Playing Cards

The music rang loud in his ears and the bass pumped roughly through his veins as he leaned back against the booth, watching all the people on the dance floor, grinding all over one another, swaying, like the ocean, to the beat. He was never much of a dancer himself, but he could say he’d been complimented, many times, on the moves he’d been able to show off when he was completely wasted.

A few of the girls halfway across the room smiled in his direction from the bar, and one of them even winked at him, before he pulled his gaze back to the table in front of him, where nearly fifteen empty beer bottles sat, all of which were emptied by him or the one of the other five guys he’d decided to step out with that evening.

It was no secret to anyone that Adam Burish was a ladies’ man; hell, even he knew it, and he used it to his advantage- that is, until Sabrina walked into the picture. The moment he saw the petite brunette walk into the room, he stopped thinking what he had classified as “straight”. All other girls just seemed to disappear to him, and for that, he was thankful; he needed some structure in his life, he was getting to “that point in life”.

The two of them had been dating for nearly four months, and Adam couldn’t lie, he was the happiest he’d ever been. She was there for every home game, and watched every single away game of his that she was able to. She was everything he wanted.

When he glanced up again, he smiled as he saw his own girlfriend, and Hannah, his teammate, Patrick Sharp’s fiancé, dancing together, both holding drinks in their hands, laughing at something they’d been talking about. A blonde girl from behind them smiled over at him, obviously thinking he’d been smiling at her, and began to walk towards the group of men sitting in the corner booth of the club.

The overly skinny girl made her way around the table and perched herself on his right knee, smiling in what she thought was a seductive manner the entire time. She took the loose material of his t-shirt in between her thumb and index finger, “What do you say you and me get outta here?”

Adam mentally rolled his eyes; sure, he was used to girls throwing themselves at him, but he hadn’t even looked at this girl, and she was assuming he wanted to leave with her. He shifted uncomfortably, making it so that the girl got off of his lap, but instead sat down next to him and set her hand on his mid-thigh.

He turned to her, his eyebrow raised, and leaned a little bit closer to her. “I hate to break it to ya, babe, but I have a gi-”

“What are you doing?”

The familiar soft, yet strong, voice of his beautiful girlfriend Sabrina stopped him in mid-sentence, and he had to look around the large head of the girl sitting next to him in order to see her. He shook his head at his girlfriend, “Baby, I swear it’s not what it looks like.”

“Adam,” she shook her head back in his direction. “I can’t believe you.”

She said nothing else, and didn’t even give him an opportunity to open his mouth, before she turned on her heel and marched straight through the sea of people on the dance floor, right to the back door of the club. Without even thinking twice about it, Adam stood up and followed her closely, nearly running out the back door once he got through the suffocating crowd.

She was still walking down the alleyway, to her car, which she’d parked at the end of the strip. He chased after her, calling her name, but she only ignored him, until he finally caught up with her, only ten feet away from her Honda.

“Bree, please. Let me explain,” he panted, looking straight down into his girlfriend’s eyes.

“No.” She shook her head and tried to go around him, only for him to step in front of her. She rolled her eyes, obviously growing frustrated, before she looked back up at him, attitude written all over her face. “I don’t want to see you, or even hear you again. Bye, Adam.”

And just like that, she jumped into her car and drove out of the small lot, leaving him there, staring after her like a lost puppy dog. He knew she didn’t mean half of what she said, because she was a loose cannon; she said whatever came to her mind first, but that was what he loved about her.

Not really feeling like partying anymore, and not having a ride home, he walked out onto the main street in front of him and spotted one of the many train stations, placed sporadically around the city. It was a nice night to take a ride on the subway.

-----

Five days and what seemed to be a million text messages later, Adam sighed and ran his hands through his hair, staring down at his black screened cell phone. From his left, his close friend and roommate, Patrick Sharp, put his hand on his shoulder. “Just call her. Hannah said she’s a mess; she wants to talk to you, but at the same time, she wants you to ‘drop dead’.”

Upon seeing Patrick use air-quotes, Adam cringed, definitely not wanting to hear about the wishes hisex-girlfriend had for him. “I’ve tried, man, and she won’t answer her phone.”

The screen of his laptop displayed the website to a flower shop right down the street from Sabrina’s apartment building, giving Adam the perfect opportunity to send her flowers, and have her back before they got home from their four game road-trip to California. The plane ride was just over four hours, but, with the layover they had in Denver, it would take nearly six and a half hours to make it back to the city he’d grown to absolutely adore.

