Testing the Water

The Pens ended up losing to the Bruins 4-3, but they had a chance to redeem themselves as this was a home and home series. The next game was in Boston tomorrow.

I walked down to the dressing room with Brooks. We had a light conversation going as I knocked on the door. We heard a few calls, assuming it was okay to go in. Brooks hit me lightly, showing me he was going over to talk to Gonch, I nodded and looked around the room. Tyler waved me over, but I signaled I’d be over in a minute. I made my way to Sidney and Jordan who were joking around.

“Boys! What was that out there?! Stupid penalties for the both of you?” I laughed and sat in-between them.

Jordan let out a deep sigh, “I didn’t try and trip the idiot, he just happened to get caught up in my stick.”

Sidney and myself cracked up at the sick side of what Jordan had just said. And then Sid spoke, “Okay, I just tried to flip the puck out of our zone, but somehow it ended up in the seats. I don’t know what happened, but delay of game penalties are the stupidest thing anyways...” He went on ranting, but I just got up laughing.

I then made my way over to Tyler, “Hey Nicki.” He smiled, catching my lips in a quick kiss.
I smiled, and sat down “Hey. Nice game you played out there. Didn’t get stupid penalties like those idiots.” I nodded over to Jord and Sid.

“Well, I try to avoid those,” He laughed. “Wasn’t a very good game though,” A disappointed look came over his face.

“Wasn`t that bad, really. But you guys will win tomorrow...right?”

A light laugh escape his lips, “Right you are.”

“Oh, and by the way... “Someone” told Lydia about...well us. When I find out who did that,” I held in my laughs, trying to make him admit what I know he did, “They are so dead. Like seriously? Now she’s so pissed an-”

Tyler cut me off, “It was me!” He said quite loudly, making several people to turn and look at us, “I told her. I thought she had the right to know, and I didn’t want you to have to tell her and if she freaked out at least she would have freaked at me, and-”

I laughed, “Ty, calm down. I know it was you, but I would have liked you to tell me you told her, since she is pissed at me, and I didn’t know that until I talked to her .”
A pout came to his lips, “I’m sorry Nicki.”

“It’s okay...I guess,” I said after letting out a deep playful sigh.

The next morning I was awoken by Sidney, “Nic! Wake up!” I replied by pushing my face even further into my pillow, “Come on...we have a flight to catch.” I rolled over on my side, only to find I was already on the edge of the bed. I fell off and landed on the floor. Quickly I sat up and got up, off of the floor. He shook his head, chuckling to himself.

“Shuddup you coordinated hockey player, you.” I pushed my hair out of my face and grabbed some clothes. I saw that Sid was already dressed so I quickly ushered him out of the room so I could get dressed as well.

Plane rides were never really my thing. I pulled on a pair of sweatpants, a tank-top, and a hoodie. I let out a sigh as I glanced in the mirror, noting my bad appearance. Quickly, I ran a brush through my mess of hair, and pulled it back into a –very- messy bun. I opened the door and made my way down the short staircase. I picked up a bowl of oatmeal and sat across from Sid at the dining room table. We eat breakfast in almost silence.

As I brought the dishes over to the sink Sidney spoke, “So we just have to load the car with our stuff, and then head to the airport. We have half an hour to get there, so we’re all good.”

I nodded, “Alright. I’ll just finish up getting ready; can you put my stuff in the car for me?”
“Sure thing. Just be down here in ten.”

I yelped a quick ‘kay’ before making my way back upstairs to the bathroom. I brushed my teeth and such before making my way out to the car.

I jumped in the passenger seat as Sidney drove to the airport. Traffic wasn’t that bad, so we got there in under half an hour. As we got into the airport we were greeted by a lengthy line. I leaned back into the handle of my suitcase and popped in my earphones as we waited to get to the front of the line. Finally, once we got to the front of the line, our suitcases were handed to the staff and we made our way over to security. The moving sidewalks brought us to our desired location, and we were both checked over, as well as our carry-ons. After all of this we finally were able to go into the lounge of the large, overcrowded airport. Both Sidney and I scanned over the people, trying to find ones we recognized. I was totally worthless at this point, due to my height...or rather lack of height.

“Hey! I see Marc-Andre!” Sid exclaimed.
“Ma petite fluer?! [My little flower?]” I jumped up and down trying to see him.
“Here come on.” Sid grabbed my arm and brought me over to where he saw him.

My jaw dropped as I saw who was with him. Come on. You’ve gotta be kidding me. There was Lydia standing right beside Flower.

“Ma petite fluer, ce fille? Ce fille?! [My little flower, this girl? This girl?]” I let out a deep sigh, showing my anger at the situation.

Sidney tensed from beside me, knowing what was setting me off.

“Nicki...” He let out a sigh as well, recognizing my usage of French as not a good sign.
“Don’t “Nicki...” me.” I motioned for him to come over to me, and I walked over to a fairly empty area.

“What the fuck Marc!?” He flinched, “You know that’s Lydia. You know I said, ‘No going after my friends,’ and you know what just happened between us. She’s just trying to get back at me and she’s using you!”
“Petite Staal. [Little Staal.] She’s not. She seems really true.”
“Yeah...really fucking true! Really fucking real? Right?! Fuck you Marc.” I waved back dismissively, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” And left Marc alone to go back to Sidney.

By this time, Marc was almost right behind me; I shrugged off his light grasp on my shoulder and kept walking. My eyes met Sidney’s and he knew I couldn’t be around Flower or Lydia at this point. He walked with me as we looked for other people we knew. As we did so, our flight was called. Both of us walked over to the exit we were going through, showed the lady our ticket and made our way through the tunnel to our plane. As we stood at the front of the plane I looked through the rows of people. My eyes lit up as I found the person I was looking for. I ran up the isle of the plane, pulling my carry-on behind me, just to sit down in the empty isle seat.

I leaned my head on Tyler’s shoulder. His arm wrapped around my waist instinctively, “What’s wrong?” He asked. I just shook my head as he pulled me closer. “Come on...you can tell me.”

Just as I began to speak, Marc walked by...Lydia right behind. “That.” I said simply, “That’s what’s wrong.”

A puzzled look came across his face, not knowing how to feel. I knew that he did though, agree with me, and saw that Lydia was just using Marc. “Just forget about them for now, okay? We can deal with that later.”

“But Ty...Marc’s gunna get hurt! He’s like a brother to me!” I pulled away from his grip and had a very confused and hurt expression on my face.

He pulled me back into him, “I know Cole...I know. But he’s not going to listen for now, so we can’t worry too much. Don’t worry, we will find a way to show him, okay? And hey, maybe he just brought her as a friend.”

Our conversation died down from there.