One of the Boys

Chapter 31

Delaney

Chris had texted me a while ago after the team workout and said that he was stopping at the store on his way home. Right now I've got music playing throughout his apartment as I put the dishes I had washed back in the cupboards.

"Hey, I'm back!" I hear his voice echo as the door closes. "And I've got something for you." He adds. I walk over to the door where he's holding a bouquet of flowers and an ice cap from Tim's in his hand while he holds a grocery bag in his arm.

"Awe babe these are so pretty! You didn't have to get me anything." I coo as heat rises in his face and a huge smile appears. "I know, but I wanted to. Can't a guy surprise his girlfriend now and then?" He asks. "Well thank you, I love surprises and these are beautiful. I love them." I smile giving him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "You're welcome my love." Chris replies.

"How was the gym?" I ask looking for something to put the flowers in. "Oh you know, same as always." He shrugs sitting at the island in front of me. "Casey wanted to have a guys night tomorrow after the game but we declined his offer and Riles asked me what you were up to today." He adds as I turn the tap on and fill the crystal vase with water for the flowers.

"Oh yeah? And what did you tell him?" I ask turning the tap off and placing the vase on the counter before placing the flowers inside of it. "Told him we went for breakfast this morning then had a visit with my mom and that while I was at the gym, you were hanging out here." Chris replies.

A minute of silence goes by as I arrange the flowers and sit them in the centre of the island. I take a quick photo of them with Chris sitting in behind. I look at the picture and smile as I hear a small laugh escape Chris's mouth. "What?" I asked. "You're so cute. Did you know that?" He says as I begin to blush and feel those butterflies again.

"Of course I know that! But did you know that you're cute, bringing me home flowers and an ice cap to make my day." I reply smiling like a crazy person. "Good. Because I love seeing that beautiful smile of yours." He says as I walk over to the still he's sitting on and wrap my around around his torso while I place my chin on his shoulder.

"I'm gonna go change and then we can do something ." He says standing up from the stool. "Alright, I'll be here. Colouring." I reply opening the adult colouring book I brought over with me. "Okay." He says before disappearing into his room.

******

"Can we sit down and talk for a minute?" Chris asks as we stop in front of a park bench that overlooks the lake. He's nervous about something, I can tell. His breathing picked up a bit and he's starting to get fidgety. "Is everything Alright? You look nervous about something." I ask him in a calming voice as I look into his chocolate brown eyes.

"Yeah... Yeah everything's fine it's just umm... There's something I wanted to ask you." He gets his words out as he looks down at our hands that are linked together. "You're not about to propose to me right now are you?" I ask not thinking about the words that just shot out of my mouth because now I'm starting to get nervous.

He looks at me with wide eyes and let's put a small chuckle. "No, no. Not yet, not unless you want me to?" He replies seriously as he raises his eyebrows. "I mean... Sorry that was just me word vomiting. I do that sometimes when I'm nervous about something." I say a little embarrassed that I caught Chris off guard. "I would like that one day though. Only if you would too." I add letting that sit out in the open for his mind to think about it.

We sit there on the park bench in silence for a moment as we look out onto the lake. "So what was it you wanted to ask me?" I break the silence and ask. "Oh yeah umm... At the gym today, I was talking to Riley and we got on the topic about how our morning went. Then Riley asked me what you were up to today and I told him you were just hanging out at my place. That lead to the next topic and the question I wanted to ask you." Chris rambles nervously as I sit in silence listening to every word he's saying.

"Delaney, I know we've only been together for like a couple of months now and I was uh, I was wondering if..." He says before I cut him off as my nervousness was getting up there a little more. "Oh my god, if you were lying about proposing to me I swear I-." Now was his turn to cut me off as he laughs nervously and places his hand on my thigh. "No Dels, I already told you I wasn't doing that. Just listen to me for a minute okay?" He says as I look him in the eyes and nod. "Okay" I whisper.

"Look, what I am going to ask you is... Would you like to move in with me?" Chris says not breaking eye contact as I sit there quietly for a second before he adds. "You don't have to say yes. If you want we can talk about it first." I smile at him and bring my hand up to caress his cheek.

"We don't have to talk about it Chris. Because I already know my answer." I reply as he looks at me with hopeful eyes. "My answer is yes." I smile as a huge smile spreads across his face, exposing the cute dimples in his cheeks. "Yes! I'm so excited!" He exclaims pulling me in for a hug.

We sat on the bench and talked a little more about how excited we are that we'll be living together now. "Alright, you ready to go home beautiful?" Chris asks standing up and extending his hand out for me to grab. "Absolutely!" I exclaim. "Then let's go!" He replies as we intertwine our fingers together.

******
Today is Wednesday and Mason was driving me to my assessment. "So you think the doctor's going to give you the all clear today?" He asks as we pull up to a red light. "I hope so. I've been following doctor's orders so I should be fine. I guess today's assessment will give us the answer to that though." I reply. "You're a tough kid Dels. You've got this." Mason says as he puts his signal light on and turns into the parking lot.

"Wish me luck!" I say hopping out of his truck. "You won't need it! You've got this!" Mason says pointing a finger and raising an eyebrow at me. "I'll see you in a bit." I reply before closing the door and walking up to the building.

"Hi, I'm here for my assessment." I say to the lady sitting at the front desk. "Name please." She asks. "Delaney Rose." I reply. "Okay, Delaney just go down the hall and it's the last door on the right." She smiles as I thank her and make my way to the room.

******

After an hour of running through a physical assessment in the gym, I'm back inside the room I had started out in, awaiting for the doctor to come back with my results.

"Okay Miss. Ross, I've looked at your results and it looks like you're all set to get back to work." The doctor said taking a seat at the desk. "You'll just have to start off slow with practices to get back into the grove of things and by Tuesday of next week, if you're comfortable enough, you can go back to playing in games." He adds. "Perfect! Thank you so much!" I reply before the doctor asks me if I have any questions. "When I tell him no, he opens the door and it was off I went to FaceTime Jason and Chris to tell them the news.