Chapter 17

A/N: Well I'm sad to see that so many people are a little upset with the choices being made by Miss Ari... hope it doesn't ruin the story for you all!! This is the 2nd to last chapter, so get out all your anger now!! LOL Thanks again for the comments! You amuse me. :o)

If I could bottle up the chills that you give me
I would keep them in a jar next to my bed.
And If I should ever draw a picture of a woman
It is you that would come flowing from my pen

Leavin’ your smell on my coat, leavin’ your taste on my shoulder.
I still fail to understand what it is about this woman.

Helplessly melting as I stand next to the sun.
As she burns me, I am screaming out for more
Drink every drop of liquid heat that I've become.
Pop me open; spill me out on to the floor.

Woman- Maroon 5

Ch 17

“I don’t know about this…” I mumbled as I looked in the mirror in the dressing room.  “I’m not usually one to be showing this much skin in a Halloween costume,” I reiterated as I took a longing look at the nun costume hanging besides my clothing.

Andre stepped in front of me, effectively blocking my line of sight from the costume that would have kept me completely covered.  “A sexy bee costume is exactly what you need to have on.  You have the perfect bubble butt to pull this costume off!  We will get you some black fish-net stockings and I’m debating on what kind of shoes we want to put with it,” she said as she bit on her finger while contemplating.  “Besides girl, you got it, you need to flaunt it.  It will have the boys drooling.”

“I don’t need any more boys…” I said as I put my hands on my hips.

As soon as the words were out of my mouth I heard her phone make a “picture taking sound” and a devilish grin came across her face.  “Send!” she squeaked out.

I stumbled over my shoes to grab at her phone.  “Wait, who the fuck did you send that too!!” I yelled a little too loud in the dressing room.

“Just Shane.  We need man’s opinion on this.”

“Will he get it?  He’s over in Europe…” My words were stopped when I heard a little bell ding on her phone.

“Oh, he got it!” she laughed as she turned the phone towards me, showing the answer.   “That is one naughty ass bee! She could sting me!”

“That is soo wrong!” I squawked as I attempted to unzip the tight fitting outfit.  “I’m soo not buying this.  The nun costume it will be!”

“I will be buying this for you and take full blame for the consequences,” Andre announced as she turned me around to help get me out of the one piece.

“You do realize that I have two boys fighting over me right now, who, I might add, will be at the party?”

“Yup, but there will only be one who will truly appreciate this,” she said with a sly smirk.

The games against the Bruins and in Latvia went amazingly well.  We played our hardest and the crowd was completely into it.  I scored a goal in the Latvia game which put me in a good mood.  During the Bruins game, Biz got into a fight with Lucic and I got my first point of the year with an assist.  All in all, the trip was a success but I was ready to get home.

The plane ride seemed to take forever and the closer we got to AZ, the more impatient I grew.

“Do you have bugs in your pants or something?” Upshall asked as I moved around once more.

“I just want to land,” I said as I pushed my seat back and rested my hands behind my head.

“You just want to see Ari,” he said in a matter of fact tone.

“Maybe,” I said with a shrug of the shoulders.

“What’s going on there anyway?  I thought you didn’t like her that way,” he said as he quoted his words.

“I did but I didn’t,” I said as I was still running the situation through my head.  “I mean, I guess I always had something for her…”

“But since Biz moved in, you all of a sudden had a light bulb pop on or something?” He asked as he raised a curious eyebrow. 

“Aahhh, yea I guess you could say that.”

“Are you sure you are just being the over protective guy?”

“Whoa, where did that come from?” I asked, a little thrown off guard.  “I don’t think that is the case…”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sound rude.  It’s just that I have to wonder if playing the protective brother hasn’t clouded up your mind enough to make you think that you are in love with her.

“Are you saying that I shouldn’t be chasing after her?” I asked as I sat up and looked at him straight.

“I’m saying that I’m just worried that you aren’t looking at the situation with a clear head.  I can understand that you feel comfortable and that it would be easy to fall into a relationship with her, but I’ve always thought that the two of you made better friends.  Plus, after seeing her with Biz, I’m thinking that she found her match with him and I’m pretty sure you noticed the way she has looked at him too,” he said with a little more honesty than I expected.

“He’s a player, Scottie.”

