Misery

Catherine pulled the baggy tee shirt over her head and laughed. Dave gave her weird look and she elaborated.

“You’re smaller than Adam, but your shirts are baggier. I don’t get it,” She told him, smiling.

He shrugged and smiled at her, flopping onto his bed. Catherine turned to him and smiled, climbing into the bed, too. They had left the bar an hour before and Catherine, not wanting to go home to Adam, opted to spend the night with Dave, or Boley as she had been told to
call him.

They sat up for a few more hours, talking when Catherine’s phone rang. Thinking it was Adam, because who else would be calling her that late, she pressed ‘ignore.’ When her phone rang again, she looked at the caller ID to see Cam’s name on the screen.

“Oops, hey, Cam,” She said.

“Way to hang up on me, Catherine,” He laughed.

“Sorry, I thought you were Adam.”

“Oh? You’re not talking to him?”

“No,” She told him, sighing. “We got into a fight this morning after I got off the phone with you. I called him out in his bullshit and then left…”

“Wow,” Cam said, and Catherine could tell he was smiling. “I’m proud of you.”

“I know you are,” She laughed, but both Cam and Dave, who was sitting next to her listening, could tell it was a sad and half-hearted laugh.

“Where are you now?” He asked.

“Adam’s teammate’s place.”

“Oh, he introduced you to them?” He asked, surprised.

“No,” Catherine said, sadly shaking her head. “I met him at a bar and ended up telling him me and Adam were dating.”

“Oh.”

“He had no idea Adam had a girlfriend, Cam.”

She couldn’t stop the tears that fell from her eyes, but she felt stupid. Dave wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close to him. Cam sighed on the other end of the phone.

Catherine guessed she had accidentally pressed speaker phone, because soon Cam’s voice filled Dave’s bedroom.

“Leave him, Catherine. Come to St. Louis.”

“Cam, I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“I love him.”

“He doesn’t love you, and you deserve better.”

Dave interrupted, “Who is this, exactly?”

“Cam Janssen, and you?”

Dave looked at Catherine with wide eyes and she could only laugh.

“Dave Bolland. How did you meet Catherine?”

“At the game last week,” Catherine answered before Cam could.

“Does Adam know you’re… friends with him?”

Catherine shook her head, “I mentioned him, but Adam has no idea that ‘Cam’ is Cam Janssen of the St. Louis Blues.”

Cam laughed on the other end of the phone, “Okay, beautiful. It’s late. I’ll let you get to sleep since you sound like you’ve had an exhausting day.”

“I’ll call you tomorrow sometime, okay?” She asked him.

Cam quickly agreed and bid her a goodnight. Catherine turned her phone off and once again lay down in the bed. Dave wrapped an arm around her and she could tell that she and Dave were going to be great friends. He fell asleep before her and Catherine could only lie awake and unfortunately for her stress levels and mental health, she was thinking about Adam.

It felt like when she woke up four hours later, at eight AM she had only been sleeping for twenty minutes. She was alone in bed, but she heard Dave in the kitchen. She wiped the sleep from her eyes and pulled her red hair into a ponytail before greeting him.

“Morning Boley,” She said, placing a hand on his shoulder, as he sat at the table eating cereal.

“Morning Ca - ”

He stopped short, eyeing her attire. Somehow, between when they went to bed and when they woke up, she had removed the large pair of sweatpants he had given her to wear, along with the baggy tee shirt.

She caught on to what he was looking at and blushed, “I got hot.”

Dave coughed a laugh out and mumbled something. Catherine raised an eyebrow at him as she sat down and poured herself a bowl of cereal

“What was that?”

“I said Adam is stupid for cheating on… that.”

He motioned to her body and Catherine could only laugh. They continued to talk while they ate, and conversation flowed easily.

Until Dave said, “I think you should come to practice today.”

“No.”

“Cat, come on.”

“Why should I? You know I’m going to end up talking to Adam.”

“You need to talk to him.”

“Yeah, and when I do, I know I’m going to forgive him as soon as he tells me he loves me and I’ll get stuck in the same cycle again.”

Dave shook his head, “Make him realize that you want him for yourself or you’re out.”

Out? She questioned to herself. She wasn’t sure if she could ever be out of their relationship. Yes, she knew she in a relationship she didn’t deserve, but she loved him, and he loved her, right?

