"You are a really sweet guy Justin, thank you. Your girlfriend is a lucky lady." I felt guilty throwing in that last part there, because to be honest, I was having a really hard time reconciling Justin with a guy that would participate in the Puck Games or to two time a girl. He was big and gruff on occasion yeah, but deep down he was a sweet heart, a protector, not a player.
"Uh, no girlfriend. Been single for a couple of months." He replied, as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Oh, well her loss then," I winked back at home. "I can't wait to try out my cards, I wish I had of brought one of my own textbooks with me, so I could get started."
"Well bring one to our next session and we can get you up and running for at least one of your exams." He suggested.
"That sounds great. Okay, so what are we doing today?" I asked, ready to help him along.
"I thought we could try to increase my time on my first one hundred cards, then maybe add an additional ten every round after that?"
"You’re the expert at this method, so if that's what you want to do then let’s do it," I smiled warmly back at him.
We went through the first hundred cards pretty quickly, knocking off a couple of minutes from our last session. An idea occurred to me.
"We should use the lap timing function this time around, see which questions are taking you the longest to answer. Then we can figure out if it's because the answer is long or because you are stumbling," I suggested to him.
"That is...a really great idea. I've never done that before." He mulled the thought over for a second, then reached for my phone. I panicked a little, and quickly reached for it before he could get to it. What if Vinnie or Christian texted me? I didn't have their names in my phone under codes, it was just their names.
"Uh, why don't we both time, in case it doesn't work. We can use my phone for the overall timer and you can use your own phone to lap, since I need both hands to do the flash cards?" I quickly suggested, trying to hide my lame attempt at keeping my phone from him.
"Sure," He replied as he fished his phone out of his bag. "Okay, ready, let's go."
We were almost to the end, when my phone vibrated, causing my heart to almost jump out of my chest. Play it cool Hayden, it might not be one of them. We finished the round, and I told Justin his time. He just nodded in reply, as he scrolled through the lapped times, counting up to the slowest time.
I handed over the cards to him and reached for my phone, once he was distracted by the cards.
Steph: Hay, having a problem at The Press, you need to come in asap xx
"Everything okay H?" Justin asked.
"Uh, I don't know. I need to meet up with a friend. A...project we work on together is having a problem and she needs my help." I looked up at him to see his concern written all over his face.
"Anything I can help with?" He offered.
"No, I don't think so, but I am really sorry for cutting our session short." I apologized as I packed up all my things.
"It's fine H, I'm in surplus anyway, you go take care of your business, I can take it from here." He replied reassuringly as he reached across the table and captured my hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
"Thanks Justin, message me later okay? I want to know if our idea worked."
"Sure thing."
I waved as I walked away and headed back out into the snow. I practically ran to The Press; my worry grew the closer I got. Had she been approached by another athlete? Had James hurt her? God, I hoped they hadn't broken up already. Steph was a force of nature, but she meant well.
By the time I arrived, I was huffing and puffing, making me wonder if I should start doing some more regular exercise. Pushing through the door, I saw nearly the entire team in the room, all looking stressed out. Clearly this was not a Steph issue, but a paper issue.
"Okay, what's the issue?" I barked out, wanting my troops to get in line and start updating me.
Steph stood up from her desk, "The printers called about forty minutes ago to say their printer is having issues and that we may not be able to go to print tomorrow night if they can't get a technician in to fix it today. Their backlog will be too long to make our news cycle."
Well crap on a stick.
"That is a problem." I put my Chief hat on, and started thinking through the issue. "Okay, we are going to continue on as if we are going to print, but someone call the web guy and get him in here ASAP. I know our websites not quite ready and we don't have the subscriptions yet, but let’s at least get as many articles up online as possible. We'll need him to finalize the half-completed pages and upload as much content as he can."
Steph nodded her head before I even finished talking. She was at my desk going through my top drawer which had the paperwork from the website guy. She was on the phone a few seconds later explaining the issue.
The movement to digital was one of the first changes I’d made when I became editor. I had started the process to move us to dual mediums, and then eventually to just straight out digital. It was cheaper for The Press and would also let us reach a wider range of people if we used social media correctly.
I turned to Melody, our social media wiz, "Mel, could you please draft up a post that I can send live tomorrow night once we know for sure if we aren't going to print?"
"On it."
"James, once Steph is done with her phone call, you two," I turned and pointed to Mitchell, Susie, and Dana, "and you three, meet me over at the board. We need to prioritize articles for the online addition, so that we can make sure those ones make it to the website. Just give me a minute while I call the printer."
I walked over to my desk, dropped my bag, whipped out my phone and was talking to the manager of the printing company on campus within minutes. By the time I got off the phone, I knew more about the printing process than I cared to. From what I understood, one of the main rollers in the machine had developed a crack that was tearing sheets as it tried to feed them through. They had already put in a request for a technician, it just depended on when one could get out to them.
Awesome...
"Okay, who’s ready to help me get this board sorted out?" I called out. We had this. I hoped we had this. Not like we could do anything about it but cross our fingers.
