What If I Told You I Love You

The Blues were up 3-0 against the Nashville Predators by the end of the second period. I was happy about the fact that we were winning but much to my dismay, TJ was having a decent game. He was all over the ice, dropping players, taking shots, making good passes. It pissed me off to no end. Why did he have to be a good hockey player? Why couldn't he suck? I spent the first and second periods, glaring down at the 74 as I watched him tear up the ice.

During the 2nd intermission, Mel pulled me out of my zone, staring at the ice, watching as it went from being a marked up chalkboard to becoming a slick white board again.

"What's got you all uptight? You usually love hockey but you look like your going to burn a hole in the ice." She whispered, not wanting Derek, who was up talking with some of the execs, to hear.

"I can't tell you with Derek around." I responded, shifting around.

"Is it TJ?" She asked. I just nodded in response.

"Did he say something?"

"No, he did something. Mel, seriously just drop it."

"Holy shit, he kissed you!" She exclaimed, "that's why your so flustered." She had a huge smile on her face as a blush crossed my cheek bones.

"Shhh." I muttered, turning to see Derek still engaged in a conversation.

She clapped her hands together, bringing her legs up so they were under her. She flipped her brown hair behind her ear. "How was it!?"

"You expect me to tell you when you still haven't told me what was up with you and Bergie?"

She rolled her eyes, "details. Then me and Patrik."

"Fine. He attacked me. He kissed me. End of story." I replied.

"Oh come on, stop being a smartass. Did you like it?" She gave me a huge grin.

I gave her a look, telling her I was not amused. She took it in the way I wanted her too, of course I enjoyed it, and I was not happy about that little fact. I replayed the story for her, starting from when we ran into each other. I was even more pissed off after replaying the events out loud. I should have hated it. I should have thought Derek was better. I shouldn't have these weird feelings for TJ, but I did, I don't, and I do. Ugh, fuck my life.

"There is nothing wrong with having feelings for him," Mel said matter of factly.

"Actually, there is especially when I have a boyfriend," I hissed.

"Oh whatever. Derek is nothing compared to what TJ could be for you. It's pretty obvious that TJ's kiss was a bigger deal for you than any of Derek's. Everything happens for a reason, did you stop to think that maybe it's a sign that you two have run into each other twice already?"

"No, because I'm a realist, I don't believe in that crap."

"No, but you believe that Derek is your sole mate?" She countered. Ugh, she should be a flipping therapist.

I gave her a glare which she just returned with raised eyebrows and a pointed look. I sighed, bringing my attention back to the ice below me. This wasn't fair. Why couldn't TJ just drop off the face of the planet.

Because you would miss him.

SHUT UP!

I watched the 74 skate onto the ice for the third period. I followed him with my eyes the rest of the game. I watched him on the bench as he laughed with Bergie, having the time of his life. He was in his own zone and even though he didn't score by the end of the game, I could tell that he was going to be a big deal around here. He was going to have girls falling all over him, begging to sleep with him. My stomach twisted with a weird emotion and for a second I thought I might barf.

"Rena?" Derek pulled me from the ice below. I looked up at his brown hair and brown eyes. He gave me a small smile, giving me his hand to take. I stood up walking with him to the locker room. Mel was already down there, flipping her hair around. I snorted as I propped myself against the wall next to her.

"What?" She asked innocently.

"Bergie isn't out yet." I smirked, "and you don't think I didn't notice that you never told me about you and him. How did you guys even meet anyway?"

"We met like ten minutes after we left the cafe the other day. Ironic, I know. But I stopped to get some coffee and I dropped my keys into the trash can. He happened to be walking by and he stopped, offering to help me retrieve them. So I offered to pay him back with dinner. He ended up being a cool guy and he asked me out again." She told me. I watched as her eyes sparkled and her smile brightened when she talked about him. I gave her a grin in response to the story.

"Aww, how nice of him. You like him." I told her, nudging her shoulder. She just nodded, biting down on her lip.

"He just seems so genuinely nice and I can't resist his sexy accent. Oh I almost forgot, are you going to come out and celebrate tonight?" She asked.

"I was thinking about it. Babe, are you going to come?" I asked Derek, who was busy texting away on his phone. He held up a finger to me and I rolled my eyes. I heard Mel snort under her breath and I slapped her shoulder in response.

