"You're back again." I said as Jamie and Cam walked back into the coffee shop. They hadn't come in for two or three days now, not that I was counting or anything.
"You missed me, didn't you?" Jamie asked, winking at me.
"You're bold." I stated. The owner of the shop was here today, so I had to be careful of what was happening between us.
"Only to people who deserve it." He replied.
"I don't know if I'd go that far." I said, laughing awkwardly.
"So when are you going to let me take you on a date?" Jamie asked.
"Bella? Is everything okay?" Greg, the owner, asked as he came over to the cash register to see what was happening.
"Yes Greg, everything's fine. This is Cam and Jamie." I said, introducing Greg to the two boys.
"Oh, these are the guys?" He asked.
"So you liked us enough to tell your boss about us?" Cam asked.
"I was not the one who said anything," I said, putting my hands in the air in surrender.
"It was Seb." Greg said.
"Of course it was." I said, sighing a bit.
"Seb knows what he's talking about. I like that kid." Jamie said, smirking at me.
"I'm sure you do, you both want the same thing." I said, partially trying to see if he understood what that meant.
"Yeah, we both want you to give me your number." He responded quickly.
"No, you both want me." I corrected him. I've known Sebastian since day one of moving to Philly, I'm originally from North Bay, Ontario but I moved to Philadelphia in August of 2020 for school to go to UPenn. I got a volleyball scholarship, and my grandparents are pretty loaded so they paid for room and board while I was in school, now that I'm finishing up in a couple months I need to find an actual job.
"Pretty presumptuous, I'd say." Jamie said, rolling his beautiful blue eyes.
"Why's that?" I asked him.
"Of him I mean." He stated, I just stared at him looking for more of an explanation to his thinking. "To think that he has a chance when I'm in the picture." I scoffed pretty loudly, just as Jim and Hoppy, some of my favourite regulars walked in. The two of them are the sweetest old men, they're super protective of me, but we bully each other every day.
"Are you being rude to our girl?" Jim asked Jamie as he overheard what he had said.
"No Jim, it's okay." I said, trying to defuse whatever situation he thought was going on.
"If he's bothering you I can take him outside that's okay." Hoppy said.
"They're both retired FBI agents, so honestly I would be a little scared of them." I told Jamie. He laughed a little bit and turned around, holding his hand out to shake the two gentlemen's.
"What is this?" Jim asked.
"I would like to introduce myself, I'm Jamie. You'll see me around here. I just moved to Philly and I found this coffee shop, which I love." He said, Hoppy and Jim both looked at me with a concerning look, asking if they should trust him or not.
"I know you two like hockey, apparently these guys play for the Flyers." I told them.
"Jamie as in Jamie Drysdale then? You said you just moved here because you just got traded?" Jim asked.
"I did, from the Ducks."
"This weather is a big change for you then." Hoppy said, laughing a little bit.
"Nah, I grew up in Toronto." Jamie replied.
"Can I get you guys a coffee or something? You're holding up my line, Jame." I said, giving him a little nickname.
"Jame, I like that." He said, smiling brightly.
"Wow, you are smiley aren't you?" I asked as he pulled his card out to pay for the exact same coffee he's gotten every time.
"Only around you." He said, winking again.
"Would you stop with the winking? It's getting a little old." I told him, tightening the tie on my apron.
"Oh he's flirting with her!" Hoppy exclaimed to Jim, making Cam laugh.
"What is happening right now?" I asked, I could feel my cheeks start to heat up as I turned away and walked to the back. I started organizing a couple things until Greg walked into the back room.
"They're cute." He said. "Why don't you go for it?"
"I don't know, I know nothing about either of them." I said, grabbing some more drink trays and bringing them to the front.
"You could learn!" He called after me. I looked around the cafe and saw they were sitting at the tables against the window.
"I might be okay with learning, but when do I have the time?" I asked.
"I don't know, you've got two days off a week, figure it out. Bella, I think you need this, you haven't gone on a date in months, ever since Dylan you've just been boring." Greg said.
"What the fuck?" I asked, laughing
"It's true, we're all thinking it just no one's brave enough to say it." Greg said, walking away from me.
"Well, on that note, I'm going out for a smoke." I said, taking off my apron and going to the back to grab my jacket, walking out of the front of the building and to the side. I grabbed the pack of cigarettes from my jacket pocket as well as the lighter and put one in between my lips, lighting it up and taking a deep inhale into my lungs.
"Hey." Jamie said, coming around the corner by the time I was half way done my smoke.
