Drop The Puck, It's Time To Go

“I hate Subban, I hate Subban, I hate Subban, I HATE SUBBAN!”
“Why?”
“He’s the reason we lost!”
“No, it was mine…”
“TIMMY THOMAS DON’T MAKE ME SMACK YOU!”
“Who gave my girlfriend coffee!?”
“Me!”
“Marchand…I hate you.” The fever on the bus to our hotel in Pittsburgh was chaotic. We just lost against our rivals, the Montreal Canadiens and it really got to all of us. A lot with me cause I wanted to crush my rival, especially Subban because he was a dick. Seriously, MIKE RICHARDS OF THE FLYERS CALLED HIM THAT, so obviously he is one. Plus every time I see him play, he plays just down dirty. Especially last night, I don’t know how many times I saw the ice or boards thanks to his checks. And yes, during a break me and Marchand snagged some coffee and I am now jittery from it. No sleeping for me tonight!

*****

“HEY MARCHAND!”
“WHAT!?”
“YOU THINK CAMPBELLS AND SAVARDY HATE US FOR YELLING SO MUCH?”
“YEAH, I THINK SO! HEY, HAVE YOU SEEN MA RAZOR!?”
“NO! HAVE YOU SEEN MINE!”
“YES! IT’S RIGHT HERE, BUT I CAN’T FIND MINE!”
“Shut up!” Came a very muffled roar from next door…next door as in Savard and Campbell’s room. I started laughing with glee.
“SORRY SAVARDY!!”
“Bullshit!” I continued to laugh in glee as Marchand triumphantly ran out of the bathroom with his Gillette razor.
“I FOUND MA RAZOR!”
“HORRAY!” I then bolted up and started jumping around. “Shit, that run to Starbucks was a baaaad idea! Are you as jittery as me!?”
“No, but I am wide awake!”
“Me too! Shit, we need to do something to stop this energy!” I cried, grabbing Marchand’s shoulders and shaking him violently, which wasn’t that hard to do since we were almost the same height.
“Gah-ah-ah-ah!” He said. He grabbed my shoulders and stopped me. “Get Seguin! He needs to tape us with the idea I have!”
“What is that!?” I cried, running towards the door already.
“You’ll see! It has to do with Boychuk and Bergeron’s room and it’s furniture! I saw it on 25/7!” I stopped from ripping open the door and looked at him.
“AHHH!! The first episode with Fluery and that other Penguin dude and they totally like-”
“YES THAT! GO!” I bolted for Seguin’s room.
“I UNDERSTAND YOUR INSTIGATING NOW MARCHY! AND I LOVE IT! MUHAHAHA!” I then had an ADD moment. “TUUUUKKAAA!!” I cried, banging on his hotel door. “COME INSTIGATE WITH US!”

