Your Hand In Mine

November came and went. Josh, Ashley, and Ava moved to Tampa. My brother, my best friend, the boy I grew up with, he was moving more than a thousand miles away. Sure, we'd visit each other as often as we could, but it just wasn't going to be the same. I told myself that I wouldn't cry, but, of course, I did--only a little, though.

I started to dread school, only because we had to write a huge ass paper, and I had a monstrous test coming up. But work was still alright for the most part. As far as money goes, my rent last month was paid on time, and I had some extra cash left over. Woo! It wasn't that I spent everything I had, I just didn't make as much as I would've liked. I remained optimistic about the whole situation, though.

Ryan finally proposed to Lexa. From the way she described the ring, it was flashy and detailed, sort of like Lex. I was beyond happy for her. They belong together, and I hoped it lasted for them. She automatically named me her maid of honor, and I was a little surprised at first. I mean she has a little sister, why not pick her? But I was excited about it, anyway. She planned on having a ginormous wedding in the middle of July.

I had been spending most of my free time with the boys and Kris. I had even met some of the girlfriends and wives, and they're all nice as can be. Whenever I was around Kris, though, I found myself smiling and blushing more and more. I got butterflies whenever he smiled that crooked grin or when he talked in French. But there was always that question that remained in the back of my head; does he even feel the same way about me?

S,o here we are, December third--my birthday.

"Guys, seriously. Where are we going?" I asked. They, as in Flower, TK, Jordy, Max and Kris, came to my apartment, basically kidnapped me, and now I was possibly being held hostage in Marc's SUV.

"For the millionth time, we're not telling you. If we did, we would be ruining it, chéri," Max told me.

"Fine, you win," I said in defeat. Next thing I know, Jordan punched me in the arm. "What the hell was that for?" I asked him and then punched him back. Kris and TK cracked up.

"Yellow car, duh," he replied. What the hell. I looked out the window and saw a red car. Two can play at this game, Mr. Staal. I punched Jordan's arm after I saw the car.

"Why'd you hit me?" he questioned and rubbed his upper arm where I had hit him.

"Red car, duh," I mocked and sent him a smirk, causing all of the guys to laugh.

"You don't just hit people for the hell of it," he laughed. "You can only punch them if you see a yellow car," Jordan explained.

"Oh, I get it now." What a stupid game. Boys..

"And you are not allowed to punch the driver," Marc piped up. Max looked at him, socked him in the arm, then looked back out the window as if nothing ever happened. Flower shot him a glare. "Are you deaf?"

"What? I can't hear you!" Max replied. Marc shook his head and then returned his gaze back to the road.

We continued to play 'yellow car' until we pulled into a parking lot. Jordan ultimately won because he was sitting in the middle and had an advantage of looking out all of the windows. Not fair, not fair at all.

"Dave & Busters? In the middle of the afternoon on a Tuesday?" I wondered as we got out of Marc's Escalade.

"Oui, this place is aweso-" Kris started

"Tu abruti!" Marc yelled at Max as he got up from the pavement. Max stood there, laughing and pointing at Marc. All of a sudden Flower tackled Max into the bushes. And they call themselves grown men? Ha.

"Yo!" Jordan shouted. "Save it for practice tomorrow, would you?" he laughed. The two idiots didn't pay any attention to Jordan and kept wrestling, I think, in the grass. People passing by gave them weird looks, but they didn't stop.

After a few minutes, though, they did stop and calmly got up, smoothing out their clothes, pulling pieces of stray grass out of their hair, and making their way to the entrance. TK was walking behind Marc, who was walking next to Max, and stuck his foot around Marc's ankle, and he tripped up the steps. Marc lunged at Max, and Max let out a girly scream then ran off into the building.

"They're hilarious," I told Kris as we watched from the sidewalk.

"You are not kidding. If you t'ink this is funny, you should see them during practice," he laughed.

"I can't even imagine. I guess we should head inside, keep them out of trouble," I said as I noticed all four of them were already inside.

"Oui, good idea. They are probably whipping the ball from the pool table at each other."

I nodded my head. "Or stealing little kids' tickets."

"Now that is just wrong," he said. Kris opened the door for me and motioned for me to go in first. I thanked him and walked in. Funny, there's like, nobody in this place. But then again, it is a Tuesday. We walked--close enough that our hands bumped a few times, might I add--up the stairs and down one of the hallways to the game room.

I noticed the amounts of autographed Penguins' pictures hanging on the wall and elbowed Kris in the ribs. "Maybe you'll be up there one day," I told him as I nodded my head towards a Lemieux frame.

"Maybe, but I doubt it. I am nowhere near as skilled as 'La Magnifique'."

"You don't give yourself enough credit, Kris," I told him.

He gave me a small smile, nodding his head in thanks. "Avancé, let's go find the guy."

"Avancé?" I repeated.

"Mean 'come on'," he translated then put his hand on the middle of my back, urging me to pick up my feet and walk. We walked away from the wall of fame, and as we rounded the corner, I nearly fell over.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" I heard a lot of voices yell.

