Love On the Brain (Corey Crawford)

52| Up In Smoke

Jessica

Once Jonny and I get in a good rhythm with our meetings and finding things to talk about in our meetings, work gets a little bit easier. Unlike Corey, Jonny has a lot of beliefs and systems that he wants to fit into. He is very by the book and likes to be surrounded by knowledge.

Unfortunately for him, what he's looking for isn't in a book, it's not in a song or a movie. Whereas Corey had all the answers inside of him, Jonny had all the questions.

"You never told me why you're so good at this" Jonny insists and I laugh.

"Why are you so good at hockey" I counter and he smirks at me.

"Because I was meant to play hockey" he claims.

"And I was meant to help people" I say.

"Like Corey" he asks and I smile.

"Just like Corey" I agree.

"How has he been" he wonders.

"He's been great" I say.

"And what does that mean" he questions and I stop. I turn to him and try to figure out what he wants to know.

"What are you really asking" I wonder.

"I just think it's peculiar, you and Corey's story. I mean we do these meetings all the time and I get why he would fall in love with you. But it was your job to help him, where did you end up falling in love" he wonders and I smile.

"Love has a mysterious way of working itself out. Never would I have imagined that I would have fallen for Corey when we first met. Never would I have ever dreamed of all the things that came of it because I did. He changed my life just as much as I changed his.

For a while I didn't believe in love. I was lost too far into my mind to listen to what my heart was saying. And I didn't know it but he had my heart going from the start. I had to tell myself he was my client, I couldn't like him and I defiantly couldn't more than like him. But then I realized that not listening to myself wasn't helping me at all, my heart was trying to tell me something and I didn't want to listen.

The mind is the greatest asset we will ever have, no two minds are alike. We can have heart transplants but you can't have a brain transplant because it's too unique and too complicated to replicate. So I always treated the mind as this holy thing that we can use to make us stronger, to rise above everything that happens to us and prosper. But I never thought about how it can make us fall in love.

The heart is great, it's important but it's not the mind. Because the mind helped me realize that my life was great, but it wasn't complete without him by my side. I realized that love isn't just the heart, it's the mind too. It's the way I always thought about him when we were apart. It's the way he looked me in the eyes when he asked how I was doing because he actually cared. It's how I wanted him to do good so bad because I believed with everything in me that he was a great man filled with so many amazing things, and for some reason he only wanted to show me.

When I knew I loved him I felt it in my heart but I knew it it my mind. He was the one for me and nothing I could say would change my mind" I insist.

"Holy shit... Jess that was beautiful" he claims and I shrug.

"I'm speaking from the mind" I tease.

"I wish my mind came up with stuff like that. I sure Lindsey does too" he chuckles.

"She loves you a lot and I can tell you love her too. I know you're very content and conservative, but you don't have to use your words to show affection. It's the way you hold her, the way you smile at her first thing in the morning, the way you look at her after a hard game and still want to be with her. All the little things we can't say but we often times think about, that's better than any ring a guy can give a girl" I assure him.

"Not every girl thinks like that" he reminds me.

"Not at all. But every girl wants to be loved in the way you love Lindsey. And I can assure you she's never wanted anything more from you than your heart and your mind" I promise.

"Even if I don't propose" he questions and I laugh.

"A nice ring can make a strongest girl fall to her knees, but with a good man she'll never have to do that" I insist.

"Seriosuly... how are you like this" he asks and I shrug.

"I've been through some shit, everyone has. And when I realized that I wanted nothing more than to be free of my demons and try and help others do the same, there was no stopping me" I explain.

"Well I'm happy nothing did" he smiles.

After we finish up our meeting at the cafe I carry myself on home where I'm sure Corey was waiting for me. So I let myself in and much to my surprise he wasn't on the couch where I usually find him but he was in the kitchen which worried me a little.

"What's going on in here" I question as I head into the kitchen. It smelled like burnt something and it sure looked like it too as smoke filled the area.

"How in the world do you make cooking look so easy? This is impossible" he claims in between coughs. I open up a window before the smoke alarms go off and I get angry rich people down my throat.

"Because I don't burn everything" I tease.

"Ha ha" he scoffs and he takes a pan off the stove. He goes to the sink and flips on the water.

"NO" I start but he shoves the pan under the water making it sizzle and pop and start to splatter everywhere. I laugh when he jumps back as he looks at the pan like it just killed Freddie or something.

"What the hell" he asks.

"You can't take a pan off the stove and put it under water. Especially not when whatever is in that pan is still hot" I explain.

"It's onions.... well it was. Now it's burnt crisps" he claims.

"What are you trying to make" I wonder.

"It's was going to be Philly cheesesteaks because I know its your favorite, but I failed" he sighs.

"Hey now, failure means that it's the end and it's not. How about you cut up the steak into thin strips and I'll sauté the onions" I offer.

"I don't know... I think I've done enough damage" he claims.

"You've created a opportunity for us to make dinner together. I think you're doing pretty good" I admit and he smiles.

"I wanted to surprise you with dinner. I could barley even cut the onions by myself and then I burned them" he explains.

"Then let me help. I think it's very sweet you wanted to make me dinner, but I think we can have fun doing it together too" I insist.

"It does sound pretty great" he smirks.

So he let me help and we get dinner made. Turns out he put the onions on the stove and forgot the butter so they kinda just stuck to the pan them burned very quickly. But we got that cleaned up and dinner made before we sit down on the couch. I can't help but stare at him as he eats the meal we made together before he smiles at me.

"What" he asks.

"Jonathan asked how I fell so hard for you today and the last few hours of my life, well it's the best explanation of why" I admit.

"Because I almost burned your place down trying to make you dinner" he teases.

"Because you love me enough to try something you've never been before just to make me smile. And you did" I say.