*****

“Remind me never, ever, ever to brew coffee at home or bring you to Starbucks ever again.” Tuukka grumbled at me as we all stood in the empty room of Bergeron and Boychuk. Seguin had the camera trained on us.
“You say that but yet here you are!” I said back. “And I know you will never be able to uphold that because you can’t live in the early morning without that stuff! YOU’RE BECOMING A TRUE AMERICAN!” I attacked him in a hug. “So proud!”
“Ugg…” Tuuk said.
“Where are they anyways.” Seguin asked, talking about Chucky and Bergy.
“Don’t know, but it’s ok! Let’s just start grabbing all furniture and shit and bringing it out to the where the elevators are so it’s the first thing they and everyone else who is out sees!” Marchand said. I clapped my hands.
“LET’S DO THIS THEN!” So in the span of over twenty minutes and out combined efforts, we all got the furniture set up nicely out in the hallway for the whole Bruins team to see when they either a) came out of their rooms or b) came out from being around town. After fluffing up a pillow and laying it gently on the bed, I turned to Seguin and the camera.
“I just want to thank The Pittsburgh Penguins for this WONDERFUL idea!” The elevator then opened and Marchy grabbed Seguin.
“THEY’RE HERE, GO, GO, GO!” I grabbed Tuukka and all four of us darted around the corner. One of the doors opened up and Lucic and Krejci poked their heads out into the hall.
“What is goi-”
“SAFE HOUSE!” I cried, pushing Tuuk in and barreling the two guys over followed suit by Marchy and Tyler.
“Camera is out…Insiders video…” Lucic said.
“What’s it this time?” Krejci asked as me, Marchy, and Tyler poked our heads around the doorframe and waited.
“24/7…episode one…that’s all I can say.” Tuukka said.
“I hope to GOD this is not mine!” I burst into snickers at the sound of Coach Ward.
“No Geoff, this isn’t yours. See? It’s room 545-”
“DAMMIT! THAT’S OURS!” Bergeron yelled, cutting off Doug Jarvis.
“MARCHAAAAND!” Boychuk yelled.
“IT WASN’T MEEE!” Marchand yelled, jumping into the hallway and tried to look innocent. He could pull it off sometimes. Boychuk and Bergeron came around the corner and pointed down Marchand.
“BULLSHIT! WE KNOW YOU!” Boychuk yelled.
“We totally would have done this so that means you did it!” Bergeron added.
“ROXY’S IDEA!”
“No it was not you spineless shrimp!” I snapped. “YOU CAME UP WITH IT!”
“DON’T SELL ME OUT!”
“Why would I not sell you out you idiot!” I cried.
“Camera’s out, meaning they definitely did this!” Both Bergeron and Boychuk started marching towards me and Marchand and we both booked it. Patrice and Johnny started to charge after us and sadly Bergeron easily tackled Marchand to the floor and Boychuk grabbed me.
“NOO!!” I cried. “TUUUKKAA! HELP! I’M BEING KIDNAPPED!”
“You deserve it.” He said nonchalantly.
“WHY DID I DATE YOU!?” I screamed.
“I’m thinking pool with these two, yes?” Boychuk said.
“ASSSSHOOOOOLES!” Marchand cried. “AHH! Rugburn!”
“NOT THE POOOOOL!” I cried
“Agreed.” Bergeron said, dragging Marchand to the elevator and Boychuk with me over his shoulder, both of us swearing and cursing the whole way.

