| Being in the night air had sobered Brielle up quite a bit on the drive from Brews Brothers to her apartment. Colby drove her home, using his car; there was no way he was letting her behind the wheel of anything motor-driven in her state of mind. After all, she had been singing and dancing around on top of a bar not fifteen minutes prior. He would take her to get her car from Brews Brothers the next day when she was completely sober. The whole way home she was quiet, not giving Colby more than one or two word replies to anything he said; she was obviously deep in thought and didn�t want to be disturbed. Colby shut his mouth after a while and turned on the radio in a silent compromise. He pulled in the driveway to her apartment and killed the engine. Brielle sat in the passenger seat, still quiet, looking out the window, now staring at the outside of the apartment complex she lived in. �So you�re home,� Colby said, hoping to get some sort of a response from her. �So I am,� she said, finally turning her attention to Colby. She paused for a moment, furrowing her brows in thought. �Stay with me,� she said quietly, taking Colby�s hand, which was resting on the gearshift of his Outback. Colby hesitated. �Brielle, I don�t wanna rush you-� �Believe me Colby, you wouldn�t be rushing me into anything,� Brielle cut Colby off. She silenced him with a quick kiss and let go of his hand, opening her door and stepping out onto the driveway. Colby followed her up the flight of stairs to her second floor apartment without a moment's hesitation, being careful that she didn�t lose her balance and fall because of the alcohol in her system by keeping a hand on the small of her back, and watched her unlock the door. She opened the door and let Colby in, dropping her purse on a nearby chair. Her hockey bag was sitting in a corner of the living room, and she had apparently not gotten completely unpacked quite yet; there were still suitcases in small piles and random pieces of hockey gear were strewn around the room. �Excuse the mess, I live like I�m still in college,� Brielle said, looking around the room with Colby. Colby laughed. �It�s okay, mine and Endo�s place is a thousand times worse.� �I can imagine, I�ve seen your lockers,� Brielle said, laughing. �Hey, we�re not that bad,� Colby said, attempting to defend himself. Brielle only laughed harder as he thought about the condition of his and Shane�s apartment. �Okay, okay, we live like we�re living in a college dorm. Big deal,� he said, slipping his arms around Brielle�s waist, stopping her laughing and leaving her giggling with a smile on her face. �You�re beautiful,� he muttered before kissing her quickly. �And you love hockey,� he continued, giving her another quick kiss. �And you�re putting up with me.� Another quick kiss. �You either have mental problems, or you�re perfect,� Colby said, taking Brielle�s breath away with another kiss. �I think I have mental problems,� Brielle said once her brain remembered how to speak, returning Colby�s kiss. �Care to help me with them?� Colby smiled. He quickly picked her up and asked, �Bedroom?� �Down the hall, to the left,� Brielle said nuzzling his cheek softly with her nose, being careful to avoid his jaw and nose because of the fight he had been in with Bonvie earlier. The right side of his jaw was bruised, and appeared to be quite painful. His nose had a small cut and a bruise on it, which had finally stopped turning colors. �I don�t know why I didn�t see it sooner,� Brielle muttered as Colby placed her on the bed and sat down next to her. �See what?� Colby asked, playing with a stray strand of hair that had come undone from Brielle�s clip. �You,� she said, leaning up and kissing him. Colby began kissing her neck, and as her eyes closed, she muttered, �Colby, I want you.� �You have no idea how much I�ve wanted to hear those words from you,� Colby said, taking Brielle�s breath away with a deep kiss. ~*~*~ Brielle awoke with a gasp from the dream she was having. It a flashback to the Montreal pee-wee championship she and Eric had played when they were twelve years old. All she kept seeing was a twelve year old Eric looking at her with an expression that can only be described as a combination of confusion, hurt and disappointment. He never took losing easily, he always managed to make himself believe that he was the one that lost the game and it was his entire fault. She had no idea if he remembered her or not, and she wasn�t about to ask him, not with his attitude toward her as of late. He hated her when they were kids, why should anything be any different fourteen years later? Colby slept soundly next to her, curled up in the fetal position on his left side. His right arm was lying protectively on her stomach while his left arm was under his head. A quick glance at her alarm clock said that it was later than she thought it was, luckily they didn�t have a morning skate that day. He looked so cute sleeping with a smile on his face, she didn�t want to wake him when she woke up. She was careful not to disturb him when she moved his arm and sat up in bed, grabbing her robe from the floor and throwing it on and heading to the bathroom to take a quick shower and brush her teeth. When she walked back in the room, rubbing her hair with a towel, Colby was just waking up. "I thought I heard the shower," he said, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Brielle sat down on the bed next to him. "You did," she said, watching him sit up and rest his back against the headboard. "Oddly enough, I don't have a hangover." Colby snickered. "You should, you and Calista were dancing on the bar to a Def Leppard song last night." Brielle's eyes widened. "You're kidding me. I thought I was imagining that!" she yelped. "No, you weren't," Colby said. "What else do you think you were imagining last night?" he asked. Brielle blushed and averted her vision from Colby's eyes to the bed. "Well, I know I didn't imagine that we... um... yeah." She paused. "Did I?" "Oh no," Colby said, unable to help smiling. "You didn't imagine that." Brielle smiled when she saw Colby's grin. "Good." Her smile faded. "Oh shit, no one took any pictures of us last night, did they? Oh God, we probably looked like we belonged on one of those Girls Gone Wild videos." "More like in Coyote Ugly," Colby said. "But no, I'm pretty sure no one took any pictures." "Good. I'm sure the press would have a field day with those." Colby watched Brielle walked back to the bathroom and toss the towel she was using to dry her hair with into a laundry basket. "Speaking of the press... What are we gonna tell them?" "About us?" she asked, sorting the laundry into piles for easier access when she did the laundry later. "Yeah," Colby said, getting out of bed and beginning to get dressed. Brielle didn't hesitate with her answer. "That we're dating, if they ask. I've gone through this before, they don't need to know until rumors start flying, and when rumors start flying they usually ask about it, and when they do we tell them the truth. Whoever doesn't like it can kiss my ass, there's no by-law that says a coach can't date one of her players." She walked back in the bedroom, where Colby was pulling on his shirt. She smiled and walked up to him, putting her arms around his waist. "Now why on earth are you putting that on, when you know I'm just gonna take it off anyway?" |
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