Hearts Like Drums
By: Rhuben
Summary-Life certainly is a rush when you're planning your own wedding, celebrating your soon to be sister-in-law's first wedding anniversary, and dealing with an engagement that might derail itself before it reaches it's final destination.
Kendall Knight let out a sigh as he removed his hockey helmet from his matted hair. The cool air of the arena swept past him as he slowly finished his laps around the rink. His feet ached, his muscles throbbed with pain, and his fingers felt as if they permanently be clamped around his hockey stick, but he loved every minute on the ice and wouldn't change it for a thing.
Unless, maybe if Big Time Rush wanted to do another tour.
He was only 22 years old and had a long music career ahead of him if he chose to continue down that path. Women in Hollywood were considered to "expire" in their forties while men could continue on until their fifties or sixties. In "Hollywood Years" he was still a baby and had plenty of stock left in Tinsel Town.
But in "Hockey Years" he was the right age in a sport that accepted everyone as long as they worked hard and enjoyed the game. Sure, he was younger than other adults he played with giving him a bit of an advantage with his speed, but with hockey it was about being a team. There was no way he'd be able to score a goal without his teammates on offense paving a clear path for him, or his teammates on defense and in goal having his back in case he messed something up.
He didn't have to be a part of that world anymore to experience it, not when his fiancé was still working hard with her music. Kendall shoved his gloved hand into his armpit and pulled out his hand to lift a finger in the air, telling Riley Jackson-McGuire that he had one more lap and then he'd be done. He grinned when he heard her huff of annoyance echoing around the high ceiling rink as she crossed her bundled arms tightly over her chest.
He closed his eyes against the cool breeze as he zipped around the ice, sniffing as snot threatened to slide out of his nose. He swallowed thickly before letting out a breath of air, watching as it came out in a billowing puff, his cheeks and nose had a little bit left of feeling of them and his toes were ice blocks.
"Come on, Killer, bring it in," his coach called over to him. "You need to rest up."
"I'm coming, I'm coming," Kendall replied, shifting his weigh on his skates to change his direction, coming to a stop at the side of the rink, waving Riley down towards him.
"Are you done with your reindeer games, Rudolph?" were the first words out of her mouth as she greeted him at the door to the player's bench. Those words were accompanied with her usual wicked grin and flash of mischief in her blue eyes. Her lips quivered, her teeth chattered as she pulled her sweatshirt tighter around her.
"Yeah, I just have to go change," Kendall replied, running his hand over his sweaty head. "How'd I do today?"
"Rushtastic, love," Riley replied with a half smile, despite her mocking tone. She only ever called him "love" whenever she was over-exaggerating not only her accent but her teasing comments.
Kendall chuckled before angling his head back slightly and Riley leaned forward to press a kiss to his lips. He smiled as her warm lips slid across his, send his heart racing like it usually did. He was lucky to have found her and to have her in his life.
The Australian beauty certainly has changed his life not only in the music world (as her band had helped him learn the ropes of the music business) but in general. He had never met one single person who he had so much in common with before meeting her…and she didn't want to have anything to do with him at first. All he wanted was to be her friend and he eventually found himself falling in love with her. He was excited to be marrying her in three months time.
"Be serious, Riles. You sure I was doing well today?" Kendall asked as soon as she pulled away from him, resting her arms on his shoulders, sliding her fingers through the hair on the back of his neck.
Riley made a face. "Of course, Hockey-Head and you know I'd tell you if you royally sucked." Kendall briefly glanced towards the ceiling. "The real question here is how you always manage to get me to come out here."
"I have my ways, Ruby," Kendall replied with a wink before shifting his weight to the front of his skates, allowing himself to start to glide backwards. Riley rolled her eyes, shaking her head. He briefly caught the name "Boofhead" before he spun around, skating over to his coaches.
