Chapter 3

***Thought I'd add a picture of the man who inspired my story...because he's gorgeous!~>

@Lileannee-were you guessing right at who you thought it was? 

As always, enjoy! Cant wait to hear from ya'll :)

~J

We go back upstairs, and are immediately handed new drinks, and mine is in his hand.

“Thank you,” I say

“Of course, having fun?” He asks

“Yeah! I’m glad we came out with ya’ll, I’ve been wanting to check this place out,”
“Well, glad we could show you around. I don’t think we’ve properly met, I’m James,” he says, holding out his hand
“Jamie, or Jay, whatever,” I say, shaking his hand

“Nice to meet you,”

“Likewise,”

“So, how’s the Burgh treating you so far?”
“Great, my dad’s from here so I’ve been out here a lot, I’ve always loved it,”
“Good! It took some adjusting out here, but I really like it,”

“Yeah, I bet,”
“You look beautiful tonight, by the way,”
“Thanks,”

“Hey, you 2! Come dance!” Miranda yells with Max, Marc and Vero behind her

“Umm,” James says

“Oh come on, its not optional,” Vero says smiling as she’s grabbing our hands. Yep, I like her.

The six of us squeeze onto the dance floor. At first, it’s a little awkward dancing with James, since we barely know each other, and the song was obviously a booty-shaking-bump-&-grind kind of song, but we got more comfortable with it. He put his hands on my hip to keep the rhythm, and was shying away from being shy. 

I’m guessing I smiled so big when he whispered in my ear to tell me again how beautiful I am. After which, he turns me around so we were dancing face to face.  He kept his hands on my waist, and held onto a belt loop when I put my arms up around his neck. With my heels on, he was still a little taller then me, we were so close that our cheeks were touching and I could feel him smiling.

When we take a break, I join James and Jordan on the couch, with Jordan handing me another drink

“Geez boys, trying to get me drunk here?” I ask

“Maybe,” Jordan says with a smile

“Thank god I’m off tomorrow,”
“So, Miranda said you girls are planning a house warming party?”
“Yeah, we haven’t done much, but it’ll happen. It won’t be a big one, because I still don’t know a lot of people,”
“You know us!” Geno says, joining us

“Yeah, ya’ll are invited, and then some work people, that’ll probably be it,”

“It’s better then no one,” 

“True,”

“So, I wanted to ask you something,” James says as the guys get up and leave us on the couch

“Sure, what’s up?”
“I was wondering if I could take you out to dinner?” he asks nervously

“Yeah, I’d like that,”
“Really?”

“Absolutely,”

“Ok, great!”

Vero gives me a smile and thumbs up as she sees me and James walking close by, all I could do is laugh as we make our way to the stairs to dance more

This time, there is no awkwardness with the dancing; we’re face to face again. I looked around for a sec then turn back to see James looking at me, which causes me to giggle before looking back at him.  There was something on his mind; I could see it in his eyes, but before I could say anything, his lips crashed onto mine.  He deepened the kiss for a second, before we hear the group around us hollering and whistling. He smiles and I bury my face in his chest again, probably blushing like crazy.

“Thata boy, Nealer!” Max yells

We have a few more drinks and dance a few more songs before it was last call and we didn’t even notice because we were having so much fun, until all the lights got turned on. None of us were ready to go home yet, and after dancing all night, we decided to go Tom’s diner down the street for some food. 

The near empty diner gets so much louder when we all walk in, especially with the guys being even more loud when they are drunk, we take a booth in the back as the waitress clearly recognizes the guys.

Even though it was almost 4 in the morning, we decided to walk back to the apartments.  Cabs had long since finished running, which led the guys to walking to Max’s house, where they passed out.  So we said our good byes outside of our building.  James gave me another kiss before we exchanged numbers and he said he’d call me later to make plans.

I pass out as soon as my head hits the pillow and before I know it, it’s 11am and I decide to stop being lazy.  I had some text messages from some of the guys, and one from Miranda, I call her first and tell her to come over for a late breakfast, then read the other messages.

“Jay, you def gotta come out with us more!” –Jordan

“That was one of the best nights at Diesel since we won the cup!” –Max

“Last night was a blast, really glad you joined us ;)” –James

I let Miranda in a few minutes later while I’m texting the guys back

“Oh my gosh, last night was so much fun!” She says sitting on one of the bar stools

“Oh I know! I haven’t had that much fun in a long time,”
“Me either. So how did things go with James?”

“Good! He wants to take me to dinner,”
“Really? I think you guys are way cute”

“Yeah, he asked me when we were sitting on the couch, ya’ll were getting drinks,”
“Dude, that’s awesome! Max noticed that he kept looking at you,”
“Aww, he’s so cute,”
“Good kisser?” She asks

“I don’t kiss and tell,”
“I’m calling BS on that one!”

