstore and I’ll watch you browse the romance section. It’ll be our first date.”
My insides light up. “I love that. It’s a date. You can’t go back on it.”
He turns over onto his back and I climb up over him, using him as a mattress. Not that I think he minds.
“You can come with me, if you want,” Drew says.
“How many wives or girlfriends travel with the team?” I raise an eyebrow. “I’ve seen Lavinia do it a handful of times and she mostly just goes to New York.”
“You don’t have to show up to an office in the morning.”
I stack my hands on his chest and rest my chin on top, looking up at him. “I’ve never had to show up to an office in the morning. I’ve been very privileged in that regard.”
After I graduated college, I had the money Gemma left me, I didn’t have to pay rent on an apartment so I could save, and I did a lot of freelance writing and editing work. I even ghost wrote a few books in the beginning of my career while my own books were gathering mediocre success.
Drew grazes the apple of my cheek with the back of his hand. “I’m going to miss you.”
“You’re going to miss holding me to sleep. Maybe Ford will let you hold him.”
Drew pinches my side lightly, making me giggle. “Ford wishes he was sexy enough for me to hold him.”
I pat his chest. “You have to finish packing or they’ll leave without you.”
Exhaling a deep sigh, he gives me a kiss before getting out of bed and grabbing his glasses. I lie on his bed, which is surprisingly comfortable and not as terrifying as I’d expected.
The first day without Drew is…fine. He’s usually at practice during the day anyway, except for his one rest day after a game. The day is fine. Bailey and I go for a walk, meet our friends in the park, then I write at a dog friendly cafe with Bailey enjoying her pupcino next to me.
The night, though? Oh, boy. I thought I was going crazy at the apartment during the night. The house is maybe four times the size of the apartment and it’s just me and Bailey here. I’ve got all the lights on, the TV playing in the background as I make dinner.
“I don’t know how Drew lived here for so long without going crazy,” I tell Bailey. “Even with you here, I feel like I’m losing it. I’m just not meant to be alone.”
I’m making mac and cheese with fries because Drew isn’t here to tell me I need to eat a balanced diet with protein. Adding the leftover cheese to the mac and cheese in the baking dish, I slide it into the over and turn to Bailey.
She’s already had her dinner and now she’s relaxing. Drew has left me a detailed list of who to call in case something goes wrong, flood, fire, gas leak, etc. He’s also left me Bailey’s vet’s number and the cleaner’s number in case I throw a wild party.
“Do you think it should bother me that Drew is more of an adult than I am? He’s just so organized. I feel a little inadequate.”
Once my dinner is cooked and while it’s cooling, I change into my PJs. Then I plate my dinner and eat it while watching Ten Things I Hate About You, with Bailey sprawled out on the couch next to me.
“I don’t care what anyone says, the old movies were just better.” I look down at her and she looks up at me with her big brown eyes. “Who’s going to replace Heath Ledger? The pure romance of the era is gone and somewhere along the way, what used to be mediocre is considered top level stuff.”
I fall asleep on the couch while watching re-runs of a sitcom
I’m all set to repeat the same day as yesterday when the flowers arrive. I say flowers, but it’s a stunning bouquet of roses and lilies about the size of my body. The vase is so heavy, I’m slightly breathless by the time I carry it to the kitchen and set it on the dining table.
I pluck out the card.
Never really understood why people send flowers, but I figure they can use a confidence boost by being in your beautiful company since I can’t be.
-D
“Bailey, I think your father is trying to seduce me.” I lean in, breathing in the sweet scent of flowers.
Pulling out my phone, I text Drew.
Jules
Got the flowers. The card was a nice touch.
Drew
They’re not as beautiful compared to you, but few things are.
Jules
You’re laying it on a bit thick.
Drew
You haven’t seen thick yet.
Jules
Drew! I’m shooketh. I had no idea you were capable of sexting
Drew
You don’t know a lot of things about me.
Jules
Evidently. Too bad you packed up and left for distant lands.
