nineteen

Darcy glared at Ryan.  She actually was mad that he’d pushed her bag away, as if he could just make her late for work and do whatever he....

Then he was kissing her.  And lowering himself the last few inches until his body was all over hers, twisting tongues the way he was twisting his hips.  Darcy forgot about her phone.

When she had fallen out of bed, Ryan had two instinctive reactions.  One was of course to help her.  The other way to grab a condom on his way.  Now they were making out on the floor and he saw no reason to bother taking all that time to get back into bed.  He pressed the square package into her hand; Darcy tipped her head back and laughed, breaking the kiss.  Ryan didn’t care - he just helped himself to the delicate skin of her throat.  She put the edge of the foil against his back and dragged it up, slightly sharp and catching.  

“So you’re this guy now?” she teased as Ryan humped her leg.

“I was always this guy,” he said from somewhere around her collarbone.  “Just waiting to find this girl.”

Shortly after, her phone rang again.  Darcy was busy calling Ryan’s name.
____

“Dude, you’re la... OH MY GOD!”  Taylor hollered.  He’d been about to give Ryan shit barely making practice but the look on the kid’s face gave everything away.  

Ryan blushed on top of blushing, red to the tips of his ears in a single heartbeat.  He meant to be on time so no one would know.  He meant to keep a straight face.  It didn’t help that he had a full-body fever, burning from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.  Every part that Darcy had touched, and even a few she hadn’t, were on fire with the sense memory of her skin, her smell and taste.  Like skating all day, then laying down only to feel like you’re still moving.  Ryan felt Darcy all over himself.  It wouldn’t break.  Now, faced with the biggest ladies man on the team, the temperature spiked and Ryan’s heart rate spiked.

“Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” he swung at Taylor’s shoulder.  Happy was one thing.  Broadcasting the Virgin Status Report to the entire team was another.  They all thought he and Darcy had been getting down for a while now, and that elevated status was cool with Ryan.

Unfortunately for him, Taylor wasn’t the only one who already knew.

“Ry, your girl late for work this morning?” Schultz said in a way that meant obviously not.  God damn roommates.

“She, uh...,” Ryan’s tongue felt swollen, “yeah.  Little bit.”

None of these guys missed a thing.  “Little bit?” Abney called out.  “You’re supposed to give her the whole thing!”

They roared with laughter.  Ryan couldn’t even speak to defend himself.  Another minute and he’d need a jersey to hold in front of his hard-on like a kid in Bantam.  An image if Darcy, pinned to the floor, hair tossed out and biting her plump bottom lip while her body fought back just enough... Ryan ran for the bathroom as socks, gear and all kinds of catcalls rained down on his head.
____

Erin sat in in Cox Convention Center, the entire seating area herself.  Her foul mood noted that being alone in the audience wasn’t much different than being at a Barons game.  The thought tasted sour all the way to her stomach.  On the ice, a whistle blew in the Barons practice that she was supposed to be watching.  She was supposed to be cheering up.  Hard to do in the middle of the workday in the middle of the week when she had nowork of her own to go to.

Erin did not get the job at St. Anthony’s.  They’d gone with someone who had more current experience.  At first she felt hollow and sad, then angry.  How was she supposed to have current experience with no jobs currently open?  Was she being penalized for supporting herself in the meantime?  Now she just felt annoyed, like the princess who slept with the pea under her stack of mattresses.  it would not go away.

She wished she hadn’t called them back with Jordan in the room.

He looked so genuinely concerned as she let her face fall in disappointment.  She’d let him see how upset she really was.  Erin didn’t tell him why, of course.  She couldn’t say that the job would fill days when he was gone and her friends could fill the nights.  Now those days were as open as ever, and for a while longer he was in her bed.  She lay back into his comforting arms and knew she shouldn’t waste a moment of their time together being sad.  It was just hard to do when the end lurked around every corner.

Erin came to watch them practice.  She hoped action and noise would make her feel better.  If anything, it was making her feel worse.  This would always be here.  With or without her, or Jordan, the Barons were just one example of life going on.  He would leave this and she would lose her connection to it, easy as you please.  Her mood did not improve.

