Boy Next Door

Things have been going really good between me and Marc since we got home. Almost too good. It makes me worry if something really bad is going to happen between us because things are going too well. I know it sounds silly, but I’m very superstitious when it comes to things like that.

I heard the lock being fumbled around with and figured it was one of the guys. I just gave them all keys so they wouldn’t have to use my emergency key. I figured it was just easier that way. I looked over at the now open door and saw a very sad Matt Gilroy walking in.

This is the first time I had talked to Matt since the break-up. Mike and Brandon had texted me, worried about their team-mate. Lauren had texted me, too, since she became friends with all of the guys now.

“Aw. Gilly,” I cooed as I wrapped my arms around him. I really felt bad for him. He always talked about how great his girlfriend was. I really looked up to them as a couple. The fact that they had kept a long distance relationship for such a long time kind of inspired me.

“Hi,” he sighed. I sat down on the couch and patted the spot next to me, signaling him to sit down. He plopped himself down on the couch, not saying a word. This was totally unlike Matt. He was always so upbeat and happy, not down in the dumps like he is now.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked. He shook his head no. “Do you want to do something to take your mind off of it?” He shook his head no. “Do you want me to talk about what a horrible person she is?” He got a small chuckle out of that and I figured I had made some process. “Come with me,” I said as I hopped up off the couch.

“Where are we going?” he asked softly.

“To your apartment so we can burn all of your ex’s stuff,” I said as I skipped down the hallway to the elevators. I knew Marc was out at the moment, so I didn’t bother to stop at his apartment.

I texted Marc, Mike, Lauren and Brandon this: Come to Matt’s apartment. We’re burning that bitch’s stuff.

I knew they would understand exactly what I meant. If I texted everyone on the Rangers, they would know what I meant, that’s how bad this break-up was.

I made a left turn instead of the right turn I was supposed to make onto the street his apartment complex was on.

“Where are we going?” Matt mumbled, picking his head up off the window.

“To get ice cream, duh,” I said with a roll of my eyes as I parked the car.

We ate our ice cream in the small shop and just started talking. Not about his break-up, just how life has been in general. We shared a few laughs like buddies would. I pulled out my phone and saw that all three of them said they would be there soon so we started to head back.

We showed up at his apartment and went straight to Matt’s room, which was surprisingly clean. I heard a knock on the door so I went and got it. I never acted as a guest at one of the guy’s homes. I opened the door and saw Brandon on the other side.

“Dubes!” I yelled as I attacked him in a hug. I feel like I haven’t seen these guys in forever.

“Dannie,” he laughed as he set me down on the ground.

“Looks like there’s a party!” Lauren yelled from down the hall. She was with Mike, holding hands.

“LAUREN!” I screamed as I ran over to her. We hugged and laughed like school girls. The other people who lived in this hall were going to hate us.

I haven’t seen Lauren in forever it seems like. She’s always hanging out with Mike when I’m home, and I’m always at soccer when she’s home. Then there’s always the mix of our classes. I do see Mike though, when I’m with the rest of he guys. Whenever all of us hang out, Lauren always seems to have class.

“I see I get no hug,” Mike laughed.

“Oh, come here,” I said as I gave Mike a hug.

“I heard what happened between you and Marc,” he whispered in my ear.

“Damn! Word gets around on defense!”

“Am I the late one to the party?” Marc asked as he showed up.

“Yes, yes you are,” Dubi added to our conversation. I walked over to Marc and gave him a hug and a kiss.

“Okay, come on guys! We have an upset ex in there, and we need to burn, or just throw-out, stuff!” I said.

We all filed into Matt’s tiny bedroom. It felt like a clown car, all six of us in a tiny space. Lauren and I shoved our way over to Matt and started talking to him. We noticed that Marc, Brandon and Mike were already talking about sports and Matt was still talking to us.

“Okay, you guys, go watch sports or something,” Lauren said. The three of them walked out and Lauren, Matt and I started to get to work.

All of a sudden, as I was throwing a shirt Matt’s ex had given him into the garbage bag we had, a light bulb went off in my head. What if that bad feeling I had in my head was Marc cheating on me? I shrugged it off for now and went back to work.

“I really wish there was some way I could get back at her,” Matt said as we finished throwing the stuff away.

“There is,” Lauren said evilly.

“There is?” Matt and I questioned at the same time.