"What can I do for you, Jamie?" I asked him.
"Why do you do that?" He asked me, nodding his head towards the cigarette between my fingers. I brought it up to my lips and took another inhale before answering.
"I don't know to be honest." I replied. "My dad, and both grandpa's did it, it's just always been around. When my dad died it was what I turned to, felt like it brought me closer to him. Then I just wasn't able to stop." I don't know why I was telling him this. I never mention my dad.
"Wow, I'm sorry to hear that." He said, looking down and kicking the snow by his feet.
"It's good, he's been gone for four years, passed away when I was 17." I said, taking another puff.
"You're 21?" He asked.
"Yeah, how old are you anyways?" I asked.
"21, I'll be 22 in April though." He replied.
"I'll be 22 in September." I said.
"I'm sorry, I just can't stop thinking about that, I'm so sorry for your loss. I can't imagine how that felt and how it continues to feel." He said, by the look on his face I could tell he wanted to come closer, he wanted to give me a hug but he knew that it wasn't right.
"It's okay, it still sucks every once in a while but I'm over it for the most part." I said. "Like, I keep imagining my wedding day and how I won't have anyone to walk me down the aisle. No one to give me away." There was a pause in conversation, I don't know if he didn't know how to respond or if I just turned him off of me completely. "I'm sorry, I should've have said that, I don't know why I'm telling you about this."
"No, that's okay, completely okay." He replied. He reached out and softly put a hand on my shoulder, there was something about his touch that was comforting, it was like it should be there. I tapped on the end of my cigarette, getting the ash off.
"I should go back in." I said after another minute and couple more puffs.
"Before you go in, would I be able to get your Instagram or Snapchat by chance?" Jamie asked.
"Since you were so confident inside, find it yourself and you can have it." I said as I put my cigarette butt into the ash tray outside and started walking backwards into the shop to continue looking at him. He walked inside just after me as I dropped my jacket off in the back room and came back out, washing my hands in the sink.
"I don't even know your last name, that won't be easy." Jamie said as he sat back down with Cam, a couple tables over from Hoppy and Jim.
"It's Karter, with a K." Hoppy said, lifting his cup and taking a sip.
"Hoppy!" I exclaimed, grabbing the stand mixer from the corner cupboard.
"What? I'm just trying to help! I'm sick of those sad breakup songs that are on when I come in here sometimes." He replied.
"That's better than the cow shit." Jim added.
"Jim, it is not cow shit, it's great." I replied to him.
"You're a country music girl?" Jamie asked, I nodded and for some reason I could feel heat rising to me cheeks once again.
"Yeah, another thing from my dad." I said.
"You told him about your dad?" Greg asked me. The only reason he knows about him is from when my mom came down to visit me, and he asked why it was only her, but he also knows that I never bring him up, unless I'm talking to someone that means a lot to me.
"I also can't find anyone name Bella Karter." Jamie said, trying to change the subject from my dad, I could see it in his eyes, he knew I didn't want to talk about it anymore.
"That's because that's not my full name, you know that I told you the first time you came in." I said, smirking a little bit.
"Right, you did." Within seconds I felt my watch vibrate, lifting it up the notification was there.
(at)jamie.drysdale has followed you
I looked up from my watch and tilted my head to the side, smiling at him. I took my phone out of my pocket, both to find the cookie recipe I was making and to follow him back.
"Told you I'd find it." He said, without even looking up from his phone. I started making my cookies and tried to ignore him as best as possible. Every once in a while I'd look up at him, sometimes catching him glance at me too and a smile spread across both of our faces every time.
"Bella, when was the last time you went to a hockey game?" Jim asked from across the store.
"Last week Jim, I told you about it." I replied.
"Right, well you see I have these tickets to the game against Tampa tonight, right behind the Flyers goalie, and I can't go anymore. Would you want to take them?" I sighed, knowing exactly what he was trying to do. I looked over at Jamie and Cam briefly, Jamie was looking between the two men and me, a look of hope in his eyes.
"Sure, I'll take them. I'm off tomorrow anyways." I said, shaking my head.
"Great." Jim said, standing up and handing me the tickets out of his wallet.
"Jim, who carries a physical ticket to anything anymore? Showing your age." I said, laughing. I always tease Jim, it was one of his favourite parts about coming in here.
"Old men, I don't know how to work those fancy dancy mobile ticketing things." He said as he went to sit back down. After another 20 minutes or so both groups of men decided it was time to leave. "Have fun tonight!" Jim yelled as he and Hoppy left.