Dave pulled her into his room and laid her clothes from the bar out on the bed. He told her she would quickly throw them in the dryer to get out the wrinkles, while she took a shower and did her make up and hair.

Catherine let herself be dragged from Dave’s apartment. All the way to the Edge Ice Arena, Catherine’s stomach was in knots. It was stupid. She had known Adam all her life and now she was nervous to see him?

She was nervous, though. She didn’t know what she would say to him. Dave put a hand on her arm and Catherine realized they were parked. He smiled at her and pulled her into the player’s entrance of the building, giving her directions to the stands.

“You can talk to Adam after.”

She could only nod and walk to the stands, where she sat down in the first row behind the team bench. The goalies came out first; doing drills with each other and one by one, the rest of the team came out as well.

Dave skated to the bench and smiled at Catherine, motioning behind him to where Adam was skating toward the bench. Catherine looked at him, as he skated around without a helmet on, bumping into his teammates and laughing with them. The way he smiled and the way his eyes lit up when he was having fun, was something Catherine hadn’t seen from him in a long time. At least, when he was off the ice and with her.

He went to the bench and grabbed his helmet, shoving it onto his head, his eyes catching Catherine’s. She gave a weak smile and he just stared at her, before smiling widely.

“What are you doing here?” He mouthed to her.

She shook her head and motioned for him to join his teammates. He nodded and did as she told him, a smile on his face. A genuine smile, she noticed.

An hour later and countless fans asking for autographs by the entrance to the ice, Catherine was told by a security guard to head to the locker room. She looked up at him questioningly but he assured her the boys were already changed (mostly) and were hanging out.

She nodded and walked down the hall to the locker room. She knocked slightly before opening the door and stepping inside. All the eyes in the locker room shifted to her and Dave was the only person to stand and come over to her.

“Catherine!” He smiled, hugging her. “Did you like watching practice?”

She shrugged, “Not as exciting as a game, but whatever.”

Dave laughed and turned to look at Adam as he still had his arm around Catherine. Adam sat in his stall and just stared at the two of them. Catherine shook her head.

He still didn’t want to admit that he had a girlfriend.

Dave sighed and turned to his teammates, “Guys, this is Catherine.”

“Is she your girl, Boley? If she is, she’s way out of your league…” Patrick Sharp said, laughing.

“No, she’s not mygirl," He said, shooting a look at Adam. "Just a friend, but any guy would be lucky to have her. She’s an amazing girl.”

Catherine smiled up and Dave and Adam finally stood up. Catherine eyed him and he moved in between her and Dave, grabbing her hand.

The rest of the Hawks stared at the scene in confusion, as Adam placed a soft kiss on her lips.

“Cat. I’m sorry,” He said quietly.

She shook her head and stepped away from him. Adam sighed and turned to his teammates. He cleared his throat and wrung his hands together.

“Guys… Catherine is… my girlfriend.”

Brent Seabrook was the one who spoke up, “You finally settled down, Burr? How long have you guys been together, a few weeks?”

Catherine was the one who spoke up, as she ran a hand through her hair, “No, Brent. I’ve been Adam’s girlfriend for six years.”

It seemed like the eyes of the team widened collectively, as Adam stood there shifting out of nervousness.

Sharpie, as Catherine knew his nickname to be, stood, “Six years, Burr?”

Adam only nodded.

“I’m not going to lie to you; I don’t think I can even look at you right now. I’ve been with my girl for eight years and I would never, ever think about hiding our relationship from anyone, man. Let alone cheating on her.”

Dave nodded his head and sent a smile Catherine’s way; a smile she returned. Adam swallowed.

“I know, Sharpie. I’ve been so stupid. We had a great, strong four and a half years before I started treating you like shit,” He said, turning to Catherine. “I am so sorry for everything I’ve done to you. All the lies… all the girls… all the secrets. I just, I just want to start over.”

Catherine stayed silent.

“When you yelled at me and told me you’d had enough yesterday, I was so shocked. I was such as asshole. I never thought about how you felt. I didn’t exactly hide anything. And then you left, and I… I didn’t know if I’d see you again and that scared the shit out of me. We’ve been best friends since we were born, Cat.”

“We have,” She added, quietly.

“I love you,” He told her.

“I love you, too,” She said.

He smiled and went to kiss her, but she pushed him back.

“But, you’re too late Adam. I can’t do this."