Je T'aime | D. Mercer

CH 15

Liliane walked into the trainers to have her shoulder checked before warm-ups. She was sure she was okay, other than the random pain at times.

"Liliane! Good to see you again!" Jess smiles. Liliane gives her a smile back and sits on the bench.

"All I want you to do it raise your arm as far as it can go without hurting." Jess said. She watched as Liliane raised her arm smoothly. She nodded and Liliane put her hands down.

"Now go out to the sides to show me your wingspan." Liliane did as she was told. As she got her arm mostly all the way out a small amount of pain ran through her shoulder. Jess noticed.

"That's the area of concern, huh? I think you'll be okay, but after every period I want you back in here so we can see if the pain is getting worse, alright?" Jess said. Liliane nodded and hopped off the bench.

"I'll see you soon."

...

The game ended, New Jersey winning against the leafs, and Liliane didn't have any extra pain in her shoulder. She counted that as a double win and Dawson did too. He asked to take her out to dinner and Liliane quickly agreed, so here they were sitting in the back of a fancy restaurant after showering in the locker room. Dawson's breathing stops as he hears Liliane laugh at something he said. He can't remember what it was, Liliane's voice taking over every thought in his head.

"You know, I really wished you would have kissed me on the ice the other day." Liliane admitted. She hated hiding him from the rest of the world. She hated not being able to love him in front of people. She would have stopped listening to Nico a long time ago if she had it in her.

"I wish I did too, but you have to listen to Nico. He won't be mad, but he'll be frustrated with you and that'd be bad." Dawson said. Liliane new he was right, but the feeling of sadness only grew with her words.

"I'm only doing this because I care what the team thinks. I'm not going to go and fuck up every rule they've put down. But, sometimes I wish there were no rules. I just want to walk up and kiss you all the time and I can't. It makes me restless sometimes and the stupid rules are on my mind all game rather than which net the pucks flying into." Liliane rants. Dawson leans his head against his hand and takes in every word she says.

"If it's messing you up that badly, talk to Nico." Dawson said. Liliane's eyes widened and she shakes her head no. Her asking Nico to change some simple rule because she wants a kiss? No thank you.

"It'd be unfair to Jack and Nico. I can't- holy shit please forget I said that!" Liliane panics. Dawson laughs out a breath and sits up straight in his chair.

"I won't tell anyone, I promise. Neither of them are good at hiding they're together anyways so I always had the suspicion." Dawson shrugged. Liliane's heart stops pounding and the world around her seems to calm. Dawson reaches across the table for Liliane's hand. Sparks fly when he touches her.

"There's something I wanted to tell you tonight. I just wanted it to be perfect and this is as close as I can get right now." Dawson said as he shifts in his seat. Liliane begins to rub a thumb over the top of Dawson's hand to calm him down slightly. His love language was always physical touch and Liliane knew it.

"Okay." Liliane said to, hopefully, make Dawson continue. He looks up at her with scared, but yet soft, loving eyes. Liliane watched as he lets out a small breath.

"And your dinner." A waiter comes over and ruins the moment. Liliane and Dawson's hands pull away from each other as food is set in front of them.