“He’s your best friend and I think you know that if she’s the right one, he will not play her.  Besides, the kid behaved himself like never before, this past week.”  I put my head in my hands and leaned over in my seat.  I felt his hand on my shoulder as he said, “You do what you think.  I know you love her, but I think it’s more in the protective brother way.  I’m not trying to be a dick and I’m not taking sides, I just thought as a good friend, you deserved to hear the truth.”

I turned my head while I still was leaned over and looked up at him and said, “Thanks man, it is nice to have friends that care enough to give the truth; even if it’s words you don’t want to hear.”

I was walking down the hall, headed out to the parking lot when I heard Rachel calling my name.

“Ari, wait up!”

I stopped and turned around to wait for my co-worker.  “What’s up Rach?”

As soon as she caught up we started walking again.  “Um, I was wondering.  Have you talked to Taylor at all?  I tried calling his phone, but it went right to voicemail.”

A confused look must have flashed across my face because she just smiled shyly and explained, “I was wondering if he wouldn’t mind going on another date.  I know I told him that I didn’t want a serious relationship, but the more I think about it, the more I realize he is possibly someone I wouldn’t mind settling down with.  I know it probably sounds silly, considering you know how I’m such a free spirit, but he really is a sweet guy and I did have a lot of fun with him…”

She was still explaining herself dramatically when the wheels of my head began to turn.  I surprised myself when thoughts of jealousy were not to be found.  A weight almost seemed to be lifted off my shoulders.  I was still zoned-out when I finally realized that we were standing at our cars and she was done talking, looking at me with the confused face.

“Ari?  Is something wrong?”

I shook my head and almost laughed hysterically as I answered, “No, no, everything is perfect.  That is awesome that you want to ask him out.  They actually just got back into town early this morning from Prague; they started their season over in Europe for some NHL Premiere Week thing to bolster support for the sport.  Did you leave him a message?”

“Yup, I did!” she said with a new smile.

“I’ll see what I can find out for you, then,” I informed her as I crawled in behind my steering wheel with my heart soaring, knowing that everything could possibly work out better than I imagined.  Now if I can only get myself to take the step into the unknown with Paul.

I walked into my apartment, dropped my bags by the laundry room, stripped down to my boxer briefs and did a face plant onto my bed.  I laid there for a moment, blocking out everything until I took a deep breath and smelled her faint perfume on the sheets.

Princess Ari.

The whole plane ride home I thought about her and at one point I found myself having to use the bathroom and join the mile-high jerk-off club.  All I could think about was her soft skin and her raven hair cascading down her naked shoulders.  The passion of our last kiss made my mouth water and I felt my body panting like a love sick puppy.  My stomach was in knots when we landed and I was waging an internal argument with myself as I tried to decide on if I should just go back to my apartment and call her after work, or camp out in her driveway for a couple hours until she came home.  It was 11am and my body was screaming for sleep, so now here I was sprawled out across my bed, finally drifting off to sleep.

“Are you ever going to wake up?”  I heard her softly whisper.  I opened my one eye to find a blurry smiling face staring back at me.

“If I wake up, will you still be here?” I mumbled back with effort as it felt like my throat was lined with razor blades.

She softly giggled, “I think so.”

“What time is it?”

“6pm, Arizona time.”

“Damn.  I wanted to be awake and meet you at your house when you got home from work,” I said as I attempted to move my body to at least get a hand on her face to make sure she was real.  “How did you get in here?”

“It was unlocked.”

“Hmm…I need to get a guard dog.”

She began rolling away from me as she said, “I’m sorry, I can leave…”

Finally my mind communicated with the rest of my body and I reached out and snatched her before she got off the bed.  “No, no, that won’t be necessary.  You are a perfect intruder,” I murmured moving to fit her against the length of my body.  I took a deep breath of her sweet smelling hair and splayed my hands over her body, causing her to purr in my arms.  “I’ve missed you,” I whispered into her hair.

“Touché,” she whispered back.  “I was just going to wait until you decided to call or stop by, but I couldn’t wait anymore.  I needed to see you at least for a little.”

“So my Biz charms have charmed you enough to miss me?” I asked as I squeezed her and grinned.

She rolled over so that she was now facing me and stared into my eyes.  I stared back, hoping she could see how genuine this really was for me.  My skin burned when her hand hesitantly touched my unshaven face.  She caressed it a couple times and then left it there, just rubbing her thumb back and forth across my cheekbone.  I for once didn’t say one word, I just left her think through whatever was going on in her pretty little head and just stared back into her hazel eyes.