*****

“I still smell like chlorine!” I griped, sniffing my arm again during warm ups.
“Suck it up, you’re going to smell worse later.” Bergeron said, slapping a puck at Tuukka.
“Yeah, a combination of sweaty hockey and public pool. Wonderful, my boyfriend wont come within two meters of me!” I said, slapping a puck at the goal this time.
“I don’t know why he does anyways.” Bergy said, giving me a toothy grin. I gaped at him in pure rage.
“PATRIIIIIICEEEEE!” I screech and the man made a quick getaway, me hot on his heels. I summoned all the energy in me and smashed the stupid Canadian into the boards, getting the fans on the other side to go wild as we began to scuffle in a sibling way. “You are an ass, you are ass, YOU ARE AN ASS!” I cried, trying to shove his helmet off his head.
“Alright children, let’s stop. Roxy, leave your older brother alone.” Recchi came around and peeled me off of Bergeron.
“You don’t understand Dad! HE CALLED ME DISGUSTING!”
“Save the energy to unleash on the Pens.” He said, laughing at hit my helmet.
“Hell yeah! YOU’RE GOING DOWN CINDY!” I cried to the other side. We were all boosted with confidence today, ready to bring back another win for us tonight against the Penguins. The stadium was filled with Pens fans waving their terrible towel but there was a hint of black and yellow out there. I made sure I bumped as I felt apprehensive about playing this team though, deep down inside. The Penguins and Capitals were one of the biggest rivals in the NHL, nearly everyone wanted to see them play against each other but now they were connected with the relationship of both their captains, Crosby and Harper. The team was filled with her allies and after some past games I wasn’t so sure about going out against those who despised me. What are you thinking Roxanne? Don’t be scared of them! God! I kept that in my head as I prepared myself, especially when NESN reporter Naoko Funayama asked to interview me during warmups.
“McGregor, how are you feeling about tonight’s game after Saturday’s loss against Montreal?” I shrugged.
“Feeling pretty good, y’know? Ready to go out and bring in another win for our fans.”
“Feeling apprehensive at all about playing Pittsburgh after Friday’s game against Washington?” I should have expected something like this to come up. It felt like every interview I jumped into, they had to ask about “how I felt about Friday’s match-up” or “how was I going to handle my next game after Friday’s match-up” or “why do you hate Erika Harper?” Shaking my head no, I answered.
“Not really.” I said. Ha, liiiieees. “It’s just another game and another team, despite they’re connection to Erika Harper. Every team I’ve played has had some sort of connection to her so the Penguins are no different. I’m actually curious to see what they have in store tonight.”
“Interesting, you feel you’re going to get more bad blood from all of them?”
“I don’t know and I…really don’t care. Its just part of the game.”
“It sure is, now let me ask about the All-Star Game. Do you think you’ll be heading to Raleigh as a rookie?” I gave a laugh at that. Yeah right, me? All-Star Game? I just started!
“I don’t think I’ll be making it. I just started my career, doubt I’ll be getting many votes.”
“You never know though, many people have been saying how they see you competing in Super Skills.” Ok, this woman had a point. Just recently I put myself on Facebook and surprising was getting a lot of fans liking it. I was nearing 2,000 fans and I kept getting a couple comments here and there about how they voted me for All-Stars.
“That is true, but I don’t think I’ll be making it. Next year probably!” Naoko nodded her head before continuing to another topic.
“Tuukka Rask is starting in goal tonight, correct? Do you think he’ll fair well tonight?” Looking at Rask out of the corner of my eye, I smiled.
“I know he will, he might be doubting himself this season but he’s going to do great tonight and I hope the rest of the team gives him the support he needs to.”
“THANKS HUN!” I turned and looked at Tuukka was yelled from his position behind me.
“Hey! This is my interview!” I called to him with a huge smile.
“How cute…thanks for your time McGregor.”
“No problem.” I said, “Now if you excuse me, I have a goalie to go chat with. TUUUK!” I yelled, skating over to my boyfriend and smacking him with my goalie stick.
“What? I’m just solidifying the fact that you’re my girlfriend and no fucking way is any of your fanboys going to manage to get with you.”
“How sweeeet…now get in goal! I need to practice my shots!”

