"Hey CeCe, can you help me out later tonight?" Jimmy Craig asked as he passed her on the way to the locker room, "I need someone to throw tennis balls for me. Coach Patrick usually does it, but he has an appointment tonight."
Cecelia looked up from the clipboard she'd been making notes on, "Throw tennis balls?"
"It helps me practice my hand-eye coordination," he explained waiting for her answer, "With your dad riding me so hard I need all the practice I can get."
"I can come by around seven if that's ok with you," she offered after mentally reviewing her schedule and to-do list, "I should have some free time by then."
"It's a date. I'll bring the tennis balls and you bring your throwing arm."
"Don't use the d word around the boys."
Jimmy looked at her for a minute trying to figure out her warning, "The d word?"
"Date."
"Oh," he nodded in understanding, "Don't want to stir up World War III again?"
"Not in this lifetime. Knowing this bunch, seconds after hearing that we're on a date rumors will be flying that I'm having your love child and we're eloping to Vegas as soon as you have a free day."
"I don't blame you," Jim grabbed his bag again before getting ready to leave, "I'll see you at seven then. Thanks a bunch CeCe. I really appreciate it."
"Anything for you doll." Cecelia watched him walk away before returning to her clipboard feeling overwhelmed by everything her dad was throwing her way. The pre-Olympic season was just swinging into full gear leaving CeCe with mountains of paperwork and on top of that her dad had her watching every practice making notes about what she thought needed to be changed and what was working. With all that piled on top of her recent brawl with Mac, CeCe was beginning to feel understandably swamped.
Her musings were interrupted by another sweaty hockey player invading her space. The smell of wet jersey and sweat filled her nostrils as Mac settled onto the bench beside her.
"You need a shower."
"Hello to you too."
"Sorry," Cecelia shrugged her shoulders at the hard truth of the matter, "You smell. Fact of life babe, hockey and smelling good do not go hand in hand."
Mac didn't go on the offensive at her words; he just sank lower on the bench leaning back to rest while watching her scribble impressions from practice frantically on the clipboard, "Did you write anything about me?"
CeCe scanned over her words to refresh her memory. "Mac is driving hard on the defensive line and is a huge asset on the offensive as well. He and Johnson seem to have good chemistry on the ice and I think they'd play well on the same line together," she paraphrased off the notes on her clipboard skipping around to all the parts that mentioned Robbie. It was only after it had left her mouth that Cecelia realized mentioning Mark, even in casual conversation, was perhaps not the best course if she wanted continued peace.
"All good things," Robbie observed appearing unfazed by the comment concerning Mark, "You must like me more than you let on."
"I like your hockey playing," CeCe corrected smartly, "That has nothing to do with you as a person although I happen to be rather fond of you in spite of the numerous flaws that you have absolutely no trouble showing in front of me."
"You really know how to make a guy feel loved."
"Well I try."
Mac leaned forward unlacing his skates while continuing their conversation, "What did Jimmy need?"
"Something about tennis balls, my throwing arm, and hand-eye coordination, I'm not sure what I just signed up for, but he asked and I said yes."
"What would we do without you?"
"Probably shrivel up and die," Cecelia hypothesized reaching to her right and snagging a towel for Mac off the clean pile that still needed to be returned to the locker room. He nodded his thanks rubbing the perspiration trails off his face and towel-drying his sweaty hair to rid him at least partly of the just rolled out of a sweat-bath feeling.
"I was wondering if you wanted to hit up a movie or something this weekend. Your dad has that meeting on Friday so we have a free day. We could do dinner and then a movie if you want."
"Can we see Dracula?" CeCe asked batting her eyelashes flirtatiously with a teasing smile knowing that Mac would willingly submit to almost any of her requests as long as he wouldn't end up dead as a result and even then it was a toss-up on whether or not he'd do it anyway. Robbie took care of her at all costs and Cecelia knew that in the end it didn't matter because she took just as good care of him. They were a package deal. You never got one without the other and that's the way she liked it.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Mac pushing himself up off the bleachers, "I better go take a shower before all this sweat dries on. I'll call you in the morning to set a time for dinner, ok?"
