A Rollercoaster Kind of Rush

I tapped my manicured fingers on the sorry excuse of a bed. It was a foam mattress, which was obviously not exactly ideal for a good night of sleep, with a flat pillow and a blanket that reminded me a lot of a dull blue shower curtain.

I hadn’t planned to get some sleep anyway. In my stilettos, short dress and perfect hair, it was obvious that I didn’t belong here. I could already feel my cheekbone bruising and my entire face was aching at the spots where Lily could get some hits in.

Of course, I wasn’t rushed to the county jail and thrown in a jail cell with a blood thirsty murderer. At 1:23 on the morning of January 289h, I was escorted to the Grand Forks police station where I was locked in the one person waiting cell.

“Here,” the lone guard grunted, thrusting a white Dixie cup through the bars. I smiled sweetly, but sarcastically up at him, standing from the bed and grabbing the cup from his hand.

He had been serving me water for the past four hours, much to his displeasure. The sheriff told his under worker that I needed to be given water to sober up, even though I was long sober by this point. But since I was starving, and they wouldn’t give me food, I happily drank the water, hoping it would fill my stomach and I wouldn’t die of starvation.

I was given the chance to think a lot in my four hours of time in the cell alone. I thought a lot of the things, much worse than I did, that I would have done to Lily if I would have known I was going to jail anyway. Evan was also on my mind frequently. Naturally, I was worried of what his reaction was going to be to me getting myself arrested.

The cool water slid down my throat as I eyed the guard, who was glaring at me. He sat at the chair in front of the desk where his feet were propped up lazily. Raising my eyebrows, I pursed my lips at him.

“Yes?” I inquired. The middle aged man rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest boredly. He closed his eyes and let his head fall back into the backrest of his chair, but didn’t bother to reply.

I sighed deeply, pulling my dress down as far as I could as Ieaned back against the hard, cold cinder block wall that was cheaply painted a color of boring white. My eyes fluttered closed instantly. I was exhausted to say the least after not getting a wink of sleep over the night. And as the sun was starting to shine through the windows on the opposite side of the room, I could feel my body begin to slow down.

The clanking of metal on metal snapped me from my slumber, sending me flying up. Rubbing my face, I groaned.

“Let’s go,” the guard said, turning his key in the lock, and sliding open the jail cell door. I nodded frantically, elated to finally get out of this little metal box.

My heels clicked in a steady rhythm as I followed the officer, my hands cuffed behind my back. Sighing to myself, I felt like a real criminal.

I caught sight of Evan before he saw me. As he was signing papers at the front desk, his eyes were tired, and his face was blank. His mop of almost black hair was disheveled as if he had just gotten out of bed, which was probably just about right. He was wearing his typical hoodie and sweatpants and high top Nikes. He looked up when he heard my heels clicking against the floor.

My eyes fell from his as the guard uncuffed me. I was ashamed of myself and how I acted. I was terrified of how Evan was going to react to this whole thing. Part of me wanted him to yell at me, swear at me and call me stupid. But the other part of me wanted him to just hug me and let me cry.

“You’re free to go, Ms. Lenz,” the lady at the front desk announced, looking over the papers that Evan had just handed her. I nodded, smirking at the guard a bit as I took a step away from him. The desk women handed me my clutch and pea coat with a kind smile.

Evan immediately laced his fingers with mine. He didn’t give me the satisfaction of a glance as he led me out the glass window doors, and through the parking lot.

The January breeze brushed across my legs, sending a chill up my spin. We were near Evan’s truck, and he still didn’t say a word to me. I sighed.

“Are you mad at me?” I asked him quietly. My voice screamed insecure, terrified, and timid. Evan stopped instantly, which was something I was no expecting when he pulled me back to face him. His dark eyes bored into mine, seeming wide awake now. My already shallow breath caught in my throat under his gaze, and every muscle melted as my knees almost gave out. I swallowed.

“Avery,” he breathed out, before wrapping his arms around me and pulling me into his chest. My eyes closed automatically as my arms snaked around his middle, holding tightly onto his body that acted like a heater to my exposed skin. “Of course I’m not mad at you,” he whispered into my hair. He held me close to him as I felt a single tear escape and then evaporate through Evan’s coat. “You just scared me to death, that’s all,” he told me, pulling away. I nodded, as his fingers fell to lace with mine again. Evan leaned down, pressing his cold lips to mine, sending an electric current ripping through my body, from my lips to my toes.

It was then that I realized we were already at his truck. He helped me up, just like he always did and then scurried to his side to turn the key and get the heat started as a shiver racked through his body.

His fingers were interlocked with mine as he drove through the almost empty streets of Grand Forks at the six o’clock hour of the morning. My eyes were glued out the window as I started to realize that I actually wanted Evan to yell at me. I wanted him to tell me I was an idiot, and I didn’t deserve him. Because to be completely honest with myself, I didn’t deserve him. Evan Trupp was too good for a girl like me.

Just the thought of him not being angered at all with my actions caused my blood to boil and my lips to purse out of habit. I needed Evan to be mad at me, to yell at me and take out all of his frustrations out on me. But most of all, I wanted him to give me that look. The one he used to give me when we were in the middle of a fight, just before he threw me on the bed and kissed me with everything he had in him.

As my mind dug further into the subject, the increasingly more angry I got with Evan. My jaw clenched and absent mindedly, I pulled my hand from Evan’s, laying it in my lap. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Evan look down at his empty hand before he looked up at me confused. But I brushed him off, my eyes trailing out the window at the familiar sights as we drove onto the street of Evan’s apartment.

