The Tales of a Professional Hockey Player

Chapter 47: 23rd

~Ben~

"Ben wants to buy a 2.5-million-dollar house," Eleanor tells Olive and Alex the second we sit down at the restaurant they made a reservation at. It's supposed to be a Thai restaurant, but I don't see any Pad Thais or currys on the menu. "It's a fusion restaurant!" Olive said over the phone this morning. Why couldn't we go to McDonald's or Burger King? Now, I have to focus to try and understand what's on the menu that  half is written in Thai and the other half in Spanish. I'm too tired for this shit. I'm too tired to pretend not to be. Alex insisted on going to the arena to play hockey with me. I have to admit it was fun, I missed playing with a friend, but I was way too tired to really enjoy it. The jetlag really hit me this morning when I woke up at three am and was completely unable to go back to sleep. We've been rushing to go places ever since we got here, and with the Christmas parties over the next two days, it won't get any easier.

"I just said we could go and look at it." I look at their kids' menu as I answer. "We'll have to ask what has eggs in it. This is really unclear," I add after having read the entire menu. Eleanor's parents offered to babysit tonight to let us enjoy our night with our friends, but Olive and Alex wanted to see the baby, so we declined their offer even if I would have gladly accepted.

"Still, Ben, 2.5 million? The realtor would have laughed in your face the second he would have seen you," Alex laughs. I roll my eyes as I keep looking at the menu. Why didn't I stay at the hotel? I wish I had.

"We don't even know where he'll play next year, and he wants to buy a mansion with a three-door garage and an infinity pool." They all chuckle as I take a deep breath to calm down the anger building in my chest.

"With a three-door garage you would have enough space to park the ride-on your parents will get Ophelia for Christmas." It's Olive's turn to laugh as she speaks.

"Are you guys done laughing at me now?" I can't help the sharp tone of my voice. I didn't come here to be laughed at, I thought I was going to spend a fun evening with my friends.

"Sorry, bro," Alex says, grabbing my shoulders. We change the subject and end up spending a relatively nice evening. I shared an egg-free fried rice with Ophelia and Eleanor ate a Pad Puk whatever that is. We had mango sorbet for dessert and parted ways at nine, pretexting having to put Ophelia to sleep. A baby is the best reason to leave a party early, I love it.

I stay quiet on the ride back to the hotel, not wanting to wake up Ophelia who fell asleep the second we started driving. I have never envied someone so much. I, too, would love to forget about my problems when I go to bed. But no. I need to ruminate over everything I said and did during the day and worry about what will happen tomorrow before closing my eyes. Some people call it anxiety, but I call it adulting because anxiety would make it too real.

"Do you want to go to bed right now?" Eleanor asks when we're finally in our hotel room and Ophelia is asleep in her playard.

"Why did you have to bring up the house in front of Olive and Alex?" I can't keep it to myself anymore. I need to let out some of the anger I've kept inside since the words left her mouth.

"To show you how insane that idea was. You saw their reaction," she casually says as she takes off her high-heeled boots. "Could you unzip my dress, please?"

I ignore her question and say: "We could have discussed it in private. This is between me and you. Olive and Alex don't have anything to do with this." I try to push the yawn that wants to come out but fail miserably. She stops trying to unzip her dress herself and walks up to me. Her hand finds its place on my cheek and she starts to rub the skin softly.

"You're right. We should have discussed it in private, but don't you see how unrealistic this is?" I close my eyes to focus on the feeling of her hand on my skin. "Look at you, Ben. You don't need another reason to put pressure on yourself. We're comfortable now, why ruin ourselves to buy a house we'll maybe need to sell next year?" She's right, I know she is.

"Why didn't we stay home for the holidays?" She shakes her head, smiling at me.

"C'mon, let's go to bed." She grabbed my hand and pulled me in the other room. We rented a studio with a separate bedroom to have some space between Ophelia and us, and, by judging Eleanor's expression, we did the right thing.

I unzipped her dress, she took off my button-up shirt and unzipped my jeans, I looked at her wearing only her underwear and some pantyhose that stopped in the middle of her thighs, she looked at me as only my black boxers covered me. Her hand brushed my abdomen all the way down to the hem of my underwear, I grabbed her waist to pull her closer to me as chills went down my spine. She smelled so good, like sunlight in the middle of winter, and I wanted her. I wanted her legs wrapped around my waist and her warm breath on my neck. So, my hands moved from her waist to her thighs and I pulled her up in my arms. I wasn't tired anymore. I wouldn't be for the next half-hour or more if I was lucky. It will come back, though. In full force, the second my head will hit the pillow. Maybe it will help me sleep. Maybe Eleanor will be my thought-catcher.