Disregard the Lies

Sadie sat in her car, scared to get out. She had been sitting in front of Jonathan’s building for the last twenty-five minutes, trying to make herself get out of the car. But, every single time she put her hand on the door handle, she would immediately take it away, thinking about how much she had screwed things up with Jonathan.

She jumped as she heard her cell phone ring, and she groaned, assuming it was Kyra once again asking if she had talked to Jonathan yet. She glanced at her phone for confirmation, but she was surprised when she saw Jonathan’s name flashing across the screen instead of Kyra’s.

She picked it up, putting the phone to her ear. “Hello?” she answered.

“Sadie,” Jonathan said. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Sadie said slowly, wondering why he was asking. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Jonathan replied. “It’s just you said you’d be here like a half an hour ago, and I just wanted to make sure that you hadn’t gotten into a car accident or something,” he explained.

“Oh, no, I’m fine,” she told him, too embarrassed to tell him that she had actually been parked outside of his apartment for nearly a half an hour, too afraid to get out of her car.

“Where are you?” he asked, and Sadie internally groaned.

“Um, I’m outside of your apartment,” she admitted, and she saw his curtains open and him glance out the window. She put her head down, completely mortified at this particular moment.

“Well, why aren’t you coming up?” he asked with a small laugh.

“Um, I’m coming right now,” she told him, finally pulling on the door handle and getting out of the car. She hung up the phone as she locked her car doors. She slowly made her way up the stairs, wishing that something would cause time to pass slower so she wouldn’t have to face him. But, before she knew it, she had already reached his door, and it opened in front of her.

“Hey, come on in,” Jonathan told her, ushering her inside. She took off her coat, setting it on the back of the couch before turning around to face Jonathan.

Knowing she needed to be the first one to speak, she blurted out, “I’m sorry. I was a complete idiot, and if you never want to talk to me again, I understand.”

“Sadie,” Jonathan said, and Sadie stopped talking, inhaling deeply. She looked at him, urging him to continue. “Do you believe me when I say that I didn’t sleep with Amber?” he asked, looking her in her eyes.

Sadie nodded her head. “I don’t know why I didn’t believe you in the first place. I’m so sorry.”

Jonathan shook his head, wanting her to stop apologizing, but she just kept repeating the words. Suddenly, he pulled her close, crashing his lips on hers. “Don’t apologize,” he said, taking his lips off of hers for just a moment in order to get the words out. They finally separated for air, and he looked down at her. “As long as you believe me and not Amber, I don’t care.”

“You’re amazing, you know that?” she asked him.

“Yeah, I’ve been told that once or twice,” he smirked, kissing her once again.

Sadie tore apart from him, looking up. “I think I owe some other people a few apologies,” she told him, and he gave her a confused look. “I believe I might have hit on Hank,” she reminded him.

Jonathan nodded his head. “Well, for that matter, you might want to talk to Valtteri, too,” he laughed, thinking back to the previous night.

“God, why did I have to drink?” she questioned. “Never let me drink that much ever again!” she cried. “I become an idiot when I drink.”

“As I recall, I tried to get you to stop drinking after your first drink, and you yelled at me. But, to your credit, you were completely pissed off at me,” he added with a small smile.

“Yeah, for no real reason,” Sadie muttered, and Jonathan put his arms around her. “Do you know where I can find Valtteri or Hank?” she asked him, looking up at him.

“I’ll drive,” he told her, grabbing his keys off of the table and putting his coat on.

“You know, I could do it on my own, right?” she asked him.

“Yeah, but it’s much more fun for me to see you try to apologize to Hank and Valtteri, especially if Kristina’s home with him,” he added, and Sadie buried her blushing face in her hands, not able to believe she had tried to hit on an engaged man the night before.

“Hey, at least you flirted with guys that aren’t going to take it too seriously. And, at least it wasn’t Chelios,” he added with a laugh, grabbing her coat and helping her put it on. “Oh, but we are going to have to explain to Valtteri that we are dating. Otherwise, I think he’s going to be completely confused,” he told her.

Sadie quickly turned around to look at Jonathan. “You want to tell Valtteri?” she asked him. “I thought you didn’t want to tell your teammates or anyone else.”

Jonathan shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know,” he told her. “But, I do know that Val’s not going to freak out about it. Plus, I’ve already told Hank,” he added.

