Just That Pittsburghese

"Did you hear about Wojtek Wolski getting traded to the Phoenix Coyotes for Peter Mueller? I'm not sure I could see Muells in anything but a 'Yotes jersey."

I plopped down on the couch and placed my laptop in my lap, powering it up and glancing over towards the kitchen where Riley was attempting to reach a plastic bowl on one of the higher shelves.

"No, I didn't. Only you would care about what different teams are getting and trading." She grunted and then let out a slight scream as bowls began raining down from the cabinet, falling to the floor around her crouching form with a clang. I raised an eyebrow and shook my head, typing NHL.com into the address bar on the laptop. "Of course, because I actually care about the enemies, as you call them." I placed air quotes around the enemies as Riley appeared behind the counter with a bowl in her hands.

"And if it involves some of my boyfriends I need to know what teams I'll be watching, or suffering through, just to watch for my man." I made a face and Riley rolled her eyes.

"I'm sure Alex Ovechkin will be stationary with the Washington Capitals for a long, long time, Audrey." I smirked at her tone of disgust that came out when she had to speak about The Great Eight and clicked around on the NHL website as the doorbell to our shared apartment rang.

Riley placed the plastic bowl on the counter and walked towards the door. "Who is it?"

"The strippers you ordered."

Riley scrunched her eyebrows together and looked over towards me as I looked up from the computer. "Seriously?"

She placed her hands on her hips and sent me a look as I made a face. "Why is it when something out of the ordinary happens it's always my fault?"

She shook her head at me as a bunch of shuffling and mumbling could be heard behind the door.

"It's us, Riles. Let us in, please?" Riley rolled her eyes and unlocked the door, opening it and stepping back as two bodies came rolling into the apartment in the forms of Max Talbot and Ben Lovejoy. Alex Goligoski and Luca Caputi stood above them snickering as Riley smacked a palm to her face. "You guys are ridiculous, you know that?"

"And yet you still let us in." Max grinned up at her from his position on the floor and she looked at him through the cracks in her fingers as Alex and Luca stepped in, closing the door behind them.

"As apologies for this event we knew was going to happen," Alex shot a look towards Max and Ben who were now getting themselves up from the floor. "We brought Chinese."

Alex held two plastic bags up and handed them to Riley as she took them from him. She nodded her head in thanks as Ben made a b-line straight for the living room. I heard a primal scream and whipped my head to the left just as Ben landed on the couch right next to me, a smirk plastered on his face as I glared at him. "How's it been, Auds?"

"It was all good until you and the San Fran Zoo decided to show up." I sent him a smirk as his face fell and turned my attention back to my laptop.

"Yeah, he just follows us around. Sometimes we try to lose him, but he ends up finding us again. It's useless." Luca sent Ben a smirk as he sat down on the La-Z-Boy, Max and Riley beginning to place the food onto dishes in the kitchen. Ben sent a glare towards the Italian.

"You shouldn't talk about yourself like that-"

Alex snorted and plopped down on the floor in front of the TV, flipping the channel to Sports Center. "Don't kid yourself, Ben. We all know you're an animal."

Alex bent his head back to look at Ben and smirked, making growling sounds and pawing at him as I burst into laughter. Ben opened his mouth to retort when the screen flashed to Barry Melrose sitting in the LA Studio.

"We've got breaking news on a rumor floating around about the Penguins possibly getting Toronto left wing Alexei Ponikarovsky in exchange for prospect Luca Caputi and defenseman Martin Skoula. Nothing has been confirmed just yet, but we'll keep you informed as soon as details of the trade are released."

My heart skipped a beat as everyone around the room fell into complete silence, a look of shock overtaking Luca's features. I couldn't even imagine the guys in Wilkes-Barre without him.

Everyone jumped at the sound of Luca's ringtone blaring through the thick silence. He quickly grabbed it out of his back pocket and read the screen, face falling as he answered. "Hello?"

We all watched him as his expressions changed, going from shocked to sad in only a few moments. "Alright, I understand. Thank you, Mr. Shero."

Luca hung up his phone and then brought his eyes up to meet all of our curious gazes. "That was Ray. He just confirmed that I had indeed been traded to Toronto."

