toronto birthday, pt 2 to california christmas with jamie drsdale.
Warnings: angst.
Word Count: 1.9k
Part one:
Can be read as a stand-alone :)
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tara sat in her mom's kitchen in toronto, and was eating a snack while she read a book. it was currently may, and the ducks were officially out of the playoffs contention, so she had been waiting for jamie to come back now that he was free to. she had missed him since she visited him for spring break, and hadn't seen him since march. delilah her mom's girlfriend walked in with coffee and she silently thanked her.
"have you heard from him?" she questioned, and tara shook her head. "he'll text, dont worry t." delilah reassured her and she smile softly as delilah walked out. her brother jonathan strolled in, stealing a sip from his sister's coffee. "ew, thats grosss." she complained, making jonathan laugh out loud. jonathan leaned on the counter across from her, "have you heard anything? z?" tara questioned her older brother and he shook his head. though he was lying, so was delilah.
tara walked into toronto cafe, later that afternoon to grab some coffee and a cinnamon roll to snack on. she sat down, texting away on her phone with her bestfriend lauren who was in on what was gonna be happening the next day. "tara?" she heard from next to her and she knew that voice. it was her ex boyfriend, erik. she looked up and it was indeed him. his eyes flickered to the empty chair in front of her and then back at her. she noticied that and caved. "would you like to sit?" she questioned and he nodded softly, not trying to ruin the moment.
"how have you been?" she asked sipping her iced coffee, and he smiled. a genuine smile. "im good, schools good. how have you been?" he asked sipping his hot latte. "its been fine, as expected." she mused, a small smile shown. "hows dad? mom? brothers?" he asked leaning back in his chair. she mirrored him, "they are good! brothers trucking away at hockey ofcourse. dad is about to celebrate hit anniversary and mom is mom." she stated. he nodded, "you doing anything for your birthday?" he questioned, curiously. she shrugged, "i haven't heard anything." she said honestly, as if her birthday was not tomorrow. "really? nothing?" he questioned, taken back a bit. "nada. everybody has been busy. though my best friend promised to take me to timmies for coffee and breakfast." she rememberd. he nodded, "lauren?" he asked and tara nodded. "well-- if you don't have anything happening...i'd love to take you out for old time sakes." he said nervously, trying to gage her reaction. she sighed, unsure. "i dont know erik.." she said looking behind him for a brief moment. and that's when she saw him. jamie.
her eyebrows creased, as the two met eye to eye. his sling completley gone, his skin golden, even more freckles kissed upon his cheeks and nose. his mouth parted, mid step; unsure if he should order coffee or leave. he wasn't meant to be seen, but he also wasn't expecting to see tara the girl he truly liked; sitting nonchalantly with her ex. her pos ex. she looked down at her coffee feeling like she had been caught red handed, she wasn't hiding anything, she didn't come with or expect to see erik. she looked back up, about to go up to him but he was gone. the sound of the door a second later. she stood up, grabbing her coffee and without a goodbye; she hurried after jamie.
"jamie!" she screamed jogging over towards him. he had his toronto car with him, and he hopped in ignoring the girl. "jamie!" she screamed again, and stopped next to his door. he didn't move, and a few seconds later he looked over at her. he saw the confusion and hurt written all over her face. "jamie." she said, defiently. he sighed, rolling down his window to reveal trevor next to him. "you fools!" she yelled, grinning. "what do you want tara? seems like your occupied." jamie said with attitude, his eyes flicking back to see erik walking out looking for tara. she looked back to and growled. "im not with him. he happened to be there at the same time i was. that's it. i would never reach out to him. i promise. im not hiding a thing!" she defended, hoping to see the genuineness in her eyes. jamie looked down at her, before trevor told her to hop in. as she did so, jamie hit trevor softly in the ribs; without her seeing.
the two boys drove her to her mom's house. she hopped out, stopping next to jamie's door. "please, just please text me so we can meet. we need to talk, talk about us." she whispered the last part. he nodded, rolling up his window and she stood there for a second, before walking towards her house. how did their relationship just blow up in a matter of 20 seconds?
—
lauren pulled up at tara's house with coffee and her sandwich in hand. tara grinned, plucking it from her hands and they drove off to a spot they used to go to during highscool. they ate, catching up as if they hadn't seen eachother in years, though it had only been a week. only a week. she asked about jamie, and told her what happened. lauren silently cursed him, he had ruined the surprised he had wrangled lauren in for her. "im sure he's fine." lauren mused, whilst typing away an angry message for him. "youre an idiot drysdale!!! you know she frequents that coffee shop downtown omg" she sent and then shut her phone.
