Re: b/c sometimes I can't help myselfasimplechordSeptember 22 2012, 01:10:29 UTC
It's not a break in routine that they stay at Jess's condo the night before - it's closer to the RZ and to the airport, and they sort of alternate between their places. (They've had the argument about whether she should move into Eric's house; it came right before the 'discussion' about whether to tell management they were together. It ended with Jess hanging up on Eric and Eric coming to Toronto from Thunder Bay to hash it out, and hurt feelings aside, he sees her point: she deals with enough PR and chirping on the ice, and a public announcement about them would only make it worse, in addition to drawing scrutiny to how he treated her vs the rest of the team.)
They have an early morning skate before the flight, and Jess is not a breakfast-in-bed kind of woman, but Eric does manage to brew coffee before Jess stumbles out to the kitchen in one of Eric's old Lowell t-shirts. It takes her a couple of sips of coffee before her eyes really open and she focuses on the neatly wrapped box sitting on the breakfast bar.
"Eric..." She sets her mug down and reaches out to trace a finger over the lid.
"I know we agreed we'd celebrate later, but happy birthday, Jess."
The lid comes off easily enough, and inside is the tell-tale velvet jeweler's box. He can see a flash of apprehension on her face before she realizes that it's the wrong size to be a ring, and Eric feels a little stab of pain mixed with relief that they're not going to fight again. He hopes.
She lifts the box from its nest and opens it, and there, that look is worth it, surprise and appreciation clear as she strokes one finger across the pendant.
"What is it?"
And this shouldn't feel like a test, but it does. Eric takes a deep breath before he tells her, "It's a love-knot, but I thought it would suit you best with your birthstone in the center."
She comes around the counter and puts the box in his hand, and for one horrible moment Eric thinks Jess is refusing his gift, his words, everything. Then she turns and gathers her hair to the side of her neck.
"Put it on me?"
If Eric's fingers tremble when he fastens the clasp, no one sees it but him.
Re: b/c sometimes I can't help myselfasimplechordSeptember 22 2012, 01:50:16 UTC
The team knows, but it's not something the other players talk about, or that Jess and Eric ever addressed directly. Jess and Eric had a long, serious discussion after their first couple of dates about keeping team business separate from personal business, and Jess enlisted Cam in her efforts to make sure that Eric didn't censor himself when it came to giving her hell about hockey-related issues. (She knows she needs it, okay? Jess's temper-related issues aside, Eric's got the better part of a decade of experience on her, and she needs to know that he'll give her an honest assessment of her performance, no matter what.) They do stuff with Cam & Cody, and Jordy & Heath, and Faulk and his GF, but nothing that's earned them any notice. Hockey players just aren't a big enough deal in Raleigh to worry about paparazzi. (Yet.)
Jordy notices it, but she doesn't say anything to Jess, just gives Eric a raised eyebrow. He studiously ignores her. Most of the guys don't pay it much attention that morning, but when Justin and Jess are sitting together on the flight (Eric's two rows back, poking at LaRose over his belief that the Detroit Tigers will have a winning season this year) Justin catches her rubbing her shirt over the spot on her sternum where the pendant rests.
He's one of the guys on the team who's never been shy about casual physical contact, about treating her like one of the guys, so she doesn't take it the wrong way when he tugs her hand away from her chest and draws the pendant out.
He looses a low whistle. "Wow, shiny. Birthday gift?"
"Yeah, something like that." She tucks it back away, but it's really hard to keep from touching it again.
Re: b/c sometimes I can't help myselfasimplechordSeptember 22 2012, 16:20:37 UTC
It turns out to be a good thing that Jess planned to meet PK & Carey for breakfast on their day off between games three and four - there's no point in traveling back to Raleigh between games - because the game that night gets chippy. Armstrong's been pushing at Cam, and Prusty and Boychuk have been going back and forth all night, so all it takes is one scrum in the crease and gloves drop.
Jess doesn't mind fighting if she has to, but she's just as happy that she's not on the ice right then, because she doesn't need a black eye or swollen lip or more press than they're already getting for the possibility of a SCF team with women on the roster. (Seriously, Jordy already has a ring, Bobbi Luongo made it to game 7 with the Canucks, and Dani Briere was on the Flyers squad that lost to the Hawks, so this should not be as big a deal as ESPN and SI are making it.)
Jess walks to the cafe a few blocks away from the hotel. She likes Montreal, likes this neighborhood, with its mix of college kids and hipsters, the mix of French and English conversations she catches in passing. She settles at a table with a view of the door so she can see when PK and Carey arrive and orders a cappuccino and a pastry. (No one needs to know that she's cheating on the nutritionist's recommendations.)
They're only five minutes late, which is practically on time, for them. Hugs exchanged, they both order spinach and egg-white omelets, and Carey just rolls his eyes and sips his tea when PK doctors his coffee with enough sugar to sweeten an entire pot. He nudges his plate of whole wheat toast toward PK without saying anything. They are so married. So so married. It's cute.
PK's the one to notice her necklace first. Or, he's the one who says something, anyway.
Jess is leaning forward to steal a bite of the fruit that came with his omelet when the pendant falls free of her collar.
"Nice rock! I didn't think you were into bling."
"I'm not usually. It's new."
Carey looks at her, and she bites her lip. She's really not going to say anything more, but he just stares.
Fuck him and his creepy goalie ways.
"Eric gave it to me as a birthday gift."
PK grins, and then, "Aww, you're at the jewelry stage already? That's so sweet. Tell us when we need to save the date."