"I want Pizza Hut," she called after him earning a laugh from the boy who knew her well enough to anticipate her choice in restaurants. Ever since they'd been old enough to drive out for dinner minus the company of their parents, CeCe had been requesting Pizza Hut and never once had Mac turned down her request. He was just that kind of friend.
VV
Cecelia strolled right through Jimmy's open doorway later that night not even bothering to announce her presence aside from the loud groan and theatrical flop onto his empty bed. "Shoot me now," she declared dramatically not shifting an inch after hitting the soft mattress.
"Tough day?" he asked emerging from the bathroom clad in sweatpants and an old gray ratty t-shirt complete with gaping holes.
"Try tough week."
Jimmy sat down on the bed next to her, careful not to bounce her with too much force looking sympathetic, "If you're too wiped, don't worry about this. I can skip a night."
"No," CeCe protested instantly shaking her head with force against the bed, "You need the practice and I need the outlet. Throwing tennis balls will be good for my aggression. Trust me, this is just what the doctor ordered."
He stood up offering her his hand, "Should we go? I've got the tennis balls."
"And I've got the throwing arm," Cecelia finished for him looking more upbeat than she had only minutes ago.
Jim led her to a dead-end hallway and handed her the small bucket of yellow fuzzy balls. "Just bounce them against the wall," he instructed crouching down into position in preparation for her toss.
"Hard?"
"Whatever. Just try to vary the angle you bounce it so the ball is harder to catch."
CeCe shrugged still unsure of exactly what was expected but picked up a ball and hurled it against the wall watching with satisfaction as it rocketed back eluding Jim's hand by a scant few centimeters, "I'm good at this."
"Just wait till I get warmed up," he threatened in a deep voice before ruining it with a smile that belied his tone.
On and on it went over the next hour until it almost became routine. Cecelia would throw fast and furious while Jimmy's hands caught as many balls as humanly possible missing only occasionally. Soon they were comfortable enough to start conversing and their conversation drifted through a variety of topics including everything from the unusual heat wave still sweeping through Minnesota to the names of their pets growing up. Bitsy the cocker spaniel for her and Sparkles the tabby cat for him.
"Please tell me your mom named the cat," Cecelia pleaded giggling helplessly at the thought of such a big, strong hockey player naming anything Sparkles.
"I was six, ok?" Jimmy replied in defense of his name-choosing abilities as a child, "I was an only child who spent a lot of time with his mom. Of course I was going to be prone to girlie names. I've since grown out of it if that makes you feel better."
"But Sparkles?" she burst into a fresh round of laughter, "That is too funny."
"I'm so glad I amuse you," Jim attempted to maintain a frown but knew that it would be short-lived in the face of Cecelia's delighted laughter, "Next topic, please."
After nodding her agreement CeCe stopped throwing for a minute to rack her brain for another interesting line of conversation. "So is there a girl back home in Boston waiting for you?" she asked settling for the tried and true topic of romantic interests.
CeCe was surprised to see Jim's cheeks actually flush at the mention of an until-that-moment hypothetical girlfriend. "You do have one," she accused reaching out to smack him in the upper arm, "And you never told me?"
"It never came up."
"You should have brought it up. I want to hear all about her. What's her name?"
"Mandy." Just the mere utterance of her name had Jimmy grinning like a besotted fool.
Cecelia stopped all pretenses of helping him practice instead dropping to sit cross-legged on the floor looking enthralled, "What does she look like?"
"She has brown hair, but not as dark as yours, it's more golden if you know what I mean," CeCe gave a quick nod and Jim continued on after settling down on the floor as well, "Big blues eyes, tall, slender."