"well lets go shopping." lauren smiled, putting the jeep in drive and jetting off. t-6 hours until the surprise. the two spent two hours paroozing and shopping at various canadian brands and some international brands. lauren splurging and buying tara a necklace for her birthday from tiffany, which the latter begged her not to. little did the birthday gal know, but that was curtesy of jamie. the two headed back to lauren's house to get ready for their dinner date that tara believed that had. she settled on a black strapless dress, hugging her curves perfectly and slicked her hair half up half down for the occasion. lauren walked up behind the birthday girl with a small bday cake, and tara smiled widely in the bathroom mirror. "awe, lauren- you didnt have to." she frowned and turned around in the swivel chair. she smiled down at the cake, illuminated with candels. "lets get a pic on the bed!" lauren said and moving into the bedroom quickly. tara chuckled, laying down halfway and posing with it. she blew out the candles, hoping that this year. her 21st year on life, would be her best yet.
—
the two walked hand in hand to the more upscale toronto restaurant. tara's eyebrows creased as lauren pulled her past the hostess, and away from the main dining area. "lauren?" tara questioned as they went down a hallway. lauren stalled in front of the door that was open, and pushed tara towards doorway. "SURPRISE!!!!" the group of friends and family yelled. tara brought her hand to her mouth, gasping and then turned towards lauren; instantly hugging her best friend. "oh my god, hi!!!!" she turned back around and waved. she found her brother's jonathan and erik, her dad and his wife. along with her mom and delilah. she made her way over to her brothers who instantly took her in for a big hug. "SO glad we pulled this off." the two brothers smiled high fiving one another. "with my help ofcourse." lauren mused, and the brothers agreed. "all they did was get the hockey dudes here." lauren grinned, pointing towards the players. tara turned around seeing jamie drysdale, trevor zegras, owen powers and hig gf, mason mctavish, brendan brisson and thomas bordealou. just some friends that jonathan had made along his journey to the nhl. who in turn, loved tara more than jonathan. much to his dismay ofcourse.
tara caught the eye of jamie and gave him a small grin, to which he returned with a smile. so maybe the situation earlier, was forgotten? "here!" lauren yelled, pushing a glass of vodka cranberry into her hand and tara rolled her eyes playfully before taking a big sip. "woah slow down there girlie!!! we dont need you passing out too early." she heard the famous and cheery voice of trevor. she turned around and stuck her tongue out. "we dont talk about that time." she playfully snarled, causing him to clutch his chest as he laughed. "not my fault your a lightweight and didn't tell us!" he defended him self and she gave him a vulgar gesture, to which he replied with a big smile. "imma leave you two to settle things." trevor said pulling jamie away from the group he was in and in front of tara. tara swallowed nervously. "happy birthday." he smiled. she smiled, "thankyou jamie." she smiled back. "liste-" "Im sor-" the two said at the time time, to which tara blushed.
"im sorry, that i freaked out. i was also nervous, because you had seen me when you weren't supposed to." he explained and she nodded. "i had no right to, and i apologize." he added and she nodded again. she leaned in and placed a kiss on his cheek. "thankyou." was all she said before going around and talking to people.
it was around 11:30 when the two found one another again, on the dance floor. tara was on her 3rd vodka cranberry and was feeling it in her bones. the song 'you belong with me' was blasting, therefore trevor was belting the song along with jamie and tara on the top of their lungs. jamie held tara in his arms, in front of him as they did so. the song turned to the archer, and at the end as the beat began to up, so did the group of younglins. 'cause they see right through me' was screamed throughout the private room. lauren and tara jumped up and down, now that their heels were discarded an hour earlier. and to end the night, mr brightside played causing tara to laugh loudly. this was one of the songs that played during jamies, trevors and mason's party during her spring break.
jamie and tara looked at one another, dancing to the song. it was almost as if the final song was played in slow motion. tara at one point during the first bridge, pulled jamie in for a big kiss. with trevor and mason eyes widening, and freaking out. lauren laughed along with owen powers gf, as the two watched. the two pulled apart, smiling at one another. their breathing heavy and their hearts pounding. he twirled her one last time, and the song was over.
