In the Pain There is Healing

“Pay up, bro,” Luke said, extending his hand, palm upwards, across Bryce’s body and towards Drew. The trio was currently making their way out of the Bell Centre and back to their hotel. The All Star game had just ended with the East being the West in a shootout.

“What did I say about making more bets?” Bryce exclaimed, incredulously. Sometimes, she felt like she was talking to dead air when she was around these two. Both boys shrugged their shoulders, plastering the best innocent looks that they could manage across their faces. Drew reached into his back pocket, pulling out his worn leather wallet and handed $20 over to Luke.

“And that is why the East is a better conference than the West,” Luke said, snatching the $20 bill out of Drew’s hand and shoving it into his pocket. As karma would have it, probably for being a smartass, Luke just so happened to stumble at that exact moment on a crack in the sidewalk. Catching himself and immediately turning around to see how many people had seen his less than glorious moment, Bryce and Drew had stopped walking and were currently doubled over at the waist, laughing so hard that they were gasping for air. Luke scowled at them as they stood back up, trying to compose themselves.

“He can skate on a blade that is a quarter of an inch thick but he can’t walk like a normal human being. Typical,” Bryce said while shaking her head at Luke.

“Ha ha,” Luke stated dryly, emphasizing the syllables.

“I’m hungry,” Drew blurted out, rather randomly.

“Me too. Let’s find somewhere to eat,” Luke said. They immediately picked up their pace as the bitter January wind whipped around them. They settled on a sit down burger restaurant, about a block from their hotel. After being ushered to their seats and slipping off their jackets, the trio sat down and immediately opened the menus, scanning the different varieties of burgers.

“I didn’t know it was possible to make hamburgers in so many different ways,” Drew stated, his eyes wide in excitement.

“Me either. It’s a little scary actually,” Luke said while closing his menu. “I’ll think I’m just going to stick with a cheeseburger.” Their waiter came over and took their orders, disappearing to the kitchen as fast as he appeared.

“So, what’s going on for tonight,” Bryce asked, swirling the straw around in her glass of Diet Coke, the motion causing the liquid to funnel like a developing tropical storm.

“Stamkos said something about a bunch of guys going to some bar. He said he’d text me the address later,” Drew said, turning to his right to look at Bryce, who was sitting next to him in the large booth. Bryce perked up at this, a smile gracing her face.

“Oh, Steven! I haven’t seen him since the World Juniors.” Aside from Drew and Luke, Steven was one of her closest friends. Unfortunately, he had been drafted by a team that was as far south as possible so it had been a long time since they’d seen each other.

Within minutes the waiter had arrived with their food, and the three of them began eating their dinner in contentment, conversation practically non-existent now that their food was placed in front of them. Finishing up their meal and paying the bill, the three headed back to their hotel. Upon arriving back in their room, Drew’s phone beeped indicating he had a new text message. Pulling it out of the pocket of his black pea coat, he quickly read it before looking up at Bryce and Luke who were discarding their coats on the couch.

“Alright, Stamkos said he’ll just meet up with us downstairs in the lobby at 9. Is an hour enough time for you to get ready, princess?” Drew asked, turning his attention towards Bryce.

Bryce opened her mouth, about to call Drew out for thinking she was one of those girls, but Luke beat her to it.

“Aw come on man, give her more credit than that. When has she ever needed an hour to look that beautiful?” Luke said, gesturing towards Bryce with a wink. Bryce threw a smile Luke’s way and gave him a pat on the back before making her way towards the bathroom. As she passed Drew she shoved his shoulder, making him lose his balance. She walked to her suitcase, grabbing her makeup bag and her change of clothes and moved to the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

“I love you?” Drew called to her as the door slammed shut to which Luke just laughed and shook his head.

“You’re so in the doghouse, man,” Luke stated, knowingly.

“You would know,” Drew shot back to which Luke just merely nodded, knowing that he had no room to argue with that. The boys moved to the couch, flipping the TV on and settling on TSN, as if there was any other choice. About 20 minutes later, the bathroom door creaked open and Bryce stepped out. She looked simple but beautiful, light makeup gracing her face and her brown hair hanging straight. She wore a black halter top with a small amount of intricate beading, a pair of dark wash jeans and black ballet flats. At 5’7” Bryce saw no point in wearing heels and things always seemed to end badly when she did. Walking into the living room, the boys finally turned their attention away from the TV and looked up at her. Luke’s eyes widened at the sight as Bryce plopped down on the couch, her attention immediately focused on the TV, completely oblivious to the fact that Luke still hadn’t taken his eyes off of her. Drew nudged him, hard, finally snapping Luke out of his daze. The boys stood up and went to go get changed. In a mere few minutes, they were back in the living room dressed and ready to go, causing Bryce to silently curse boys and their low maintenance lifestyles.

“One of you went a little heavy on the cologne,” Bryce coughed out, looking pointedly towards Drew who had put some product in his hair and thrown on a baby blue button down shirt over a pair of jeans.

“That’s all Doughty,” Luke said. Bryce ran her eyes over Luke who was wearing a tight fitting black polo and jeans.

