by Toni Aleo
“Adler!” Elli screamed as she pushed Adler out of Shea’s bed, “I’ve told you a billion times! Shea’s bed is not for you! He bought you a bed, now go on!”
Adler gave her a sad doggy look before running down the hall. Elli fell back into the bed, with her face in her hands.
She was losing it.
Dreaming of Shea, thinking he was Adler? Pathetic. Elli threw the blankets back and got out of the bed in a huff. After making the bed, she went into the bathroom, showering and doing her morning routine. She walked across the room to the closet, getting dress for the day in a pair of red tweed pants and a black blouse that had red flowers all over it. After strapping her red Jimmy Choo peep toe pumps, she went down the hall towards the kitchen.
She had been doing this for the past week.
In Shea’s condo.
Yup, she hadn’t left. She had went home after leaving Shea on Sunday, but after sitting in her house all alone for about ten minutes, she found herself packing a bag of clothes and grabbing Adler before high tailing it back to Nashville, to Shea’s condo. She felt so much better there with all Shea’s stuff surrounding her since she missed him so much. They talked every chance they got, which if Elli had it her way it would be all day, but she did have to work during the day, and he had to work at night, so they were stuck talking into the wee hours of the morning.
With the holidays coming up, Elli calendar wasn’t full with outside events like it had been the last couple months. Her weekends were booked solid but she had been home by seven every night since Shea had been gone. Which figures, now that she had a man that wants to spend time with her, and she actually has time to be with him, he’s gone.
Elli shook her head as she poured her coffee in one of Shea’s travel mugs; she hadn’t realized that it was gonna be this hard being away from him. They had only been together for two months but she was acting as if they had been together for ten years or something. Moping around, crying when things would remind her of him, wearing his shirts to bed, not cleaning up the messes he left just so she could feel like he was there just a few minutes before her. Whoever thought up the phrase ‘Absence makes the heart grow founder’ was an idiot.
Absence makes a bitch go crazy.
Elli grabbed the leash for Adler, hooking him to it before going out into the freezing cold weather. There was no in between in Tennessee, it was either stupid cold or stupid hot, except for when it’s pretty for two days. It drove Elli crazy, but she would never leave Tennessee. She loved it too much.
Adler was okay staying at Shea’s which had surprised Elli, she thought the dog needed a field but obviously he could do his business wherever and be happy. When he was finished, they headed back upstairs where Elli packed up her things to leave and Adler went to his bed, getting comfy.
“Now you stay out of Shea’s room, stay in your bed, I’ll be home later. Mommy loves you, bye.” She locked the door and headed to work, she loved only being ten minutes from the studio. It was great to sleep an extra hour and not rushing through rush hour traffic in the mornings and evenings. It was nice. The only thing she needed was Shea and things would be perfect.
The studio was empty when she arrived. Harper would drag her ass in around noon, complaining about how not having sex was ruining her life, and then start crying because she just couldn’t cheat on Jakob. She was getting on Elli’s nerves, but being the best friend she was, she dealt with it, holding Harper when she cried or assuring her that the guys would be back before they knew it. It seemed to calm Harper down some, even though it did nothing for Elli. She was convinced that the next seven days were gonna drag just like the first five.
After turning on the lights and the iHome so soft music played, Elli headed back to her office for her appointment book. She couldn’t remember who she had today, but she did remember someone being there for a three hour shoot. After turning on her computer, she waited for it to boot up as she drunk her coffee. She glanced at the clock, it was almost nine, Shea was in Los Angeles, it was only seven there, so she would wait to call, or he would call when he got up.
When the computer loaded up, and a picture of Shea and Elli smiled at her, she smiled back before clicking on her icon for her appointment book. When the page came up for the day; she read Harper’s name just as Harper came in the studio, calling her name. Elli was confused as she went out from behind her desk, and started for the hall.