“Ok fine, yeah he is. So what about Mr. Talbot?”
“He’s pretty much amazing. He sure is a sweet talker too,”
“Yeah, I could only imagine,”

“Ok, let’s start planning your party?”
“Ok,” I say as I reach for a notebook, “Who should we invite?”
“Well the guys, obviously,”
“Yeah, I don’t want it to be too big though, or loud either,”
“So Sid, Max, Geno, Jordan, Kris, Ben, TK and James,”
“Got them,” writing names down
“Marc Andre and Vero?”

“Yes! I love Vero, she’s so nice,”

“Me too! Oh and TK will probably bring his girlfriend, and Ben might bring his wife if he comes”
“That’s fine, as long as there’s no drama, I don’t want to have to kick anyone out,”

“Definitely not. Ok, who from work?”
“Rachel, Danny, Rob, Carly, Abby and Patrick,”

“So besides us two, that’s 18 people,”
“I think that’s enough, any more and there won’t be room!”

“True story. Now we need a date,”

“What about Saturday? I’m off and I’m pretty sure you are too,”

“Yeah, I am,”
“Ok, cool. I’ll send out a mass text to everyone,”

Miranda and I planned to have the party on Saturday, in a few days and it would be a black and white cocktail party, the guest list had been cut down to 13, because Danny, Abby and Patrick had to work and the Lovejoy’s had previous plans.

Chapter 2

“So, have you gone out to any clubs since you’ve moved out here?” Jordan asks

“Not really, I haven’t had much time yet,” I say, pulling up a chair next to Max

“Well, why don’t you let us take you to one?” TK says with a smile

“TK, we’re not taking her to Blush,” Sid says. Busted!

“Gross, no thanks. Don’t you have a girlfriend anyways?” I ask him

“Yeah, she’s coming home tonight,” TK, says

“Tell Miranda that we are all going out tonight, no excuse as to why you shouldn’t come,” Max says

“Fiiiine, we’ll come out with you guys,”

“That’s the spirit!” Jordan says

Later that night, I’m over at Miranda’s, and we are getting ready for our night out with the boys

“They’ve taken well to you!” She says as were doing make up

“Yeah? They are all really nice. There was that one at the end, he was kind of quiet, but wow he’s so cute!” I say

“Ooooh, get it girl! He’s a hottie for sure!”

“Right? But I have to ask…what’s the deal with Jordan, because I’d take him any day!”
“I’m not sure, him and his girlfriend are off and on so much,”
“Um, that’s lame. He’s too gorgeous to be going back and forth with her,”

“Yeah, tell me about it. But focus on the first one!”

“Oh, I will! What about you, don’t you like mister superstar?”
“Yeah, but he definitely lives up to his rep,” she says, as her phone rings

“Hello,” She says

“Hey, the guys and I are outside. We got 2 cabs,” Max says

“Ok, we’ll be down in like 2 minutes,”

“Ok, bye,”

We take one more look in the mirror.  I decided on my favorite A&F ripped jeans and a turquoise off the shoulder shirt, with black open toe heels.  I grabbed my clutch as Miranda and I walked out the door.

“Girl, we’re gonna have these boy’s droolin’ tonight!” she says as we near the cabs full of gorgeous men

“Wow, who knew you ladies could look so beautiful outside of your work uniforms?” Max says playfully, so I give him a little shove

“Yeah, we really have to work on it, but hey,” Miranda throws back at him

“Well, get ready for one hell of a night,” he says, opening the cab door

Sid, TK and Ben skipped out on joining us tonight, and Max informed us that Marc Andre and his wife Vero would be joining us at Diesel.  I was in the back seat of the cab with Jordan and Kris, while Miranda jumped in the cab with Max, Geno and James.  After a few minutes we pulled up and got out of the cabs.  The guys led us through the club and straight up to VIP.

“Wow this is amazing!” Miranda says

“Yeah, talk about superstar treatment up here,” I say

“Well, they love us, what can I say?” Kris says

“Can we get you ladies a drink?” Max asks

After we tell him what we want, him and one of the other guys get drinks and are back within a few minutes, Miranda and I are looking over the balcony, scoping out the rest of the place. 

“Ladies,” we turn around to see the 2 guys with drinks in their hands

“Thanks,” I say

“Your welcome,” he said with a smile. OH…he talks! Never knew.

“Bathroom?” Miranda asks after a few minutes

“Yes,” I say as we walk that way, when Max makes fun of us for going together

“Soo…any progress?” She asks

“Well, he brought my drink to me,” I say
“I think Max planned that,” she says laughing,
“I wouldn’t doubt that! And he talks! He didn’t talk at lunch today, but he has amazing eyes,”
“Girl, just go for it!”

