Stop Believing in the Lie

Today's finally the day of the shootout between Alex and I. I'm overly excited and can't wait for the guys to see my skills in person. I brought my gear and new skates and changed in the visitors locker room. I don't even know the last time I was extremely happy in my gear. I couldn't wait for Alex to see me all 'dressed up'. He was out there, not facing me of course, while every guy was on the bench waiting for us. Luckily, he was still talking as I skated up behind him.

"Alex?" I said touching his arm.

Once he saw me, arms instantly wrapped around me; I laughed.

"You look fantastic."

"Well, thank you. So do you."

"Ready to get your ass beat?"

"Why are you asking yourself that?" I asked trying to keep on a straight face.

Everyone laughed along with me.

"You're hilarious."

"I know I am."

"Ok. You ready?"

"You bet I am. How about you?"

"Absolutely."

Varly skated toward us and talked to us for a second before heading to his net.

"Alright. First one to three goals wins." Alex said.

"Ok. Got it. Who goes first?"

"You choose."

"Hmm...you go first, then I'll show you my stuff."

"Ok." he said smirking.

He scored on his first attempt which wasn't too surprising.

"Your turn." he said touching my shoulder.

I took a moment to compose myself before skating toward Varly. I made a slick backhand shot into the net. I poked Alex's shoulder with a smirk when I came back. He shook his head and went again but missed just as I did. The third attempt was unsuccessful for him, but it was for me.

"One more and I win." I whispered into his ear.

"I'm gonna catch up. Just. You. Wait."

"Yeah. Yeah. Sure."

I looked back at the guys and shook my head; many of them did the same. The fact that the entire team was behind me amazed me; it made me want to win even more. The next turn was a no go, but he scored that time. I bit my lip and watched him fail. The next attempt went five-hole and I cheered, just as everyone else did. Everyone else...but my boyfriend. He had a smile on his face though.

"You're amazing, Amelia Cantioni."

"So are you, Alex Ovechkin."

"You are fantastic! I'd take you...we'd take you on our team if we could!" Brooks Laich exclaimed.

I blushed.

"Well, thank you. That means a lot!"

Alex wrapped an arm around me.

"Бьюсь об заклад, вы были бы на первой линии." (I bet you'd be on the first line.)

I blushed even more.

I looked over to Varly and Sasha who had obviously heard what he said and smiled.

"What'd you say, Ovi?" Greenie shouted.

"He said that I'd be on the first line."

"You're so cheesy!"

I was tempted to throw something at him, but I didn't, seeing as it was inappropriate.

"He's my boyfriend. He's allowed to be!" I said laughing.

Alex pushed me.

"I'm cheesy?"

"Just a little bit." I said making a face.

He made a face of his own.

"You know you are."

He was looking toward the ground.

"Alexander Mikhaylovich Ovechkin."

"Ебать." (Fuck.)

"I heard that. Just admit it. If you don't, there'll be no chance of me kissing you today."

I heard oohs from all the guys.

"Do it!" Sasha shouted.

I started laughing again.

"Okay. I'm cheesy."

"Thank you." I said kissing his cheek.

I then felt him smile that crooked smile of his.

"Я люблю тебя." he said.

"Я тоже тебя люблю."

The awws came instantly which meant they didn't have to understand Russian for them to know we both said 'I love you.' After that, everyone went back to talking.

"So, I gotta say you're one of the most talented skaters I ever seen. Я ревную." (I'm jealous.)

"That means so much coming from the most talented player I've ever seen and he's my boyfriend! And the fact that you say you're jealous? It's hard to believe."

"It's true." he said putting his left hand up.

I just wrapped my arms around his neck as he wrapped his around my waist. Not even a minute later, he ran a hand through my hair and down my back.

"What do you wanna do now?" he asked.

"I want someone to capture this moment in a photo, so we'll never forget it."

He smiled and motioned for someone to take a picture with his phone. We grabbed our sticks and got in close together with ever apparent smiles on our faces. After it was taken, we kissed and had the urge to make-out, but we knew we'd have to wait because we work for the same organization and it's just...unprofessional. The following morning which came after a wonderful evening, I woke to an empty bed. Less than a minute later, out came Alex in all his glory; what amazing glory that is.