“Harper, why are you in my appointment book, taking up my whole-” She stopped talking when she saw Harper had her two sisters with her. Reese and Piper had always been close with Elli, all four girls had grown up together, and would always say that Elli was the fourth sister. So the biggest grin went across her face as she went up to the girls, hugging them tightly.
“Oh, my God! When did y’all get in!? I thought you weren’t coming in until the end of the month,” she gushed, as they grinned back at her.
“We finished exams early and rolled out,” Reese said. She looked a lot more like Harper than Piper did. She had the same dark brown hair down to the middle of her back, big brown eyes, with pouty lips, while Piper had blondish brown hair, cute little brown eyes, and plain soft lips. But Piper was just as beautiful as Harper and Reese, just in a soft kind of way, while Harper and Reese were in your face gorgeous.
“Yup, they are home early so I brought them along, since you know Reese is bad ass at makeup and Piper does some mean ass hair, huh sis?” Harper said wrapping her arms around her little sisters. They both beamed up at her, nodding back at Elli.
“Why? What’s going on? Why did you shut out my whole morning?” Elli asked as all three girls just grinned at her.
“Because Eleanor, dear, we are doing a photo shoot, and we’re the models.”
“Excuse me?” Elli asked as Harper threw the bag she was holding down to the ground, and unzip it, pulling a sexy little purple number.
“We are doing a shoot for the boys, they will love it!” Harper gushed, bouncing up and down. Elli started giggling, there was no way in hell Elli was putting on a damn bra and panties set and taking pictures of herself for Shea.
“No fucking way.”
“Yes!” all three girls yelled at her.
“Elli, you’ve lost so much weight, this will be awesome.” Reese gushed.
“You’re so stinkin’ beautiful, we got some hot heels to go with each outfit. We even made sure to get some with lace that will cover your belly if you don’t want to show it!” Piper added with a huge smile.
“Yeah, and Shea would love it, you know he would.”
“No.”
“Yes,” Harper said with a little more force “You’re doing this, because if you don’t I’m breaking up with you!”
“Excuse me?!” Elli said, “What are we, six?”
“I mean it Eleanor Rey, I worked all week on this, I paid for my sisters to come in early, you are taking damn pictures with me for our boyfriends, and you’re gonna fucking love it!”
Elli smiled, looking over at Reese and Piper, before looking at Harper, “Did you just say that Jakob is your boyfriend?”
Harper froze, she had yet to admit that they were together, yeah she told him she loved him, but still had not admit that there was a relationship. “If I say yes will you take pictures with me?”
“Yes, and you have to change your Facebook relationship status, too.”
Harper narrowed her eyes. Elli swore she would call the whole thing off, but nope, she pulled out her phone, poked around at it for a moment, then she turned it to Elli, showing her that she had changed her relationship status. “I am Jakob Titov’s girlfriend.”
“You suck, I swore you were gonna crack,” Elli complained, smacking her arm as everyone giggle.
“Let's get started!” Reese said with a clap of her hands, and that was just the beginning of a crazy day.
Shea skated around the practice rink in Los Angeles twenty nine times before stopping for a drink. He found that if he works his self to the point of exhausti
on, he was able to sleep better. Ever since he left Elli five days ago, he couldn’t fall asleep because he was thinking about her nonstop. Shea didn’t know he could miss someone so much, even with being away from his parents, sister, and the kids, he never missed them the way he missed Elli.
It was crazy, really, Shea hated not being around her, not being able to feel her body against his, hold her soft small hands, kiss her beautiful, naughty mouth, kiss that sweet neck of hers, shit just be with her! At night he would toss and turn wondering who she was with or if some guy had talk or flirted with her that day. He knew he was crazy for thinking those things, but it still messed with his head. He was so worried that while he was gone she would find someone else that he would drive himself mad, texting and calling just to see what she was doing and who she was with. He hated that he was doing it, but he couldn’t help it.
