There Are Still Rules To Break

Walking into his parents’ house in L'Ancienne-Lorette, Patrice was immediately ushered to the table for breakfast by his mother. As he sat down and a plate was set down in front of him, his father and older brother, Guillaume, shot him identical looks of amusement. Patrice knew that he was getting absolutely spoiled by his mother, and he also knew it was because she missed him and worried over him constantly.

He had spent his first night back in Quebec at his parents’ house, but he had to insist on going to his own place after that. He loved his family and loved spending time with them, of course, but Patrice also loved quiet time, and he knew he would never get that at the Bergeron household.

Though, he had started to regret his decision to stay at his own house as he tried to fall asleep on his first night there. Sleep was escaping him, mostly because his mind was going a mile a minute, thinking about a certain girl he had left in Boston. He had laughed and called himself an insomniac, but he only realized that was a bad idea when it made him think of Amanda more.

Three days in Quebec and he was missing her already.

“Are you alright?” His brother asked him after they had finished breakfast and left the Bergeron house. Patrice only nodded and kept walking, his older brother at his side, texting someone on his phone. Pulling out his own cell phone, he opened his address book and scrolled to Amanda’s name, contemplating what he wanted to say to her.

The truth was, they hadn’t talked since he had left Boston. Not intentionally, really. Patrice was sure that Amanda wasn’t calling because she knew he would be catching up with his family, which he was. But he also figured she didn’t know that every minute he was with them he was thinking about her.

“I met a girl.”

Guillaume stopped walking when Patrice did. Putting his phone in his pocket, he stared at his younger brother with an amused expression on his face. “A girl?” He asked, nudging Patrice’s arm, who only nodded and started walking again. “Her name is Amanda, born and raised in Boston. She’s a writer.”

“A smart one this time, then?” Guillaume asked with a laugh, no doubt referring to Patrice’s ex girlfriend who had been way less than intelligent.

Patrice laughed too, shaking his head, “Amanda’s amazing. I miss her already.”

“Why didn’t you bring her up here?”

It was a good question. One that Patrice had tried to justify with “it’s too soon. I’ve only known her three weeks,” but it really didn’t matter how long he had known her. He missed her, and he wanted to see her. He wanted her to be introduced to his family as his girlfriend, and he wanted her to spend the summer with him in Quebec.

Telling this to Guillaume, the older Bergeron brother only shoved his younger brother, told him to stop being such an idiot, and invite her. Every hesitation he had about inviting Amanda to Quebec, including the fear he would freak her out for moving so quickly, disappeared as he took his cell phone from his pocket again. Getting a final encouraging nod from Guillaume, Patrice clicked her name and sent her a text. All he had to do was wait for her response.

. . .

For the first time since she had met Patrice, Amanda was hanging out with her friends. It’s not like she purposely ignored them. She had just been too wrapped up in all things hockey, all things Bruins, all things Patrice Bergeron to even think about anything else. It was so easy to get caught up in him, she decided. She knew he wasn’t perfect; nobody was, but Patrice was about as close to perfect as someone could get.

Sure, he was ridiculously good looking and had a sexy body, and a French Canadian accent to die for, especially when he was whispering intimate things in Amanda’s ear, but he was so much more than that. Biting her lip, she tried to shake the thoughts of him out of her head, but she couldn’t. Everything about Patrice had Amanda in a tizzy just thinking about him. And he’d only been gone three days; just how was she supposed to deal throughout the entire summer?

She missed him already. She missed the way he looked at her like nobody else ever had. She missed how he was constantly touching her in some way the most, she concluded. Not holding his hand or having his arm around her waist or shoulders made Amanda feel cold, even while she was sitting at an outside café with her girl friends in almost eighty degree weather.

A hand on her arm pulled her out of her reverie. Giving a small smile at the girls, she quietly apologized, knowing she had probably missed more than half of the conversation. She waved them off, and two of them turned back to each other, continuing their conversation, but one didn’t. Olivia was always more perceptive than the rest of the girls in their small group of friends. Keeping her gaze fixed on Amanda, she titled her head to the side and asked her best friend since the second grade what was wrong.

Amanda sighed, knowing she would need to tell Olivia what had been going on, but she didn’t want to do it in front of the other girls. Olivia sensed this, knowing how close guarded Amanda was about personal things. Besides, it was really no secret that Amanda only put up with the other girls. She didn’t really like a lot of people, but Olivia was definitely someone she did.

Olivia stood up and motioned for Amanda to stand up with her. She told the other girls Amanda wasn’t feeling well and that she was going to go back to her apartment with her, put her to bed. The other two girls barely nodded before diving back into their gossip. Olivia rolled her eyes and walked to her car and climbed in, waiting for Amanda to climb in as well.

“To your place?” Olivia asked starting the car and rolling down the windows. Amanda shook her head, as she buckled her seat belt. “Actually, can we go somewhere else?” Olivia raised her eyebrows, giving Amanda a curious look, but Amanda smiled and gave directions to Patrice’s place. The ride was silent except for Amanda telling Olivia where to go. She could tell her friend was as confused as ever when Amanda told her to pull into the parking garage of the rather expensive apartment building. Laughing, Amanda unbuckled herself and reached over Olivia and out the open window to punch in the code to get in.

“You could have just told me the code,” Olivia laughed.

“How do I know you can be trusted?” Amanda asked with a smirk. Directing her to a spot to pull into, Amanda grabbed her purse from the floor and hopped out of the car, Olivia slowly and hesitantly following behind her. Laughing, she grabbed her friend’s arm and pulled her into the elevator with her.

“It’s not a haunted house, or something, Liv.”

“Amanda, why are we here?”

“This is part of what I have to tell you.”

“You won the lottery and bought a million dollar condo?”

Laughing again, she pulled the key from her purse and unlocked Patrice’s door, ushering Olivia inside. Amanda watched with a smile as her best friend stood rooted to her spot just inside the door, staring at the huge apartment, much like Amanda had when Patrice first brought her over. Walking into the kitchen, she pulled out two water bottles from the fridge and handed one to Olivia, ushering the petite blond to the couch.

“Where should I start?” Amanda asked herself, kicking off her shoes and tucking her feet underneath her. Olivia did the same and turned to Amanda, urging her with wide eyes to tell her what exactly was going on.

“Whose apartment is this?”

“Patrice Bergeron’s,” Amanda said quickly, biting her lip. Olivia froze, her eyes wider than Amanda had ever seen, as she looked around the apartment again.

“Patrice… Bergeron… of the Bruins?”

Laughing to herself again, Amanda took a deep breath and dove into the story of how she had met Patrice. The whole time Olivia was silent, listening with wide eyes and her mouth hanging open. She didn’t leave any detail out, even going as far to tell her best friend all of the almost intimate moments they had had together. Telling Olivia everything that had happened between them did nothing to help how badly Amanda was missing him.

She ran a hand through her hair and bit her lip. Olivia placed a hand on her shoulder and frowned, “How long has be been gone?”

“Three days, Liv. How the hell am I going to manage the rest of the summer?”

Shaking her head, the blond wrapped her friend in a tight hug, just as Amanda’s phone buzzed on the table. Amanda made no moves to pick it up, so Olivia did for her. Smiling to herself, she read the incoming text before shoving the phone at Amanda, who sighed and looked down to read the message. It was funny to Olivia how fast Amanda’s face went from bummed to excited in a matter of a second, but it did.

Reading the message again to make sure she had read it right, Amanda still couldn’t believe it.

How soon can you get off of work?
Come to Quebec.