“Yeah! What about that girl Nina? She’s moving to New York, right?” I nodded my head, not knowing where she was going with this. “Well she’s funny, smart, pretty-” she started, but got cut off by Matt.

“YOU WANT ME TO GO OUT WITH HER?!?!” Matt yelled.

“YES!” Lauren yelled back.

“Well I guess it’s worth a shot,” Matt shrugged.

“Okay, I’ll text her,” I said.

Me: I need you to do me a favor tonight.
Nina: What?
Me: I need you to go out with my friend. He just went through a really hard break-up and he wants to get back at his ex.
Nina: Fine…
Me: THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I texted her the details, and told Matt the news.

We walked out into the other room and threw the garbage bags at Marc, Mike and Brandon. “You guys get to throw this stuff out,” I said.

“Okay guys, we gotta get out of here. Matt’s got to get ready for a date!” Lauren squealed. The guys gave us a confused look. “We’ll explain later.”

“I’ll see you guys at the Championship game tomorrow.” They all nodded their heads in response. (AN: I suck at timing things. We are making this game the championship. Just go with it please.) “Okay, Marc, I’ll meet you at your apartment.”

“Okay.” He gave me a quick kiss before he went down to his car.

“Have fun tonight Matt. Bye Dubi. Bye Mike! Bye Lauren!” There was a chorus of byes as I walked out. I love these guys.

*~*~*~*~*

I knocked three times on the door in front of me. I waited for a few minutes before the door was opened, revealing a very handsome hockey player in front of me.

“Hey,” Marc said as he snaked his arm around my waist and guided me towards his couch. We both sat down. Marc’s lips brushed against mine. He caught my lips in his and our lips started to move simultaneously with each other’s. We pulled away when air became a need for us.

“Well hello there Mr. Staal,” I breathed. He got off of me and I sat up straight. “What was that about?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Well, I like being greeted that way,” I laughed.

“Well, I like greeting you that way,” he responded with the famous Staal smirk.

We started talking for a while about nothing in particular. A silence came up and I starting thinking about what I thought about before. I tried to shrug the thought away, but I couldn’t.

“Marc,” I said softly.

“Mmhm.”

“You would never cheat on me, right?” I asked. I figured it was a harmless question. Man, was I wrong.

“You think I cheat on you?” Marc said, a little annoyed by my question.

“No, I was just curious.”

“But you think I cheat on you?” he asked again.

“No, I never said that!” I said, my voice getting louder.

“Oh, but you did. A week ago I tell you I love you and then you ask me if I would cheat on you!” he said, his voice matching my volume.

“But I didn’t mean it that way!” I said, frustrated. Tears were threatening my eyes and my lip was quivering. I tried to keep a straight face, but I was quickly failing.

“Then how did you mean it!” his voice kept escalading. I’ve never seen him this way before and it was scaring me.

“Well, look at Matt and Taylor. They were so happy and look at what happened to them.”

“But he left the state!”

“Yeah, well you go on away games!” We stood there for a moment, just staring at each other. The tears I was fighting were now rolling down my cheeks. I walked out of the apartment and slammed the door shut. I thought it was just a harmless question.

*~*~*~*~*

The game was about to start. I was still angry about what happened between Marc and I last night, but I just figured I would use my anger to help me play better. I assumed that Marc wouldn’t show up, but when I looked over at the stands, I saw Marc sitting next to the guys with a pissed off look on his face. They must have forced him to come. I also noticed that Nina was there, too. Matt and Nina must have gotten along well.

We were up by one with five minutes to go in the game. The other team had just been granted a corner kick. They brought up their goalie to try to get the goal. The kick was up. I jumped up to try and head the ball away from the goal but some girl shoved me into the goal post. My head hit the metal post extremely hard. I heard a loud ringing in my ears and saw darkness. That was it.

!^!^!^!^!
Marc’s P.O.V.

I didn’t want to come to the game. That’s about the last thing I wanted to do. I was pissed that she thought I would cheat on her. I looked up at the clock and noticed there was five minutes left. Thank God. I can leave soon. I looked back onto the field and noticed that Danielle was lying down on the field, not moving. Trainers and coaches were rushing out onto the field. All the guys, Lauren and Nina whipped their heads around and stared at me. I kept staring at the field and noticed the grass was turning red. Fuck.