Shea had called Grace about it the day before, and she just told him that it happens, that when you love someone that sometimes your mind can mess with you, even when you know in your heart that person will be waiting for you. He knew Elli wasn’t the type to cheat or be deceiving but for some reason he just kept thinking that some hot successful business man, that didn’t travel would approach her, and she would forget about him.
Shea shook his head at the thought. He was going mad and it wasn’t fair to Elli to think that way. He trusted her, he did, he just didn’t trust, Bill…yeah he named the imaginary successful business man that didn’t travel, that was gonna steal his sunshine away.
Yup, the Assassins’ captain was going bat shit crazy as Elli would say.
He stood beside the boards, disgusted with himself, drinking his Gatorade, when Jakob and Alex came out the ice. Of course, Shea was the first one out, he always was, he was also warmed up, and now he had to wait for the rest of the team to warm up too.
“Adler, what’s up with you, dude?” Alex asked as he skated around for a moment, “First on the ice, first to bed. It’s weird. You okay?”
“I’m fine,” he answered as he put his drink down, grabbing his stick before heading out to the middle of the ice.
“No, you’re not, what’s up?” Alex said again, looking over at Jakob. Jakob just shook his head.
“Leave him alone, Welch. He’s obviously in a mood,” Jakob said, skating off. Shea sent Alex a look before following Jakob around the rink for a second warm up.
After practice, Shea sat back at the hotel while everyone else went out for lunch. He made it a point everyday to send Elli an email with a video attached of a song that reminded him of her. He was looking through his playlist when Jakob came into the room, throwing himself on the bed beside Shea’s. Jakob and him always shared a room on the road, had been doing it for years.
“I thought you went out with the guys,” Shea said, scrolling down his list.
“Nah, thought you needed to talk.” Shea looked up, confused.
“Huh?”
“You know, talk, where your mouth moves and words come out.”
“Shut up, asshole, I know what talking is. I just don’t know why I need to talk.”
Jakob shook his head, a small smile on his face, “Dude, your moody as hell lately. I don’t know what your problem is but let it go. Did you and Elli get into a fight or something?”
“No, I just…I don’t know.”
“What’s going on with her dude? You don’t call to go out no more, you are always with her, is it really that serious?”
“Yeah, it is.”
“Really?”
Shea looked up at his long time best friend. He knew it was weird for Shea to be in a relationship but he was, he had changed.
“Things are different now, Jake, I’m not the guy I was six months ago.”
Jakob laughed, “Well, no shit, Shea, I knew that, but are you seriously for real about her? I mean, we all know I’m for real about any girl I get involved with, but are you?”
Shea didn’t even have to think, he just nodded, “I am, I love her.”
Jakob grinned as he nodded, “Good, you’re getting older, you need to settle down.”
Shea cringed, “I never said anything about marriage, Jake.”
Jakob laughed, pulling his computer out from under the bed, “You didn’t have to; you love her, so it will only be a matter of time. Since this is the one and only girl you have spent more than a day with.”
Shea just shook his head, “You sound like my mom.”
“Cause she’s a smart woman.”
Shea smiled as he looked through his playlist. Jakob was so easy going, so easy to talk to. That’s probably why he was Shea’s best friend; he had always been good to Shea as Shea was always good to him.
Everything was quiet until Jakob started screaming, he jumped up, tearing apart the room.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“I need my phone!” he yelled, Shea pointed to the TV, where his phone laid right beside Shea’s. “Ahh, thanks!” he yelled picking it up, he then pushed some buttons, until a huge grin came across his face.
“Hey there,” he said into the phone as he sat down, “I saw your status, oh no, you don’t, don’t deny it, baby girl, I saw it! Haha, I hate to say this baby, but I told you so. Haha, okay, love you, alright, bye.” Jakob smiled over at Shea, “Harper changed her relationship status to dating me.”
“That’s awesome dude.”
“I thought so.”
They sat back in their bed, looking at their computers. Shea decided he would make Elli a playlist and send it to her for her iHome, he was just beginning it when his phone rang. It was Grace.