Chapter 21
Wednesday 6th December – 19 days until Christmas
Hayden
I was running late for the Winter Wonderland Committee because of the mess at The Press. There was literally nothing I could do about the printer, but I had still buzzed around like I could magically pull a solution out of my beanie. We just had to hope that the technician would get there in time for our run.
When I arrived at the door, it wasn't my usual cool, calm, and collected self, it was the huffing and puffing, red in the face, hair frizzed out all over the place self. I dumped the box on the table and pressed my hands either side of it as I leaned on the table to catch my breath.
"Are you okay?" I think her name was Samantha, asked me. She was a really quiet little thing, I'd only spoken to her once since joining the committee. She had wavy, light brown, shoulder length hair, pale skin with a smattering of freckles across the delicate bridge of her nose, and soft brown eyes. She was smaller than me, I’d say one hundred pounds soaking wet.
"Yeah," I breathed, "I was across campus...and...I was running late...so I ran...because Eliz.." I was cut off by my phone ringing. I pulled it out of my back pocket and confirmed the caller, "abeth is calling in tonight."
Standing up straight, I quickly fixed my hair - why did I care what I looked like? – by tucking it behind my ears and unlocking my phone.
"Hi Elizabeth," I smiled into the camera.
"Hey Hayden! How's it going, only two days to go! Have the trees arrived? What about the snowmen decorations? And the food, has that been confirmed? All of the caterers have handed in a copy of their licenses? Did the posters get put up? Where are we on the horses? Did he confirm the dappled ones?" She fired out like a rapid-fire machine gun.
I just took the blast waiting until she had to take a breath to cut in.
"Okay, one sec, let’s just handle this in an orderly fashion, everyone can answer your questions." I gestured out of range of the camera for everyone to take a seat around the room. I sat at the end of the table, kind of in the middle, and aimed the phone at the first committee member, Samantha, who was responsible for the posters.
"Hi Elizabeth, we got the west and north quads done today, and will get the east and south done tomorrow. We even did a poster drop along Greek Row."
I smiled at her, nodding encouragingly, as I jotted down notes and checked off her tasks. Once I was done, I swiveled the phone to face the next person, who was responsible for the miniature Christmas tree farm.
"Hi, the trees are arriving tomorrow. I have them being delivered to the southeast garden and security will be there to guard them at night. I drew up a schedule for the committee so that everyone can make sure none get taken during the day." He turned to look at everyone around the room, "I'll text it to everyone, if you swap that's fine, but we can't leave them unattended." After everyone murmured their agreement, I moved onto the next person.
And that's how we went for about an hour. Elizabeth interjected every few minutes with additional questions or tasks for me, but all together the committee had really pulled together and supported each other. When it got to my turn, I switched the camera back around, so we were face to face again. "Okay, so I have my list of extras to chase up and I just wanted to let you know that The Press is putting up an article on our website as well as on Facebook, just a little bit of extra advertising." I smiled into the phone.
Elizabeth smiled and gave a weak nod. She was looking a lot paler, with a tired tilt to her head. Her skin looked ashen under the harsh hospital lighting, I furrowed my brow in concern, maybe this had been too much for her.
"You get some rest, take it easy, we've got this. I will call you if anything comes up that I can't deal with, and I will be sure to send you pictures of all the stalls on the day. Okay?"
"Okay, thanks Hayden, I just want this to be fabulous. I know you will look after it for me." She replied. Then with a little extra volume, "Thank you everyone, you are doing a great job. You’re all amazing."
There was a chorus of "Thanks Elizabeths" and "Get well soons" before I hung up the video call.
"Okay, so now that our fearless leader is resting, does anyone have anything they need to run by me or need help with?" I asked the room.
When there was nothing brought up I called the meeting to a close; the whole committee trooped out and left me in the room with my box of glitter and fake snow.
I just sat there for a moment, savoring the silence. It was the first time all day that I had managed to just sit down, without worrying, without planning, without digging. Just sitting. My mind ran over everything that was going on in my life. Last paper for the semester was in one week and one day, finals starting in one week, and the Winter Wonderland in two days. Not to mention, juggling my three sources and forcibly ignoring my developing feelings for all of them.
Nope, what feelings? I had no feelings, they were sources for a story. That was all.
Right.
I'd texted Justin earlier, when I was at The Press, explaining that the project I was working on had hit a snag, and my team had been rushing to get a solution up and running since we had a submission on Thursday. Not technically a lie. He'd mentioned that he was off to an away game which should be starting in about thirty minutes. I decided to text them all good luck, if they didn't get it before the game, then they would see that I had thought of them when they got off the ice.
Me: Good luck!
Me: Good luck!
Me: Good luck!
I stood up and shut the notebook with my notes, placing it inside the box. As I reached to hit the light switch on my way out, my phone buzzed from its place on top of the box. I looked down at it, juggling the box so that I could unlock it.
Christian: Thanks, going to be a rough game, hopefully still have all my teeth after it :p
Laughing, I started to reply.
Me: You would still look pretty without them ;)
As I’d typed, I'd gotten replies from the other two.
Justin: Thanks H. Did you get your project sorted out?