*****

“HEY MICKY! STILL SMELL LIKE CHOLRINE!?” Boychuk yelled to me at the end of the bench.
“FUCK OFF BOYCHUK AND PAY ATTENTION TO THE GAME!” I yelled back. “OR I WILL DESTROY YOUR ASS LIKE I DID TO BERGY!” The game had started and we were all pumped at the bench, watching our teammates battle out the Penguins and I was itching to get in. Boychuk decided to bring up the pool thing again while we waited for line change and I shivered at the memory of being thrown into the hotel pool with Marchand, clothes and all.
So unpleasant!
But whatever! Game had started! My line was up and I quickly jumped over the bench and got out into play but was instantly met with a hard check into the boards by Matt Cooke. Grunting, I caught my breath and shook off the hit and continued out, anger seething inside at that hit for I had no idea what it was for.
“Fuck you Cooke…” I quickly darted through Pens to back up my wingmates as they struggled to keep it in the opposing end. Tyler past me the puck and I made a charge towards the goal, Staal trying to stop me and I gave a good hard shove that knocked him to the ice and made a hard pass back to Seguin as I became face to face with Orpik. I dodged Orpik and skating towards the goal, Orpik hot on my heels, hoping to give support to Lucic and Seguin. Sadly, the puck was won by the Pens and I found myself skating hard to the opposing end. A line change for the other side brought in Sidney Crosby, who quickly scooped up the puck and with the help of his buddy Malkin, had a clear getaway to Rask. Seeing an opportunity to not let them do this, I skated as fast as I could and summoned all my strength and slammed my body into Crosby and sent him flying to the ground with a grunt and allowed Boychuk to snag up the puck. The stadium echoed with boos but I brushed it off and tried to bring myself back to the bench for the line change but I felt my body get slammed from behind and smashed my face into the glass, getting a little shaken.
Shit, I was going to have such a bruised body after this game if this all keeps up!
Turning around, I found it was Malkin who had hit me hard.
“Cheap move, suka.” Malkin hissed at me, obviously swearing at me in Russian. I glared at him.
“Same too you, you asshole. Stop trying to protect your fucking lover.” I quickly skated as fast as I could to my bench before anything broke out cause I felt that if I got in a fight with the Russian giant, I would lose miserably and there was nothing to fight about.
“Bastard…” Savard muttered next to me. “What a stupid ass move.” I shrugged.
“Whatever, I guess I should have expected it.”
“Nice check McGregor! Keep that shit up and you’ll intimidate these guys.” I smiled at Coach.
“Thanks Coach.” All my teammates around me patted me for my taking out of Crosby and how it helped us all a shitload…and the fact that I sent fairy boy onto his ass. Bet you saw all of that…didn’t you Electrika. Got no remorse for your boyfriend. The first period ended with absolutely no goals for either side and a lot of congratulations to Tuukka. Second period was a downer. The puck barely managed to stay out of our side and the Pens scored two goals on us, thanks to Rupp and Letang. There was almost a third one but it was called off, thanks to Talbot’s interference with my goalie. Yeah, fucking asshole shoved him from behind and sadly he did it with me on the ice and I instantly jumped in.
“You asshole!” I cried at him, shoving him into the back of the net after I saw it happened and Staal chipped the puck in as my boyfriend was shoved out of his goalie zone. “That was fucking cheap and you fucking know it!”
“You gonna cry about it?” Max growled. “How strong are you?”
“Strong enough to kick your ass and let you know you don’t fuck with the goalies! Especially Tuukka!” I threw my stick and gloves off and charged at Talbot, my teammates cheering me on for my defense and holding off the other Penguins who were trying to save Talbot from my fury. After a good couple of hits I got Talbot on his back on the ice and the referees quickly pulled us off. After a lot of investigation, Talbot was sent to the box for interference, Staal’s goal was taken away, and I was sent into the box for roughing, my Bruins fans slamming the box behind my head in support of my actions. I gave them all smiles and hit the glass where every hands were in high five attempts. Fans were going wild at my interaction.
Thank you Boston, I love you guys.
We all jumped into the third period with a determination to win this game. We were losing badly and I could see it aggravating Tuukka and I didn’t want to give him a loss. So I gave everyone a huge ass pep talk at the bench about getting our shit together and not helping our scores for the conference, giving Boston a win to celebrate, but giving Tuukka some god damn support!
I think it did the trick cause we ended up tying the game in nearly two minutes.
Getting out there, I wanted to score again. I had the will too and I knew I was going to. Skating like I never had before, I sent the puck up to Seguin just as I go checked by Crosby. I growled at him and shoved him away before going off to the goal and picking up the rebound shot by Tyler and smacking it hard at Fluery.
And hit the back of the net.
I let out a roar as my teammates crushed me in a hug. I just shuffled us to a one goal advantage! Skating to the bench I bumped everyone’s hands and I turned around to get ready for the face off, seeing the scowls on the Penguins faces. Tension was now running high and I felt like I was now in a pit of fucking lions.
Bring it on Pittsburgh!
They beat us in the face off and I followed the puck down to our end, fighting with my teammates to keep it out, my battles mostly with Crosby who seemed to be getting aggravated with me. Crosby was once again about to shoot the puck into the net but I checked him out of the way, having him lose the puck again and sent him to the ground again. He sent a pissed off glare in my direction and I just flashed him a suck to be you smile. I turned around to skate off only to be blind sided in the head by someone huge. I went down of the ice, my hitter going with me, and I took Sidney with us right in front of the goal. My head was ringing and I could barely see straight. There was stick in that…I think…shit my head hurts. I tried getting up but fell back down…shit…headache, blurry vision, shit don’t black out! I got a shove in my side from a skate from who I think was Crosby but I barely reacted to it. I could hear my teammates furious yells around me. Shaking my head to try and clear it, I slowly stood up to see Rask in Malkin’s face and Lucic confronting Sidney. Other players all holding each other off as tension were rising. I could see refs rushing to me along with medics but I felt a terrible pain ripping through my side that was almost like a sting and I fell back on to my knees, sort of swaying back and forth. My gloves had fallen off and I put my hand on my side, suddenly feeling them become wet and sticky with…
I looked at my hands to see them covered in my blood.
I looked at my side, everything becoming more clear again to see my entire jersey soaking up with blood and how I left a small little trail on the ice. Oh god…Crosby cut me with his skate when he kicked me! The refs managed to pull everyone apart and Rask had gotten to my side, along with all the medics.
“Roxy…you ok? Oh shit…I’m going to fucking destroy those two assholes…” He hissed, looking at my side.
“McGregor, can you walk?” I looked up at one of the medics and nodded.
“Yeah…yeah I’ll be able to…” I got up with the help of my boyfriend, leaning heavily on my cut side, a towel smashed into my hand and applied to the wound. My entire team was out of their seats and leaning over, trying to figure out how I was doing. Rask had to leave me at the bench and I could see his face completely filled with worry at me as I was taken into the back for stitches.
“She’s going to be out for the rest of the game.” I heard someone tell the Coaches. “Better get in a replacement.” Fuck you Geno, fuck you Crosby, fuck you Penguins, and fuck you Harper!