There was an instant smile on my face. "Thanks, guys!" I said as I looked from face to face and realized that most the of the team and some of their kids, Lexa and Ryan, and Brian and his significant other were all there. They started little conversations, rather loudly, saying that 'she had no idea' and 'she's so surprised'. I turned to Kris. "How'd you know it was my birthday today?"

He pulled off his hat and held it in one hand. Then he took his free hand and ran his fingers through his hair. He put his Kasual hat back on his head and sent me a small smile. I practically melted. "A little birdy told me," he sang.

I gave him a look that told him to be clearer. He just shook his head at me. "I see. But can you tell me this?" I asked him.

"Depend on what you want to know," he smiled and shrugged.

"Who planned all of this?" I asked. My parents couldn't have. They would have had it at their place, and my cousins would have be there. Lex, nah. She didn't like it when I had all the attention, bitch. Just kidding. Brian? Negative. He would have had male strippers or something.

Kris leaned over to the left side of my face a little. "I did," he whispered so I could here him over all the noise. "Wit' some 'elp of a select few," he finished. I smiled and gave him a hug. I don't know what possessed me to do it, but I kissed his cheek, too. I pulled away and watched as his cheeks turned pink. Actually, I could feel my own face heating up, too.

"Thank you. I appreciate it, really. And I seriously had no idea that someone was throwing me a surprise party," I smiled.

"You are welcome," he said and showed off his cooked smile. If I didn't melt before, I did now.

"Shane! You have to see my ring!" Alexa shouted as she ran over to me and grabbed my arm and pulled away from Kris. I gave him an apologetic smile, and he flicked his wrist/waved, indicating it was alright and he'd find me later.

"Isn't it gorgeous? I think he did a good job, don't you? It's so big!" she exclaimed. Blah, blah, blah. It's always about you Lex, isn't it? Can't even say happy birthday to your best friend, can you? And I get that she just got engaged and all and that she's excited, but.. God. I sighed.

I reached for her hand to get a better look at the rock. It wasn't anything I would have liked, but if you're into engagement rings that have one big round diamond, two smaller ones on either side, and even smaller diamonds around the whole band, then you would immediately fall in love with it. Personally, I'd be happy with one of those cheesy spider rings that you get at Giant Eagle that are in a plastic bubble and only cost twenty-five cents.

In the end, though, I decided to suck it up and make her happy. "It's beautiful," I half lied. "How many carats?"

"Two," she smiled.

"Jeesh."

Ryan walked over to where we were sitting, and told me happy birthday. I told him that the ring was perfect and congratulated them again before I was pulled away by Brian. He introduced me to Tommy, his boyfriend. He boy didn't look gay at all, but when he opened his mouth, you could definitely tell he wasn't straight. Tommy was polite, funny and a lot like Brian. The guy smelled really good, too. But not as good as Kr- God, what that boy did to me. The two lovebirds went off to the photo booth, hand in hand, while I was busy thinking about Kris.

I felt someone poke my sides which caused me to let out a laugh and turn around.

"Bonjour," Kris smiled. Butterflies were now in my stomach.

"Aloha."

"Want to go play some game?" he asked me.

"You mean watch me kick your ass and win tons of tickets? Sure. But can I say hi to your teammates first?"

"Oui, it is your party. And I would like to see you try," he smirked.

I gave him a little shove and sauntered over to a very large table that most of the guys were sitting at. Some of them were playing games with their kids. I noticed that the only people that weren't here were Gonch, Jay, Martin Skoula, and Ruslan. Guess they couldn't make it, which is understandable; they do have lives and families that are more important than I was.

"So, were you surprised?" Pascal asked me.

"Big time. Thanks for coming, guys," I smiled. They all said some form of 'you're welcome'.

We told stories and jokes for a little bit and ate some appetizers.

"Shane, want to play me in one of those motorcycle games?" Sidney asked me after a while. Look who decided to grow some balls and challenge me to a racing game.

"You're on. But first, I have to kick Kris' ass in whatever game he wants to play."

"Oh, I have to see this," Billy chimed in. A whole bunch of 'yeah's' followed his sentence.

"Loser has to.." Sid drifted, seeming to think of something.

"Always about winning and losing, eh, Crosby?" I smirked.

"Oh! Good one!" Matt said. "She's showing you up, Sid." I just laughed.

"I got it! Loser has to hit on one of the employees!" Flower yelled. Well, that's not cool. What if I don't want to hit on some guy? Sid and I both had unsure looks on our faces.

"Oh, why the hell not," Sidney said and some of the guys cheered then turned their attention to me.

"Whatever," I smiled. I glanced over to Kris. Discomfort and a bit of anger, maybe, was written all over his face. He seemed tense, too. Wonder what that was about. I moved my eyes off of Kris and turned to Sidney. "So what game, Crosby?" I questioned.

"Ski ball," Sid smirked. Man, what happened to the motorcycle one? I'm bummin' over here.

"You're on."