He knew it was the cheesy, cliché way to get Sabrina to realize he wasn’t playing around about what had happened a few nights prior, but he had absolutely no intention of letting her get away from him, and besides, he knew the way to her heart: daisies.

He scrolled down the page, searching the website, until he came across a small vase, wrapped in a hot pink ribbon, which he knew was her favorite color, and clicked on the Buy Now! button. As soon as he placed the order, filling out his credit card information, as well as her address, he shut his laptop and leaned back in his seat on the plane, knowing the only way to talk to her sooner was to sleep.

Nearly seven and a half hours later, after finally stepping off of the plane, getting hauled back to the United Center, having a quick team meeting, and getting back into his own Escalade, Adam Burish was exhausted, to say the least. But not too exhausted to answer the text that Sabrina had sent him, thanking him for the daisies.

He smiled inwardly, knowing that he knew nearly everything about the girl he loved, and loving that she knew it, also. His fingers moved furiously across his keypad as he waited for the teammates of his that were in front of him to drive onto the street ahead as they all battled to get out of the parking garage, to get home to the ones they loved.

Are you ready to listen to me yet?

The way his question sounded shocked him, as well as the brunette on the other end of the conversation; she wasn’t expecting him to sound so harsh. But, she figured, she had overreacted, maybe just a little bit; so listening to him seemed like the best idea at the time.

She typed back her response, before getting up from her position on the couch, deciding that she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing her at her worst; in sweats, with no makeup, her hair tied high into a ponytail on her head, and her eyes red from crying. She was going to make him regret everything that had been done.

As soon as Adam received her answer, he nearly flipped his SUV onto its side as he took an illegal U-turn at the next light he pulled up to, deciding that seeing her was more important than getting some stupid traffic ticket.

The second he pulled to a screeching halt in the parking lot of the apartment building she was living in, he killed the engine and jumped out of the car, but not without smoothing his knotted hair down, using the reflection in his window as a mirror. He nearly sprinted through the large glass doors, and almost took down a petite blonde woman, who could only stare at him with wide eyes as he came near her.

Adam only smiled lightly in her direction before he made his way over to the elevator, almost completely ignoring the woman’s existence. Sure, she was hot, he thought, but he was there for something so much more important.

Sure, the guys on his team joked around with him about his old habits of being a ladies’ man, and how that all changed so quickly when Sabrina came into the picture. Sure, they called him many things, ‘pussy-whipped’ being the most used; but he didn’t care. He had what he wanted, and he wasn’t gonna let it get away.

The second he stepped off the elevator and into the hallway, only ten feet away from Sabrina’s front door, his heart began to race; it was beating so fast he thought it might jump out of his chest. As he walked towards the door, completely weighing his options for the last time, he had, what he assumed to be, an epiphany: sure, he was taking a gamble in getting back together with Sabrina, not knowing if she was liable to freak out on him again, but he loved her, so that kind of stuff shouldn’t matter in their relationship, unless it was recurring. Then it would be an issue.

As his knuckles hit the soft wood of her front door, her heart began to beat faster. She was anxious to see Adam, but nervous to hear what he had to say to her. She loved him with everything she had in her, that was no question, but she wasn’t sure he felt the same way. She’d decided to let him do the talking.

She swung the door open, surprising him, seeing as she answered while he was still knocking, and getting a surprise while she took in his appearance. They looked alike: saggy, red eyes, and a nose to match. Either he had been sick, or he had been crying just as much as she had.

Neither of them said a word, but once their eyes locked, they both had the same instinct. Their lips met in a fiery, passionate kiss, and when she pressed herself even further into Adam’s grip, he lifted her from her feet and floated, like a feather, into the living room of the apartment, kicking the door shut behind him as he carried Sabrina to the couch. He laid her down and went to lock her front door, smiling as he spotted the daisies he’d sent her on the bar between the kitchen and the living room. He walked back over to her with the most serious look he could muster, before sitting down next to her, planting a kiss in the middle of her forehead.

She took his large hand in her small one, playing with his fingers slightly, before she pressed it down onto her chest, so he could feel her heart, which was beating in an almost out of control fashion. He smiled lightly down at his girlfriend before he pressed his lips to hers once more, letting them do all the talking.

And just like that, all of their cards were out on the table.