"Oh Lord," Cecelia moaned, "She's willowy. I hate those willowy girls; they are a plague on the female population who make the rest of us normal people feel bad. I suppose this willowy Mandy is gorgeous too."
"I think so," Jimmy agreed before surprising her with his next statement, "But that's just my opinion. It's not about looks with Mandy although I do think she's attractive. There's just something about her. I love the way her eyes light up when she sees me even if it's only been five minutes and the way she has a smile that's just for me. That's what makes her beautiful to me."
"I wish someone would look at me the way you must look at her."
Jim glanced up at her for a long second before answering, "Someone does."
An eye roll seemed like the only appropriate response, "Oh really and who might I ask would that be?"
"Never mind," he eluded her question by distracting her with one of his own, "So do you have any exciting plans for the weekend?"
"I'm going to dinner with Mac tomorrow and then he's bringing me to the movies after that, but nothing else. I'm taking Rammer shopping for a tux Saturday afternoon. One of his friends wants to take him to her high school fall formal and he elected me to be his fashion supervisor."
"A date with Mac followed by a shopping expedition with your baby, sounds like an action-packed weekend," Jimmy observed idly tossing a tennis ball back and forth to keep his hands busy.
"It's not a date Jimmy."
"Dinner then a movie, I could be wrong but that sounds like the quintessential dating plan."
CeCe frowned at the direction their conversation was taking. "But its Mac," she protested, "We're just friends. That's all we've ever been."
"Just because that's all you've been up until now doesn't mean that's all you're ever going to be."
"If you're trying to confuse me it worked," she deadpanned unwilling to follow Jimmy down the path he wanted to take their little chat. Her friendship with Mac was just getting back to its familiar routine. The strange feelings she'd been experiencing lately only added to her confusion. Just this morning during practice Robbie had smiled up at her in the bleachers and damn if her heart hadn't actually fluttered. It was a discomforting emotion and not one CeCe was familiar with.
Why did life have to be so complicated?
Everything had been going fine until the whole mess with Mark and then to make things worse these weird longings she'd been experiencing in relation to Mac had popped up out of nowhere sending her into a tailspin. It just wasn't natural. They were friends. Best friends.
Once again Jimmy interrupted her thoughts before she could even attempt to try and make sense of them, "So you're telling me you've never thought about dating Mac?"
"I've thought about it," Cecelia admitted, "But I've thought about shaving my head too. Doesn't mean I'll actually do it or that I even want to."
"Except you do want to."
"No I don't."
"Yes you do."
CeCe restrained herself from reaching out to smack him. If she never had to deal with a team of meddling hockey players again it would be too soon. It was half their fault that she was having such a hard time getting rid of her pesky attraction to Mac anyway. If they weren't so intent on shoving them together at every turn maybe she'd be able to just ignore it until it went away as she was sure it would. One day CeCe would look back on this and laugh chalking up her temporarily love struck emotions to insanity induced by too many hours with matchmaking hockey players. Or at least that's how she hoped things would turn out.
"That's not how it is and you know it," she protested her words sounding false even to her own ears. A few short weeks ago Cecelia could have argued this case and won, but with her newfound romantically-inclined feelings mocking her at every turn she was finding it hard to fight with the same zealous energy that she'd once had.
Jimmy looked at her as if he could see the myriad of emotions swirling around in her brain and took pity on her, but not without one last parting shot, "Just watch how he looks at you. He wants you. He may not know it and obviously you haven't realized it, but it's there. Now how about we go watch some TV before you head for home. Sound good to you?"
"Better than good," she smiled in gratitude glad that at least one boy on the team knew when not to push. Things were hard enough without everyone telling her what to feel or who to feel it for especially when those very same questions were impossible to answer on her own.
VV
"She's asleep?"
Jimmy nodded silently to Mac who looked at the sleeping girl draped across the small bed and asked without taking his eyes off her, "Do you want me take her to my room?"
"That would probably be more comfortable for her than waking up in my bed. Somehow I get the feeling that she'd feel better if it was you she woke up to and not me."