"Good morning." he greeted.

"Good morning." I yawned.

He sat beside me, so I moved in closer to him.

"What time is it? How long have you been up?"

"8 and less than a minute."

I nodded and let my head fall against his shoulder.

"I'm still tired. When is morning skate?"

"A couple hours."

"Ok. After you leave, I might nap for maybe an hour at home." I said.

"When will I see you? After the game?"

"Yeah. After. I'll be with May until the game and I'll see you down in the locker room afterwards."

"Sounds good."

Come 11, I woke up and showered, feeling completely refreshed. May was at home ready to go when I called her, so once I was ready to go, I headed over.

"Good morning." she greeted getting into my car.

"Good morning."

"How'd yesterday go?"

"Amazingly."

"Start from the beginning and tell me everything."

I laughed.

"Ok. I was in my gear from juniors and in my new skates that Alex bought me for Christmas. I skated over and he told me how great I looked. We then talked to Varly and Alex let me decide who went first. I told him to go first and then I would show him my skills."

She laughed.

"And you did?"

"You bet your ass I did. Well, we both scored on our first attempts, missed on the second, but on the third, he missed, yet I didn't. The fourth try was good for him but not for me. It was the opposite on the final attempts."

She high-fived me.

"You seriously need to show me your skills!"

"I definitely will. I don't know when, but I will."

"This is random. So random, but I want to tell you something...and ask you something."

"What is it?"

"I should've said this before, but..."

"But what?"

I had absolutely no idea what she was gonna say and I was confused beyond belief. She kept biting her lip.

"May..."

"I have a crush on Niklas."

What?

"Backstrom?"

"Who else would I be talking about?"

"For how long?"

"Since the day you talked to Alex about how you felt about him."

"That long ago?"

"Why hadn't you told me?"

"I-I don't know. I thought maybe I was star-struck, but...then I saw him smile at me that day and I just melted. Do I sound crazy?"

"No. Not at all. The only time I thought you were crazy was when you said I liked Alex, but turns out, you aren't."

"Ok." she said nodding.

"Do you want me to set you up?"

"Amelia! Don't be ridiculous."

"Don't be crazy?"

"Yes."

"Why'd you tell me then? I know you want me to do that or else you wouldn't have told me." I said giving her a look.

She just shook her head.

"Well, do you think Nicklas talked to Alex about me? I mean, they're close friends just like you and I..."

"It's a possibility. I'll talk to Alex about it."

"Is he gonna laugh at me? Alex or Nicklas?"

"I highly doubt either one of them would do that. Sasha couldn't be more of a sweetie."

"Ok. Go ahead."

Afterward, I told her the rest of the story and she was highly entertained, but when it came time for me to eat and get ready, she seemed anxious. I knew I had to talk to Alex about this asap. I wasn't so sure about talking about it when the game was over; my boys lost 6-3 to the Hurricanes and they couldn't be more devastated. He still wanted me to come down.

"How you feeling?" I asked.

He shrugged.

"Angry. Disappointed."

I made a face and sighed.

"Anything I can do?"

"I don't know. I just want a drink."

I was curious as to how Nicky was. I looked over and saw how distraught he was. I wanted to talk Alex about May, but it didn't seem appropriate at the moment.

"What?" he asked obviously seeing the look on my face.

"Niente, niente." (Nothing, nothing.)

"Amelia."

"I didn't wanna mention this now, seeing how the game went...but when I was out with May today, she mentioned that..."

"Mentioned what?"

I took a deep breath before I answered.

"She has a crush on Nicky." I said whispering.

"She does? Since when?"

"The day I told you how I felt about you. She looked toward him and he smiled and she melted. She thought she was starstruck but soon developed a crush and thought she was crazy till she spoke to me. You know I called her crazy when she said I liked you without even meeting you!"

"Wow. That's...wow."

"So, please tell me if Nicky has said anything about her?"

"Well, actually...he has. He has the biggest crush on her. He liked her the minute he saw her that day."

I was so happy. If we can get them together, that would be amazing.

"How are we gonna do this?" I asked.

"I don't know. It's gonna have to wait till the 6th, though."

"Well, we have time to think about this. Don't we?"

"That we do. That we do."

And I could not wait to start planning.