"Sorry. What did you say?" He asked, putting his phone back in his pocket.

"Are you going to come out tonight and celebrate?" I repeated, as Bergie walked out of the locker room, TJ, not surprisingly, in toe.

"Oh. I thought we were just going to hang out tonight. You know, just the two of us." Derek responded, pulling his phone out and texting again.

My face flushed at the obvious slap in the face he was giving me. He rarely acted like this and the fact hat he was when TJ was standing feet away was really embarrassing to me. I grabbed the phone out of his hand, and snapped my fingers by his face.

"I'm talking to you and your being rude. Knock it off." I growled. He rolled his eyes at me.

"Why are you being such a bitch?" He asked, folding his arms over his chest. TJ snorted behind me and I snapped my head in his direction. He lifted his palms towards the ceiling, to say 'what?'

"Don't even act innocent, Oshie."

"I think your proving the bitch point again." He let loose a laugh causing Derek to smile. Great, now they are ganging up on me.

"Fuck you." I snapped, turning back towards Derek.

"We already discussed that." TJ murmured, shaking his head.

I ignored him, "Derek are you coming or not?"

"No, not when your acting like a baby. Your not fun to be around anymore. I want my girlfriend back. You know, the one that didn't take my phone and wasn't such a control freak."

My mouth dropped open and I heard Bergie whisper harshly to Mel. Her growl under her breath could be heard when Derek grabbed the phone out of my hand and then walked away down the hallway. I stood there frozen in my spot. Silence hung over the four of us as Derek disappeared from sight. I closed my eyes and counted to five.

"Trouble in paradise?" TJ asked, breaking the silence. I opened my eyes and looked at him out of the corner of my eye. I could tell he was trying not to laugh and failing miserably. I just flicked him off before turning towards Mel. Her face was scrunched in anger and her eyes were narrowed into tiny slits.

"I'm in for tonight. I need to get drunk." I told her.

"Now that is something I need to see." TJ spoke wrapping his arm around my shoulder and leading me towards the door.

***
The second we walked into the club, TJ ditched us for the blonde girl that attached herself to him. I watched with narrowed eyes as they made their way to the dance floor, grinding once their feet touched it. I wanted to turn away because weird feelings, I will not call it jealousy, coursed through my body, but I couldn't help but watch. I was already pissed off and annoyed from Derek and now seeing this girl, who totally didn't deserve TJ, wipe him with her body just made me even more peeved.

"Look away, he might think you like him." I looked towards Mel was smirking at me. She tugged on my arm, leading me through the sweaty bodies over towards the bar.

I tried to stop looking at him. I tried to look for a different guy to dance with, someone who could make me forget about Derek and TJ. But every time my eyes would land on a suitable candidate I compared them to a certain blonde boy I knew. His brown hair was spiked slightly, a lot shorter than TJ's. He had brown eyes, they didn't shinned like TJ's. He was shorter than TJ. He dressed more uptight than TJ. After the fifth guy, I felt tears brimming up in my eyes because of how confused I was.

I didn't want to feel this way for TJ. I wanted to feel this way for Derek. Derek was comfortable, I was comfortable with him because usually he just took all of my crap. If I was being honest, I was with Derek because he was more like a friend. I never had to try to impress him, he already was, mostly by my money and the hockey team my dad owned, but I didn't have to try. It was effortless.

My eyes scanned the dance floor once more but I was looking for TJ, not a dance partner. I zoned in on him, sitting next to a new girl, blonde of course. I could see from here that she was a puck slut and I felt the need to protect him from her. Before I even could process what I was doing, I was stalking over to them, ready to make a scene.

"Hey Teej.. did you ever figure out why your balls were so itchy all the time?" I asked, watching his eyes bug out of his head at my words. I was quite surprised that I had chosen this to say, I had no idea where that came from. But I liked the reaction that I got out of TJ.

The puck slut's mouth dropped and she scooted her body away from TJ a little bit. I smirked while TJ's eyes lowered into a glared. I turned as if I was going to walk away but then looked over my shoulder at them. TJ looked livid while the blonde looked slightly disgusted, "OH! I almost forgot to tell you, your ex-girlfriend says hi, and thanks for the herpes." I murmured before I triumphantly sauntered away.

I walked back over to where Mel was situated, in between Bergie's legs. I rolled my eyes at the way she stroked his thigh. Jesus, could they get a room.