Just as the news left Luca's mouth the screen flashed once again back to Melrose, this time he was confirming the trade the Penguins had made. I felt what I thought was a sharp pain slice through my chest as the reality hit me, my laptop falling to the floor with a thud. Everyone turned their attention to me and Ben immediately wrapped his arms around my frame, hugging me tightly in a reassuring manner. "It'll be fine, Auds. You've gotta be happy for him. He's going to play for his hometown."

I shook my head and tightly closed my eyes as everyone watched us, faces holding a sad tone. Luca got up from the recliner and walked over to us, arms wrapping around me, as well. "It'll be fine, Auds. Nobody can predict what happens in the NHL and this is just part of what happens."

I listened to Luca's words and cracked my eyes open, staring at the floor and letting them sink in. As I brought my gaze upward, I couldn't help but notice Alex staring at us.



"Time sure fucking flies when you don't want it to."

I rolled my eyes and growled, walking along the airport terminal towards the section where Luca's plane was. I flicked my eyes between all of the signs, attempting to find the one I was looking for, hands clenching into fists as I began to get frustrated from lack of success.

"What the hell? Did I just completely pass-"

"Audrey!"

I was stopped mid-sentence as I heard someone yell my name from behind me. I turned around slowly to see Alex running up to me, a smile forming on his lips as I watched him. "Hey. Thank God I found you. You kind of looked like you were lost and about to strangle someone."

He let out a slight chuckle at the end of his statement and I cocked my head to the side, watching as his eyes met mine and he stopped, coughing a few times and standing straight. "We should get to Luca before his plane takes off."

I nodded at him as he smiled at me, beginning to walk down the long terminal again. I walked slowly behind him, keeping a bit of a distance between us, as he whipped his head from side to side, looking up at the numbers on the signs. I don't know why, but everytime I was around Alex I felt awkward, like I had no idea what to say to him.

"Here it is." Alex pointed to one of the signs and I let out a sigh of relief, seeing Riley and most of the Wilkes-Barre boys already standing there. We walked up to them as Luca turned around and smiled, dropping his carry-on bag and engulfing me into a hug, swinging me around. "Man, I thought my best friend wasn't going to be here to say good-bye."

He stopped swinging me and placed me back on my feet, keeping his arms locked around me as he looked down. I shook my head at him. "You know I'd never bail on you, Luca. Even if we were sitting in jail together."

He laughed at me and hugged me tightly once more before releasing me and turning towards Alex, taking him into a man-hug. "Take care of her for me while I'm gone."

Luca gave Alex a knowing look and Alex's eyes flicked to me for a few seconds before he looked at Luca again, nodding and placing his other arm around Luca as he did the same. "You got it, man."

They stood there for a few moments, truly showing that they were extremely close; the closest friends in Wilkes-Barre, even before Alex had gotten called up to the Penguins for good. They released each other and Alex stepped back, watching as Luca picked up his bag and then turned, waving at all of us before walking towards the line for his plane. Riley walked over and stood next to me, sighing as I kept my eyes glued to Luca. "I'm going to miss that knucklehead."

I nodded as Luca disappeared from view, the pain shooting through my chest again as I realized he was actually gone. I felt tears well up in my eyes and Riley frowned, crossing her arms in concern as I brought my hands to my eyes, trying to stop the tears before they fell.

I felt arms wrap around me and I jumped, looking up to find Alex holding me, his head on top of mine. "It'll be fine, Auds. We're all going to miss him."

I stared up at him for a few seconds as he kept his gaze off to the distance, arms staying put around my waist. I sighed and placed my head against his chest, smiling a bit.

For once things weren't awkward, they were comforting.



It's been two days since Luca had gotten on a plane to Toronto and I've been in what seemed like a moping mood for the most part. Most of the guys had tried their best to pry me from our apartment, but I just would not budge. Most of them would give up after the first try, but Max was stubborn and determined to get me out of this phase I was in.

"Audrey! You get your anorexic ass out of that hockey player poster-clad room of yours and come and have drinks with us!"

I glared straight up at the ceiling as I lied on my back on my bed, hearing Max, once again, shout through my closed door.

