Before He Cheats

The loud sound of blades carving into the thick and slick layer of ice echoed through the living room, bouncing off of the walls and rebounded back at me. The noise, along with the obnoxious commentators didn’t bother me, as I was perched on the lazy boy, eyes and full focused fixed on the players as they speeded around on their skates.

I rolled my eyes as the strong scent filled my nose, almost giving me a headache before he even got within ten feet from me.

His lips pressed a kiss to my forehead while his eyes trailed to the TV, just as the game switched over to a commercial.

“Who’s winning?” He wondered, flattening the collar of his button up.

“Blackhawks,” I answered before letting my eyes stray from the television to look up at him. “Wearing enough cologne?” I asked with a bitchy smirk, watching as he carefully ruffled his already messy hair in the mirror. He blushed, moving his eyes away from his reflection to look at me with blazing cheeks.

“My finger slipped,” he informed me, “is it that bad?” He asked me worried, lowering his head to smell his shirt. I rolled my eyes once again while sinking back into the lazy boy.

“No, it’s fine,” I said, waving the situation off, my eyes once again fixing on the television as Jonathan Toews appeared on the screen. I chuckled, shaking my head. “Someone should teach that boy how to smile,” I commented, taking note of how Jonathan always looked so serious on the ice. TJ laughed, nodding his head as he slipped his wallet into his back pocket.

“You know Jon, that’s his game face.” I nodded, knowing that that was probably exactly what Jonathan would say if he heard me.

“Don’t wait up, the boys and I will probably be out late,” TJ said, slipping on his perfectly white shoes. I nodded, still keeping my eyes on the hockey game in front of me.

“Love you, baby,” he told me, a promising and convincing light shining through. I grinned up at him, finally taking my eyes away from the game.

“I love you too,” I replied just before he pressed his lips to mine for a sweet, loving kiss that only TJ Oshie could deliver to me.

He gave me his boyish grin before he walked out of the apartment, only stopping at the door to turn and blow me a kiss and his darkish smile. I gave him a sweet smile back for show, before rolling my eyes the second he turned around.

I sunk back into the leather chair when I was sure he was gone and watched as Patrick Kane made an impressive move to deke around a few defensemen then bank it home behind Tim Thomas. As the home crowd cheered loudly for their star player, I threw my plaid pajama pants clad legs up on the glass table that TJ’s mother had picked out.

During the obviously overused commercial time out, I couldn’t help but to roll my eyes once again at the signs that told me my life was going no where. I was sitting at home on a Friday night in my pajamas, watching an old friend live out his dreams while my boyfriend got all dressed up and went out to have a night on the town with his buddies.

It wasn’t a half hour after TJ had left that I had received a text from the one person I was waiting on. My lips turned up, baring my teeth evilly while I clicked into the message.

He’s buying her a martini, you should have seen her try to take a shot of whiskey.

I laughed loudly at the text, the whole scenario playing in my head. Personally, I’d do anything to see a bleach blond city tramp try to down a whiskey like only us North Dakota girls can. It takes a lot of practice and up in North Dakota, all we do is practice our drinking skills.

I replied quickly, knowing he would be waiting for my word, just like always. If there was any man I could actually depend on, it’d be Marco. Every girl needs a gay best friend, right?

Almost an hour passed and I hadn’t heard any ”operation bust man slut” updates. Naturally, I began to get worried, but I knew he wouldn’t fall through on me. That’s why I wasn’t surprised a few minutes after ten when he called me.

“Are you sure he hasn’t seen you?” I asked worriedly, examining my nails. By the calm background noise, it was evident that he stepped outside to call.

“Sweetheart, a gay man’s façade is one that not even the fakest bitch in Miami could even put up,” he told me with an annunciated lisp to add extra effect. I laughed loudly but knew he was right. ”Besides, when has man slut eye candy ever seen me not wearing Prada? He wouldn’t know it was me even if I was sitting at their table.” I nodded, knowing that Marco was once again correct.

“Anyway,” I started, trying to get him to move straight to the point.

”Right. They were slow dancing for a while. She’s a frisky one, I must say. When I came outside, he was all up on her teaching her how to shoot a combo,” I rolled my eyes at this. Who the hell doesn’t know how to play pool? ”That’s all that’s going on though. His friends are actually here, so he’s obviously holding back.” His friends. Our friends.

I couldn’t help but to sigh and wonder how the hell we got mixed into this mess. How could such a perfect relationship turn into this? I guess that’s just God throwing bad karma my way for being such a bitch to my little brother all my life.

“Stop being sad, sweetheart. Meet me at Galaxy in twenty,” Marco demanded before the click signaling that he had hung up on me caused me to smirk.