Me: Kind of, we have a work around solution, not as good, but it will get the job done :)
I switched to Vinnie.
Vinnie: Thanks Scoop, hoping to put up some big points tonight.
Me: Hoping to score huh?
Bubbles appeared within seconds of the message delivering, so I waited for his reply.
Vinnie: I'd really like to score with you, but since you aren't here I'll just have to aim for the net ;)
Me: Smooth Vin, real smooth :p go warm up or something lol
I went back to my inbox and saw Christian had responded, so I put the box on the ground and leaned up against the wall in the hallway.
Christian: Oh, so you think I look pretty huh? Not sure if I am happy about that or disappointed that it’s not a better adjective.
Me: Can't have you getting a bigger head than you already have, it needs to fit in your helmet.
Phone buzzing with a reply from Justin, I switched over to him.
Justin: That's good, as long as you get it in on time, that's what matters. Pre-game chat is about to start. Will msg you on the ride home.
Me: Okay :) I'll reply if I am still awake.
Going back into my inbox, I was glad that these chats were color coded. Without that, I think this would have been really complicated.
Vinnie: I'm already warm, but the Coach is about to give us a pep talk. Coffee tomorrow? At the Coffee House?
Me: Sounds good to me, same time as last time. x
Christian: Haha, I see. Okay I have to go, about to have our Coach explain the plan for tonight. I'll talk to you later.
Me: Kick some butt!
When I didn't receive any further replies, I picked up my box and headed down the hallway; my mind lingered on the guys. Did they talk about me with each other? My gut said no, since they were all chatting with me at the same time. They weren't dropping any sly comments about me and their roommates. Which was weird right? If they were trying to get me into bed, wouldn't it be better for them to share notes or something?
Chapter 22
Thursday 7th December – 18 days until Christmas
Hayden
As I approached the Coffee Shop, I checked my reflection in the windows, making sure my outfit was sorted out. Today, I’d opted to go for a more professional look with a pale blue, knitted, scoop neck sweater tucked into a black pencil skirt. I had stockings with a seam down the back which disappeared into my black leather knee high boots, the same ones I had worn for Christian. I had my black parka on, hood down with my beanie and mittens on.
It was like I was trying to slip on my investigative journalist skin. Like the clothes were my superhero outfit, giving me the powers I needed to push through any feelings I might have and get to the heart of this story. Vinnie was my primary lead. He was the player out of the three guys, and I figured he would be the easiest to get him to either cough up some details or take me back to his place. Which I had every intention of doing today – the details part, that was. I just hoped I found an easy opening.
As I stepped through the door, I was hit with the sweet heated haze that is a part of every café around the world; my eyes scanned the room looking for Vinnie. He sat at the same table where we’d met, tucked into one of the back corners that overlooked the quad, fiddling with a piece of paper on the table.
I tried really hard not to notice how good he looked today as I approached him, and wondered if he had noticed how romantic the spot was the first time we had sat there, I sure hadn’t; I’d just needed an electrical socket. Fresh snow fell outside; the room was warm and comforting, the lighting low, with the soft sounds of The Little Drummer Boy playing.
"Hey Vinnie
," I said as I reached the table. "Have you ordered yet?"
"Scoop," he stood up from the table and leaned down to give me a quick kiss on the cheek - which shocked the hell out of me; my heart froze and then powered back up like a jackhammer - and sat back down, "Yeah, actually, I ordered for both of us, hope you don't mind." He said with a small smile, that was a touch nervous.
I eyed him carefully, taking in his perfectly styled hair, the black leather, motorcycle jacket hanging over the back of his chair, the navy blue, long sleeved shirt that he had pushed up to his elbows and the tailored jeans, wondering at the loss of his confidence. Something didn't feel right.
"Yeah that's fine, do I get to know what it you ordered or is it a surprise?" I asked with a soft smile, but on the inside, I was coiled as tightly as a loaded spring. I slid into my chair and put my messenger bag on the seat next to me. Take in the details, you can figure this out.
"It’s a surprise. Well not really, if you check the specials board you'll see it - Don't look!" He chided me as soon as I started to turn and look over my shoulder.
A chuckle escaped me at the chagrined look on his face as he realized I was just messing with him.
"So how was your game, you never texted me afterward," I tsked him. Truthfully, I knew they had won and it had been a close game, Justin had told me last night. I’d woken up to his two texts, but none from Vinnie or Christian. I forced myself not to bite my lip as the guilt churned my already anxious stomach.
"Yeah sorry about that, I meant to text you but when we got off the ice there were scouts waiting for me and my wingers. On the ride home, we had talked strategy to ensure we stayed on their radar. By the time we got home, it was past midnight and I didn't want to wake you up." He replied; his eyes earnest as he reached across the table to hold one of my hands.
I withdrew my hand instantly, covering it up by doing a single clap and waving them in the air slightly, "Wow, that's great news! And you are totally excused for not messaging me!" I exclaimed, because that really was great news. Dropping my hands down to my lap, I leaned forward pressing my ribs to the edge of the table. "Do you guys all want to go pro?" I inquired.
All We Want For Christmas Is You: A Reverse Harem Christmas Story Page 12