Mac walked closer and picked her up in his arms enjoying the feel of her small body cradled next to his body, "Someone should probably call Herb and Patti to let them know where she is."
"I can do it," Jim offered holding the door open for Mac as he passed through the doorway being careful not to jar Cecelia awake, "I'll see you in the morning Mac."
Robbie nodded his farewell unwilling to risk more conversation disturbing her slumber. Her face had drifted into the curve of his neck and her soft breathing tickled his neck sending slight shivers down his spine with every exhale from her parted lips.
The tangled mass of her dark brown hair obscured Cecelia's features from his view, but in Robbie's mind's eye he could picture every exquisite detail. The small beauty mark located just above her lip on the left side and her cheeks that were just a little bit round much to her disgust. Chipmunk cheeks she called them, but he'd always secretly loved them because, simply, they were a part of her.
Her delicate eyelids were closed in sleep covering up the dark eyes that were rarely missing their perpetual sparkling amusement. Those eyes could laugh in delight or blaze in rage, but either way they were mesmerizing capable of holding him in their thrall for hours on end.
Recently all these little things about Cecelia that he loved had been weighing heavier and heavier on his mind. He found himself watching her when no one was looking through a different light. No longer could he stick her neatly in the pile labeled friends because somehow she kept sneaking out demanding to be placed in a pile of greater importance. Now if only he could figure out what pile that should be. Life had gone from normal to confusing in two seconds flat it seemed leaving Robbie trailing behind struggling just to keep up.
Mac reached his doorway and kicked it lightly with his foot hoping O.C. would get off his lazy ass and actually open the door for once. Seconds later a disgruntled Jack pulled the door open his gaze softening quickly as it landed on the dark-haired girl fast asleep in Mac's arms.
"Bringing a girl to bed with you?" he asked any annoyance at being pulled away from his bed disappearing in the blink of an eye to be replaced by the smirk they all knew and loved.
"She fell asleep in Jimmy's room," Robbie explained shortly brushing past O.C. to head for his bed across the room, "He thought she might feel better if she woke up with someone a little more familiar. I agreed so here she is."
Any smart comment from O.C. was silenced by Cecelia's eyes drifting open slowly gazing first at Mac's face and then around the room in confusion, "What's going on?"
Robbie set her down on Jack's bed so he could pull down the covers on the right side of his bed, "You fell asleep at Jimmy's. It's too late to go home now so we decided you should just sleep over here for the night."
Her eyes were wide in her face, but she just nodded still looking disoriented, "Ok."
After arranging the covers Mac reached out to pull CeCe back into his arms shifting her slight body from O.C.'s bed to his in a matter of seconds tucking the blankets around her. "Go to sleep," he urged crouching down beside the bed smoothing her hair back from her face smiling as she lifted a finger to trace a line across his cheek.
"Do you want me?" she whispered her eyes still cracked open the teeniest bit before they drifted shut again her last words barely escaping on a breath beforehand, "I think I want you too."
Her hand fell limp to the bed as sleep overtook her again leaving Robbie staring at her in amazement. What had she said? His wide eyes looked at her and then up at O.C. who was looking at her just as surprised and finally back down to her innocent face relaxed in slumber.
I think I want you too echoed through Mac's mind as the possible implications of her sleepy words slammed into him from all sides.
"And you said she didn't like you," O.C. finally said breaking their silence with his version of a joke not sure exactly what his roommate expected of him in this kind of situation.
"Shut up Jack," Mac replied not even fully comprehending his friend's statement his mind still completely wrapped up in CeCe's sleepy ramblings. Eventually Robbie rose up from his position kneeling on the floor and made his way to the other side of the bed stripping off his shirt and pants as he went. Wearing only his boxers he slipped between the sheets shifting his pillows so he could watch Cecelia recognizing even then that sleep would be a longtime coming after her unusual declaration.
Damn if life hadn't just gotten even more interesting.
