I walked into the bar and tap danced around Kathryn to sign in and poked my head in to see the manager, Bryan, in his office relaxing as he prepared, like Kathryn, to go home. I was working bar alone tonight. Wonderful. It was Friday and a Pens game night so I knew we’d be busy. I was the best barkeep in Pittsburgh so Bryan had called me in on my off day to take care of the place. Around an hour into the shift the rush came in. Our flat screens were a big draw for Pens fans on game nights.
I was passing out drinks like tomorrow would never come and I had to have emptied a few thousand beers before three hours in. I paused to catch the game occasionally. Some of the Pens frequented the bar on off nights and were occasionally in after games. Watching them own the Senators made me smile. I knew they’d be in tonight. Celebrations with them were awesome.
“Hey sweet-art!” one of our regulars called through his tough Boston accent, “G-ive meh a beer an buy youself sompin nice.” he said, stuffing a $100 tip into my jar. I rolled my eyes at him and got him his drink, getting my ass hit by his best friend as I came back to my place mid bar. It was going to be a long night.
Around two hours after the game had ended when the bar had just started to calm down from the rush of a win against the Senators I heard screaming. I looked up over the bar from my place replacing whisky glasses to see if there was another fight. I was way too tired to deal with another drunken bar brawl.
“Oh my God!” I heard some girls squealing. I couldn’t see the door but I knew it had to have been someone important or extraordinarily hot walking in. I was right. Several Pens walked in and perused right up to the seats right in front of me. I recognized most of them. Big names. Sidney Crosby, Maxime Talbot, Jordan Staal, Evgeni Malkin and Tyler Kennedy. A new comer was with them but as hard as I tried to remember who it was I couldn’t. He was cute enough though. I knew I knew him but I couldn’t place him, even after a few minutes of racking my brain.
“All the regular?” I asked, glancing down he bar as all of them sat down. Max looked around and shook his head collectively for the group. The bar’s buzz calmed as the people inside lost their star-struck attitudes.
“Yes please, cutie.” Jordan said, winking at me. I laughed and watching them talking, eyes following me. Well, everyone’s but the newcomers. He was busy focusing on looking down towards the bar. I sat down the drinks I’d gotten before I realized that he hadn’t gotten anything. He hadn’t even said anything.
“Not going to introduce me, Maxy?” I asked, glancing over at Max. I probably knew him best out of everyone here sitting in front of me. He liked getting girls in this bar, particularly my friends, and we’d spent some time together. I could almost read him like a book now. And his smirk was almost enough to tell me I was in trouble. He’d been telling me that he had wanted me to hook up with one of his friends. And he’d been trying for weeks to get me with Jordan but it was failing. Who was it gonna be today?
“Sorry, honey. Mon bijou, this is Eric Godard. Godsy this is Bernadette.” Max said quietly, taking a drink, “Bernie-baby for short.” he finished with a smirk. Eric barely met my eyes. He was a jumpy one.
“Hey.” he whispered, a little dazed as he glanced over at me.
“Hey.” I replied, pulling out another glass, “You want a drink, Eric?”
“Uhh..” he started, trying not to stare at me when he finally did meet my eyes, “Yes.”
“What?” I asked, trying my best to catch his soft green eyes again as he looked away. He was silent.
“Give him your special, babe.” TK said, smiling at me. I nodded and tried not to smile as I made the drink, a twister, before sitting it down in front of him.
“This’ll be a life changing experience for you.” I told him, waiting for him to drink. He stared at it for a minute, looking silly, before actually taking a sip. The mix of Jack Daniels, Hard Russian Vodka and Captain was too much for even Max to stomach straight faced but he just sipped it like nothing. It made me smile.
“God help me.” Max mumbled over his Captain and Coke.
“You know in all my years here I’ve never seen anyone do that.” I told him as he drank more, almost halfway done now. His face got red under the black and blue eye he wore on one side and the fresh bloody cut on the other. I immediately remembered who he was. The enforcer.
