Jack

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Maddie

"Here we are, home sweet home." I said following Eric through the door and leading Jack through the hallway. It was a modest apartment in a complex in a suburb of Syracuse to the north. It was three bedrooms and fully maintained, which was good, since we were on the road a lot.

I turned to see Jack taking his shoes off and my smile lit my face. Somebody brought him up right, now if only Eric had learned that, the little crap. I waited for him to catch up and we walked into the living room that was fully open with the kitchen off to the side.

There were four doors leading into the three bedrooms and the bath, and that was really all there was to the apartment. We weren't hear much so we didn't need anything to fancy, but mom and dad made sure they had a room when they came and since they had control over Eric's money, this was how it was going to be.

Don't get me wrong my parents were great and they still weren't convinced this was the best idea, but I'm sure the way Eric talked to mom all the way home from the stadium, that would influence her.

"Nice place," Jack said looking around.

I laughed. "I know, it doesn't look lived in, but to be fair we are hardly ever here."

"No, really it's great, you should have seen my last apartment, well, and maybe you shouldn't have." He said smiling that smile again.

"Jack, want to play X-box," Eric called from his bedroom.

"No thanks Kid, I'm whipped, I just want to relax." Jack called back but his eyes never left me.

"Ok, I'm going to call Max anyway, and see if he is done with practice." He yelled back.

"High school friend," Jack asked me before I could say anything.

"Nah, Maximillion LeFleur, goalie for the Storm. He was pulled up to the Blizzard a few weeks ago. He was really the only friend Eric had on the team, well, till you showed up." I said and he looked a little uneasy.

I mean I knew there was a giant age difference between the two, but after what he did, I mean, wouldn't that make them friends? The uneasy face that he wore now made me wonder though.

"I really like your kitchen," he said changing the subject all of a sudden. "This is a kitchen that you can actually work in, you know what I mean? A lot of apartment style kitchens are so small that you can't even move around, especially a bigger guy like me."

I knew he was a big guy, I mean he must stand six two or some such and well muscled. His brown hair, while sweaty from practice, still looked good flowing all around him. I bet he hadn't had a hair cut in months, and I liked it.

"Tell me you cook?" I said disbelievingly.

The look of shock on his face was hysterical. You could tell he was trying to look shocked and charming all at the same time and it was so not working. It was so bad that I snorted again before laughing. Oh the humiliation, that's like twice I snorted in front of him.

"I'm a damn good cook, I'll have you know. My specialty is breakfast; we could try that out some time." He said stepping closer to me and my heart was beginning to beat a hundred times faster than normal.

No, no, no, he was giving me the intense look that said he was into me, and damn it if I wasn't into him. Shit I had to diffuse this immediately, "Sounds good, we will have breakfast for dinner tonight and you're cooking. We need to go to the store though because I have nothing here to speak of."