Take My Hand, Take My Whole Life Too {Jamie Benn Romance}

5.

Happiness depends upon ourselves - Aristotle

The boys fought a hard fight, but they ended up losing to the Panthers 2-3. I stood outside of the locker room awkwardly waiting for everyone so we could get on the bus and go to the hotel, then back on the plane early in the morning.

Tom Holy peeked his head out of the dressing room door and saw me, "Val, come in!"

I looked at him wide eyed, I wasn't about to step into the locker room where they would all be possibly semi-nude.

He saw the apprehension on my face and rolled his eyes, "Relax, they're dressed. They're finishing up with some press then Coach is talking and you need to be there."

I clenched my jaw and nodded, hoisting my purse up higher on my shoulder, following him inside.

Most of the guys were sitting at their stalls, freshly showered and changed; the press were huddled around Sharp, Spezza and Jamie. Jamie hadn't noticed me yet but I obviously saw him, finding myself looking for him the second I stepped into the room. He looked a little sad, but I wasn't sure if that was because of the loss or the microphones shoved into his face.

The reporters left not too long after I came into the room, Jamie had his arms resting on his thighs looking down at the ground with his eyes closed. I felt really bad for him, even if this was preseason; I knew he would still want to win.

Jamie finally looked back up and his eyes found me, he smiled a little and sent me a small wave. I sent him a tight smile back and nodded my head once in acknowledgement.

Coach finally started his post-game lecture which lasted about 15 minutes before allowing us all to leave. Tom and I hung back while the guys made their way out. Tom and I walked out after the last couple stragglers and made our way to the bus, having a small conversation about how my first time went with posting live during a game. He was really happy with how everything had gone so I was on a high from that, feeling proud of myself.

Tom let me on the bus ahead of him and I stepped up and looked for Cody. I found him a few rows from the back looking at me apologetically. I felt my eyes narrow as I noticed the guy sitting next to him. Tyler. He was looking at me smugly, I glanced to the next set of seats across from them and saw Jamie sitting looking at me sheepishly. I looked behind to see that Tom took the empty seat next to Rous. I groaned inwardly and made my way to the back and sat down heavily into the seat next to Jamie.

I looked over at Tyler and gave him a dirty look, which he thought was hilarious.

I sighed, and pulled my phone from my pocket to distract myself from talking Jamie, but the gesture didn't stop Jamie from talking to me.

"Hey," he said quietly.

I shut my eyes for a second before turning my attention to him, "Hey," I said back.

He smiled slightly at me, which I returned and I suddenly felt like an asshole for distancing myself from him. I didn't want to be mean to him, but I also didn't want any feelings for him to start growing.

I had been silent, and so had he. He looked away a little dejected from me; I sighed lightly and touched his arm as the bus started taking us back to our hotel.

"Hey," I said touching him, turning his attention back to me, "you played really well tonight, and I'm really sorry about what the outcome was."

I moved my hand from his arm as he smiled at me, "Thank-you...I mean, it sucks...but at least it happened during pre-season right?"

I smiled and nodded, leaning back more comfortably in my seat, looking over at him, "Exactly. I'm sure you guys will kill it this season."

He mimicked my position looking at me with a smile, "I hope so!" he said, then paused before starting again, "Did I do something wrong earlier today?"