“He’s different.” Jordan pushed him to one side. I laughed and cleaned up a little, holding a conversation with them as long as I didn’t stray too far away from where they sat. Eventually the inevitable happened. TK and Max were half gone. Sidney had left by then, planning for a long day tomorrow. The bar had quieted and I’d taken up a seat opposite to Max’s. Geno and I were joking around while Jordan and Max’s eyes searched over me. For being 25 I could still get their attention with the best of em. A few minutes later I glanced over to see Eric cringing. He’d made the mistake of touching his glass and then his face, forgetting that alcohol and cuts didn’t mix.
“You alright?” I asked quietly as I got the others their new drinks. He nodded quietly, cringing as he tried to wipe it off. It was just getting worse. I stopped after sitting Jordan’s drink down and took a wet rag from the sink. “Hold still.” I told him, one hand on his left cheek under the bruise. His eyes found mine and I froze for a minute, caught up in the sparks that were flying through the air. He looked away and I moved again freely, running the rag over his cut a few times lightly.
“Thanks, Bernie.” he whispered, not looking up at me after I stopped.
“Mhmm.” I told him as TK left with a girl. The guys had another round, except Eric, who seemed like he was trying to say somewhat sober. I glanced over at him and his growing confidence. He was actually talking to me now, smiling and joking. His eyes were no longer fixated on the bar and it was making him cuter and cuter. Max pulled me off to the side when Jordan and Geno began to bicker with Eric about tonight’s game.
“Flirt with him, please? His girl dumped him today pre-game and he’s pretty down.” Max begged, “Besides, he really likes you.”
“How do you know, Maxy?” I asked, trying to be quiet.
“He can’t take his eyes off you,” he started, suddenly getting louder, “Hey! You’re awesome! So you’ll come home with us?!”
I felt confusion but knew I wanted it. “Of course, mon Maxy!” I said, earning a disgruntled look for Max from Eric.
So my shift officially ended a few minutes later at one and I hopped into Geno’s car, trusting him most with my safety. Eventually we ended up parked in front of a house right across the street from mine.
“Who lives here?” I asked, following Jordan, TK, Max and Eric up the sidewalk.
“I do.” Eric’s husky voice floated back as he pushed open his door. I followed the boys in and settled down, enjoying their company until they started playing truth or dare. Most of it was fun. Well fun until inevitably they got to Eric, who was sitting comfortably now beside me on the couch. Max’s grin half scared me as the words truth or dare left his lips. Eric said dare and of course, a collective smile went up.
“I dare you to play 20 minutes in heaven with mon bijou.” his voice cut the air like a dagger. I could feel my heart racing. Jordan got up after a few minutes of sloth and dragged us to a closet that he was certain didn’t have a light in it before pushing us inside and locking the door.
My eyes adjusted in about three minutes to see Eric, standing a little awkwardly in front of me. He looked a bit confused as to what he wanted to say. I took that confusion away.
“You don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to. I heard about your girlfriend. I’m sorry about it, by the way.” I started quietly, “I’m surprised I didn’t know you before this, I live right across the street. Strange I guess.” I said, sliding down the wall so that I was on the ground at his feet. He sighed slowly and slid down to his knees in front of me, coming close to avoid letting everyone outside hear.
“Trust me, I’m better off without her.” he whispered softly, “And take my word she’s not the reason I’m at a loss for things to say.” his breath ticked my face now. He was so close to me now that even in the dark I could see his green eyes clearly. They were beautiful.
“What is?” I asked, not expecting an answer.
“I don’t want to close my eyes and miss seeing you.” he told me, “You’re beautiful.”
“You’re a sweetie.” I whispered, feeling him come even close. We weren’t more than an inch apart.
“You don’t have to try and compliment me.” he said quietly, “Just, please let me kiss you.” it was the last thing he said before his warm lips met mine.