*****
*General POV*

Rask could almost barely pay attention in goal as he watched where the puck was going. All he could think about was the horror it was to see her get crosschecked without remorse by one of the biggest guys on the team with enough force to probably take Chara down in front of him and then to see her get up and fall again, this time with blood everywhere.
Fuck the Penguins, they weren’t going to win this game because of that.
It helped give him the concentration and resolve to stop every goal sent at him.
Bergeron, Boychuk, and Marchand didn’t appreciate the fact that nearly every single dirty hit thrown tonight was aimed at Roxy and just Roxy. They all stemmed it back to Erika Harper and her stupid fucking web of allies and her stupid ass boyfriend. No one appreciate Roxy for her talent and skill and that pissed them off to the point where they didn’t care who was being hit, but checks were certainly being thrown. You don’t fuck with Team Canda’s little sister, that’s for sure. Thankfully, their hard worked paid off when Recchi was able to score the fourth goal of that game which brought them up in an advantage of two goals. They were going to walk away with a win.
Lucic was thrilled with the fact that it was becoming a dirty game, but not thrilled that all the dirty hits were being thrown at his wing mate. He always wanted a reason to take out Crosby and now he had a valid reason to. Seeing Golden Boy with his side open, Lucic darted with full force and decked him hard in the head, causing him to spin to the ice and fall down, clutching his head and the game stopped. Growling, Lucic waited for him to be shuffled to the penalty box for crosschecking but at least Crosby was now struggling off the rink too…too bad he couldn’t get Malkin now.
The game ended with a Bruins win and Rask got congratulations from all his teammates with a smack on the helmet but he felt a bit off at the fact that his bubbly, red headed girl was not there to attack his face like usual. Thomas could see it affecting him and the man smacked him on the shoulder.
“If I know Roxy as well as I do, she’s probably wrestling the doctors in the hospital trying to put stitches in her about how she doesn’t need them and wants to go kick some Pittsburgh ass.” Rask cracked a smile, getting that mental image. She probably only has a bra on through it too…
Ok, not the time to think about that.
“Wouldn’t doubt it Timmy.” Everyone was pumped in the locker room about the huge come back win, something they all had dreamed of getting tonight, but Rask ignored it, even when everyone was praising Lucic for sending Crysby off to his locker room. The minute he got his sweaty gear off of him Tuukka grabbed his phone to see that he had about three new text messages, all from Roxy.