"Fuck you, Subban, it's not like that." Except for how she's afraid that it really is. Goddammit. This was not part of her five-year plan. Jess guesses that this is what her mom meant when she told her that life is what happens when you make other plans.
Re: b/c sometimes I can't help myselfasimplechordSeptember 22 2012, 20:10:12 UTC
Faulk pokes at Eric. A lot. But Eric just grins this stupid, giddy grin because JESS IS WEARING HIS NECKLACE. SHE HASN'T TAKEN IT OFF SINCE HE PUT IT ON.
The Canes practice ends just as the Habs are getting onto the ice, and Eric hangs back so he can talk to Erik Cole. He's surprised to feel a stick slap his ass, but then Carey skates by with a quiet, "It suits her. Good job."
Erik looks at him inquiringly, but Eric just shakes his head and asks after Erik's wife and kids.
PK bumps Eric as he leaves the ice, and tells him, "Don't make me have to give the 'don't hurt her speech', Staal."
Which is pretty unfair, Eric thinks, since he's pretty sure that his heart is the one that'll get broken in a bust-up between them.
They have an early morning skate before the flight, and Jess is not a breakfast-in-bed kind of woman, but Eric does manage to brew coffee before Jess stumbles out to the kitchen in one of Eric's old Lowell t-shirts. It takes her a couple of sips of coffee before her eyes really open and she focuses on the neatly wrapped box sitting on the breakfast bar.
"Eric..." She sets her mug down and reaches out to trace a finger over the lid.
"I know we agreed we'd celebrate later, but happy birthday, Jess."
The lid comes off easily enough, and inside is the tell-tale velvet jeweler's box. He can see a flash of apprehension on her face before she realizes that it's the wrong size to be a ring, and Eric feels a little stab of pain mixed with relief that they're not going to fight again. He hopes.
She lifts the box from its nest and opens it, and there, that look is worth it, surprise and appreciation clear as she strokes one finger across the pendant.
"What is it?"
And this shouldn't feel like a test, but it does. Eric takes a deep breath before he tells her, "It's a love-knot, but I thought it would suit you best with your birthstone in the center."
She comes around the counter and puts the box in his hand, and for one horrible moment Eric thinks Jess is refusing his gift, his words, everything. Then she turns and gathers her hair to the side of her neck.
"Put it on me?"
If Eric's fingers tremble when he fastens the clasp, no one sees it but him.
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Does anyone notice it at the skate? Does the team know about them??
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Jordy notices it, but she doesn't say anything to Jess, just gives Eric a raised eyebrow. He studiously ignores her. Most of the guys don't pay it much attention that morning, but when Justin and Jess are sitting together on the flight (Eric's two rows back, poking at LaRose over his belief that the Detroit Tigers will have a winning season this year) Justin catches her rubbing her shirt over the spot on her sternum where the pendant rests.
He's one of the guys on the team who's never been shy about casual physical contact, about treating her like one of the guys, so she doesn't take it the wrong way when he tugs her hand away from her chest and draws the pendant out.
He looses a low whistle. "Wow, shiny. Birthday gift?"
"Yeah, something like that." She tucks it back away, but it's really hard to keep from touching it again.
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Jess doesn't mind fighting if she has to, but she's just as happy that she's not on the ice right then, because she doesn't need a black eye or swollen lip or more press than they're already getting for the possibility of a SCF team with women on the roster. (Seriously, Jordy already has a ring, Bobbi Luongo made it to game 7 with the Canucks, and Dani Briere was on the Flyers squad that lost to the Hawks, so this should not be as big a deal as ESPN and SI are making it.)
Jess walks to the cafe a few blocks away from the hotel. She likes Montreal, likes this neighborhood, with its mix of college kids and hipsters, the mix of French and English conversations she catches in passing. She settles at a table with a view of the door so she can see when PK and Carey arrive and orders a cappuccino and a pastry. (No one needs to know that she's cheating on the nutritionist's recommendations.)
They're only five minutes late, which is practically on time, for them. Hugs exchanged, they both order spinach and egg-white omelets, and Carey just rolls his eyes and sips his tea when PK doctors his coffee with enough sugar to sweeten an entire pot. He nudges his plate of whole wheat toast toward PK without saying anything. They are so married. So so married. It's cute.
PK's the one to notice her necklace first. Or, he's the one who says something, anyway.
Jess is leaning forward to steal a bite of the fruit that came with his omelet when the pendant falls free of her collar.
"Nice rock! I didn't think you were into bling."
"I'm not usually. It's new."
Carey looks at her, and she bites her lip. She's really not going to say anything more, but he just stares.
Fuck him and his creepy goalie ways.
"Eric gave it to me as a birthday gift."
PK grins, and then, "Aww, you're at the jewelry stage already? That's so sweet. Tell us when we need to save the date."
"Fuck you, Subban, it's not like that." Except for how she's afraid that it really is. Goddammit. This was not part of her five-year plan. Jess guesses that this is what her mom meant when she told her that life is what happens when you make other plans.
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lolol carey
do they chirp eric about it later?? does faulk???
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The Canes practice ends just as the Habs are getting onto the ice, and Eric hangs back so he can talk to Erik Cole. He's surprised to feel a stick slap his ass, but then Carey skates by with a quiet, "It suits her. Good job."
Erik looks at him inquiringly, but Eric just shakes his head and asks after Erik's wife and kids.
PK bumps Eric as he leaves the ice, and tells him, "Don't make me have to give the 'don't hurt her speech', Staal."
Which is pretty unfair, Eric thinks, since he's pretty sure that his heart is the one that'll get broken in a bust-up between them.
(Wow, Jess and Eric REALLY need to talk more.)
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what next?????
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