Hi all! Back with more!
There is also a *slight* time jump in this chapter of about a month, give or take. But it's not super important to the rest of the story.
Thanks as always for the love and support. Because of that, I am going to try and update this regularly on Tuesdays, but take that lightly as I'm a full-time college student who is about to be hit with exams and final papers.
Enjoy!
Jay woke up to the flooding of light from the windows. He forgot to close the blinds the night before, so he was up when the sun was up. It didn't bother him, he was used to the early hours after all the before school workouts he put in during high school. Even in college he still had them, but not as often.
Thinking about soccer made him aware of the aches in his body. They had a game the night before and he collided hard with an opposing player. He knew he was going to be sore this morning, so he tried to stretch out but was stopped when he noticed a weight on his bicep. He must have been really tired if he didn't notice it earlier.
Turning his head, he didn't fight the smile that spread across his face. He simply turned onto his side, curling his arm so his fingertips danced along her back.
"Good morning," he whispered when he saw she was awake. Her eyes slowly opened, the scowl on her face at the harsh light being replaced with a smile when she noticed him.
"Hi," Erin said, moving closer to wrap herself in his arms. She peppered kisses on his bare chest, moving up until she met his lips. These slow and lazy kisses in the morning were what he now craved.
They stayed like that until Jay's stomach required him to get up. He was completely okay with eating breakfast in bed, as long as Erin was with him.
As he climbed out of bed, he heard a gasp from Erin. Turing around, he found her sitting in bed, her posture rigid as she stared at his bare torso.
"What?" he asked, concerned at the worried look on her face.
"Your back," she whispered.
Jay walked towards the bathroom and flipped on the light. As he reached the mirror, he could see why she was worried. There were black and blue splotches all over, a clear sign of the hit he took last night that caused the guy's leg to hit his back.
In the mirror, he saw Erin join him in the bathroom. She continued to look at his back, and Jay noticed the light pain when her soft fingertips began tracing the bruises. They traveled all the way from his shoulders to below the waistband of his sweatpants. He continued to watch Erin in the mirror, and the concern on her face was evident.
"Hey," he said, turning her so she couldn't see the bruises anymore. "I'm okay. Nothing some rest won't fix."
Her hands trailed up his arms before grasping his neck, pulling him down towards her. It was a quick kiss, the one that was to reassure your partner that everything was okay.
"Breakfast?" Jay asked when she pulled back.
"Definitely," she replied. "I'm just gonna put on some yoga pants first. Not sure how I feel about giving your roommates a show.
Jay laughed, his hands inching the hem of the shirt she wore, his shirt, up. She immediately swatted his hands away before giving him a light shove towards the door.
"Go make me coffee, Halstead."
"Yes ma'am," he replied, pecking her lips quickly before walking out of his bedroom.
Jay wasn't entirely sure what was happening in the living room of his shared apartment, but he could faintly hear ESPN. Sure enough, Mouse was sitting on the couch, a bowl of cereal on the coffee table as the highlights from the night before played on the TV.
"Damn Halstead, she do that?" Adam said, walking into the room as well. Jay rolled his eyes before continuing to the kitchen, knowing his roommate had seen the bruises on his back.
"You can blame that asshole from last night."
"That's from last night? It didn't look like that bad of a hit!" Adam said.
"I was laying on the ground for two minutes because the wind got knocked out of me. Yes, it was that bad."
"Damn," Adam whispered before plopping onto the couch next to Mouse.
"Where's Kev?" Jay asked as made more coffee
"Had a PT appointment this morning to work out his knee," Mouse answered.
Jay didn't reply, just nodded his head to himself. There wasn't much around the kitchen causing him to wonder if he should just take Erin out to breakfast.
"Good morning, Erin," Jay heard Adam say. Two seconds later he saw her walk into the kitchen.
"Morning guys," she replied over her shoulder. "Hey, where's my coffee?"
He just shook his head, knowing how she was with her coffee. The coffee was just about done, and he handed her the mug first.
"There's creamer in the fridge, sugar in the pantry."
She nodded, moving to where he directed to get both creamer and sugar. Jay fixed his own coffee and was content to stand there in the kitchen with Erin.
After they had downed their coffee, Jay started to think again about breakfast.
"So, there's no food here, unless you want Frosted Flakes. You got any plans?"
Erin shook her head, placing her mug in the sink before walking over to him.
"I know a good breakfast spot not far from here," he said, his hands reaching for her hips to pull her close.
"Is this going to be our first date?" she asked. They still hadn't had their first date, as the postseason had picked up and Erin was slammed with school work.
"I'm still taking you on a proper date, but if you want to call it that, then sure."
Erin just smiled, rising on her tip toes to kiss him. He couldn't fight the smile that spread across his face, everything feeling so right.
"So," Erin said, setting her coffee down. "What is this?"
Jay stopped chewing, caught off guard by her question.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
Erin looked him in the eye, her elbows resting on the table.
"We've gone out together, although it's been with other people, kissed more than a few times. Do I need to remind you that I woke up in your bed this morning?"
No, she didn't, Jay thought, the memory making him smile. "No," he answered anyways.
"Granted, we haven't taken any other steps yet, but neither one of us is slowing down, so what is this? What are we?"
It was Jay's turn to look her in the eye. He couldn't help but smile when he thought about his answer.
"Well, I would like to think you are my girlfriend."
Erin smiled, her hand moving to grab ahold of Jay's, however the table was too wide and instead their fingertips barely touched, but both were content to lazily play with the other's hand.
"I think I would like that," she said.
"I have to be honest with you, Erin, it's been a while since I have had a girlfriend."
"How long are we talking?" she asked.
Jay paused, pretending to think. "Well there was Carissa, but we only dated for two days before she asked out another boy on the playground."
