Trip to Your Heart - A Hockey Fanfiction

Sleep

I made it approximately forty-eight hours without sleeping, but after that, I crashed. I slept in spurts throughout the night, fifteen or twenty minutes at a time before I would startle myself a awake. I was trying not to let myself dream, but there was only so much I could do. It had been a week of minimal to no sleep and I couldn't keep it up much longer. Coffee, sugar, and caffeinated pop could only keep a person up for so long. I was going to crash; I could feel it in my bones.

Claude and I crawled into bed. It had been a few days since we'd been home since we'd gone across the country for a game in Minnesota. We'd won the game and the team was very happy coming back for a home stand. We had won thirteen of the last fourteen games and were looking good. Our next seven games would be at home and then we would kick off a two week road trip with the team across the state.

"That was a fun little vacation," Claude whispered. I nodded, my eyes closed as I faced the wall on my side of the bed. "Good win, too," he added. Again, I nodded. "Stella..." Claude wasn't satisfied with a simple movement of my head. I hummed a response. "Stella, I want to talk to you. I want to see you beautiful face."

"Stop trying to butter me up, Claude," I groaned as I rolled to face him.

"I have to," he muttered. "I wont keep you from sleep for long; I know you're tired."

"Okay," I opened my eyes, giving him my attention so that I could sleep. I had given up on the idea of avoiding sleep; I was so weary that it was a struggle to focus on the most mundane tasks and my head was constantly aching. I looked more like a zombie every day.

He paused for a minute, assembling his thoughts and determining how he wanted to word things. He was nervous, which woke me up a bit more. "Do you remember the conversation we had last week?" He asked.

"We had several conversations last week, Claude," I smiled, "We work together, and I don't know if you noticed but I kind of live with you. And this might be surprising to you as well, but we are together, you know, like a couple," I whispered the last part like a secret. Claude huffed air up towards the hair falling in his eyes, not appreciating my sass. I could feel the slap-happiness setting in and that didn't bode well for the grown-up conversation Claude clearly wanted to have.

"Do you remember the conversation we had over penne alla vodka?" He asked, dancing around the subject.

"Penne alla vodka sounds good," I giggled.

"Stella."

"Sorry, I'll try to be a grownup," I promised, composing myself. Claude smiled softly and I let out a tiny giggle.

He frowned again, a crease forming in his forehead. I laughed some more and he sighed, exasperated. "Whatever. Forget about it," he rolled to face his wall.

"No, no, I'm sorry," I pleaded, tugging on his shoulder. "Ask me questions, I like talking."

"I thought you wanted to sleep," Claude said, turning to face me.

"No, I want to talk now. Come on, Claude," I pouted at him, knowing he couldn't resist my puppy dog eyes.

Claude paused, "The conversation over penne alla vodka... I asked about kids' practice... And I mentioned your brother."

"Jebediah," I sang. I was too far gone for Jeb's name to reel me in.

"Right," Claude's lips twisted up into a McKayla Maroney esque frown as he thought, "I talked about kids," his words began tumbling out of his mouth in a rush, "And I have been thinking since then. You didn't really give me an answer. And I think I'm ready now, Stella, we've been together for five years. I think we can handle it, and our families and the team will help if we run into trouble; they're all good with kids. Do you want to try, Stella?"