I'm Addicted to the Thrill

I walked towards Dani and her date Jack or whatever the hell he said his name was. She didn’t answer me, and I felt like yelling at her. This girl was becoming more of a hassle to deal with than maybe I wanted. She crossed her arms as I approached.

“Thanks for locking me in the alley,” I sneered. Her eyes widened, and her date took a step away from her.

“Pat, you deserved it,” she said. I stopped where I was. Dani just stood there looking at me, and I couldn’t believe she just said that. She stared me in the eye, and I could tell that this was not going to be a good situation.

“Like hell I deserved it. All I did was kiss you,” I answered. “Why anyone would want to kiss you is now a mystery to me.”

Dani turned and walked away. I let her go. The guy she had been with was still standing there, and I stared at him. There wasn’t anything I would have done differently. The guy just stood there and looked at me while Danielle left the area.

“You should follow her. She’s going to need someone to cheer her up,” I said.

I left him there and went back into the bar. Niki and Jonny had walked back to where we had been sitting before Dani showed up. Everyone just stared at me when I sat back down and started to drink. Jonny gave me a pat on the shoulder. The guys raised an eyebrow but didn’t touch the subject. Dani was still a bit touchy when it came to me.

“Dude, what happened?” asked Corey from across the table.

“We went to the alley, and she came back in locking me out there,” I told him. I didn’t think there was anything else to add to it. Madi looked at me and motioned for more to the story. I hated when the girls knew there was something more. “I kissed her before she came back in. Then I told her that I didn’t see why anyone would want to kiss her.”

Niki just glared at me. I knew that she and Dani were becoming friends, but I thought that she was going to be on my side. She shook her head and took a sip of her beer.

“You’re a dick sometimes, Patrick,” she said finally. “Dani doesn’t deserve that bullshit.”

She was right. I didn’t think that Dani would really forgive me though. Her storming off made me think that I had fucked up majorly. In fact, I knew that I had. Danielle was probably more likely to not talk to me anymore than she had been before.

-x-

I woke up the next morning and got ready. We were leaving for a roadtrip, and we were meeting at the United Center. I got there at the same time Dani did and approached her in the parking garage as she headed into the building.

“Don’t talk to me,” she said as she got into the elevator. I got in right behind her and thought about her demand.

“No, I’m going to talk, and you’re going to listen,” I said. “You can’t act like you’re in charge of everything, Dani. I’m sorry about what happened, but you won’t listen to me whenever I try to apologize.”

“Maybe I’d listen if you were at least really sorry. I like Zach, and at least I know he won’t be an ass to me,” she said. The elevator stopped at the floor she was looking for and she got off. I watched her go again. If she was going to keep walking away, I was going to have to find a way to give up.

The fact that she was going to walk away as easily as that hurt. Sure, I barely knew the girl, but I thought of her everytime I let my mind wander. When I messed everything up, I thought of her when I was with that girl. Danielle Halbrook had weaseled her way into my life, and now she was pushing me out of hers.

I took my things to the buses that we were taking to the airport. As we all got on the bus, I noticed that the guys were all quiet. We weren’t leaving at a time that was earlier than normal, but it was likely that we were just quiet because of the bar. I sat down next to Tazer and looked out the window.

“Your girl is seeing you off,” I laughed. Niki and Madi were standing out there in their jackets waving at the bus as we all were preparing to leave. The two were joined by the rest of the wives and girlfriends, and I smiled thinking that they would be waiting there when we would get back.

“She brought me here. I didn’t feel like leaving the car here for a week and a half,” he sighed. He waved out the window at Niki then turned back to me. “She complained about you and Dani on the way back to the house last night. She wants you and her to end up like some fairytale.”

I laughed when he said that. I knew that Dani was not going to be my fairytale princess, and if she was one, there was no way I was going to end up being her prince. She had even told me that she liked that guy she was with. He wasn’t going to be an ass to her as she had said. Poor girl didn’t know what she was missing out on.

“I’m sure Niki will try and convince Danielle of that while we’re gone,” I told him.

The drive to the airport was short, and the week and a half passed in a blink. There was nothing waiting for me when I got home, and I knew that. Our tour of the Pacific Division teams and Vancouver had ended out of our favor, and there was no one who would be waiting to take me home and cheer me up.

We got to the United Center, and the girls were all waiting for their respective men. I nudged Jonathan when I saw Niki standing there, and he elbowed me right back pointing at the person standing next to her. I was shocked to see Dani there. Sharpie came over with his camera and sat in the seat across from mine.

“You seem surprised to see someone. How are you going to greet this person?” he asked. I put my hand over the lens of the camera and flipped him off with my other hand.

“I’m going to ignore her,” I told him as I stood up to get off the bus. I grabbed my things and started to walk away from where Dani was standing, but the girl ran over to me and stood in my path. “Can I help you?”

“We need to talk,” she said. Danielle wasn’t going to let me ignore her apparently. “Do you want help with your stuff?”

I handed her the lightest of the bags and started walking. I had no interest in really talking to her, but if she wanted to help carry my things, I would let her. She was going to probably carry my stuff, talk, then leave again. I had been thinking of her, but if I acted like I wanted nothing to do with her, maybe she would come around and actually give me a second chance.

“Thanks. See ya around, Dani,” I said once we got to my car. She dropped the bag that she was carrying and leaned against the trunk. I stared at her and waited for her explanation as to why she wasn’t going to just let this pass.

"I want to apologize. I've been a bitch, and I understand that you want nothing to do with me. I just wanted to say I'm sorry, Patrick. I'll leave you alone, and the only time we'll have to talk is whenever I need to work with you," she said in only a few breaths. I stared at her as she spoke. This wasn't the Dani I thought I knew. She was actually giving in, but I wondered how much of it was actually her idea. I let go of my bags and stood next to her then.

"I forgive you. I don't want you to leave me alone, but you can make it up to me if you like," I smirked. I put my arm around her shoulder and pulled her into me.