Shirts and Skins

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Lindsay's POV

I woke up the next morning to Jeff still passed out cold, laying next to me. I checked the clock, which said 7:32 am. It really confused me as to why I was always up so early when I came to Raleigh. Back in Winnipeg, it was 6:32 am, and I was never up that early.

I gently rolled out of bed and quietly made my way out of the bedroom. I made my way downstairs and was surprised to see Brandon in the kitchen.

"Hey Brandon." I said.

He looked towards me. "Hey, what are you doing awake?"

"I'm always up this early when I'm here." I smiled. "What are you doing awake?"

"I'm always awake this early too. I've always been a morning person."

"You're not just nervous for game day?" I asked.

'What do I have to be nervous about?" Brandon smirked.

"I don't know, maybe because you're playing the Stanley Cup finalists tonight?"

He nodded, but it transitioned into a head shake. "I'm not worried."

"Good." I smiled. "It's going to be a difficult game for me."

"What? Why?" he laughed.

"Well, Vancouver has been my team since I was nine years old. I've never cheered against them before. Not even when they played Winnipeg."

"Really? Wow."

"Yeah. But trust me, I'm cheering Carolina tonight. I can just hope for a close game, right?"

"Don't hope for something too close. Close games are hard on us. And you don't want to work us too hard, do you?" he smiled.

Brandon was actually really funny. We spent another hour and a half making breakfast and getting to know each other better.

As we were just finishing breakfast, we heard Jiri, Justin and Jeff coming downstairs.

"It smells so good in here." Jiri said as he entered the kitchen.

Brandon and I had bacon, eggs, pancakes and toast all cooking. Jeff walked up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist.

"How long have you been up?" he asked me.

"About two hours." I answered him.

"You're crazy." he smiled, then kissed me on the cheek.

"How's your head doing?"

"It's okay right now. It'll get progressively worse throughout the day though."

The food was all ready to go. I told the guys to just take things buffet style, just make sure to leave enough for everyone else. I, of course, ate the least. The guys had a busy day ahead of them. Well, all the guys except Jeff. We'd be watching the game with the managers again. I didn't mind that, not at all. But I know how much it matters to Jeff. He would rather be on the ice. Then again, in all reality, he'd rather be out now, than out later in the season, because that's when it starts to matter for the playoffs.

Jeff wasn't required to go to practice, so we decided to spend some time alone at the house and send the other guys alone.

"Maybe you can move more of Brandon's stuff once practice is done." I suggested.

Finally, the guys left for practice. Jeff laid down on the couch while I cleaned up from breakfast. I asked him if he wanted to watch a movie, just relax and rest his head. He said movie choice was my idea, and that I could choose any movie from on demand.