Don’t worry about me, doctors say I don’t have any injury to my head.

Got a shit load of stitches and they suck cause I can barely do anything in them! LOOKS LIKE YOU’RE AINT GETTING’ ANY LOVIN’ ANYTIME SOON!! MUAHHAHAHAHA love you.

That caused him to laugh a little. The last one was the one that really got him smiling though.

You won! So fucking proud of you! Sucks I’m not there to give you my congrats in person! Being released soon so I’ll be meeting up with you guys soon. Tell Lucic that he gave Crosby a concussion and he gets a cookie. Also, I hope to see you smiling, I love your smile so much. Love you.

“Hey Lucic!” Rask called. Lucic looked over.
“What!?”
“You gave Crosby a concussion, Roxy gives her congratulations and says you get a cookie.”
“I gave golden boy a concussion? FUCK I’m screwed! I better get a cookie!” The room gave off a laugh and Rask quickly sent a text to Roxy, telling her he was going to be smiling for sure when she saw him.

*****

“C’mon Timmy Thomas! Shuffle in a shutout!” I cried at the TV, throwing popcorn into the air as he stopped another goal. It was the day after the Penguins game and I was in me and Rask’s apartment. I wasn’t allowed to play tonight thanks to my nice injury inflicted on me by Crosby and Malkin combined. The doctors said that I would be cleared for the Flyers game on Thursday though and I was glad. I wanted to kick some Cryer’s asses next! I let out a huge screech at the TV when I saw Bergeron slip a third goal into the net.
BERGY GOT HIS FIRST HAT TRICK!!!
AND I WASN’T THERE FOR IT!!!
GAAAAH!!!
I threw the popcorn bowl in the air and I heard the plastic thing clattering in the kitchen and I’m sure there was popcorn everywhere. But fuck it, this is a hat trick! I didn’t have a hat to throw so I guess I need to settle with my popcorn! I started to dance around to the scoring music in glee as I texted him my congrats, wishing so dearly that I wasn’t on injury reserve. I was missing one hell of a game against another one of my hated teams, the Ottawa Senators. My B’s were killing them 6-0 now thanks to Bergeron’s hat trick. Waiting for the game to end and my boy to get home was aggravating, even though I got a call from Bergeron thanking me for my congrats and I have never heard him so fucking happy in my life! It was like he was a three year old at Disney just offered the largest lollipop there was to offered! It was around midnight when the door opened and Tuukka came tromping in with all his gear.
“Hey hun.”
“TUUUUUUUUUUUUUUK!” I cried, jumping from the couch and tackling him. “SO pissed I missed a HELL of a game!” I then looked at his head. “Wait! Where did your dark blue hat go?”
“On the ice.”
“You threw your hat?”
“Yeah, I did, Bergeron got his first fucking hat trick!” I ruffled my boyfriend’s dark curls.
“You would lose my favorite hat of yours!” I said.
“EH, I’ll get a replacement.” He then looked at the floor. “Babe…why is there popcorn everywhere?”
“Well, I didn’t have a hat to throw so I settled with the nearest thing.”
“…the popcorn bowl…?” He muttered, looking at me with a raised eyebrow.
“Don’t judge you stupid Scandinavian!” Rask pulled me into a kiss.
“Not judging kultaseni. Just think it’s hilarious what you do when no one is around and you have pent up energy.” He gave me kiss and I kissed him back.
“Hell yeah I have pent up energy!” I said, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling his forehead down on mine. “I’m completely healed!” I pulled up my shirt and showed my scar. “What a masterpiece…” Rask ran a thumb along it and shook his head.
“You’re crazy…” He said.
“Not as crazy as you!” I said, kissing him again and he in turned kept his hands under my shirt and pulled me into him. We both backed into the bedroom and forsake the world outside.