I stood from the chair I had glued my body to for the past few hours. With a smirk fixed on my lips, I slid TJ’s pj pants down my legs to reveal my cut off jean shorts. In a swift movement, I pulled the large tee shirt over my head and adjusted the tight top that accented my curves well. Using a finger to pull the gumband out of my hair, I shook my natural curls over my shoulders and smirked at the picture of TJ with the puck from his first NHL goal. TJ Oshie, if you’re going to have fun tonight, then so am I.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TJ was gone for practice when I woke up the next afternoon. He had left me breakfast, but the fact that he didn’t wake me up when he left let me know that he wasn’t happy that I went out last night. But he had no right to be mad. It wasn’t like I was out being unfaithful or anything.

I didn’t see TJ until later that night when I had been getting home from having coffee with Marco. It didn’t surprise me one bit when I saw TJ in the bathroom, running his gel coated fingers through his hair.

I smiled as I came up behind him, moving his hands to fix his hair myself. My fingers tangled in them just the way I knew he liked it, making his tongue slide across his lush bottom lip before his teeth clamped down on it.

“There,” I announced softly, moving one piece of his hair so it looked just the way he wanted it to. He smiled at me in the mirror and thanked me before he grabbed his toothbrush. I grinned.

“We wouldn’t want you not dressed to impress her, right?” I commented, hiding my smirk as his hazy green eyes widened significantly and rose in the mirror to look at me.

“W-who?” He sputtered through a mouth full of foamy toothpaste. I raised my eyebrows, giving him an innocent smile.

“Didn’t you say you were going to dinner with your mother tonight?” His eyes closed, relieved, and his hand unfroze as he started to work the bristles of his toothbrush harder. He nodded, but didn’t show any signs of carrying out the conversation. So I turned on my heel and walked back to our bedroom, where I collected a few things that I would need for tonight.

TJ decided it’d be smart this time to wait till he got to his truck to put his cologne on this time, which made me laugh as I watched him do it in the driveway as I watched from the window. As he pulled out backwards, he raised his blackberry to his ear, no doubtfully calling her.

I’m doing it. I pushed send, not even waiting for Marco’s reply before throwing my phone into my tote. He’ll know what I mean.

I tugged on my Classic Ultra Tall Uggs, smirking as I remembered TJ telling me that he thought it was cute when I wore my boots with shorts. Brushing my hands across my bare thighs to get rid of any of the dirt, I tore open the closet.

TJ’s clothes rained down on the front lawn of the apartment complex in large quantities. Everything he owned in our room, his clothes, his hockey equipment, his papers, everything flew through the window and into the outside air.

As I tossed his last armful of polos carelessly out the window, I smiled down at the teenage boy who was looking up at me curiously from the sidewalk. I gave him a wink before turning, not bothering to close the window. TJ hated it when I forgot to close the window. He claims it gets too drafty.

I grabbed my bag, and whistled shortly while bending onto a knee. The small puppy ran towards me from the other room, her collars jingling with each stride she took.

“Come on, baby girl, let’s go show daddy what we’re made of.” Easily, I picked the three month old chocolate lab up. Lily wrapped herself in my arm and laid her shoulder on my head. I didn’t bother to hold back my eye roll at her while I walked us out of the apartment. All she does is sleep. Just like that fucking Swede.

I bet TJ Oshie thinks he’s just the smartest guy in the world. I mean, what could go wrong when you have a girlfriend who isn’t twenty one yet? Just because I couldn’t go into the bars with him didn’t mean I didn’t know he was there with different girls every night. Well, TJ Oshie, you’re not as clever as you believe you are.

Sure, it hurt that he was cheating on me. But the fact that he thought I wouldn’t find out brings the bitter bitch out in me. After knowing someone as long as I’ve known TJ, you tend to pick up on it when something’s not right.

I had gotten over the fact that I wasn’t enough for him. It was obvious recently that TJ wasn’t in love with me, and when I realized this, I also found that I wasn’t in love with him anymore either. Someone once told me when TJ and I first started dating back in North Dakota that it’s just as easy to fall out of love as it is to fall in love. I never believed them. Until we came to St. Louis.

Jonathan Toews ex girlfriend warned me that the NHL changes guys. I knew she was right. For the past few months, I watched as TJ progressed, making little changes in his every day life style and personality. I should have got out while I could. But I was in love with him. Or at least I thought I was.

TJ Oshie was an idiot. He may be good at hockey, but God knows that is the only strong point the boy possesses. How the hell could he not assume that I would find out eventually? I’d known since it had all started, about two months ago. Since then, he went out almost every night when he didn’t have a game the next day. So I sent in my super top secret spy aka my gay best friend who TJ would rather avoid to keep an eye on him. Stalker girlfriend? No. I’m just smart.

It was almost too predictable when I found TJ’s Avalanche parked in the lot outside of his favorite sports bar. You would think the kid actually had enough to class to at least take the slut to a club or something. But TJ Oshie was a cheap guy, and for a cheap fuck, he wasn’t about to spend more than a few bills.