“Hey sis.”
“Hey! How are you doing today?”
“Good, tired, about to take a nap after I send Elli this email.”
“Cool, I’m so glad you have learned how to use that stuff. Ryan just loves his emails from you.”
“Yeah, it’s was about time, huh?”
“Well past it,” Grace said laughing
“Have you seen Elli or talked to her?”
“No, I’ve been meaning to but been so busy. I’ll call her Monday, maybe she’ll want to do lunch with me and the kids, then go shopping for a little while.”
“Sounds good, make sure you do. I miss her.”
“I know you do,” she acknowledged, “Ready for the game tonight?”
“Yup, you guys gonna watch?”
“But of course, thinking you might win tonight?”
“I hope to.”
The Assassins had lost every game since they had been on the road. He just didn’t understand it; it was like his head wasn’t in the game or something. He hadn’t had one point the whole time they had been out, nothing. It was embarrassing actually.
“You need to; you haven’t been playing too good.”
Leave it to Grace to tell him the truth. He knew he had been sucking lately, and even Elli wouldn’t comment on it, she just ignored the whole fact and talked about something else.
“I know, I don’t know what’s going on.”
“You’re love sick, missing your woman, you big sap!”
“You shut up,” he muttered, even though she was right.
“You need to leave your feelings off the ice Shea, don’t let your emotional issues mess with your game. You gotta learn to separate them. I know it’s hard, you’ve never had to do this before, but it’s time to put your big boy pants on and step up to the plate…I mean blue line, and play some damn hockey. My brother doesn’t suck, so get your shit straight and play the damn game!”
The talk with Grace was what he needed because his head had been everywhere but where it needed to be and that was in the game. He just hoped he would remember that when he went out on the ice that night.
“Oh my god, Harper, your boyfriend is ridiculously hot,” Piper giggled as she leaned back on the couch with a glass of wine and a bowl of popcorn between her legs, “Like stupid, crazy hot. You lucky bitch.”
“Oh girl, let me tell you, you should see him
naked,” Harper giggled, taking a hefty drink of her wine. It was the first time in days that Harper was happy. It was probably the first time in days for Elli, too, they just loved Piper and Reese. They were two little balls of sunshine.
“I wish,” Reese agreed while she shared the bowl of popcorn with Piper. Elli and Harper sat on the floor at the coffee table looking over the pictures as they watched the pregame on Shea’s humongous TV. They were clicking through Harper’s pictures, picking out her favorites, which included boobs, a little bit of lace, and crotch-less panties.
Yeah…
“Ooh, I like the black.”
“Yeah…hot,” Elli said, trying not to look, she had seen naked Harper all day, and she had seen more than she wanted of her best friend, but she had to admit, the pictures were hot. Piper had done an amazing job with Harper’s hair, doing it in big curls, pulled up on one side with a huge black flower, while Reese did her makeup very bold. Needless to say, Harper was one hot mama when they were done with her, and Lord knew the girl wasn’t shy. She was posing in ways that Elli didn’t even know existed.
After picking out her favorite poses, Elli started editing. Between her and Harper, she was the best at it, and usually did all the edited for the studio. She could make people’s skin look like a newborn baby’s; she could make them skinner, hell, she could do just about anything.
Elli was in the middle of erasing one of Harper’s birth marks when Piper screamed out, “Holy shit! Is that him, Elli!?” Elli jumped at the ear piercing scream, and looked up at the screen to see her boyfriend laughing near the boards with one of the Kings’ players. He looked positively scrumptious in his away uniform and it made Elli’s mouth water at the sight.
“Why, yes it is,” she cooed, watching as he hit the guy in the shin with his stick before skating off.
“Oh, my God,” Reese gushed, while Piper looked back and forth between the TV and Elli.
“Elli, he is gorgeous,” Piper gushed, “I mean way hotter than Justin.”