*****

Sun splashed on my face as I slowly opened my eyes, looking out the window in the bedroom at the Boston skyline. The clock read 8:13 and I sighed, rolling over and hugging my still zonked out Finn, who was lying on his back, arm over his head and head tilted away from me. He let out a sigh in his sleep and rolled over, hugging me closer to him, head falling in the crook of my neck. Smiling, I brushed curly hair off his forehead and kissed it. I lay there for a few more moments before peeling his arms slowly off of me as carefully as I could and slid out of bed. Starring at my closet, I sighed in aggravation cause I didn’t have the energy or the will to pick out clothes for today.
Instead I stared at the floor.
Grabbing random gym shorts and one of Tuukka’s t-shirts, I threw them on and trudged to the bathroom and stared at my reflection in the mirror and cringed at my red hair that was tossed everywhere. Grabbing my hairbrush I went to town, brushing the tangles out of it and praying I didn’t break my hairbrush, thinking about everything.
Everything meaning my current relationship.
Sighing I began to tug at my hair. Shit, was I rushing everything way too god damn fast? Like always? It never lead to any good…
It’s not my fucking fault I rush into shit…rush right into everything in hopes to run away from all the pain from the past. It’s all because of Jake…all because of that stupid asshole…The empty hole I always tried to ignore seemed to come back again as I looked at my reflection in the mirror, trying to forget the memories trying to bubble back up.
“Don’t think Roxanne…don’t think. It’s only going to fuck with you! You’re not going to lose Tuukka…he’s not going anywhere.” Depression…it was something I had been struggling with for years and tried everything in my power to suppress. “No one is going anywhere…” I whispered, trying to will myself not to go down the dark path. But it was hard when you now entered a world where you only had your brother and team to lean on. Everyone else hated you and thought you were nothing, had no right to tread in, going nowhere. Gripping the counter, I tried to stop the tears that were threatening to fall. I didn’t need to have my boyfriend see me in this state.
“Roxy?” FUCK! “Shit, Roxy, what is wrong?” Tuuk came rushing into the bathroom and having me face him, holding both of my arms. His dark eyes bore into mine and I broke.
“I don’t knooooow…” I moaned. He saw right through that.
“Bullshit, why are you crying?”
“I don’t know.” I tried again, trying to push him away. “Just…just leave me be.” I didn’t want to tell him about my depression, Jake, lack of self-esteem, admit that all the shit that was being thrown at me on the ice was really getting to me.
“Stop it, I’m not leaving you here fucking upset, now tell me what is wrong.”
“Nothing.” I snapped, sobbing a little bit more. Everything…Tuukka let go of me and sighed angrily.
“Whatever, fine, ball your eyes out, I’m just trying to be the concern boyfriend.” Fuck…I’m pissing him off! I tried to slow my breathing through the tears.
“There’s just…so much that you don’t know about me…” I tried to reason.
“Well why don’t you elaborate? I can’t figure out why the hell your balling your eyes out right now! And it’s freaking me out!” Tuukka yelled, clearly getting angry with my stubbornness.
“I’m not going to cause I don’t want to!” I yelled. Weak, I know.
“Why’s that? You don’t fucking trust me or something!?”
“NO! I do! It’s just-”
“Don’t Roxy…” He said, brushing past me. I felt myself just feel so entirely empty now, more tears falling on the bathroom floor and scared to venture out now that Rask just yelled at me. But…I guess he had a reason to…maybe…shit I don’t know. Sitting down on the tub I began to rub my arms and it was that moment when Rask came back in.
“Phone…” He said, handing it to me. Shit, I didn’t even here it ring. I took from him and answered.
“Hello?” I said, trying not to sound all choked up.
“Roxanne McGregor! So good to hear from you, I’m just calling to remind you of your photo shoot and interview today with The Hockey News-” My eyes widened. Shit! Forgot that was today! I looked in the mirror and grimaced. Oh god, I was red eyed, depressed and still had some nasty sex hair. Beautiful…
“Oh…yeah! Yeah, it’s at two correct.”
“Yes it is at the Garden.” I quickly began to shuffle around the bathroom, trying to get myself together.
“Alright, I’m all set for then.”
“Good, look forward to seeing you Miss McGregor.”
“I hope I don’t mess it up!” I said, trying to be lighthearted.
“Talk to you soon. Good bye.”
“Bye.” Hanging up, I ran out of the bathroom with my brush stuck in my hair. “AHHHH!!!” I cried.
“What?” Tuukka asked, annoyed.
“I WOULD BE A MESS WHEN I HAVE A PHOTO SHOOT TODAY! SHOOT, SHOOT, SHOOT! WHERE IS MY SKIRT!?”
“Oh…shit…” Tuukka said, getting up and helping me find my shit. “Look…go…get a cold face cloth to your face ok? Get the redness to go away…I’ll find your formal outfit.” I gave him a kiss on the cheek.
“Thank you!” After a huge scuffle, I finally managed to get out the door and running to the Garden, looking presentable.

