I Won't Leave You

In seven hours and thirty-two minutes, it would have been exactly two years since Claudia’s life had changed. Two years since she and her boyfriend had had a huge argument. Two years since she had told him that she wanted him to get out of her apartment. Two years since she had regretted not telling him how much she needed him and asking him not to leave. Two years since John Tavares had walked out of her life.

In exactly three hours, she would be seeing him for the first time in two years. She didn’t know exactly how she had gotten herself in this predicament. She had kept an eye on how John was doing with his hockey, and she knew he was currently playing for the New York Islanders. For that reason alone, she should have told her boss no when she asked her to cover her at the meeting with the Islanders.

But, instead, she had told her that she would gladly cover it, not that she could really say no. Claudia was merely an assistant, and she had to do whatever her boss told her. Now, she was regretting that decision, though. She didn’t want to see John. She still hadn’t forgiven herself for letting him go two years ago. She could still remember that day as if it were yesterday.

She and John were fighting like they always seemed to do. But, this time it was different. Things seemed to be getting out of hand, with each of them screaming things at the other one that they didn’t mean. Finally, John had said the wrong thing, and Claudia erupted, screaming at him to get out of her apartment and never come back. John had stared at her in disbelief, but he finally grabbed his hockey bag that sat in the corner of the room and walked out the door, not taking a second glance back.

As soon as John had reached the door, Claudia knew that it was the end for them. She wanted to scream for him to come back, that she didn’t really want him to leave, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. As soon as the door slammed behind him, she whispered to herself, “Please don’t leave me,” and she immediately dropped to the floor, sobbing. And, she hadn’t seen him since then.

She glanced at her watch, mentally calculating the amount of time until she needed to be at the rink. She was talking to the team about a commercial that half of them would be doing, and her boss, Dahlia, had already told her that she was really going to have to sell this to them, as she knew they wouldn’t be too excited about it.

Claudia grabbed the binder in front of her, opening it up and reading about the commercial once again, trying to figure out what she was going to say to them. Before she knew it, she had forty-five minutes to get the rink, and she quickly shut the binder, grabbing her keys and her bag that held everything she would need for the day, and she ran out to her car.

She pulled into parking lot of the Islanders’ practice rink, her stomach full of knots. She was nervous about seeing John again, and she couldn’t help but wonder how he was going to react when he saw her. Was he going to be happy or sad? Did he regret leaving two years ago? Did he still have feelings for her? She shook her head at the last thought, grabbing her bag out of the back seat before heading inside.

***

John stood in front of his locker, pulling his jersey off and throwing it into his bag. All he could think about was getting out of there and getting some dinner, but he knew that Dahlia was coming in to talk about some commercial that half of the team was going to have to do, and he knew he was one of those people.

He sighed to himself, not wanting to have to listen to Dahlia. He liked her just fine, and he thought she was a nice person, but he didn’t want to hear her tell him that he had to do some commercial that he had no interest in doing.

He heard someone announce that Dahlia was coming in, and he grabbed a clean shirt out of his locker, getting ready to put it on. But, he suddenly froze when he saw Claudia walk in. He instantly dropped his shirt, staring at her in shock. He hadn’t seen her in two years, but she looked just like she used to.

“Hi,” she began, and all of the boys’ eyes looked at her. “As you can see, Dahlia wasn’t able to make it. She’s sick right now, so I’m going to be working with you in the meantime. My name is Claudia Greenfield,” she told them. At the mention of her name, a few of the guys glanced at John, wondering if it was the same Claudia Greenfield he had mentioned to them before. John didn’t see their glances, though, as he kept his eyes on her.

John couldn’t have told you one thing that Claudia was saying, as his mind was preoccupied with memories of two years ago. He knew when he left her apartment during that fight that it was the end of their relationship, and even though he wanted to try to salvage it, he didn’t turn back around, and he now regretted it.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard his name being said. He looked up and saw Claudia looking right at him. “What?” he asked, not knowing what she was talking about at the moment.

“John Tavares, you’re one of the people doing the commercial, so you need to stay just a little while longer so I can talk to you,” Claudia said, staying strictly professional. John simply nodded his head, staying where he was, watching as half of his teammates got up to leave.

Claudia explained all of the details of the commercial to the remaining men, telling them that they would be shooting it in two days, and she promptly turned around to leave, allowing John to let out a sigh of relief.

Jeff Tambellini, who had noticed John’s change in demeanor when Claudia walked into the room, looked at him. “What’s up with you?” he asked him, as John sat down on the bench, throwing his forgotten shirt over his head.

“Nothing,” John replied.

“Come on, what is it?” Jeff persisted. “Do you know that Claudia girl or something?” he asked.

John slowly nodded his head before going into their history. “So, I walked out without looking back,” John finished. “And, I’m regretting it all over again,” he admitted.