“Yes, because how else would he have known to bring me back here?” she asked him. “How did he take the news anyways?” she asked as they walked out the door and down to his car.

“Not too bad,” Jonathan said as he started the car and pulled out of the parking space. “He really didn’t say too much. But, I guess we’ll see about it today, won’t we?”

“You know, you’re really not helping at all,” Sadie told him, looking out the window. She watched as they pulled up in front of a condominium, and she looked over at Jonathan. “Whose place are we at?” she asked, never having been to either person’s home.

“Val’s,” he answered, and Sadie nodded her head. She slowly got out of the car, following Jonathan up to the door. He rang the doorbell for her, and moments later, it opened to reveal who Sadie assumed was Kristina.

“Fabio!” the woman exclaimed, and Sadie looked over at Jonathan, an amused expression on her face. He mouthed ‘I’ll explain later’, and Sadie nodded with a small laugh.

“Hey, Kristina,” Jonathan smiled. “This is Sadie,” he introduced, and the two girls said a quick ‘hello’. “Is Val here?” he asked her.

“Yep, let me go get him for you,” she told him, walking down the hallway.

Sadie laughed when she heard Kristina yell, ‘Val, Fabio’s here to see you!’ She turned around to Jonathan, saying, “So, are you going to explain, Fabio?”

“It’s just a stupid nickname some of the guys on the team started, and Kristina learned of it, and that’s all she’ll call me now,” he told her.

Sadie nodded her head. “I like it, Fabio,” she said with a smile as Valtteri and Kristina walked back into the living room. “I was hoping to talk to the two of you,” Sadie told them.

“Okay,” Valtteri said slowly, a little bit confused, sitting down on the couch, with Kristina sitting next to him.

“Okay,” Sadie began. “Well, Kristina, I don’t know if Valtteri told you what happened last night.”

Kristina looked over at Valtteri. “No, he didn’t,” she said suspiciously before looking back up at Sadie. “What happened?” she questioned.

“I think I should start at the beginning,” Sadie told them before telling them everything, from her and Jonathan dating up through her flirting with Valtteri and Henrik. When she got finished, she looked between Valtteri and Kristina, waiting to see their reaction. All of a sudden, Kristina started cracking up, and Sadie looked over at her. “You’re not angry, are you?” she asked cautiously. That was the last thing she wanted to do, make Valtteri’s fiancée angry.

Kristina shook her head, still laughing just as hard. “No, not at all,” she said in between her laughter. “Could you imagine how I would be if I were angry every single time someone flirted with Val? Sadie, girls throw themselves at him every single night. It’s just, I think you’re the first one to ever apologize to me afterwards,” Kristina told her, continuing laughing.

Sadie started laughing as she realized it was a little bit ridiculous. “I just didn’t want anyone to be angry,” she told her. “I was mad and drunk, and that’s not a good mix for me,” she admitted.

“That’s not a good mix for anyone,” Kristina pointed out. “But, no, as long as you and Val didn’t do anything, there’s nothing for me to be mad about.”

“Good,” Sadie told her with a smile as the topic changed.

An hour and a half later, Sadie found herself in front of Henrik’s door, waiting on him to answer. Moments later, the door flung open with Henrik standing there. “Sadie, Jon, it’s good to see the two of you here, together,” he told them, letting them inside. “I assume you worked everything out?”

Sadie nodded her head. “Yeah, we did,” she told him. “I’m just here to apologize to you.”

“Apologize?” Henrik asked.

“Yeah,” she told him. “I’m sorry about last night. I was angry and drunk, and I was completely out of line.”

“Sadie, it’s fine,” Henrik assured her. “Jonathan told me that you were angry at him, and I get what you were doing.”

“Thanks,” she smiled at him.

“So, you want to tell me how you two started going out?” Henrik asked, letting the previous night go.

“Sure,” Sadie told him, launching into the story.

When she had finished, Henrik looked between her and Jonathan. “So, let me get this straight. You two have been going out for four and a half months, and no one’s figured it out yet?”

“Well, Kyra knows,” Sadie admitted. “And, now Valtteri and Kristina know. But, other than that, no one else knows,” she told him.

“Well, you two know how to keep a secret, don’t you?” Henrik asked with a laugh.