Jordan could feel it from the ice.  He looked up a few times, expecting to see a small rain cloud over Erin’s head. It killed him to see her upset, especially when he knew she’d be great at her job - even though he had no idea what it really was.  He was simply sure she’d excel.  Instead she’d been passed over, another person dismissing her for being a waitress.  He’d liked holding her though, he enjoyed being needed.  If only he could have helped.

It had been his idea that she come to practice but from ice level he realized his mistake.  The moment practice was over, he practically had his gear off in the hallway and got dressed while still in the shower.  She was still in the same place when he got there, completely empty arena around her.

“Come on,” he said.  Erin was in the same place she sat for all the games, what they all thought of as ‘her seat.’  Anyone could have bought it, if the place ever filled to that top row.  She wore black leggings and a long sweater with boots.  It reminded Jordan of how cozy she was to sleep near, how much laying in bed had become his very favorite thing since moving to Oklahoma City.  It, and she, had replaced a large portion of the life he’d considered normal back in Edmonton.  She had filled a surprisingly empty part of what Jordan had believed to be whole.

“If we met in college, would you have gone out with me?” he asked, swinging her hand as they walked toward his car.  “If I didn’t play sports?”

“You mean if you were just some math major?” she teased.  “I didn’t know you were a  superstar athlete when we met, remember?  You were just a cute guy giving me the eye at the bar.  Your friend had a lot of teeth.  Would you have asked me if I didn’t give you free wings?”

“Yeah.  Of course,” he laughed. “But I wouldn’t have had a hundred bucks.”
 
She squeezed against his side.  “Still have that bill if you ever need it back.”

“At this rate I might,” he joked.  Jordan had a new take on jobs - he knew how lucky he was to have one.  “But I can still buy you lunch.”

Instead of going out, they stopped at Whole Foods and bought bread, cheese, figs and lemonade.  He drove them to Erin’s where he proceeded to lay out a picnic in the middle of her living room floor.  She went along with it, even when he opened every window blind as far as it would go, flooding the space with watery winter light.  Taking a place on the rug, Erin leaned back on her elbows and tried to smile.

Jordan reached over and rubbed the arch of her back.  “I’m sorry you didn’t get the job.  But I’m also really selfish and I want to spend every minute with you, so....”

She laughed.  “So you’re sorry you’re not sorry?”

“Something like that.”  

Erin admired Jordan: thick hair perfectly messy, eyelashes long enough to make a woman cry.  Even the shape of his mouth, smile not included, made her heart race in anticipation.  She didn’t want to miss that, or anything else.  Maybe not getting the job was a good thing.

Maybe I’m fucking crazy, she thought.  Erin knew she felt way too much, way too soon for Jordan; that she’d let herself get seriously carried away.  Jordan caught her eye and grinned, nearly knocking her over.  At least she wasn’t the only one.
____

“So, uh... hi,” Ryan stuttered.  Maybe he should have practiced speaking before calling Darcy.  

That morning, he’d been saying - and doing - all kinds of things with no hesitation.  Just like a pro athelete: put the prize in front of him and he’ll focus.  He had been running the highlight reel all day, alternately blushing and puffing out his chest.  Last night had been the most incredible night of his life.  Sure, he’d won some big hockey games but on those nights at least he knew he was going to play.  Last night was like a pickup game with a superstar where the prize was an actual dream come true.

Now the prize was on the other end of the line, and Ryan was stuck.

“Hi Ryan.”  Darcy’s heart fluttered.  She mentally told it to sit the hell down, she was trying to talk here.  It was bad enough her skin had been tingling all day.  “How was practice?”

“Good,” he lied.  It had been awkward and uncomfortable and yet somehow triumphant, but it had not been good.  He couldn’t think about hockey when he had all these new things on his mind.  “How was work?”

“Fine,” she said, but what she meant was: You’re fine.  If anyone says fine anymore when talking about a hot guy.  And if being nineteen makes you a guy.  I’ll tell you what makes you a.... She forced a  stop.  The inner monologue had been running all day and gotten a little R-rated.  Darcy smiled.  In that same room where they’d been together last night, Ryan was alone right now and probably nervous as hell.  She found his mixture of wit and awkwardness obliterating.  The silence stretched out as he fumbled for something to say.