He had tried to be serious with his answer, but he clearly failed when Erin burst into laughter.
"How old were you?" she asked.
"I think that was in second grade?"
"That was your last girlfriend?"
Jay nodded, suddenly embarrassed as he realized he had never had a serious girlfriend. There had been girls over the years, but there was nothing about them that made him want to ask them out.
"Yeah, I guess so," he said, his attention being diverted to the remainder of the biscuit and gravy on his plate.
"Hey, Jay," Erin said softly, using their still touching fingers to get his attention. "It's nothing to be embarrassed about."
"There were always girls, I'm not going to lie there, but none of them seemed important enough for me to ask them be my girlfriend."
"Is that what Allie was?" Erin asked.
"Allie was, well Allie. Among the team, she's known as a cleat chaser. Only wants to date athletes with the hopes they will make her a trophy wife. She latched onto me pretty quick early on here, but she's annoying. Even though it was over in my book, she doesn't think so."
"Is that what happened that day in the library?"
Jay nodded, his mind flashing back to the day she mentioned.
"What are you smiling about?" Erin asked. Jay hadn't even realized he was smiling until she called him out.
"I was just thinking that there's one thing I can thank Allie for. She caused me to meet you."
Erin blushed, and Jay noticed as her face became flushed.
"I wouldn't say that, but if that's what you wanna think."
Jay nodded, and their moment was interrupted as their waitress brought them the check. Before Erin could suggest splitting the bill, he had pulled out his wallet and handed the waitress his card. Erin protested his actions after, but he just shook his head.
"Isn't it my job as your boyfriend to pay for our meal?"
Erin couldn't fight him with the smile he was giving her and gave up on arguing. She had a feeling this was what her life would look like for the foreseeable future, and she wasn't going to complain.
"You coming to the game Friday night?" he asked as they waited for the waitress to return.
"Playoffs, right?" Erin asked, and Jay nodded in response.
"Well I would be there anyways, but definitely Friday."
The waitress once again interrupted their conversation and soon they were out the door, walking hand in hand to Jay's truck.
"Do you wanna come back with me? I have practice later, but not for a few hours."
Erin nodded, stepping closer until their faces were inches apart.
"I think I'd like that," she replied before closing the distance between them.
"Ugh I'm nervous. And cold," Hailey grumbled. The weather at night in Chicago was becoming unbearable, but nothing was stopping the two girls from being at the game.
"Same, girl, same," Erin said, her teeth chattering as she moved closer to Hailey.
They were down by one point and they needed to win if they wanted to move on to the championship. It wasn't that Jay and his teammates were playing badly, the other team was just that good. Erin could tell that the score and everything else at stake was making Jay play angrier and harder, but she was worried that he would do something that would kill his chances, and his team's, at a championship.
He had been off all week. She had seen him maybe three times in the last five days and none for any extended period of time. She did however recall the end of a phone call with who he explained was his brother that had left him on edge for the time they sat in their usual coffee shop.
Erin didn't know the extent of Jay's relationship with his family, but it was all still new. If she was being honest, she didn't blame him because she wasn't ready to be spilling all her own family drama.
"Has Jay seemed, off, in class this week?" she asked Hailey, the words spilling out of her mouth before she processed them.
Hailey turned to look at her but what surprised Erin was the look of worry on her friend's face.
"Now that you say that, yes. He's been quiet in class, more so than usual, and snapped at me when I asked a simple question. I figured it was stress about the game."
Erin just nodded before looking back to the game. Maybe it was all stress about this game. Jay had mentioned that the team they were playing was their only loss and they were looking for revenge.
She didn't know how much time went by in the game until Jay started yelling at his coach. She swore in her head, knowing no good could come from this.
He was still yelling when he reached the sidelines but seemed to quiet down when Dawson pulled him away.
"He never gets involved," Hailey whispered.
Erin watched with baited breath as her boyfriend's trainer talked to him. She felt her heart drop to the pit of her stomach as his posture grew tense and his eyes grow wide with fear.
"I have to go," she said, grabbing her bag. She had no idea what was going on but as she made her way down the bleachers, her eyes found his and she could see the panic in them. Her eyes stayed locked with his for a while, until his attention was back in front of him. Dawson was leading him towards the locker room and Erin wasted no time in following them.
Her mind was racing, but she could not figure out what the issue was. It hit her them just how little she knew about him, because there could be a million reasons as to why he was getting pulled out of a game with no injury or red cards.
As she reached the door to the locker room, she was met by Coach Dawson.
"What's wrong?" she asked. There was no time for introductions.
"You need to talk to him," Dawson said, motioning to the door.
Erin just nodded, took a deep breath and pushed open the door. She felt like she was moving in slow motion, that she couldn't get to Jay quick enough. As she rounded a corner, she saw him sitting on the floor, head down as his shoulders shook. It was the first time she had ever seen a guy cry and her heart positively broke.
"Jay," she whispered, moving towards him slowly. He looked up at the sound of her voice, his eyes red and filled with tears.
"Oh, babe," she whispered again, moving closer until she was crouched in front of him. Her hand found his, squeezing gently as her other ran through his hand.
"What's wrong?" she asked, hoping he would answer.
"Hospital," he said, hiccupping as he tried to catch his breath. "My mom."
Erin just nodded, standing up and reaching down to pull him up. He took her offered hand, and she pushed him down to the bench when they reached his open locker.
"Erin," he began but she shook her head.
"Hang on. You need to change shoes," she said.
Jay nodded, sitting still as she untied his cleats, slipping them off along with his shin guards. Fresh socks and his usual trainers followed. She pulled his jersey off, handing him the black tee shirt and hoodie that was in his bag. The door clanged shut and she grabbed her bag, offering her hand once again.
"I'll drive you. Where to?"
"Chicago Med."