"You know," Mel started, taking a sip from her mixed drink, "green isn't a very good color on you." She smirked, biting the corner of her lip. I just rolled my eyes at her. I was so not jealous.

"Whatever, I was doing that girl a favor," I remarked, signaling to the bartender that I wanted another drink.

"Yeah, sure. Or yourself. But whatever, same thing right?" She tilted her head to the side, sending me a knowing look. Damn, why couldn't I have an idiot for a best friend.

"Okay, believe what you want." I muttered, turning to survey the crowd. The bartender placed my drink next to my arm. I went to reach into my purse to grab my money but he stopped me.

"Your drink is already paid for," he informed me.

"Oh, okay. Um, who did that kind gesture?" I asked, looking at the people around the bar. I took a sip as the bartender turned to look for my alcohol supplier.

"There he is. The guy in the navy hat and the yellow polo. He also told me to give you this." I looked to where the bartender was pointing and I saw the figure he was talking about.

Something about the way he stood was familiar to me. I racked my brain as to where I had seen that outfit combination and the cocky stance before. I couldn't put my finger on it so I just lifted my drink to the guy's back and took a sip. Remembering the napkin that had been placed with my drink, I flipped it over to reveal some-what neat writing, but it was obvious that it belonged to a guy.

I put a little something extra in it for you. Have a good next 24 hours.

My mind started to race as to all the things that could possibly go into a drink. My eyes scanned over the liquid, not seeing any sort of residue in it. My brain reeled through all of the possibilities as to what could have been put in there.

Holy shit! What if it was some sort of drug?! At that thought I pushed the drink about an arms length away from me. I don't do getting drugged and then having some guy take advantage of me. I had been smart about it through my 21 years on the earth and I wasn't about to let stupidity hit me now.

I looked back towards the guy completely confused. He had turned around and that infamous smirk was plastered on that same goddamn face that had been haunting my days recently. TJ fucking Oshie stood next to the bar with a beer in his hand, a smirk on his mouth, and a freakish glint in his eye. Oh, so he was trying to scare me, huh. He was totally bluffing. TJ Oshie was a down right prick but there was no way he would drug my drink. I pulled the drink back to me, smirking as I brought it to my lips.

TJ's eyebrows raised and his mouth opened into a wide smile. I flashed my perfect teeth back at him, raising my glass to him again, and took another sip of the juicy goodness. I made a show of licking my lips, before bringing it back to my mouth and downing the whole thing. I set the now empty glass on the bar, never breaking eye contact with TJ. He threw his head back and let loose a loud laugh that I could hear from my spot across the bar. I rolled my eyes at his antics. I showed him. Why was he laughing like a hyena?

I spun around on the bar stool, looking towards the dance floor for another dance partner. Screw Derek and all the bullshit he tried to bring into my life. I was going to have fun without him. I was going to ignore TJ Oshie and dance like no one was watching. Tonight, for once, it was all about me. Well, it usually is, but in my mind, I didn't have to worry about anyone but myself. And I was comforted by that thought.

My phone buzzed inside the back pocket of my jeans, making me jump in surprise. I absently pulled it out, not even taking my eyes off the dance floor. A number I didn't know flashed before my eyes. I opened the new text and I instantly knew who it was.

Your going to wish you wouldn't have done that my dear

I rolled my eyes. TJ thought he was so badass. Pshh, he had nothing on me. I texted back my reply before slamming my phone shut. I asked for another drink and after receiving it, I sauntered around the bar so I could pass TJ. He sat next to a new blonde girl, although this one looked a little less trashy but a little more bitchy.

My eye started to twitch as I took in how high her hand was on his thigh. My eyes narrowed and my body became rigid as she placed a soft kiss on his cheek. But I smirked triumphantly when I noticed TJ was too busy looking at his phone to noticed her. I watched from a couple people away as his eyes narrowed and then clouded over as he kept re-reading the text I sent him:

I'm not scared of you or any of the shit you pull. Bring it on babe.

His fingers furiously pounded on his blackberry, letting his frustration out on his phone. My phone buzzed and I opened it, eager to see what he said. All that was presented to me were the words GAME ON. I laughed and continued to giggle as I watched TJ pout next to his latest chick. He obviously didn't know that the game didn't look to good from his end. Focus is everything and right now, TJ can't get me out of his head.