After making sure the windows were significantly cracked enough for air flow, I kissed Lily on the head, and scratched behind her ear for good measure.

“I’ll be back in ten minutes, okay, and if I’m not, come in and get me,” I told her. Watching her tilt her head to the left a bit and stare at me with those puppy eyes, I refrained from smacking myself in the face. I guess sometimes I had a bit too much faith in my dog.

I flashed the guard the fake ID that I was sure TJ forgot he made me back in North Dakota. Flipping my brown hair over my shoulder, I let my eyes trail across the bar.

The place was packed, and I should have realized that it was karaoke night before I got here. Of course it was. Fuck Wednesday nights, the only time it’s actually acceptable for a drunk to make an idiot of themselves.

My eyes found my boyfriend immediately. TJ Oshie carried some sort of aura with him. You always knew he was there.

The way he was looking up at the stage with admiration told me that his new slut was up there. I rolled my eyes as I heard the trashy version of Shania karaoke flowing from the speakers enter into the last chorus. When trying to impress a Country boy, you might want to go a bit deeper than Shania. Typical city girl.

Her hair was an obvious bleach blonde job. Light make up caked her face, giving off that trying to hard to get natural beauty type of deal. I rolled my eyes as she flipped her hair over her shoulder. ”Baby, I promise you, I don’t even like blondes, brunette’s are more my thing,” I rolled my eyes at the words and the cheesy smile that came after it. Sure Teej, keep lying to yourself and me and we’ll see how far that gets you.

I only stayed long enough to watch her jump into his arms. By the looks of his sick smirk, I could tell she said something along the lines about how drunk she was. How cute. TJ’s gunna get lucky tonight. I wonder how many ways possible I can ruin that for him? Cause you know, girlfriends are cock blocks of the century.

As I walked out of the building, TJ stood from his chair and made his way to the men’s bathroom. I rolled my eyes again. So predictable. On our first date, this was about the time that TJ snuck to the bathroom to dab on some cheap cologne.

Lily was waiting for me when I retreated back to my car. I opened the door for her, knowing she wouldn’t run away from me. She snapped at me playfully. I sighed, and knelt down to kiss her soft head lightly.

“Baby girl, momma needs to show daddy just how much of a bitch she can be,” I said, “I can’t play right now, Lil,” I told her softly. I looked at her with sad eyes. This was the end for TJ and I. That means Lily was either going with me, or with him. And I would die before I let him have my baby.

I latched the leash around her collar, before setting her in the front seat of the car and then shut the door. In the backseat, I found exactly what I needed and walked the almost agonizingly long walk to his truck.

Deciding to do the real damage first, the key in my fingers sliced into the shiny tan paint of his beloved Chevy Avalanche. In big, loopy writing, I carved ‘TJ OSHIE’S PHONE NUMBER-‘ before working in the number that was etched into my memory. Smiling at the damage, I backed to my own car once again, and got one of my many aluminum baseball bats.

I took a swing that was sure to make him regret dating UND’s star softball player. The denting sound of the exterior made me smirk even wider and take even harder swings. Glass shattering brought me great satisfaction as his front driver side window busted through at the contact of my Louisville Slugger. I finished off with the bat by smashing in both of the headlights then setting the bat down to fish my keys out of my hoodie pocket.

The smooth black leather was my next target as I carved ‘Avery’ in both of the front seats with a heart under them, knowing that would probably get to him most. Next, I was sure to slash all four tires with the pocket knife that TJ made me keep in my car for safety reasons. Oh the irony.

Deciding that it wasn’t enough just yet, I reached through the pieces of glass littered window and picked up the sharpie that he kept in his center console for fan purposes with a smirk. Leaning over the hood of the truck, I wrote in my large loopy letters Maybe next time he’ll think before he cheats. across the clear windshield in the permanent black ink.

I stepped back with a smirk and my arms crossed over my chest to survey the damage I had done. His pretty, little, souped up four wheel drive was wrecked, and I was sure it would get him fuming, just like I wanted it to. My every intention was to get TJ Oshie so worked up that he didn’t even know what to do with himself.

As I turned around, my eyes caught the several bodies around the door, watching with wide eyes at my actions. I just laughed, seeing the familiar set of eyes wider than ever, face pale. Brandon scurried back into the bar, probably to go run off and tell TJ what was going on.

Just then, Lily was at my feet. I didn’t bother scolding her for somehow getting out of the car. I just bent down, grabbed both the bat, and her purple leash.

And just as I threw the bat backwards behind me and heard the shattering, telling me that it had went through the back window, TJ’s angry voice rang out, giving me all the satisfaction I needed to end this right.

“WHAT THE FUCK?”

With my puppy at my side, I continued to walk down the dark, damp street, out of TJ Oshie’s life. Because next time that TJ Oshie cheats, you know it won’t be on me.