><><>Eric’s POV><><><
I’d never wanted to kiss a woman as much as this before. My hands pulled her closer but I remained a gentleman even in the closet as much as I could. Her lips were dancing with mine and it was so mind bending that I completely lost all sense of time. We had to have been there for at least twenty minutes before the door opened and even then I didn’t want to stop.
I broke away from her, heartbroken to do so. She smiled meekly at me before peaking around me with innocent eyes that nearly made me fall over right there.
“Hi Monsieur Maxy.” she called airily over my shoulder.
“Why, hello, mon petite bijou.” he said lightly, “We’re all going as soon as you two come out.”
I helped her up and knew I must’ve looked as red as the blood on my face had been earlier. We walked out to whistles as TK and Jordan left out the door with pictures of us on their phone. Maxy whispered his pleasantries in her ear and walked out with them. Bernie started to walk out before turning back.
“Walk me across the street?” she asked. She sounded like an angel.
“Sure.” I wanted to say something like ‘please stay’ or ask her for her number but it was all I could do not to stare. I trailed behind her the whole way to her stairs. My heart was still pounding. We topped her stairs and stared at each other for a moment, enjoying the quiet.
“I’ll probably see you tomorrow since you’re right there,” she started, “so it’s not goodbye. Just see you later.”
I nodded and was about to leave when she kissed me again. It was slower and I felt my pulse racing when she broke it without another word and left me on the porch. All I could think clearly about after that was the 5’5” dark haired, hazel eyed girl that left me speechless.
><><><Bernie’s POV><><>
It had been three weeks since Eric and I had played 20 minutes in heaven. He’d been in the bar every night. We’d become a lot closer but remained friends. We avoided kissing again though I was pretty sure he wanted it almost as much as I did. Max smirked every time he saw us talking, like he knew some huge secret we didn’t. All I could hear were Eric’s words from the closet repeated in my mind every time I looked at him. It motivated me to get to know him more.
And on the month mark of our meeting he invited me to the Pens game vs. the Flyers.
“But I thought you were out for a bad high ankle sprain and broken knuckles from your last run in with Hartnell.” I said confusedly as I laced up my running shoes, looking up at him. He’d become a very close friend and he ran with me every morning.
“Yeah but I get the box to myself. Some company would be nice.” he replied as we started running down the block. His excuse for coming had begun with getting to know me and had flowed into that he was worried for my safety.
“Sure. Why not?” I answered, gaining that large smile from his war torn face that I had learned to love.
That day went by and he brought me to the game with him. I’d never seen him look better than he did in that black suit. We walked in together and waved hello to the team as we headed to the box we had to ourselves. Max shot me another smirk.
The game went on and the Flyers were playing a terrible night. It was wonderful for us. But then they came back. I felt my heart sink as our 8-3 lead was turned into a tie in the third. We pushed OT. I was half dying in my chair beside his. The box was deafeningly silent. And finally a score, Pens! We’d won!
Eric and I screamed, jumping in unison. I hugged him in blind joy and we ran downstairs to the locker room where the boys were all celebrating. We were celebrating and everyone started jumping and a few of the guys were hugging. I jumped up with Eric and we hugged again. Silence fell over us when we realized just how close we were to each other. We stared into each other’s eyes for a minute, observant, before he leaned down and stopped within an inch of my face. The room was still loud and crazy but right there in that spot time stopped.
“You’re beautiful.” he whispered, lips meeting mine again. His arms drew me closer and mine found their way around his neck. He broke it, staying close, “And you were right when you said this’d be a life changing experience.”
We kissed again before I broke it, brain in overdrive from the emotions and the thoughts, “What would be?”
Another mind blowing dizzy dance, “Loving you.” he mumbled into my lips. He smiled that wonderful little smile again and brought his lips down on mine. It hit me then that I loved him. And through all the noise floating around us, I’d never heard a more wonderful silence.