“What can I say. Fresh till death,” Drew said, which emitted hearty laughs from both Luke and Bryce. “Anyways, are we ready to go?” Drew asked, glancing at his phone to see a text from Steven indicating that he was down in the lobby.

“Yes,” Bryce answered slipping on her coat. She grabbed her essentials, which included lip gloss, her cellphone, and her ID, and shoved them in her pocket. Drew and Luke followed suit and made their way out of the door and down to the elevators. Luke went ahead as Drew dropped back opting to walk next to Bryce. He casually threw an arm around her shoulders and leaned down to her shorter stature.

“I’m sorry, baby girl. You know I was just kidding, right?” Bryce nodded her head, having already forgiven her best friend. Drew smiled down at her before pressing a quick kiss to the top of her head. They caught up to Luke, who was holding the elevator and descended down to the first floor. The doors opened and Bryce spotted Steven sitting in a large armchair. He stood up upon seeing the three of them and immediately walked over to Bryce, engulfing her in a hug.

“Hey shorty,” Steven said, Bryce pushing out a laugh at the very original nickname he had stuck her with a few years ago. After a few fistbumps between the boys, the four immediately began walking the short 5 blocks to the club. Bryce and Steven walked ahead of the other two, catching each other up on the last year of their lives. Luke watched them from behind, a scowl decorating his face, as they walked close enough to each other that they were touching. Drew, noticing the look plastered across Luke’s face, shook his head at his best friend’s bipolar attitude and just kept walking. Within minutes they had arrived at the club, the bass of the music making the brick foundation appear as if it were shaking. They discarded their coats in the coat room and made their way over to the bar, each of them ordering Molson Canadians.

Bryce leaned backwards against the bar and surveyed her surroundings. Although it was still fairly early, the club was packed from wall to wall with bodies. She turned to her left, noticing the three boys engaged in a conversation with Steven’s teammate Vinny LeCavalier. Bryce politely smiled at him, before downing the rest of her beer and motioning for another from the bartender.

Once again, her eyes scanned the room, observing the people. There were the married players or the guys in serious relationships, who stood, with drinks in hand, engaged in conversations with each other, only disengaging to politely decline the various girls who asked them to dance. Then there were the older single guys or the long-time bachelors, who took up every girl on their dance offers and then some. And finally, there were the rookies or the young guys, who like the married guys or the guys in serious relationships, stuck close together like middle schoolers at their first dance. The difference was, once they got enough alcohol in them, they felt comfortable enough to take the girls up on their offers. Bryce felt a hand on the small of her back and was snapped out of her trance when Steven asked her if she was alright.

“I’m fine,” she replied, taking a sip of her beer. Turning to look at the group, Bryce noticed that Vinny had ordered a round of Jaegar bombs for the five of them. She grabbed hers, saying a thanks to Vinny, and set her already empty second beer bottle on the bar.

“We racing or what?” Luke asked, looking towards the older man.

“Man, you kids make me feel like I’m back in juniors,” Vinny said with a laugh, grasping the glass in his hand. “What the hell. On the count of three. Un, deux, trois!” Everyone immediately raised their glasses to their lips and began chugging, the liquid burning as it sloshed down their throats. Within seconds, Luke had slammed his glass down on the bar, raising his arms in victory. The others finished soon after, groaning at their loss.

After mingling and various more drinks, Steven asked Bryce to dance and they made their way out into the mass of people. With the music of Lady Gaga blasting through the speakers, she pressed her back to Steven’s front and the two began moving in time to the music. At this point, Bryce was quite tipsy and all of her inhibitions were gone. Numerous songs passed and Bryce and Steven kept dancing, perspiration lingering on their skin. Suddenly, Bryce felt an elbow in her stomach and she quickly doubled over in pain for a second before standing up and looking for the culprit. Her eyes met with the back of someone’s head, trashy blonde extensions hanging down her back. Having lost all sense of rationality, Bryce reached out and tugged, hard, on the girl’s hair.

“Hey,” Bryce called out, as the girl whipped around, a scowl plastered on her orange face, a face that Bryce recognized as Luke’s ex-girlfriend. “Amber?”

“Oh, ew,” Amber replied, the scowl making her look like she was constipated. Bryce felt Steven’s hand grip hers, squeezing it and letting her know to take it easy. But, Bryce wasn’t planning on doing that.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Bryce asked, her words slurring together. She noticed that Patrick Kane was standing next to Amber, a slightly scared look on his face. “Sticking your claws in the next innocent, unassuming hockey player?” Amber let out a hyena-like laugh at this.

“Says the girl who has made her way through half of the CHL. At least I’ve moved on to bigger and better things,” Amber said as she turned to smile sweetly at Patrick.

“Oh right, I forgot you were moving to Chicago. You would jump on poor Patrick the first chance you got. Let me guess. You followed him home one day?” Bryce said, referring to Amber’s tried and proven method she used when she was living in Kelowna. Amber simply rolled her eyes at this and turned around to leave, grabbing on to Patrick’s hand. “Hey Patrick, be careful with this one. I think she might have an STD.” Amber quickly turned around and marched the few feet to Bryce, raising her hand. Before she could get a shot off, Bryce wound up and punched her right in her fake nose. A little more plastic surgery wouldn’t hurt, she’d had enough already. Amber’s hands immediately flew to her nose where a small amount of blood dripped from her nostrils.