“But he seems shy, I don’t want to scare him off,”

“You wont, just try and talk to him!”

“Ok,”

We rejoin the guys in VIP and are met by 2 new faces, Marc Andre and Vero.  I could tell that I would get along with Vero, she was the kind of girl that tells it like it is and doesn’t take no for an answer, but she’s really sweet too.

“Let’s go dance girls!” She says, grabbing our free hands and leading us down the stairs

*

“How’s it lookin’ down there,” Max says as he stands next to me

“Looks good,” I say as he follows my eyes

“Dude…you’ve been checkin’ her out all night!”

“How can I not? She’s beautiful!”

“Then talk to her!”

“Dude, you know how I am,”
“Yeah, and last I checked, we didn’t bring the captain to the bar,”
“Don’t even compare me to Sid,”
“Well! You best go talk to her before someone else does,”

*

“Girl, he has been watching you like a hawk!” Miranda says as we’re dancing

“Really?” I say

“Yeah, don’t look now, but he was talking to Max, he followed his eyes to see him looking at you,”

“Oh man,”
“Who? I wanna know!” Vero jumps in

“She’s crushin’ on him,” she says trying to motion to him

“Max?”

“No, I’m working on him! Next to Max,”
“Ooh! Go for it! Marc said he can be quiet, but he’s a nice guy,”

“I’m working on it!”

It's All a Part of Me-Intro

***So here's a little peek at my new story! Hope ya'll follow this one too :)
It's still in the beginning stages(obviously), but I think I can make it a good one.
Let me know what ya think of it!
~J


“Hey girl! You ready?” Miranda asks as I open the door
“Yeah, let me just grab my apron!” I say, letting her in
“I love what you’ve done with the place, by the way,”
“Well, I have an amazing friend to thank for that!”
“That’s what I’m here for! You need to have a house warming party,”
“Definitely! Lets do it,”

Summer was here; I finally graduated from UNM and moved to Pittsburgh. I moved into a 1-bedroom apartment right off of East Carson Street…pretty much the best place to be out there, at least in my opinion. It was a nice place and I was able to afford it (amazingly enough).

Miranda was the first girl I met that became fast friends with. She lived across the hall, and we both worked at Joe’s Crab Shack. She moved out here last year from a small town in Arizona, so we were also hometown neighbors also. After my parents went back home and I had applied at Joe’s, I split my time between working and unpacking my house, when she offered to help me. And boy did she ever help me. I managed to get a couch, love seat, a few coffee tables and some bar stools all in one day.



It was my second week at Joe’s and I loved it. I hated working the restaurant business back home, but this was definitely a good change of scenery, environment and people. I split shifts between serving and bartending, which was definitely a favorite.

Miranda and I are at one of the computers when she notices a handful of guys walk in, who happen to be some of the Penguins players,

“Well, look at who we have today,” She says as the hostess leads them to a table
“Oh wow! Hello, boys,” I say after seeing them
“Those guys are by far the nicest guys I’ve ever met,”
“You’ve met them?”
“Oh yeah, they come in all the time, I’ve waited on them a couple times, even partied with them at Diesel and Mario’s,”
“I’m not gonna lie, I kinda hate you right now,”
“Well you wont in a few minutes,” She says, walking away with a smile

The guys that walked in consisted of Sid, Max, Geno, Jordan, Kris, Ben, TK and James. They got situated and said hi to Miranda right as she walked up, I was talking to a table and kinda hearing their conversation…I mean, come on, they weren’t the quietest group of guys, especially in the empty restaurant.

“Who’s that?” Jordan asks, nodding in my direction
“Yeah, I’ve never seen her before!” Max
“Miranda, who she?” Geno asks
“That’s Jamie, she just moved out here from New Mexico, she’s been here for like 3 weeks,” she says
“So that’s why we’ve never seen her,” TK says,
“Yeah, we’re neighbors too, she’s really sweet,”
“Well, we’d like to meet her! Bring her over, please?” Max asks
“Yeah!” The rest of the guys add

“Jay, they want to meet you!” Miranda says to me at the bar
“Shut up, what?”
“Yeah! They were all like ‘I’ve never seen her before’ and ‘who’s that’, then Max asked to meet you and the guys were like yeah bring her over!”
“Oh my gosh. Ok,”

She leads me over to the table of guys and introduces me to all of them. The guys are all nice and really funny. After a few minutes, I go back to talk to them again and one of the guys catches my eye. I don’t know what it was, but wow he was a lot cuter now that I could see his face and he wasn’t in full hockey gear. I made a mental note to ask Miranda later if she knew anything about him.