“Um,” he tried, “what are you doing now?”

Evil, I’m evil, she thought.  “You know, just sorting my lingerie drawer.  Lace on one side, silk on the other.  These panties are really small and it’s hard to arrange them by color.”

He gulped so hard she heard it.  Like the string on a bow it twanged right down into her lap.  Darcy dissolved into giggles.  “Ryan!  Did you have fun last night?”

“Yes,” he said softly.

“So... are you going to invite me over or what?!” she was practically shouting.

Ryan cracked.  The sound of her voice turned him like a screw, from dirty thoughts to the deep ache below his stomach.  Whatever he’d thought was sexual tension before - copping a feel in a car,  getting a little grind on at a party - was nothing compared to the actual physical knowledge of how good it felt to be with Darcy.  He let himself fall onto the bed, trying not to moan.

“Please,” his voice croaked.  “Come over.  And hurry.”

“Okay,” she really did have one hand in her underwear drawer.  “Ry?”

“Yeah?”

“What’s your favorite color?”
____

Taylor peered in the mirror at point blank range.  Amanda passed by the bathroom door.  “There’s nothing.”

“There is!”  Taylor examined his upper lip.

“If you Tweet a picture of that, you’d better say you’re not even doing Movember,” she called from the kitchen.

With Jordan at Erin’s apartment, Taylor and Amanda had the new place to themselves.  It was a little strange, like playing house.  Any nights they spent alone always went the same way - food, movie, sex.  Not that Amanda was complaining.  She was simply surprised to find that she liked the food and movie portion of the evening as much as the part behind closed doors.

“Should I do it?” Taylor asked.

She stopped and leaned against the doorframe.  Taylor’s breath fogged the mirror.  “If you can’t see it from that close, you can’t see it at all.”  He frowned at his own baby-faced reflection.  

“You don’t need it,” she said.  “You’re pretty gorgeous.” That made him smile.  What a boy, so easily appeased.

The first two days in the apartment, Taylor loved it.  Now he felt a strange set of nerves whenever they hung out there alone.  Any minute now Amanda would realize that he was actually quite boring.  He had what amounted to a part-time job, didn’t make a lot of money, couldn’t even go to a bar.  If he’d landed on the moon instead of Oklahoma City, Taylor would have felt about as useful.

The hockey was good.  But unlike the NHL, there wasn’t enough of it here to make a life.  He looked at Amanda in the mirror, her easy smile and the spot beneath her ear that, when kissed, made her do anything he wanted.  She was becoming more real to him as this place became his life.  For the first time in history, Taylor considered that he might be dating up.

“It’s my birthday next week.  Twenty-one.”

She arched an eyebrow, thinking he really was hard to resist.  All blond-haired and blue-eyed, like a picture of a guy that comes when you buy a frame.  “Damn, I was having fun with the jailbait thing.”

“You know who’s having fun with it now?” he asked, holding her gaze.

Amanda gasped, hands flew to her mouth and then she shrieked.  Taylor reached out but missed as she darted away.  Damn girl was fast.  She leapt the couch like a hurdle and grabbed for her phone.

“Don’t!”  he yelled, wrapping his arms around as a straightjacket.

“I have to!  Stop!”  She wrestled to get free.  “Taylor-some ridiculous middle name without enough vowels-Hall, let go of me!”

“What?!” He pulled her down into his lap, twisting his legs around her too.  She was practically mummified in his embrace.  She managed to get a hand free, punching buttons almost at random.  Luckily Darcy was on her speed dial.

The phone started ringing.  Taylor loosened his grip enough for Amanda to hit the speaker button.  They waited tensely... until Darcy’s voicemail picked up.

“This is the AHL Department of Underage Boyfriends, we’ve had a report of a STIFF RISE in activity,” she said, making a face.

“It seems to be COMING to a CLIMAX,” Taylor added loudly.

“So remember to wear protection.”

Taylor grabbed the phone.  “And make sure he spends at least two minutes in the box!”
____