—
tara woke up the following morning in jamie's hotel room he had booked for the evening. she found him staring at her, dazed with exhaustion. "hi." she hummed, leaning up and kissed him. he pulled her in again, gently pulling her chin back up. "happy first full day of being 21." he whispered before pulling her in for another kiss, by her necklace but paused. "glad my money was well spent." he nodded towards the necklace. she was confused for a moment before realizing. "you cheeky boy." she grinned.
this is allll over the place and short, but hope you enjoy :)
kent johnson- he broke my heart.
warnings: angst, mentions of history of fighting/childhood trauma.
word count: 1.0K +
it had been a very long week for carolina. it had be a very long week for kent as well. he didn't want to admit it, but he was caving. the two had gotten in a petty fight over spending time with one another and kent had said somethings, and carolina had completley shut down. she immediatly left his and owen's place and went back to her parents house. and with carolina not going to michigan university, it meant that they would be spending time apart from one another. which is exactly what they needed, but carolina was thinking that the time away from eachother would be pernamnament. just because she would not fight back. it isn't who she is, and would never be. kent knew she hated fighting or somebody raising there voice. he knew she would shut off and become defeated and not say anything to anybody. yet, he tried to fight anyways and said what he said. he didn't mean it, but she didn't know that.
carolina pulled her chair out in the coffee shop that she and kent frequented and she set off to work on her final paper for a class. yet she could not concentrate, this week she hadn't been able to concentrate on anything just because. on her drive over, all she wanted to do was drive over to her (hopefully) boyfriend's place and talk things over but she felt as if she couldn't. kent did the one thing she asked him not to do. she was in the middle of writing a paragraph when her phone buzzed. it was a text from owen and she opened it, curiously.
[owen: please stop by the house. kent is not here. wont be back till 6]
[carolina: idk owen. am i still allowed over there?]
[owen: yes you are, you are still apart of the group. besides, you are carolina. we could never kick you out.]
[carolina: im on my way. give me 10 mins.]
carolina rushed out of the coffee shop with her iced americano, and sighed as she turned on her car. what did he want to say to her? did he want to make her feel like shit? did he have newws to tell her about kent? thoughts ran a mile a minute on the drive over, her anxiety getting very bad. she parked in front of the house and got out. owen opened the door as she walked up the steps to the porch, he gave her a lopsided smile and held his arms open. he knew she needed a hug, and she happily obliged. "thanks owen, i needed that." she mused walking in further to the house and they made there way to the living room. she sat down in her usual spot, and tried to make herself as small as possible. owen could tell what she was doing, and understood. she was very uncomfortable, she was nervous about being here again.
owen sighed before speaking, "im sorry for what went down. kent had no right to do what he did. we all know that and are on your side. so even if you don't think you feel supported. you are. i promise. you have every right to feel the way that you do. " he explained and the girl nodded, taking all of it in. "well thankyou, i appreciate the support. i just- i just don't know what the future holds for us. he did the one thing i asked him not to do." she started, not realizing kent walking in from the kitchen. owen's eyes went wide for a second, not realizing kent came home early. "he betrayed my trust, owen. he knows why i hate people fighting and yelling. he knows that. it broke my heart." she finished explaining, feeling tears brim her eyes. kent knew that her history of family fighting and yelling, made her even more determined to not do that with a partner. understandbly, she wouldn't always prevent fights but she knew there were other ways to discuss the issue at hand. "he know's that my childhood was fucked up, he knows that. yet he still decided to do it. i just don't know if i can forgive him just yet. let alone speak to him." she said standing up, before realizing that owen was looking past her. she turned around, instantly feeling her anxiety begin to grow. she took in kent's discheveled appareance. bags under his eyes, his hair a mess and eyes chronically puffy. "im gonna leave you two." owen said walking up the stairs and out of sight. carolina breathed in a huge breath, and kent could see the tears forming in her eyes.
she shook her head, turning to walk out and go back home. "wait." kent said jogging over and standing in front of the door. she wouldn't meet his eye, "hey, hey." he said seeing her fragile state about to crack. he pulled her in as she began to cry, rubbing her back. she began to shake, breaking kent's heart. "kent-" she said and he cut her off. "i know i know." he hummed, pulling her in tighter. thinking that if he let go, she would walk out of his life together. "i know i fucked up i know that, and im sorry. and no, you don't have to accept my apology." he paused pulling back to embrace her. he rested his hands on her face, "i promise to never do that again. i wasn't thinking then and no that's not an excuse. please forgive me, carolina. yet, i understand if you don't." he finished trying to read her face. she finally met his eyesight, and softly nodded. her crying had ceased, and her heartbeat slowly dropping. "okay kent, just please don't do that again. if you do, i have to leave. it's too much." she exclaimed biting her lip. he smiled and nodded, moving in to kiss her. she melted into the kiss, and wrapped her arms around his neck. they pulled apart, setting there foreheads against one anothers. "i love you miss carolina phoenix." he mused causing her to grin, "i love you too kent johnson." she added bringing him back into a kiss.
"oh yay! mom and dad have made up. i was worried that i would have to split time between you guys." owen said sarcastically walking down the stairs. the couple pulled apart, carolina flipping him off as she turned around. "oh no, he would of gotten full custody." she joked playfully shoving him as her and kent walked into the kitchen.
