One of the Boys

Chapter 20

Christopher

We had just touched down in Toronto. Finally we're home! I grab my bag and begin to make my way out of the airport and towards the parking garage when I realized that I carpooled with Riles this time around.

"What's the matter Santiago? Forget where you parked your car?" I hear Jason say coming up next to me and clapping his hand on my shoulder. "Actually, I just realized that I carpooled with Younger this trip and he's already long gone!" I reply as Jason let's out a chuckle. "Well I guess I could give you a ride." Delaney says, keys in hand while she carries her luggage in one and the carry on in her other.

"I mean, if it's okay with you. We do live in the same building so I don't see why not." She adds with a shrug. "Yeah, that'd be great. Thanks!" I reply. "Come on, I'm parked over this way." She says moving her head towards the right.

"I'm parked over the other way. I'll catch you guys later!" Jason said before we parted ways to go to our respective vehicles. Okay, how's my chance to talk to her, to tell her how I feel. It's just the two of us, no interruptions. I can do this, there's no chickening out this time Chris!

"Here we are!" Delaney smiles as she unlocked her black jeep. "You okay? You seem zoned out." She says as I stand there frozen. Okay Chris, now's your chance buddy. Here goes nothing!

"Yeah I'm good I just - Remember when I said I had something to tell you? We were sitting at the table at the restaurant waiting for Riley and Jason to find us?" I ask trying to refresh her memory as she places her carry on and suitcase in the trunk. "Yeah, what about it?" She asks.

She stops what she's doing and looks at me attentively with her beautiful emerald green eyes. I look down and swallow the fear building up inside of me at the thought of what reaction I might get from her after the words come out of my mouth.

"Well that something I wanted to tell you was that um ... I - I like you Delaney. I like you not only as a teammate or a friend. What I'm trying to say here is that I think I'm starting to fall in love with you Delaney." I say and let out a sigh of relief knowing that I finally put it out there.

Delaney stands in front of me silent for a solid minute as heat rises in her cheeks. "Look, if you don't feel the same way, I totally understand that! I just had to get that off my chest." I blurt out as she looks up at me with a shy look on her face and a small smile slowly appearing.

"Please say something." I say when she doesn't respond. She picks at her nails before pushing a strand of her long dark brown hair behind her ear.

"Look Chris... I like you too and I feel the same way. Honestly I had my suspicions that you hated my guys at first when I joined the team but I saw that as I got to know you, as crazy as this may sound, I had a feeling that you were starting to fall for me because I had that same feeling. And you stuck up for me more than once, no other guy would have punched someone in an alley like that for me! Well I mean... Jace would have done it to scare him a little but that's because he's my best friend and he's like a..."

I moved in and grabbed both sides of her face and kissed her, cutting her off from rambling on. God, I'm glad I confessed my feelings for this girl!

"So, you want to be my girlfriend?" I asked with a huge smile on my face looking down at her after separating from our kiss. "Does this answer your question?" She asked standing on her tip toes and wrapping her arms around my next before placing a soft kiss in my lips. "I guess it does." I smile.

******
When we got up to our floor, I unlocked my door before turning back to see if Dels had opened her door yet. "Want to hangout tomorrow?" I ask her. "I'd like that." She smiles. "I'll text you in the morning." I say as she nods. "Night Chris." She says. "Night Dels." I smile before I watch her disappear into her apartment.

Once I know she's safely inside her home, I take my bags down the hall to my room and begin to unpack when I got a text from Riley.

"Sorry I left you hanging man. I got home and realized I totally forgot we carpooled to the airport!" The Tex read. After reading the message, I began to type back.

"Thought I was gonna have to walk home but luckily I was saved by Dels!" I reply and put my phone down to continue unpacking.

A few seconds later, I get a reply from Riles. "Oh yeah? How was it? Did you finally tell her how you feel?" I smile knowing that was going to be coming up before he even texted back.

"Yeah, went really well. I told her how I feel and she told me she felt the same way so now we're dating." I reply.

"Atta boy Chrissy! Good for you man!" Riley replies.

"Thanks brother!" I text back before locking my phone and getting back to finally unpacking.

******

The next morning, I wake up around 9:30 and get out of bed. I pop two slices of bread into the toaster and crack and egg into the frying pan. Once that's done, I begin to cook the egg and wait for the toast to pop up.

After my eggs and toast were ready, I place them on a plate and grabbed the bottle of ketchup from the fridge before putting some on my eggs. I grabbed my phone off the counter before sitting at the breakfast island to eat. I quickly shoot a good morning text to Dels to let her know that I was up and moving and that I'd be over to hang with her in a bit.

I put my empty plate in the dishwasher before I cleaned up the rest of my dishes and went to have a quick shower to help wake me up.

******
I'm now standing in front of Mason and Delaney's apartment. I raise my hand into a fist and knock, waiting a few seconds as I hear voices on the other side of the door.

"Hey, Morning! Come on in!" Delaney exclaims cheerfully as she opened the dot with a big smile on her face. "Good morning to you too!" I reply as she closes the door behind me.

"Hey man, good to see you again." Mason says pouring a breakfast shake into a cup. "Yeah, good to see you too."  I reply. "I hear you and my sister are a thing now." Mason says. "Yep it's true." I reply standing there awkwardly.

"Happy for you guys. I knew you two had a thing for each other. I could feel it the first time I met you." He says as Delaney folds her arms over her chest. "Don't you have a morning skate to attend?" She asks. "I'm going! I'm going!" He exclaims gathering his stuff before saying bye and heading out the door.