"Great work today, son." Kendall was clapped hard on the shoulder once, twice, three times, as he easily transferred himself from the ice onto the walkway of the arean, hobbling on the blades. "You really pushed yourself out there."
"Thanks, Coach," Kendall replied, lifting his hockey helmet into the air before making his way back into the locker room. He let out a sigh as he came face to face with the warm steam coming from the showers his teammates were taking. He collapsed onto the wooden bench in front of his locker with a loud groan.
"See what being engaged does?" the goalie Craig asked as he rolled sticky deodorant into his armpits. "You push yourself harder than you have to. You look like death, man."
"Broken bone, fracture, sprain, or death bed I've got a hot doctor-in-training living with me," Kendall replied with a grin. He moved his hockey stick to block his face when Craig reached for his towel, throwing it at his head. "Don't be jealous."
"So how is the bride to be?" Craig asked.
"Cold," Kendall joked, throwing his hockey gloves back over his shoulder into his locker. Craig laughed. "You know how she is. We're going back to California in a couple of days to finish planning for the wedding so it's not too bad." He set his hockey stick inside. "She hates the cold, but I know it's just because she misses her family. This is the longest she's been away from them, especially her twin, and she's anxious to get back."
He changed out of his hockey uniform and pads as quickly as his tired body would let him. He was missing his family, too. He was the only one who had moved back to Minnesota after Big Time Rush had ended to continue his hockey career. It was different being on his own, but his mom and Katie had a wonderful house in California and Katie's career as not only a commercial actor but a talent manager was picking up. Not only that, but James stayed in Los Angeles to pursue a solo career with his music, Carlos was with his wife of two years, Stephanie King, as she continued her filmmaking career, and Logan decided to attend UCLA for their medical program.
It was hard enough to be by himself but he knew it was harder to ask Riley to move in with him in Minnesota. Not only did she hate the cold, but she had never been away from her family for so long. She had always been around them, serving as their mother figure as they grew up as well as her job as one of the guitarist in her family band.
They toured often as their popularity and fan base grew in America. Their first few albums didn't do as well as they hoped (in comparison to Big Time Rush who's first album hit as number 3 in the Billboard 200 list), but with their newer sound permission to make their own choices with the band, they were really hitting their stride. He couldn't be more proud of them, but also knew recording vocal and guitar tracks over the computer wasn't the same to her as being in the studio.
When it all came down to it, they loved each other enough to support each other in any endeavor even if it meant having to put something in their life on hold. A long distance relationship wasn't in the cards for them; not because they didn't think they could be faithful to each other, but because Kendall didn't want to put that fear in her head, she had gone through too much of that in her life.
"What about you?" Craig asked. "You excited to be getting back to your life in Hollywood?"
"I'm just happy to make her happy," Kendall replied with a shrug, pulling a sweatshirt down over his t-shirt. "She's the happiest I've ever seen her around family, so…and my family is out there, too and I'm starting to get tired of insisting I can actually cook."
Craig chuckled before offering Kendall his hand. Kendall smiled, slapping his palm into his. "Congratulations, Killer," he said with a nod of his head. "Really. You and Riley are great together."
"I know," Kendall replied with a smug smile. He packed his gear into his hockey bag and flung the strap over his shoulder. "I'll see you later." Craig gave a head nod in farewell and Kendall made his way out of the locker room to meet Riley at the lobby. "You getting cold?"
"Nothing some hot chocolate won't cure," Riley replied, looping her arm around his waist, leaning into his side.
"With tiny marshmallows?" Kendall asked, feeling his eyes widen in excitement. Riley twisted her mouth to the side, fighting her trademark eye roll. "What?"
"You're such a…" Riley trailed off, waving her hand in the air.
"Boofhead?" Kendall prompted. Riley snapped her fingers before putting her index finger to her nose. "You want to know what you are?" Riley hiked an eyebrow in response. "Mine." He tipped her chin upwards with his finger, kissing her. And he couldn't wait to do it for the rest of his life.