"Calling me anorexic sure makes things better, Maxie!" I rolled my eyes and placed my hands behind my head, craning my neck to look at the Wayne Gretzky poster on the opposite wall. I heard a crash and a bunch of shuffling before the door to my room burst open and in stumbled Max and Tangers. My eyes went wide and then narrowed in annoyance as they caught their balance. I lifted myself onto my elbows and glared at the French-Canadians.

"What the heck is wrong with you two?" They looked over at me and Kris shrugged, spinning the computer chair once and then sitting down.

"We need to get you out of the house. Quit moping you moper." I cocked an eyebrow at him and then groaned, falling back onto the bed on my back.

"Come on, Auds. Alex, Ben, and Riles miss seeing you randomly flipping out on them." Max walked over to the bed and grabbed my hands, pulling me into a standing position.

"The only one I want to lash out at right now is Poni-whatever his name is." I frowned up at him and he laughed, rolling his eyes and pulling me towards the living room with Kris following behind us. He dragged me over to the couch and shoved me down, sitting on the floor by my feet as everyone else just chuckled at us.

"It's nice to see the vampire finally decided to come out of the coffin." Riley laughed at the glare I sent her way as everyone else just smiled, nodding in relief to see I was even still alive.

"Oh, you're so funny." I mocked her and crossed my arms, slumping into the couch as ESPN came back onto the screen after the last commercial. I watched the analysts drag on about the Detroit Lions and then perked up a bit, hearing the topic change to hockey.

That is, until I realized they were talking about the Penguins' trade.

My face fell and my mood suddenly shifted again. I pushed myself up from the couch and ran to the door of the apartment, opening it and bolting out. I heard a bunch of yelling behind me as I ran down the flight of stairs to the front of the building. I reached the front door and hauled it open, running down the sidewalk and feeling the extremely cold air and hard falling rain hit my exposed skin as I ran.

I slowed to a slight jog and wrapped my arms around my frame, realizing it was a bad idea to bolt out of the apartment in just shorts and a t-shirt. I looked up towards the grey sky and sighed, closing my eyes as the rain poured down.

I just felt like I couldn't be in there while they talked about Luca. Don't get me wrong, I do realize life goes on and I needed to move on, but something wasn't letting me do it. I just couldn't figure out what.

"Audrey, there you are."

I didn't turn around as Alex walked up to me in the middle of the sidewalk, placing a hand around my arm and twisting me around so I was facing him. I kept my eyes squeezed shut and he sighed, releasing his hand from my arm and placing it under my chin, tilting it up. "Audrey, look at me."

I shook my head.

"Audrey, please?"

I felt a tinge of guilt rock my frame and I broke, slowly opening my eyes and looking at him. He stared down at me and sighed, bringing his hand down to rest on my shoulder. I tore my gaze away from his face and looked down at the sidewalk, only to suddenly be pulled into his chest as his arms wrapped around my back, mine instinctively wrapping around his waist.

"I know I'll probably never feel the same way you feel about Luca leaving, but sometimes we just have to let things go. Sometimes we have to let things fall into place and other times, things may turn out better than they were before. And, Audrey," He paused to pull me away from his chest, looking down at me as the rain continued to pour down on us. "I want you to know I'll always be there for you."

He smiled at me as I stared at him.

"Luca told me to take care of you for him and I promised him I would; he had my word on it." He brought his gaze down and removed one of my arms from his waist, taking my hand in his. "I want you to know that I want to fill that void left by Luca's departure. I want to be the something that turned out for the better for you."

He continued to stare down at our locked hands as I listened to him, truly appreciating all that he was saying.

"Audrey, I can't put the way I feel for you into words-"

"You don't have to."

Alex's eyes flicked to mine and he gave me a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"Alex, I want you to be there for me. I know exactly what you're trying to say, and after all that you've expressed, I feel it's only right to want to have you help me through the loss of a best friend." I chuckled at the way the sentence came out. "Look at me. I said that like I was mourning his death."

Alex rolled his eyes and chuckled as his hand went to the back of my neck. "To the start of something good."

I smiled up at him as he began closing the gap. "To the start of something great."

He smiled once again before closing the gap between us in one breathtaking kiss.

Something beautiful truly did come out of something heartbreaking.