*****
*Rask’s POV*

After Roxy ran out of the apartment in a hurry, Rask quickly picked up the phone and dialed a number, knowing he could get some information about all of this from one person.
“Heeeelllo?” Came the sound of Benjamin McGregor.
“Ben, it’s Rask.”
“HEY MAN! What’s up? Haven’t hurt my sister yet have you? Or I might have to deck you!” Tuukka closed his eyes and sighed. Sorry Ben, I might have flipped a shit on her and hurt her a bit more.
“No, I haven’t, but I’m calling cause I’m concern about her.”
“I’m listening intently bro, what’s going down?”
“This morning I found her extremely upset in the bathroom and crying but refusing to tell me what was wrong and flipped on me. Shit, I might have yelled too, but it kind of freaked me out cause I have no idea what could be wrong.” There was some silence.
“You yelled at my sister…” Tuuk scowled.
“Shut up Ben, I’m sorry about it ok? I was frustrated cause she was yelling at me too.”
“Ok, ok, cool man…what did she say?”
“That’s the problem. Nothing, just told me to leave her alone and that I didn’t know everything about her.”
“Shit…” Ben muttered.
“What?” Rask asked.
“Well…ok, I shouldn’t be telling you this but fuck, you have a right to know and Roxy isn’t going to break anytime soon. Look man, she suffers from depression and self esteem issues that stems from the death of our dad, the abandoning of our mom, and college. She’s had a rough time before coming to Boston and she never really fully healed.” Rask grinded his teeth. Depression…great…should have known it was something like that.
“What happened in college?”
“Not for me to talk about. Definitely not for me to talk about…” Ben answered. “I can’t violate my sister’s trust like that man, sorry.” Rask sighed heavily.
“All the negativity from the teams are helping this, is it?”
“No, probably not. But look man, don’t leave her ok? She sounds like on the verge of breaking again and I can’t let that happen.” Tuukka felt a bit guilty inside, totally blowing up in her face when she didn’t need that. Shit, he was going to have to make up for that.
“I won’t, don’t want to do that to your sister.”
“But you kind of did blow up on her…not good.”
“I know. Don’t need to be reminded, sorry about it.” Tuukka growled.
“Whoa! I angered the Finn…not good. But ok…tell me if she gets worse ok?”
“I will Ben, thanks for this.”
“No problem Rask, talk to you later.”
“Yeah, see ya.” Hanging up the phone, Rask rubbed his face, wondering what was so bad that affected Roxy so much and her own brother couldn’t talk about.

*****

Nearly four fucking hours later, I was done with the shoot and interview and still trying to hold in my sadness. I was a bit apprehensive about going back to the apartment…fight’s suck and make everything awkward. After chatting with some of the crew and giving some autographs, I was soon approached by Coach.
“McGregor, got some big news for you.” He said. I looked at him.
“What is it?” I asked, highly curious.
“Voting ballets for the All-Star Game have been counted. You’re going to Raleigh with Tyler Seguin, Tim Thomas, and Zdeno Chara.” My mouth dropped open.
No
Fucking
Way….
I was going to the All-Star Weekend…