“Yeah,” I admitted. “I was a bit nervous for both of us.”
“You’re going to have to explain that one as well, sir.”
“Well, I pretty much made you come to the game. So I was kinda nervous for you, like if anything went wrong I was afraid you’d blame me. But I selfishly really wanted you to come see me,” I shrugged in the dark. “But that was a good distraction. When you made it here and were all fired up and fine, I thought too much about what was in front of me. Stepping onto that ice in front of all those fans… It was pretty intimidating at first.”
“It’s refreshing seeing you a little off your game,” she said.
I looked over at her. “We’re all human, Ellie.”
She took in a deep breath. “I’m embarrassed I’ve cried in front of you,” she admitted. I rubbed her calves and shook my head no against her. “When was the last time you cried?” she asked.
“Easy,” I felt myself smile. “When my oldest sister Gianna named me godfather to my twin niece and nephew.”
“I must see a picture now,” she smiled.
I reluctantly let go of her hand to rummage around the side of my bed for where I’d placed my phone to charge. I quickly flipped through a bunch of pictures to find last May and then showed her the screen.
“Twins run in my family,” I told her proudly. I couldn’t help but look at her tiny stomach and wonder…
“Woah, buddy, nah-ah,” Ellie said with a wag of her finger. “Eyes uphere.”
“What?” I asked with a laugh, putting my hands up in innocence.
“You’re looking here!” she accused and pointed to her stomach’s general area.
“Well, I’m just thinking like…shit. You’re short as hell. Your stomach is like two inches,” I said with my eyebrows up. “That’s gonna be interesting.”
Her jawdropped.
“What? I’m manifesting, baby.” I felt a goofy smile spread on my face. I put my phone back on the ground and laid on my back. She finally inched closer to me. She rested her head on my chest, smushed her body against mine, and looped an arm around my stomach. I breathed a sigh of relief. All felt right when she did that.
“Well, stop it,” she said softly. “That’s like way toomuch.”
“I think it’s the perfect amount,” I countered and pushed a kiss into her hair.
After a beat of silence, she changed the subject.
“When was the last time you threw up?” sheasked.
“Oh man,” I laughed. “From drinking? Probably Grey’s bachelor party. We didn’t do anything crazy, just played some pick-up games at the Ice League for hours one Saturday and drank while doing it. It wasn’t my finest moment. I was already upset about my knee, so I indulged a bit too much. The guys roasted me for weeks because I was the only one who overdid it and lost my shit.”
She seemed satisfied with my answers, and I thought we were both drifting to sleep, until she sleepily murmured, “Whyme?”
I smoothed her hair, loving how peaceful she felt against my chest.
“Why not you, Ellie? For one, you’re drop dead gorgeous. I mean, when I first saw you at Grey and Jules’ wedding, I was like ho-lll-yy hot mama.” She suppressed a giggle at that. “And then on top of that, you’re kind, strong, independent, and a boss-bitch. You don’t give yourself enough credit.”
What I left out was how her red-rimmed eyes pulled me into her. Seeing her tear up at the Scott’s wedding did something to me, just as it did when I left her for Detroit. I’d do anything to fix whatever this girl needed fixing. I was a goner. I was sunk by her. But I don’t think she knew it, and that made her even more attractive in my eyes. She wouldn’t take advantage of the fact that I was wrapped around her pinky like other girls would.
“I have a lot of baggage, TJ,” she admitted in the dark.
I debated what to say next, because I knew whatever I said she would hang on to and try to decipher for forever. My girl was an overthinker, and I knew I had to be careful with my words.
“Why do I even have these muscles if not to help you lift some of it, babe,” I joked. After a beat of silence, I internally cringed realizing that probably wasn’t the right thing to say.
She silently stroked her nails against my chest and stomach, which felt like heaven. But it was almost like I had a sixth sense when it came to her, and I could tell when she was still feeling uneasy.
I tried again. “I know you think you have a lot of baggage, but I don’t see that at all. We all have things that make us feel heavy; we all have our own shit. If you could help me with mine, wouldn’t you?”
