Who would have thought? : A James Neal fanfic

Chapter Three:

I make my way through the unfamiliar setting of this Pittsburgh neighbourhood with the motivation coming threw my headphones in the form of music pushing me to keep running. I've already been out on my jog for about 20 minutes and it's now 7:45. Wanting to finish in 10 minutes, I turn to the direction I was coming from and sprint back to the house. I take my headphones out and stop at the front lawn to catch my breath. I reach for the key that I put in my sports bra but hesitate to, as I hear the sounds of male laughing coming from somewhere inside the house. Shit, I think as i realize that one of those laughs must be of James, who would have just got in recently. I was hoping to be back in time to shower before he got home. I  look down at myself, checking my appearance before heading in. I am wearing a black sports bra, compression running shorts, and Nike running shoes, with my long hair pulled back in a high pony tail and an under armour thin hair band. With regret, I turn the door handle and try and slip by without bring noticed.

James and a blonde guy who looked about my age are sitting on the bar stools in the kitchen with some breakfast laid out in front of them. Noticing my entrance both of them turn around to look at me. I stand there awkwardly, as James stands up to greet me. He throws out his hand for me to shake it and I accept. "Christina. It's good to see you."
"Yeah, you too James." I respond, wishing this wasn't the way we would reaquaint. 
"This is Beau, my teammate" James says as he introduces the mystery man. He is still sitting on the bar stool so I nod at him instead of a handshake and add "It's good to meet you". 
After an awkward pause I am the one who fills the silence. "Well, I'm going go go shower. Its good to see you James, nice to meet you Beau." 
They both nod in unison and as I head up the staires, I feel both their eyes on my body as I exit.

After I shower, I throw on some black jean shorts and a white camisol and head down staires, not bothering to put on any makeup. I ascend the staires to find that James and Beau have swapped spots for  comfyer seats on the leather couch in the living room. I open the fridge to find the smoothy I made before my run and decide the drink that. I sit down on the dinner table, checking my phone for text messages, finding none. I lock my phone and look up to find James heading towards me. His skin is tanned - a really pretty light brown shade and his black hair perfectly tousled on his head. He is wearing brown shorts and a plain white tshirt. I never noticed how attractive he actually is and the thought of that made me blush.  
"Beau and I are going out for some lunch. You can come if you want." James says. 

I glance over to Beau, who with inviting eyes, smiles a suttle grin at me before  looking back at James. 
"Let me just grab my shoes". Heading back up the staires I pop open my luggage to find my black converse and throw them on my feet over my pink docka dotted ankle socks. I search carefully to not make a mess of my suitcase before getting frusterated with not finding what I'm looking for. I don't want to keep the boys waiting so I rummage through my stuff, unfolding and wrinkling clothes before I find my graduation gift- a black Marc Jacobs wristlet. I throw my phone in, just managing to fit with all the stuff I never took out before I packed it: some Canadian cash, my bank card, TTC bus fare, Excel gum, a hair tie and some candy wrappers.  
I make it downstaires to see the boys, yet again laughing at a joke I'm not in on. 
James asks me curdiously "Ready to go?" and I nod in response.

Outside the sun has just slipped out, lighting the summer sky in soft glow. Parked I the driveway is an sleek, black Audi R8, which James slips into the drives seat of.  Beau courteously asks "Do you want the front seat, Christina?"

Startled, I respond quickly with "No, it's okay. I'm good with the back" trying to not sound too high-maintence.  
And with that we pull out of the driveway and head down the suburban road. 

I've never seen much of downtown Pittsburgh yet other than the Taxi ride in, which I was as usual, asleep for the most part. We make our way down South Tenth Street , across the famous golden gate bridges that Ive seen so many times in Batman. It feels so werid to finally be in Pittsburgh. This was once just a thought in my head and now that thought is a concrete idea and I'm just not use to it yet. The butterflies are still swirling around in the pit of my stomach, most likely going to make a front stage apperance once rush week starts. 

Snapping me back to reality is James who asks "I know this really great resturant, that me and the boys love to go to. Chris, are you good with anything?" while turning his head to the side slightly trying to still keep the road ahead of him in sight but also see my reaction. The fact that he called me Chris makes my checks turn a light pink. I can feel the heat radiating off my skin but I try my best to look as neutral as possible as now Beau has also turned around to hear the response. "Yeah, I'm not too picky. " I answer, as cooly as I can muster up.    
He teases me with "Are we ever going to get a sentence from you that's longer than 6 words, that's not a vague answer?", looking through his front mirror with a charming smile showcasing his perfect white pearls.
Wow, he is handsome.  
"You've never really asked me anything that needed a long response." I chirp back, with a slight shurg and it's matching smile. 
Deciding I should probably make more conversation I asked the guys, "So when do you hit the ice?" 
Beau answers this one. "We have some team meetings and media work on Monday and then we start training camp on Wednesday." 

Before I could say anything after that, a focused James, currently parking the car does. "I can't rememeber if I told you or not but on the last day of training camp the boys are coming over for a barbeque and some beers? You don't have to hang around or anything but I'm sure they wouldn't mind a pretty girl like you there if you wanted to stay." Again, he paints my cheecks a blushed red with his sweet compliment. This time I dont bothering with trying to cover it. I don't know. Im already as socially awkward as it is let's not throw in 20 men to the equation also considering the fact they are attractive hockey playing men. Hmm maybe being a little social won't kill me.

*I will have chapter four up soon! It will entail the BBQ Party at Neal's house so make sure you come back to read it. The other Pens will be making appearances. Thanks guys. - Diana *