Shirts and Skins

Chapter Fourteen

Jeff's POV

"Are Jiri and Justin going to pick us up from the airport?" Lindsay asked as our flight began to descend towards Raleigh.

I lived in a large house with Jiri Tlusty and Justin Faulk. It was nice having a group of guys around my age to live with, plus it made rent so much more inexpensive. Besides, most of the long term contract guys, like Eric Staal and Joe Corvo and Cam Ward all have girlfriends or wives and children, so it's hard to co-exist within a house with one of them.

"No, probably not. Maybe Eric though." I answered.

I could tell Lindsay was getting more excited than ever. She had this gleam to her eyes and a huge smile on her face. I was excited too. I couldn't wait to spend full days with her. I couldn't wait to introduce her to the team, I couldn't wait to watch her face as she watched us play hockey, I couldn't wait to see her skate. She was amazing.

Lindsay closed her eyes, plugged her nose, inflated her cheeks, then shook her head.

"What was that?!" I laughed.

"I was popping my ears. I don't like the rapid change in altitude." she smiled.

She turned to look out the window. We were just about to go through the clouds. We plunged through the clouds, then Lindsay gasped. "Jeff look! It's...it's Raleigh!" she exclaimed, causing a few people around us to look at us.

"You're excited?"

"More than you can imagine! Oh Jeff, this is going to be the best week ever!"

Yeah, yeah, it really was going to be the best week ever.

The plane finally touched down and we filed off the plane. We walked out of the gate and through to customs. Lindsay was a little nervous, expecially after what had happened in New York, but it went much better. The guards were really nice and one was pretty thrilled to meet another Canadian.

We left customs and went to get our bags. I pointed towards a large group of people, waiting for family and friends.

"See that place there?"

Lindsay nodded.

"That's called The Meeting Place. It's an organized place where everyone knows to go when they're picking somone up."

As soon as I finished my sentence, a familiar face emerged from the crowd. He smiled and gave me a wink when he noticed Lindsay and I holding hands.

"Eric, how are ya?" I gave him a bro hug.

"Not too bad. How was the flight?" he smiled.

"Not too bad. A little turbulence, but it's expected, right?"

We laughed.

"Shit, what am I doing?" I muttered to myself. A little clearer, I said, "Eric, this is Lindsay. Lindsay, this is captain of the Hurricanes, Eric Staal."

They shook hands. "It's an honour to meet you Eric." Lindsay said.

"Likewise." Eric smiled.

We noticed our baggage claim begin moving, so we moved a little closer. Eric took a step back, making room for the passengers to get their bags.

Lindsay's bag was one of the first to come out. She tried to reach for it, failing, so I grabbed it and placed it on the ground beside us. She thanked me and pulled the handle out. She pulled the bag with her right hand, holding my hand with her left.

"I actually ended up getting this wicked parking spot super close, so we don't actually have to walk that far." Eric said.

Eric was honestly like a brother to me. I had an older brother, so he wasn't like the older brother I never had. But he was one of the people I was closest to here. I could talk to him about anything, ask him for anything, and he mentored me so much. When I was drafted here, he was the first person that came and helped me around Raleigh. He helped me find an apartment in a nice area of town in my first year, and when Justin and Jiri needed a place to live and we decided to live together, Eric told us about a house two doors down from his house that was for sale, which we eventually bought together. If it hadn't been for Eric, we'd be so lost.