Drew
I’m in Canada. It’s hardly a distant land.
Jules
Only my heart knows how far you are from it.
Drew
Until I get to hold you again, smell the flowers and think of me.
Jules
LOL.
Two days later, Lavinia arrives with a package.
“This package isn’t from me. I got it from the delivery driver,” she says, entering the house. It’s a sizeable box, but since she’s used to training with 250 pounds and over, she easily carries it to the kitchen and sets it on the counter.
Grabbing the box cutter from the drawer, I slice through the tape and remove the packing paper.
“Ooh, that’s cute,” Lavinia says, reaching inside and pulling out a tea cup.
It’s from a pottery shop in Toronto and completely handcrafted, according to the card which came with it. They’re a matching set of four, each painted in different colors and styles and somehow matching.
“Your brother is trying to win over my heart,” I reply.
Lavinia looks at me, raising her eyebrows in surprise. “Drew sent these?”
“And those.” I point to the flowers on the dining table.
“Damn, I had no idea he was capable of this.”
Neither did I, to be honest. I gently hug a teacup to my chest, holding it close to me because I can’t hold him.
Lavinia and I spend the afternoon going over the podcast and the episodes we want to record.
Contrary to the name, some of our episodes do have a theme-ish.
More like a general idea of what we want to talk about, but in true friendship fashion, we never talk about the thing we set off to talk about.
Since Roman is also gone, Lavinia and I decide to have a sleepover. She makes a call to their neighbor, Kita, confirming if she can look after their cats for the night. Kita loves the kitties, so I’m not even surprised when she readily agrees.
We make dinner and put on Magic Mike so we can lust over gorgeous men.
“Why is this the first time I’m watching this movie?” I ask.
“You’ve lived a very sheltered life,” Lavinia says.
I give her a look. “Tell that to the DP scene I wrote in my book yesterday.”
She nearly chokes on her wine and I reach out, patting her back. “Oh my god.”
“There’s no god here, Vinny,” I say. “Just me, and I’m going to rock your world as soon as this book is done and published. Give me a year and a half.”
Lavinia laughs, falling over onto the couch. Bailey barks, putting her paws on the couch and I hug her, kissing the top of her head. The poor baby has a vet appointment tomorrow and I hope everything is okay and the vet doesn’t find something seriously wrong.
“Who is your DP inspiration?” Vin asks when she can breathe again.
“It’s a little out there, and I’d never admit it to anyone. But when I’m lacking inspiration and need to imagine someone in the scene, it's Lee Pace and Mr. Darcy.”
Lavinia explodes with laughter. “That’s seriously out there. When you say Mr. Darcy…”
“I mean Matthew Macfadyen as Mr. Darcy, dripping wet, shirt half unbuttoned with the overcoat. No one can convince me, not even Jane Austen herself if she came back from the dead, that Elizabeth and Darcy didn’t get freaky.”
Lavinia is laughing so hard she’s red in the face. Meanwhile, I’m completely serious. I actually wrote an English lit paper on the sluttiness of Mr. Darcy, except I didn’t use those exact words because my uptight professor would have surely failed me.
“This is why you’re with my brother,” Lavinia wheezes. “You think men who are grumpy are secretly slutty.”
I stare at her in wonder. “And that is why you’re my best friend.”
“I still can’t believe you’re dating my brother,” Lavinia says, stretching out on the couch.
“Technically, there hasn’t been much dating. We’ve just made out.”
She retches, hiding her face as I laugh.
“That’s not something I need to know,” she says. “Complain all you want, but I don’t need to know how attractive you find my brother.”
I turn, tucking my legs in behind her on the couch. Bailey climbs on the chair and sets her head on her paws.
“If it makes you feel better, I wasn’t prepared to find him attractive,” I say. “I nearly gave myself a panic attack when I first saw him shirtless, and not for the reason you’d expect. No, I was so thoroughly shocked and awed by his body that I went into a panic.”