Remember Me

January had finished with nothing but a layer of snow to remember it by, and Aly and Marc had barely said two words to each other since he dropped her off that night. But that certainly hadn't stopped either of them from stealing looks when they were in each other's company--which had been happening more than both would have liked.

"She's out all night, and when she does come home she smells like they used her to sweep the bottom of a bar floor," Pascal said, exasperated with how his niece had been acting as of late. "I don't know what to do anymore. She's up and then she's down. It's like a frickin' roller coaster."

As much as he hated to admit it, Marc had always been listening every time Pascal spoke of his niece's latest turmoils. Whether it was her job search going awry because of the mouth she had that never stayed shut when it needed to, or her social life that was much too mature for a girl her age, he always perked up a little to make sure he heard the entire story. And as of late, there were a lot of stories. Most ending with Pascal continuously giving up any hope and promising to send her home if it happens again.

Of course, when the next time rolled around he took his words back. Pascal's heart was much too big when it came to his family. Sometimes tough love was exactly what was needed, and Marc had figured that's exactly what this girl needed. He had a month to himself and he still found himself wondering what the hell was wrong with her.

"You're not her father, Pascal. Send her back to New York if it's really that bad," Chris Kunitz told him as he pulled off his skates.

"She'd be even worse off back there," he muttered. Pascal knew, as much as he loved his brother, she would just get worse due to the lack of attention paid to her. His brother was not the type to be winning a Best Father of the Year award anytime soon. He enjoyed his job too much.

"Well what does Carol say?"

"She just thinks it's some sort of rebellious phase. Something to do with her parents shipping her here instead of dealing with her themselves." Pascal clearly didn't know what to believe. He was just as lost as Alyssa was starting to seem.



"I'm very close to killing your girlfriend, Kennedy." Marc-Andre complained, throwing himself down on the couch beside his teammate. Most of the young guys on the team had gathered at Tyler's place for his girlfriend, Kelsey's, birthday party. But there had been two unexpected guests that Marc would wish never to see on nights he'd prefer to enjoy himself.

"What'd she do now?" Tyler managed to ask through his laughter, bringing his beer bottle to his lips.

"Not only did she invite Alyssa, but I'm pretty sure I just saw Veronique walk through the door."

"Oh man, you're in for one hell of a night." Ty was getting too much amusement out of this, Marc thought to himself. "Your girlfriend and your ex-girlfriend, eh? Have fun with that."

It was enough to make him want to wipe that smirk off his face, but Marc knew that was just Tyler being Tyler. He probably had nothing to do with it anyway, and no knowledge of such factors. The kid barely paid any attention to things that bored him like party invitations.

"She's not my girlfriend," he muttered before getting back up and going to find someone else that would, at the very least, play sympathetic.



"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't expecting to find you passed out in here," Marc-Andre spoke, pushing the door to the spare bedroom open further and letting himself into the pale colored room.

"It's an off night," she countered, watching as he invited himself to sit down across from her on the ground.

"So that brunette..."

"Vero?" Alyssa shrugged, assuming that they were speaking of the same woman. The woman that he had seemed awfully chummy with earlier in the night, before she had disappeared into one of the spare bedrooms. "We used to date."

"For how long?" She picked at the hairs on the carpet with her fingertips, already answering her own question for him. They had probably known each other since grade school; some sort of next door love thing. All of these hockey players seemed to have married their high school sweethearts.

"Long enough to lose count of time," he answered honestly. Marc had known Vero for so long, their relationship had been based on comfort for the last few months it had lasted for. It was just nice knowing he'd be able to come home to his girlfriend that wouldn't spring any surprises on him. He could count on her like he could count on having dinner prepared for him, a half hour before he would take his regular pre-game nap.

"You two are good together," Aly pushed herself to believe her own words, but it was turning out to be harder than she had thought it would be. "Better than we could have ever been." She had watched them interact earlier on in the evening. Both had no idea they'd be there, Aly had guessed by their gestures towards one another, but they still spoke. They still gave off that vibe that they were best friends, and perhaps something more. She was more Marc's type than Aly could ever be.

"Us?" Marc was a little shocked to even hear her mention the idea of the two of them together. He had always figured even the thought of him made her "throw up a little" in her mouth--as she would have said.

The blonde laughed to herself, why was it she actually wanted this guy at all? She had pushed him away for so long, and now she was admitting to him she had pictured them together? "She seems nice."

Marc nodded, not even being able to lie about that. Veronique was nice. She was nice and caring, and had her heart opened to the world. She was definitely the complete opposite to Alyssa. Vero didn't have baggage that she carried on her shoulders constantly, and she didn't have a sailor's mouth. She laughed constantly and spent most of her time trying to please everyone, which got a little annoying sometimes when you just wanted to hear her own opinion. She always tried to hear yours first.

But that's what he had found so attractive in Alyssa. The girl just didn't care. She didn't care what you had to say; she had her own opinions she wasn't afraid of sharing with you. Vero would agree with you, just to make sure there wasn't a fight.

"Probably one of those girls that are so nice it makes you sick to your stomach," she grinned a small, sideways smile at him. Marc didn't say anything as he looked at her. Her hair was in its natural curly waves and her eyes weren't blackened by too much dark makeup. She looked like a regular girl. Like a normal girl. He much preferred this version of her. "I bet she likes red roses, and has seen The Notebook way too many times."

Marc laughed, "Did you become a psychologist in the time we haven't talked or something?"

"She just..." Alyssa dug into the carpet harder with her fingers, pulling more and then letting go. "...reminds me of someone I used to know...a really long time ago."

"Old friend?"

"Yeah, something like that." She sighed, stopping her plucking at the carpet completely and leaning back against the wall. "Y'know, I had to spend the entire night listening to Kelsey tell me all the good things about Marc-Andre Fleury."

"You're lucky it was only a night. That conversation could last years," he chuckled.

"She thinks we'd be 'cute,'" Aly made a gagging noise following the statement, shaking her head. She wasn't used to being around people who identified couples as 'cute.' Kelsey probably thought Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston were 'adorable.'

"Yeah, she's been asking when we were going to go out again."

"I feel like I'm back in high school. You do something, and five minutes later everyone knows about it."

He laughed, "Well don't worry, they'll figure out eventually it won't be happening again."

"Wow, ouch!"

"Says the girl who vomits at the mention of my name."

"I do not!" Alyssa objected, but really had no evidence to prove otherwise. She had been treating Marc like he was an infected cold sore on someone's lip, that was just oozing puss. "Besides can't a girl change her mind?"

"As much as you do? Keeping up with your mind would drive people insane."

"Whatever. Like I haven't heard that one before," she scoffed, rolling her eyes.

Marc shook his head, getting ready to stand up and leave the room. He wasn't about to let some girl ruin his night. The Penguins had won tonight, and had the next two days off; he wanted to start his short-lived vacation off on the right foot.

"Wait," he overheard just as he stood up off the ground. "Stay...please?"

Despite everything telling him it was a bad idea, that this was just another part of one of her games, he sat back down across from her. "You confuse the shit outta me, y'know that?"

"Try actually being in here," she smirked, knocking on her head with her knuckles. She was playing it as a joke, but Alyssa was actually being quite honest. She was trying to be honest by putting it in jokes; it was the only way she could ever be truthful.