“This is the Biz I like, the man who doesn’t feel the need to put on a production to get my attention, the man who can lay here, staring into my eyes with such raw emotion,” she stated absent minded.

“I will be whoever you want me to be as long as you keep looking at me like you are in this moment,” I said honestly, not moving my eyes from hers.

“I want you to be yourself.”

“Then I can do that.”

She then leaned in towards me and softly kissed my lips.  After a couple soft kisses she pulled back out of my arms and got off the bed as I just laid there and watched her.  “See you at the Halloween Party tomorrow night?” she asked.

“But isn’t it a school night?” I asked as I propped myself up on my elbows.

“I took a vacation day on Wednesday, so I can stay out late and play,” she said with a wink.

“Will you have a date?”

“I figured I’d just pick up a guy while I’m there,” she giggled.

“I’ll be first in line.”

She grinned broadly and blew me a kiss before walking out of my bedroom and out of my apartment, leaving me in the most sexually frustrated state I had been in years.

I was just finishing up dinner when the doorbell rang and seconds later I heard her footsteps walking down the foyer to the kitchen.

“Hola, Taylor!” her voice rang out as she walked over and pulled me into a big hug.  I wrapped my arms tightly around her, but I could tell things had changed while I was gone.

“Hola, Arianna, I’ve missed you,” I said into her hair that filled my senses.

“I’ve missed you too.  Congrats on your goal in Latvia!  I watched it online...I’m pretty sure you could have heard me across the ocean cheering for you.”

“I thought I heard your voice…” I said, pulling back with a smile.  She swatted at my stomach and then walked over to the fridge to get herself a drink.  “Have you already seen Biz?” I blurted out.

She turned around with a glass of milk in her hand and looked at me with a small smile that wasn’t meant to hurt my feelings.  “Yes, actually I just came from there.  I was only with him for a short time; you seem to be handling the jet lag a little better than he.”

“I just woke up about an hour ago, actually,” I admitted as I took a seat at the kitchen island.  “I wouldn’t have minded sleeping all the way thru until tomorrow morning, but I was hoping to see you.”

She just smiled as she sat across from me.  She then looked down at the counter and said, “So um, Rachel stopped me at school today…”

“Yeah, I got her voicemail,” I said, a little surprised that she was bringing it up.

“I think you should give her another chance,” she stated as she looked up at me with a sincere look on her face.

I took in a deep breath, already knowing that this was probably going to happen.  “Oh?”

“Yeah.  I’m not going to sit here and say sorry for anything because I will always cherish that night with you and I will never regret anything I said or did.  However, I think you and I both know that we both need to step out of our comfort zones and not hang onto the past.  We are best friends who have a lot in common, but I think being more than friends would just keep us in the same place with our memories of what used to be with our past loves.  I did a ton of thinking this past week and I think the biggest piece I’d keep coming back to was my fear of completely losing you,” she said as tears came to her eyes.

Without thinking twice I reached out and grabbed her hands.  “I could never let you go, Ari,” I pleaded to her.  “You know, Upshall said basically the same things to me this morning before we hit the runway and his words made me see the same things you are saying.  Then I turn on my phone and find the message from Rachel and things seemed to make even more sense…”

“I love you, Taylor,” she said as she sniffled.

I couldn’t help but smile at her as I got up and walked over to her, pulling her into my arms and kissing her on the forehead.  “I love you too, Arianna.”

We stood together like that for a while until I couldn’t stand to listen to her snot nose.  After handing her a tissue, I led her into the living room and popped on the TV to watch the baseball playoffs.  We both took up our own sides of the couch as we watched the game.

“So, what are you going as for the Halloween Party tomorrow night?” she asked out of the blue.

“James Bond.”

“Ooo!  Perfect.  The blue eyes will sell the whole thing,” she said with a clap of her hands.

“You?”

I watched as her face twisted with a look of disgust.  “Um, I’m not going to say, but I will say that it’s all Andre’s fault.”

I raised my eyebrows, “That doesn’t sound so good.”

“Just let it be known that I wanted to be a nun.”

I left out a snort and shook my head, “Okay, I’ll keep that in mind.”