Page 21 of Four Letter Feelings

Chapter 9

“Not to sound like your mom, or a nagging wife, but where the hell were you?” AJ asked as Jeremy struggled to pull his cases through the door of the dorm room.

“No, no. Don’t get up, man. I got it!” Jeremy huffed, as he abandoned the cases and collapsed into the armchair. “And not that I owe you an explanation, but I bumped into Chelsea… and, well…”

“You didn’t, did you?” AJ seemed shocked at how fast Jeremy moved.

“What? Bed her? No! Jeez! I just kissed her. But it totally threw me off my packing game. It just took way longer than expected.”

“Ah. You kissed her, eh? You think you’re gonna get further with her?”

“I’m damn sure gonna try,” Jeremy answered with a confident nod. “Wheels are already in motion, too. I’m sending her some wine and strawberries – with my cell number – let’s see if she uses it.”

AJ shook his head and chuckled. “You’re shameless, man. Utterly shameless.”

Once he’d unpacked his clothes into the small wardrobe, and put his toiletries in the bathroom, he left AJ in the dorms and went to the bookshop to pick up some resources he needed for his course. Business Management wasn’t something he’d always dreamt of doing, but he had the required grades to get in and, at the end of the day, for him, it was all about the hockey anyway. His dad, Tom, on the other hand, hadn’t taken his career choice well at all. To him, Jeremy should forget about playing ‘that silly game’ and be a doctor, like both his grandfather and his father. It wasn’t that his father didn’t approve of sports, it was more that he thought Jeremy’s grades would have been markedly improved had he not spent so much of his time on the ice. He also didn’t think that Jeremy was destined to play at NHL level. He never denied that Jeremy was talented on the ice, but as far as he was concerned, if you weren’t good enough to make it to the big leagues, why bother pursuing it at all? It didn’t matter to him that Jeremy loved the game, or that he was actually pretty good at it, what mattered to him was how financially secure you were at the end of each month. In his mind, pursuing a mid-level hockey career, at best, wasn’t nearly as ‘rewarding’ as being a well-paid doctor who could work anywhere in the world. It was one of the only times in his life Jeremy was almost relieved his gramps wasn’t around anymore so he could get it in the neck from another angle, too. His gramps had been even less in favor of Jeremy pursuing sports than his father was.

As he scanned the bookshelves in the business section, he churned over those arguments with his dad in his mind. He resolved to prove him wrong and to make something of himself, to make his father proud. Shaking his head, he reminded himself that as long as he was proud of himself it shouldn’t matter what his dad thought of him, but try as he might he knew the deep yearning for acceptance from his dad would still be there. It was always there.

“Business Management, eh?” A voice jolted him out of his thoughts.

“That’s right,” he answered, turning to face the voice.

“First year?” she asked with a warm smile.

He nodded. “Yeah, though by the look of this stack of books I should have taken something easier. Like color-by-numbers or some shit.”

She giggled. “Well, if you ever need a study buddy, I’m in first year business management, too. Maybe we can help each other out.”

Maybe we can, indeed.

Wait. Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea… you want Chelsea, remember? No more notches on belts. No more booty calls. Just Chelsea.

He glanced at the cashier who had come out from behind the counter to talk to him. She was tall, wearing form-fitting dress pants, her low-cut blouse was covered in little flamingos and her name tag said her name was Adrianne. Strands of her jaw-length blonde hair kept falling in her face as she talked and he thought he might get lost in her dark-brown eyes. As his eyes followed the line of her shirt, he noticed that her necklace also had a flamingo pendant.

“I like flamingos,” she offered by way of explanation.

“Clearly.”

He grinned.

She half-shrugged.

“No judgement,” he offered.

She blushed and returned to the counter as another student needed to check out while Jeremy grabbed the last two books on his list. He watched her from the corner of his eye as her bracelets jingled as she checked the woman out.

No, he scolded himself. You want Chelsea.

Except Adrianne is all kindsa cute, and from the color of her cheeks and those glances she doesn’t think you notice, she thinks you’re kinda cute, too.

“Thanks, have a good one!” she replied to the customer.

Jeremy plopped his books onto the counter in front of her.

“All done?”

“Almost.” He grinned. “I have everything I need… except your digits.” He flashed his trademark, stellar grin and watched as the corners of her mouth pulled into a smile.

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