"Thank you, Jim!" I yelled back.
"Well, I guess I will see you tonight again then. Good to know you'll be there tonight this time. When are you off today?" Jamie asked as he and Cam were getting up to leave.
"I'm done at 2:30 today." I said.
"Okay, good to know." He said and the two of them left. The day went by normally, we were pretty busy consistently as the day went on, until Jamie came back in just before 2:30 while I was getting ready to leave.
"Hi, I'm here really quick. This is for you tonight, okay bye." He said, throwing me a sweatshirt and running back out of the building. I just laughed and unraveled the sweatshirt to see what it was. It was just a black hoodie that said Flyers Hockey in all capitals across the chest with a small logo in the middle of it, and the number nine just above where your heart would lay in the top left corner. I smiled to myself, knowing this was his and he wanted me to wear it to the game. I went home and showered, grabbing some food and getting ready for the game. My roommate Miranda agreed to go to the game with me, so she was also in her room getting ready for the game. Before too long I got dressed, wearing a pair of skinny ripped jeans and I put Jamie's sweater on without a shirt underneath.
We left the house and I drove us to the arena, we both grabbed a drink before going to our seats, I was really craving a raspberry mojito so I made sure to grab one of those after Matt and I discovered Wells Fargo has the best version. We sat in our seats and somehow they were front row right behind the Flyers bench, exactly where Jim said. I was kind of wishing that I put a little more effort into my appearance than just jeans and a hoodie, maybe flare leggings or something, as well as doing my hair instead of keeping it naturally straight.
"So which one is he?" Miranda asked as the players all started coming out for warm ups.
"Number nine." I said, pointing at the nine on the sweater. I had told her all about what happened today at work on the way here, so she was excited to see what he looks like, and how he got me to open up so quickly. She didn't reply until Jamie came and skated behind the net, nodding at us with a smile on his face, and pointing down at the Flyers logo on his jersey with the hand free from his stick.
"Wow. Yeah, I see it now, he's extremely attractive. You're going to have to learn hockey." She said. As she said that two older men came and sat in the seats beside me.
"You don't know hockey?" One of them asked.
"Not really, I know to cheer for the team in orange, and the basics, but could I tell you when a penalty should be called, or why they're reviewing a goal? Not at all." I replied, letting out a breathy laugh. I partially had turned my customer service voice and mannerisms back on, I do that a lot when I talk to people in public outside of my job. Half the time when I'm there I don't even use it.
"And you're sitting all the way down here?" The other man asked.
"I was given the tickets by one of my regulars at my work, he couldn't go anymore so here I am." I said.
"You bought some merchandise pretty fast then!" The first man said again.
"I don't think I'd spend money on it that fast, Jamie gave this to me to wear today." I said. I realized how that could make me sound like a puck bunny, or just weird in general, but honestly I didn't care all that much.
"You know, Drysdale?" The first man asked.
"Kind of, him and Cam keep coming to my cafe. That's why I was given the tickets, my regular met them today and wanted me to come." I said.
"Well, if you're okay with it, I would love to help you understand hockey tonight. My daughter always hated hockey, she could never get into it no matter how hard I tried." The second man said.
"I would actually love that. I'm Bella." I said, reaching out to shake their hands. They introduced themselves at Paul and Steven. They did as they said they would, they explained everything to me and answered every question I had, like when I asked what an icing is, or how do they know when to change shifts, even why they changed sides when the second period started.
They were super, super nice all night to me, standing up and high-fiving Miranda and I at the first Flyer's goal in the second period. By this point they were down 3-1. The Flyer's got a power play with a few minutes left in the second period, and as much as I didn't know a whole much of what was going on, every time Jamie was on the ice and even more had the puck, it got me really excited. Number 48 passed the puck over to Jamie and he held it on his stick for a second or two and shot it at the net, going past the goalie and into the back. I got super excited and jumped up and started screaming and yelling along with everyone else around us. I took hold of the front of my sweater and started waving it on my chest, knowing that I was wearing the sweater of the man who just scored.
"I bet you're happy they switch sides every period now." Steven said once the crowd died down and the period started again. I guess it was his first goal as a Philadelphia Flyer.
"I am, very much so now." I replied. They ended up losing 6-3, but I was still really happy that Jamie got a goal right in front of us. Miranda and I asked Steven and Paul if they could take a picture of us in front of the glass before they left, which they gladly obliged. I posted the picture on my Instagram story, tagging Jamie above my left shoulder where his number was, along with obviously tagging Miranda as well.