The Right Kind of Wrong

Wrapped in her heavy, warm coat Emily hugged Taylor before taking a step back and watching him climb in behind the wheel of his truck. Christmas break had finally arrived and several of her friends were heading back home for the holidays. Taylor, Julia and Lisa being a few of them.

The girls had already left and now she was seeing off Taylor. They’d exchanged gifts the night before, promising each other that they wouldn’t open them till Christmas day even though they were fully aware that once they were alone, they would tear right into them.

Raising her hand in a wave, she smiled slightly as Taylor pulled away from the curb and disappeared down the empty street.

Not moving for a moment, she pushed her gloved hands into the pockets of her jacket and turned around, breaking out in a smile as she recognized the tall man walking towards her.

“Chay!” she jumped slightly before jogging over to him, carefully wrapping her arms around him. “Are you okay now?” she asked, there was no secret that everyone who knew him had been very worried after his concussion which left him with concussion symptoms that had kept him from playing hockey. It actually kept him from doing most things, simply reading a book was hard for him.

“Better,” he shrugged slightly. “It’s still tuff, but…” he trailed off, a slight smile across his lips, something that hadn’t been possible just some weeks earlier.

“You’ll get there,” she stated certain. She wasn't a doctor, she had no real medical knowledge, but sometimes she had faith, this was one of those times and there wasn't a single bone in her body that didn’t think he was going to be fine. Hopefully he would be able to continue to play hockey as well, but from what she’d read…

“I hope so,” he nodded slightly. “So what are you doing out here in the cold?” he wondered.

“Just said bye to some people heading back home for Christmas,” she shrugged.

“You're staying?” he checked.

“Yeah,” she nodded. “I…I usually stay, it’s such a long flight back home and with time difference and all that…” she trailed off. “It’s just a hassle and with internet and Skype I can keep in touch with my family anyway,” she smiled slightly. “You on your way to see Kell?”

“I promised I’d help her wrap all her presents, even though she knows I suck at it,” he revealed.

“It’s the boyfriend thing to do,” she shrugged.

“Is Vandy helping you?” he raised an eyebrow at her.

“No, I'm already done,” she smiled widely, knowing she walked straight into that one. “And I wouldn’t let him anywhere near my presents, I'm OCD,” she told him. “The reason Kell wants you there has nothing to do with wrapping Christmas presents,” she stated.

“If only…” he trailed off, a slightly faraway look passing over his eyes.

“And I'm leaving now,” she announced. “This is getting a bit too freaky even for me,” she joked.

“I'm staying here too, so I’ll most likely see you around,” he stated, hugging her once more before they both left in different directions.

A smile across her lips, Emily pushed her hands back into the pockets of her coat and jogged across the empty street.

Lying stretched out on the large couch, an XBOX controller in her hands, Emily barely managed to stifle a yawn as they were playing some sort of car game. Early on they had figured that NHL10 was out of the questioned, cause she really sucked at it. Or as she herself like to claim, she was actually good at it, it was just that Chris was too good and made her look like a failure.

Chris was sitting in the other couch, his legs stretched out on top of the wooden coffee table as his eyes were focused on the large TV-screen.

“Chay mentioned that you're staying here for the holidays,” he broke the tense silence surrounding them. He had already figured that out himself, but he didn’t really feel like letting her know that just yet.

“Yeah,” she nodded slightly, not about to let him distract her again and cause her to lose yet another game. “I’ll only end up jetlagged by going back home anyway,” she shrugged. “And then even more so when I come back here. I'm coming home for the summer so they aren’t that bummed about it.”

“Are you?” he wondered.

“Of course I’d like to celebrate with my family, but I haven't been home the past three holidays so I've learned to deal with it,” she revealed, causing him to look over at her for a moment. When he thought he had her all figured out, she threw him another curveball…

“You should spend it with me,” he blurted out, a slightly blush creeping up his neck as he realized what he’d just asked of her, and she knew too judging by the look on her face. “I just mean that most of your friends have left and several of the guys are staying here, Mario’s family even live here so…” he trailed off.

“Maybe,” she nodded slightly, traces of a smile present across her lips as she continued looking at him for a moment before turning her attention back to the game which she was in the process of winning.

“They really won’t mind,” he stated, he hadn’t asked, but he knew most of his teammates liked her and they wouldn’t mind spending parts of the holidays with her.

“Sure, it sounds like fun,” she agreed as she rolled to her side, looking at him as she placed the controller on the carpeted floor. “You going to miss being with your family?”

“I went home last Christmas and it was nice, but this is the last holidays we have here,” he shrugged slightly. “I can spend the holidays with my family for years to come,” he figured, smiling slightly as she nodded in agreement.

“I never actually thought about it like that,” she admitted. “But I'm going to remember it when my mum calls, sulking cause I'm not coming home.”

“You haven't been home for years,” he commented.

“True,” she nodded. “But every year mum’s hope holds out till the 23rd when she realizes I'm really not coming home,” she smiled sadly. “And I talked to a friend of mine the other day, apparently Erik is making an appearance back home,” she sighed. “I'm telling you, he has no interest in celebrating the holidays with his family, he’s only doing it to gain brownie points and appear better than me.”

“You're better than him,” he decided, putting his own controller down and moving to the couch she was lying on, motioning for to move to the side before lying down next to her and bringing her close to his chest. “You don’t need brownie points, people already like you,” he told her. “Besides, that’s a really low thing to do.”

“I know,” she breathed, snuggling into his embrace as she forced herself to stop thinking about that. She knew that Erik was only trying to get under her skin and she hated the fact that it was almost working…