“You stupid bitch! You think you’re better than me? Get real! At least I have people in my life who give a shit about me. Your own father doesn’t even give a shit about you and the only person that ever did is dead.”

That was it. Bryce lunged at Amber, but Steven quickly locked his arms around hers and held her back. She watched with hooded eyes as Patrick dragged Amber away, her shrill voice echoing in Bryce’s head. Bryce took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to calm herself down. The alcohol had taken its full effect and her head was pounding. When she opened her eyes Luke was in front of her. He placed each of his hands on either side of her face, bending over slightly to look her in the eyes.

“Are you okay,” he asked her softly. Bryce nodded her head as Luke’s hands dropped from her face down to his sides.

“I can’t believe you ever dated her.”

“Me either,” Luke said with a grimace. “Let’s head back to the hotel, eh? You look like you’ve had enough fun for one night.” Luke turned towards Steven, giving him a nod as a silent thanks. Bryce wrapped her arms around Steven’s waist, giving him a hug.

“Thanks, Steven,” she whispered in his ear before pulling away.

“Anything for you, shorty,” he replied with a smile. Luke finished typing a text to Drew letting him know what was going on and shoved his phone back into the pocket of his jeans. He grabbed Bryce’s hand leading her towards the coat room where they grabbed their coats and headed out the door. Once outside, Luke kept his arm firmly around Bryce’s waist, aiding in her less than stellar effort to walk in a straight line.

“What about Drew?” Bryce asked as they crossed the street, the white lines of the crosswalk blurring together as she moved her feet over them.

“He was hitting it off with some chick so I didn’t want to bother him. I texted him and told him what happened and he was going to leave with us but I assured him I had it under control.” Bryce just nodded her head and kept walking, getting lost in the twinkling lights of downtown Montreal. In minutes, the pair was inside the warmth of their hotel, pressing the button of the elevator. Bryce leaned her head against the cold medal door as the contraption ascended towards their floor.

“So, exactly how drunk are you? I can’t really tell because you’re so good at faking sobriety.” Turning around, Bryce shrugged her shoulders.

“My head is still spinning a little but punching that beezy out definitely helped me sober up,” Bryce answered, as the elevator doors opened and she stepped out in the hallway.

“Yeah, nice right hook, by the way.”

“I learned from the best,” Bryce said with a smile as she lightly ran her shoulder into Luke’s. They arrived in front of their door and Luke slid the key card in and opened the door. Bryce walked into the room, taking off her coat and immediately making her way over to the couch. Luke shrugged his coat off of his shoulders and kicked his Nikes off his feet. He grabbed a glass from the counter and turned the faucet on, filling it to the top with cold water. Turning around, he saw Bryce sitting forward on the couch, her head in her hands and her hair hanging down towards the carpet. He walked over and sat down next to her, immediately putting a hand on her back.

“What’s wrong?” Bryce sat up, locking eyes with Luke as he gestured for her to drink some water. She obliged and then stared straight ahead.

“I can’t believe I did that back there. My mom would kick my ass if she was here,” Bryce said, taking another sip from the glass, the cold liquid flowing smoothly down her throat. She set the empty glass on the wooden coffee table, stood up and began pacing from one end of the small living to the other. Making her way to the door, Bryce leaned back against it and sighed. “You know, I got a tattoo 2 months ago.” Luke’s eyes widened at this, as this was the first he had heard about it. “I figured if I can’t honor her with all my actions, then I can honor her with a permanent one.”

Bryce slowly lifted the smooth, silk fabric of her halter top up to the bottom of her chest, revealing the tattoo. Just under her breasts was the outline of a small lily, her mother’s favorite flower. Underneath it and running vertically down her ribcage, read the phrase, Même si vous sauver me’envoie au ciel. Luke stood up, making his way to where Bryce was still standing, by the door. He quickly looked at her and then shifted his gaze down to the beautiful piece of art displayed on her skin. He moved closer to her, so that they were almost touching, and put his left hand flat on the door next to her head. With his right hand, he gently ran his knuckles over the tattoo, watching as her skin broke out into goosebumps. Bryce’s breath hitched in her throat at the feeling of Luke touching her cold skin. She grabbed his hand, halting his movements. Luke looked up, his own green eyes locked with Bryce’s in an intense gaze. He moved closer and closed the gap between them, placing his lips on hers. It was a short, delicate kiss that was over as quickly as it began. Luke pulled away and pulled Bryce’s shirt back down which had been clutched tightly in her hand until that point. He looked at Bryce, whose eyes held a look of confusion in them. He placed his hand on the back of her neck and pulled her into him, kissing her forehead, tenderly.

“Let’s get some sleep, eh?” He told her, rather than asking. Completely confused by the turn of events, Bryce just followed his lead. Once in bed, she couldn’t help but wonder what the hell just happened with her and Luke.