“So, do something about it,” Jeff said in an obvious tone. “Go find out if she’s single. For all you know, she’s been pining after you for the past two years. I mean, you’re the freaking star of the Islanders now. You’ve got every girl after you.”

“You’re just jealous,” John joked.

“Nah, I’m good with my girlfriend,” Jeff assured him. “But, seriously, if you’re regretting it, and you still have feelings for her, then you might as well try and do something about it. It’s just too big of a coincidence that she showed up today and not Dahlia.”

“That is weird.”

“It’s like it was fate or kismet or something.”

“You are such a girl,” John joked, causing Jeff to glare at him. “Seriously, though, when we were together, it seemed like all we did was fight.”

“You were how old back then? Fourteen? Fifteen?” Jeff asked with a laugh.

“I was seventeen,” John clarified. “She was nineteen.”

“Oooh, and older woman,” Jeff smiled. “You were a ladies’ man even back then.”

“Shut up,” John ordered.

“But, you’re two years older, two years more mature now. How do you know that it wouldn’t work out this time around?” Jeff questioned.

“Listen, she kicked me out of her apartment back then. She didn’t stop me when I left.”

“You didn’t stop, either,” Jeff pointed out.

“Who’s side are you on?” John questioned.

“Yours,” Jeff answered. “It’s just, you seem like you’re still in love with this girl, so why not try to make things right?” John simply shrugged, not knowing how to argue with that.

***

John sat off to the side, watching Claudia out of the corner of his eye as she talked to Jeff, telling him how his part of the commercial was going to go. Besides talking about the commercial, he and Claudia hadn’t said two words to each other. Jeff looked over to see John sitting there by himself, and he rolled his eyes at him. He looked back at Claudia to notice her briefly glance at John. “Why don’t you just go talk to him?” Jeff asked her.

“What?” Claudia inquired. “Who?”

“John,” Jeff answered. “I see you two staring at each other. Just go talk to him.”

“John and I have a history,” Claudia began.

“Yeah, I know,” Jeff interrupted her. “John told me all about it. But, it’s been two years, right? I think you both have changed since back then.” Claudia remained quiet, looking over at John who looked away when he noticed her looking his way, not wanting to get caught looking at her. “He’s single, you know?” Jeff added, and Claudia looked up at him, wondering if she had heard him correctly. “Now’s your chance. Now or never.”

“I can’t,” Claudia said, turning her back on John and walking over to Rick DiPietro who was next in line to film his scene.

Jeff sat there for the next three hours watching John and Claudia steal glances at each other when they thought no one was looking, and he was getting sick of them not doing anything about it. As Josh Bailey finished up his filming, Jeff took it upon himself to get John and Claudia to talk to each other.

As John and Claudia now stood across from one another with Jeff standing between the two of them, John looked over at his friend and teammate. “What are you trying to do, Jeff?” John asked him.

“I’m getting the two of you to at least talk to each other because I’m sick of this awkwardness between the two of you,” Jeff explained.

“There’s no point,” Claudia spoke. “As soon as the filming is done for this commercial, you guys will never see me again. I’m only here because Dahlia couldn’t make it, and I’m her assistant. So, there’s no point in talking. I’ll be out of your lives in less than an hour,” she explained.

“All the more reason to talk to each other now,” Jeff told them. “Seriously, is whatever happened between the two of you that bad that you won’t even talk to each other now?” he questioned.

John and Claudia were silent, both of them looking at the ground, not wanting to answer Jeff’s question. Claudia was the first one to break the silence. “John walked out on me,” she stated.

John looked up at her, his eyes wide. “You told me to leave! You told me to get out of your apartment!” he exclaimed.

“You didn’t even turn around when you left. You didn’t even second guess your decision!” she argued. “You left without a second thought.”

“Are you kidding me right now?” John questioned. “You think I left without a second thought? Claudia, I thought so many times about going back and asking to work things out, but I knew that you didn’t want that. You were serious that time when you kicked me out,” he recalled. “You knew that that would be the end of our relationship.”

“You didn’t hear what I said when you slammed that door behind you,” she yelled at him, and then she immediately regretted saying those words. John looked at her expectantly, but Claudia refused to continue.

“What?” John asked. “What did you say when I left?”

“Nothing. It doesn’t matter,” she told him. “It was two years ago, and it doesn’t matter anymore.”

“It matters,” John assured her. “What did you say when I left?” he repeated.

“Please don’t leave me,” she spoke, barely above a whisper, just as she had done two years ago.

“What about now?” he asked her.

“What?” she asked, confused.

“What about now?” he repeated. “Do you want me to leave?”

Claudia slowly shook her head. “Please don’t leave me,” she said once again.

John nodded his head, closing the gap between them. “I won’t leave you,” he promised, leaning down and connecting his lips to hers, not caring that everyone, including his teammates, was currently staring at them. All he cared about was that he was once again with Claudia, and he wasn’t going to let anything change that.