I got out of the truck as soon as it was parked, and walked up to his apartment with Evan hot on my heels. He was silent. Evan could always tell when something was bothering me, though right now, I was sure he thought something else was on my mind.

As soon as I got into the door, I kicked my heels off beside where Matt had thrown his shoes when he got home last night. Evan set his keys on the table and pulled off his coat as I ran my fingers through my hair, making my way back to his room.

With a yawn, I pulled my dress down my legs, leaving me in just my panties. Grabbing a random t shirt off of Evan’s floor, I slid my arms through it, yawning again.

“Can we just go to sleep?” Evan asked tiredly, rubbing his eyes as he walked into his room. “I have a game tonight,” he reminded me. Suddenly I felt bad for making him come get me so early. I only nodded, crawling in bed beside him.

Evan wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him. His lips dropped a kiss on my forehead as his fingers traced circles on my thigh.

“I love you, Avery.”

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

“I just have a bad feeling about tonight,” Kaity sighed, tugging on her Genoway jersey. Chay would be sitting out of the game action once again, taking his place in one of the boxes with the owners. I pursed my lips.

“I get that feeling too,” I agreed, talking over the crowds of people in the Ralph entrance. Lacing my right hand with Kaity’s and my left with Phoebe’s, the five of us formed a chain as we weaved through the bodies.

Finally collapsing in my regular seat, I listened as Kendall told Mika about a new fight that was surfacing between her and Pony.

The first, second and third period went by excruciatingly slow. Denver scored twice in the first period, while the Sioux came up scoreless. After the first, Brad Eidsness replaced Aaron Dell in the net as Coach Hakstol hoped to restore confidence to his hockey club. It was all in vain though when the third period buzzer rang and the Sioux were shut out 2-0.

I sighed as I walked out to Evan’s truck with the girls. Usually we would go down to see them as they left the locker room, but we decided that it probably wasn’t a good idea tonight. From the looks on the guys’ faces as they skated off the ice in defeat, they weren’t going to be too happy until they seeked out their revenge tomorrow night.

“I feel terrible,” Kendall groaned, leaning against Pony’s little car that was always parked right next to Evan’s truck. Bromance. With a sigh, I nodded.

“The offense was just…” I trailed off.

“Not there,” Phoebe finished for me. I nodded.

“Chay’s going to blame it on himself,” Kaity told us, shaking her head a bit. “Just like he always does.”

“It’s really killing him not to be out there,” Phoebe agreed before she spotted Danny leaving the arena. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” she said, kissing all of our cheeks before scurrying off to give Danny a hug.

After that, all of the girls departed. Mika left, then Kaity went to find Chay, and Pony came out and took Kendall away, telling me that Evan would be out in a few minutes.

I waited in the cold for a few minutes before I started to shiver. Wrapping my arms around my body, my eyes scanned through the vacant parking lot. I glanced down at my Blackberry for the time before my eyes once again started to look around the empty lot with paranoia.

Waiting for someone to jump out and plunge a knife in my heart any second, I started to nervously tap my foot on the pavement. I glued my eyes to the doors that should be opening in any minute, waiting for Evan to come out and save me from any harm.

Finally, the door did open, causing me to jump. My heart was beating faster than ever as Evan chuckled a bit, unlocking his truck and throwing his hockey bag in the back seat.

I crawled into the passenger seat as he started the truck, loosening his tie around his neck. He didn’t say anything to me as he pulled out of the parking spot, and he didn’t bother to slip his hand effortlessly into mine.

With a sigh, I pressed my forehead against the cool glass, silently mocking any killer that didn’t get the chance to come take me while they could.

We arrived back at Evan’s apartment just after Matt did. Matthew gave me a short hug before he sulked back to his room mumbling something about “sleeping it off.”

In the back of my head, I knew the boys couldn’t take another loss like this before they all cracked. And I was right. The team was struggling without their captain to lead them on the ice, and it was hurting Chay just as much. Matt was ecstatic that he could play, and he hoped that he could help the team out with his return, but nothing seemed to be helping at this point. It was absolutely devastating to see them so stressed out.

I followed Evan back to his room where I stripped out of my jersey and leggings that left me in just my tank top. Evan hung up his suit as I went in to brush my teeth and get ready for bed.

I sat down on the bed while Evan also got ready for bed. When he finally emerged from the bathroom, I stood.

“Ev,” I whispered. He let out a long sigh, and ran his fingers through his hair that was finally growing back out to the length that I preferred it to be.

“Avery, just-”

“Evan, it’s not your fault,” I cut him off. With another exhale, he brushed past me and sat on the edge of the bed. Turning around, I looked at him for a second before I sat down beside him. Crawling behind him, I sat on my knees as my hands made their way to gently massage his tense shoulders. As I pressed a delicate kiss to the spot just behind his ear that drove him crazy, he shrugged me off.

“Avery, just don’t,” he spoke harshly, pushing me off of him. I gasped, staring at him with wide eyes as I felt my heart break. As the shock wore off, I nodded, watching as he closed his eyes tightly and put his head in his hands.

“Right,” I said softly, “I’ll just go sleep on the couch then,” I told him, grabbing a pillow from his bed and scurrying out of the room, closing the door gently behind me.

I curled up on the couch alone with a small blanket covering me as a few tears fell from my eyelashes. If I was trying so hard to get this Evan back, why did it hurt so much when I actually got what I wanted?